Eta chapter at the University of North Carolina
Joseph G. Claud's short history of the Eta chapter of Beta Theta Pi at the University of North Carolina, printed by the fraternity in 1952 as pages 647 to 654 of a larger volume, with illustrations.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.
Indexed works
Books, articles, records and pictures in the index about Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, found by its names in titles, catalog subjects and the index’s descriptions, and read one by one. Those held at OCPL come first.
About the site
Published by or for it
Beta data
Chapter newsletter of the Eta chapter of Beta Theta Pi at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published by the chapter from 1971. Topics include Greek letter societies in Chapel Hill and fraternities at the university. Volumes with illustrations, 28 cm, and a slim record of fraternity life on the Chapel Hill campus in the 1970s.
Eta data of Beta Theta Pi.
Chapter periodical of the Eta chapter of Beta Theta Pi at the University of North Carolina, published by the chapter at Chapel Hill from 1949 in volumes with portraits, 24 cm. Topics include Greek letter societies in Chapel Hill and fraternities and student periodicals at the university, and the issues carry chapter news of the mid century.
The Eta Beta
Publication of the Beta Theta Pi chapter at the University of North Carolina, dated June 1921 at Chapel Hill. Topics include Greek letter societies in Chapel Hill and fraternities at the university.
Surveys and maps of the area
Not about Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.
The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: 1795-1975
Margaret Ruth Little-Stokes's survey of Chapel Hill's town and campus buildings from 1795 to 1975, published by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill in 2006. Chapters run from the first campus buildings through David Swain's romantic campus to midcentury modernism, followed by area surveys of the campus, east and west Chapel Hill, downtown, Northside and the suburbs.
The town and gown architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975
M. Ruth Little's 2004 architectural history of Chapel Hill and the university campus from 1795 to 1975, written for the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. A 99-page survey with a bibliography.
Chapel Hill historic sites survey : final report.
M. B. Gatza's final report of the 1992 Chapel Hill historic sites survey for the town Planning Department, with contributions by Beverly C. Kawalec and Catherine Bishir. It covers historic buildings and districts in Chapel Hill in 80 pages.
Chapel Hill township survey final report
Kelly A. Lally's October 1992 final report on the architectural survey of Chapel Hill township, including Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Besides the report and a bibliography, most of its 56 pages form an annotated index of the historic buildings surveyed.
When Chapel Hill was a village
Cornelia Spencer Love's recollections of Chapel Hill as a village, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1976 with drawings by John V. Allcott. Love lived from 1892 to 1981, and the book covers Chapel Hill biography, the town's social life and customs, and the faculty of the university before 1962. viii and 87 pages with illustrations.
Map of Chapel Hill as it was in 1875 to 1885
Henry Dennis Carter's reconstruction, drawn as a blueprint in 1934, of Chapel Hill as it stood between 1875 and 1885, showing the buildings of the village. A note on the map says the information came from old residents who gave it to Mary L. Thornton.
Show 3 more surveys and maps
[Map of Chapel Hill and vicinity].
Dating from 1888 and attributed to Hunter Lee Harris, a map of Chapel Hill and its vicinity, reproduced as a photocopy measuring 22 by 37 centimeters. Harris died in 1893, which brackets the drawing to the late nineteenth century. An early depiction of the streets of the village and the land around it.
[Map of Chapel Hill].
Pen-and-ink manuscript map of Chapel Hill dated 1852, with a table of measurements, showing the University campus, the village around it, street widths and layout, and the town limits. Later notes attributed to Kemp P. Battle give the longitude and latitude of landmarks as measured from atop New East Hall in 1880.
Map of Chapel Hill & vicinity.
Street and property map of Chapel Hill and the surrounding country, revised to 1 January 1933 and printed in the town. Topics include streets, real property and the historical geography of Chapel Hill along with maps of the University of North Carolina in its 1793 to 1962 period. A useful sheet for tracing lot lines and street names as they stood at the start of the 1930s.
Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.
Start at OCPL
Where to look on the shelf
These books don’t necessarily mention Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.
Histories of the town and county
- Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 STO
Chapel Hill: A Pictorial History
Stolpen, Steven · 1978
Steven Stolpen's pictorial history of Chapel Hill, one of the Donning Company's photographic town histories, published in Norfolk, Virginia in 1978. Photographs and portraits carry the story of the town and the university, including references to Thomas Wolfe's years as a student at Carolina. 156 pages with illustrations.
- Foundational · 975.656 RYAN
Orange County Trio: Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, North Carolina, Histories and Tour Guides
Ryan, Elizabeth Shreve · 2004
Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.
Buildings and surveys
- Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS
A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina
Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003
Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.
- Foundational · NC 917.56 HIS
Historic Buildings and Landmarks of Chapel Hill, N.C
Chapel Hill Historical Society · 1973
A pocket-sized guide to the historic buildings and landmarks of Chapel Hill, prepared by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and printed by Creative Printers in 1973. Forty pages with illustrations and maps, 14 by 22 cm. Topics include architecture, historic buildings and historic districts in Chapel Hill, and the guide is useful for a walking tour of the older parts of town.
Land, family and burial records
- Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY
Chapel Hill, N.C. History of Town Lots (1790-1930s)
Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2014
Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.
- Foundational · NC 929.375 ORA
Orange County, NC Estate Records Index: Inventories, Sales & Settlements, 1800-1880
2000
Index to Orange County estate records for 1800 to 1880: inventories, sales and settlements filed when a resident died. Published in 2000, it points to the original probate files, which list property, purchasers at estate sales and heirs.
In the chronology
- Beta Theta Pi charters its Eta chapter at the university The Eta chapter of Beta Theta Pi was chartered in early 1852, the third fraternity at Chapel Hill.
- Beta Theta Pi's Eta chapter goes inactive After a strong start the Eta chapter lapsed in 1859 as the Civil War approached.
- Beta Theta Pi is reestablished at UNC and takes in the Mystical Seven chapter The Eta chapter was revived in 1884, absorbing the Star of the South chapter of the Mystical Seven, once the strongest fraternity in the South.
- Beta Theta Pi builds a house on the original Fraternity Row The Eta chapter put up its first house at the edge of campus on Fraternity Row in 1905, which brought the chapter a run of growth until World War I.
- George Pickard's heirs sell their Columbia Street house and lot to Beta Theta Pi The fraternity paid $25,000 for the late George Pickard's house and large lot, a private parcel off the university courts that later let it build a bigger house with a deep lawn.
- Beta Theta Pi sells its Fraternity Row house to Delta Sigma Pi and moves into the Pickard house The chapter sold its old house to Delta Sigma Pi and put twenty members in the Pickard house on Columbia Street while it planned a new building.
- The Beta Theta Pi fraternity house is completed on South Columbia Street The Beta Theta Pi house at 114 South Columbia Street, apart from the fraternity courts, is a brick house laid in Flemish bond with a slate roof and dormers, a Doric portico across the front and wings on each side, set back on a wide lawn.
- Beta Theta Pi and other fraternity houses quarter Navy trainees While the university served as a naval training center, many fraternity houses, the Beta house among them, were used to lodge midshipmen, which held back chapter growth until the war ended.
- Beta Theta Pi builds a social hall annex and remodels its house In 1962 the chapter put up a frame social hall behind the house, enclosed the porte cochere, raised the south wing to match the north wing, and replaced the main stair.
- Beta Theta Pi alumni begin renovating the chapter house Following an alumni capital campaign, work began in 1997 to bring the 1929 house up to code while keeping its plan and original materials; architect and Beta alumnus Arthur Cogswell Jr. led it, and the Betas were the first fraternity to add a sprinkler system after the 1996 fire.
- A tie vote keeps Person Hall off the Study List UNC's campus preservation specialist Paul Kapp asked that Person Hall, already a contributing building in the Chapel Hill Historic District, be recognized on its own. Staff doubted how much of what was visible predated a 1977 renovation and urged the university to treat its old buildings as a district. On February 13, 2003 a motion to place the hall on the Study List split three to three, the chair voted no, and the committee deferred it; the Beta Theta Pi house was also deferred to await a possible Fraternity Court district.
- The Beta Theta Pi house joins the Study List The National Register Advisory Committee placed the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house in Chapel Hill on North Carolina's Study List, its list of properties likely to qualify for the National Register.
- The Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House is listed in the National Register On April 20, 2005 the National Park Service listed the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House in Chapel Hill in the National Register of Historic Places.
Research sources
Places to visit 10
Maps, surveys, and the ground itself
- National Register nomination: Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House (2005) State Historic Preservation Office
- National Register nomination: West Chapel Hill Historic District (Boundary Increase) (2019) State Historic Preservation Office
- NC State Historic Preservation Office: Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, National Register nomination (OR1744), p. 10 cited by 4 events here
- NC State Historic Preservation Office: Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, National Register nomination (OR1744), p. 11 cited by 3 events here
- NC State Historic Preservation Office: Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, National Register nomination (OR1744), p. 12 cited by an event here
- NC State Historic Preservation Office: Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House, National Register nomination (OR1744), p. 8 cited by an event here
Show all 10
- NC State Historic Preservation Office: North Carolina Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, Orange County cited by an event here
- HPOWEB, the state’s map of surveyed and listed historic places State Historic Preservation Office Find the site on the map to read its survey record
- North Carolina Maps UNC Libraries Historic maps of the state, including the county and its towns
- Orange County GIS and land records Orange County Parcel maps and ownership history for the land today
Read contemporary evidence 4
Newspapers, photographs, and records of the time
- NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 61 cited by an event here
- The Chapel Hill Weekly, 1923–1972 DigitalNC Digitized issues, searchable by name; this paper covers years the site stood
- Chapel Hill News Leader, 1954–1959 DigitalNC Digitized issues, searchable by name; this paper covers years the site stood
- Orange County Register of Deeds Orange County Deeds and plats, searchable online, to trace who owned the property
Search beyond the index 4
Other catalogs, databases, and guides worth searching
- Orange County History Guide: Buildings and Maps UNC Libraries Surveys, inventories and maps of the county’s buildings
- Orange County History Guide: Genealogy UNC Libraries Family, cemetery and court records for the county
- Orange County NCGenWeb USGenWeb Project Volunteer transcriptions of county records
- NC LIVE: prepared search for Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House NC LIVE Articles, e-books and newspapers across the state’s shared databases, already scoped to this site’s names and the county; sign in through your North Carolina library to read
Ask locally 6
Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further
- Chapel Hill Historical Society Photographs, maps and papers on Chapel Hill and Carrboro, with a research links page
- Durham-Orange Genealogical Society Families and records
- Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Local History Help Hours and request form The library’s Local History Liaison helps in person most Mondays, 12 to 3, at the Main Library, or by the online request form
- Preservation Chapel Hill Chapel Hill buildings and neighborhoods
- Orange County Historical Museum Orange County history, objects, and interpretation
Additional research sources
Other sources to search and local organizations that can help.
- Background context: NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register Advisory Committee agendas, minutes and approved lists, p. 1005 cited by an event here
- Background context: NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register Advisory Committee agendas, minutes and approved lists, p. 972 cited by an event here
Nearby
- University Baptist Church 80 m · 9 events
- Archer House 80 m · 3 events
- Ackland Art Museum 90 m · 5 events
- Carolina Theatre (1942) 130 m · 4 events
- The Scuttlebutt 170 m · 2 events
- Pickwick Theatre 180 m · 6 events
- Swain Hall 180 m · 3 events
- College Cafe 190 m · 3 events
- University infirmary (Abernethy Hall) 210 m · 4 events
- Varsity Theatre (the first Carolina Theatre) 220 m · 6 events
