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Schools and academies

Caldwell Institute

The Caldwell Institute was an Orange Presbytery school, founded at Greensboro, that moved to Hillsborough in 1845 under president Alexander Wilson, taking over and absorbing the Hillsborough Academy in its refitted building. Enrollment peaked at 100 in 1848, and the institute closed in 1850.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

People in its history

People named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.

Sites linked through the same people

Indexed works

Books, articles, records, and images about Caldwell Institute. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.

About the site

Heartt and Wilson family papers, 1802-1926.

1802

Heartt and Wilson family papers run from 1802 to 1926, 264 items in one linear foot in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 1373. Subjects include Alexander Wilson, 1799 to 1867, the Caldwell Institute, Presbyterian clergy and American sermons, and schools and teachers in nineteenth century North Carolina, with Hillsborough, Melville and Greensboro as the places and Irish Americans as a further subject.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Published by or for this institution

Catalogue of the trustees, faculty, and students of the Caldwell Institute, Hillsborough, N.C.

Caldwell Institute (N.C.) · 1874 · Printed by Dennis Heartt

The catalogue of trustees, faculty and students of the Caldwell Institute at Hillsborough, printed in the town by Dennis Heartt and issued in successive volumes. It names the people connected with the school year by year, which makes it a source for family historians working in Orange County. Nineteen centimeters, recorded with an 1874 date.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Address delivered before the Adelphian Society of the Caldwell Institute, February 6, 1850, on occasion of their fourteenth anniversary

Stanfield, S. A. (Stephen Addison), 1823-1874; Heartt, Dennis, 1783-1870; Caldwell Institute (N.C.). Adelphian Society · 1850 · Printed by Dennis Heartt

Anniversary address given by Stephen Addison Stanfield before the Adelphian Society of the Caldwell Institute on February 6, 1850, at the society's fourteenth anniversary, and printed at Hillsborough by Dennis Heartt. The Caldwell Institute was a Presbyterian classical school that operated at Hillsborough in those years. The address concerns books and reading.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Caldwell Institute 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.

History and Architecture of Orange County, North Carolina

Mattson, Richard L. · 1996 · Unpublished manuscript

Richard L. Mattson's manuscript survey of the history and architecture of Orange County, completed in September 1996. Its 78 pages cover the county's historic buildings and structures and end with a bibliography.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Orange County multiple property documentation form: "Historic resources of Orange County."

1993

National Register multiple property documentation form on the historic resources of Orange County, completed in 1993. Kelly Lally and M. Ruth Little led the first phase of the survey, and Jody Carter and Todd Peck the second. It runs 123 pages with a bibliography.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

[Architectural field surveys for Orange County : collected for the Historic and architectural resources of the Tar-Neuse River basin report]

1974 · Survey and Planning Branch, Historic Preservation Section, Division of Archives and History

Historic building survey forms for Orange County gathered in 1974 by the state's Historic Preservation Section for a report on the Tar-Neuse River basin. About 400 pages of forms covering buildings in Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and the countryside; a form can carry a description, historical notes, location, a photograph and a floor plan.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal

[Map of Orange County].

1849

Large manuscript map of Orange County on linen, tracing ownership and chains of title for notable tracts with the dates each passed to new owners. Hachures show relief, and it marks principal towns, roads, railroads, mines, creeks, rivers and lakes. The date is uncertain; both 1849 and 1913 have been given for it.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC DigitalNC DPLA

Map of Orange County, N.C.

Tate, George W. · 1891 · George W. Tate

Facsimile, dated 1940, of George W. Tate's 1891 map of Orange County. It shows towns, roads, railroads such as the North Carolina Rail Road and the Chapel Hill line, residences, schools, churches, mills and mines, with portraits and pictures of buildings in the margins.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC DPLA Library of Congress Library of Congress Digital Collections

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 Caldwell Institute, 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

    • Foundational · NC 975.656 ORA Orange County--1752-1952 1953

      Hugh Talmage Lefler and Paul W. Wager's history of Orange County across its first two centuries, 1752 to 1952, prepared for the county's bicentennial. It covers government and politics, biography and the county's families, and doubles as a genealogical reference. Published in Chapel Hill by the Orange Printshop in 1953, 389 pages with illustrations and an index; this copy is a later reprint.

    • Start here · NC 371.097 PENDER A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 Pender, Irene Oliver · 1983

      Irene Oliver Pender's history of the public schools of Orange County from 1752 to 1983, covering more than two centuries of schooling in Hillsborough, Efland, Cedar Grove and the rural districts of the county. Published in 1983, 186 pages with illustrations.

    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 ORANGE An Inventory Of Sites Of Cultural, Historic, Recreational, Biological, And Geological Significance In The Unincorporated Portions Of Orange County Orange County (N.C.) · 1986

      County planning department survey of significant sites in the unincorporated parts of Orange County, published in 1988, 95 pages with maps. The survey covers cemeteries, church buildings and archaeological sites on the cultural side, and plants, animals, endangered species, wildlife refuges, geology and recreation areas on the natural side. Useful for local historians, genealogists tracing burial grounds and land planners alike.

    • Foundational · NC 363.69 HIS Historic Preservation Element: Orange County Comprehensive Plan ; Orange County, North Carolina Orange County (N.C.) · 1996

      The historic preservation element of Orange County's comprehensive plan, prepared for the county Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Department by the Jaeger Company of Gainesville, Georgia, and adopted on 1 April 1996. Partly financed by National Park Service funds through the state Division of Archives and History, it sets county policy on historic buildings and sites and their conservation. 59 pages plus 50 unnumbered, with illustrations and maps, some folded and in color.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Start here · NC 333.16 CHILTON The Land Grant Atlas of Old Orange County Chilton, Mark · 2012

      Mark Chilton's oversized atlas plotting eighteenth-century land grants across the original Orange County, which stretched well beyond today's boundaries into what became Alamance and Durham counties. Published in Carrboro by Hand Made Books beginning in 2012, the set was planned in four volumes: Henry McCulloh's great tract number 11 and the land north of it; the Saxapahaw old fields (volume 2); Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and the Johnston Tract; and Durham, Rougemont and McCulloh's tract number 12. Maps and color illustrations, 41 cm.

    In the chronology

    Storylines about this site, each with a page of its own:

    1. Hillsborough citizens pay to refit the academy building for the Caldwell Institute Townspeople paid for the repair and enlargement of the Hillsborough Academy building so that the Caldwell Institute could move in from Greensboro. The older school was absorbed into the institute under Alexander Wilson. NCpedia (Encyclopedia of North Carolina): Hillsborough Academy
    2. Orange Presbytery votes to move Caldwell Institute to Hillsborough Orange Presbytery chose Hillsborough over Yanceyville and Oxford as the new seat of its Caldwell Institute, and a town meeting chaired by Dennis Heartt welcomed the school and pledged the town's support. The trustees named Rev. John A. Bingham professor of Latin. People: Dennis Heartt, James Webb Jr., John Wall Norwood Hillsborough Recorder, June 19, 1845, p. 3
    3. Caldwell Institute reopens in Hillsborough after leaving Greensboro The Orange Presbytery's Caldwell Institute, founded at Greensboro, moved to Hillsborough and began its first session there on July 9, 1845, with Alexander Wilson as president. It used the Hillsborough Academy building and absorbed that school. People: Alexander Wilson Hillsborough Recorder, August 7, 1845, p. 3
    4. Hillsborough hands the refitted academy building to the Caldwell Institute In the Institute chapel, before Orange Presbytery, students and townspeople, Henry K. Nash spoke for the town commissioners and delivered the keys of the newly finished building to the Caldwell Institute trustees. About seventy students were enrolled in the second week of the session. People: Henry Kollock Nash Hillsborough Recorder, July 23, 1846, p. 3
    5. The legislature incorporates the Caldwell Institute at Hillsborough The General Assembly passed a bill, taken up in the Senate on the motion of Hugh Waddell, to incorporate the Caldwell Institute in Hillsborough. The school's spring session opened on January 7 with eighty-nine students, and the trustees' executive committee authorized hiring a teacher for an English department. People: Hugh Waddell Hillsborough Recorder, January 21, 1847, p. 3
    6. Caldwell Institute enrollment peaks at 100 in Hillsborough Under Alexander Wilson the school reached a peak enrollment of 100 students in 1848. Attendance fell back to 68 the next year, and in 1850 the trustees voted to discontinue it. NCpedia (Encyclopedia of North Carolina): Caldwell Institute
    7. Caldwell Institute closes in Hillsborough The Caldwell Institute ended in 1850 after five years in Hillsborough. NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hillsborough Academy (G-37)
    8. Hillsborough Academy is revived under Benjamin Huske and Ralph Graves After the Caldwell Institute closed, Alexander Wilson and Ralph H. Graves opened a classical school at Hillsborough on January 14, 1851. Wilson left for Burnt Shop in Alamance that spring, and on June 14 Benjamin R. Huske accepted the town's offer of the Academy building free of rent. With Graves he revived the Hillsborough Academy, which ran until 1858. People: Alexander Wilson NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hillsborough Academy (G-37) · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, December 25, 1850, p. 3; Hillsborough Recorder, June 25, 1851, p. 3; Hillsborough Recorder, January 29, 1851, p. 3
    9. Rev. John A. Bingham, former Latin professor at the Caldwell Institute, dies at his brother's home Rev. John A. Bingham died at his brother William J. Bingham's home in Orange County in his forty-first year. Raised and taught by his brother at the Hillsborough Academy, he had taught there with him, was licensed by Orange Presbytery in 1841, and was professor of Latin at the Caldwell Institute from 1845 until illness forced him to give up the post. Hillsborough Recorder, October 31, 1855, p. 3
    10. A post office opens at Caldwell Institute in northern Orange A post office was established at Caldwell Institute on April 1, 1877, giving the neighborhood mail service. A later issue said the office was officially named Caldwell Institute and revived one that had existed there many years before the war. Hillsborough Recorder, April 4, 1877, p. 3
    11. Caldwell Institute holds its closing exercises, with an address by Braxton Craven Caldwell Institute closed its session before a crowd of at least 800 people from Orange, Person, Caswell and Granville counties. Braxton Craven, president of Trinity College, spoke for about an hour on 'sowing wild oats' and on the need for education. Students gave declamations in the afternoon and a program of young ladies' compositions and music at night. Hillsborough Recorder, June 6, 1877, p. 3
    12. The old Caldwell Institute building at Hillsborough is torn down Demolition of the old Caldwell Institute building in Hillsborough was nearly finished, with all the woodwork removed. The Chapel Hill Ledger, February 7, 1880, p. 2
    Show all 28 dated events
    1. The Rev. A. Currie opens a school at Caldwell Institute with 21 pupils The Rev. A. Currie opened a school at Caldwell Institute, his post office address, beginning with 21 pupils. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), January 19, 1884, p. 3
    2. Fire destroys the Caldwell Institute building in Little River Township A fire thought to have been set destroyed the Caldwell Institute building in Little River Township at night, together with about 4,000 pounds of tobacco stored in it by H. Y. Harris, the postmaster and merchant at Caldwell. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 10, 1886, p. 3
    3. Caldwell Institute closes its session with an address by Graham College's W. S. Long Principal Foust's school at Caldwell Institute held its closing exercises on May 25, running from 3 in the afternoon until 10 at night. The Rev. W. S. Long, president of Graham College, gave the address, six students delivered declamations, and a string band from Hillsborough played. Hillsboro Recorder, May 31, 1888, p. 3
    4. Caldwell Institute trustees give the school building to J. H. McCracken as principal Meeting on April 5, the trustees of Caldwell Institute gave J. H. McCracken the use of the building for a male and female school starting with the fall term, and he engaged Miss Mary R. Holeman to teach music. His notices set sessions to open the second Tuesday of August and of January. People: J. H. McCracken Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 19, 1890, p. 3
    5. Caldwell Institute nearly finishes a new school building Principal J. H. McCracken reported that Caldwell Institute's new building, about 36 by 52 feet with a bay window, was almost done, and thanked the neighbors who had helped build it. The school planned public exercises for the night after Christmas. People: J. H. McCracken Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), December 13, 1890, p. 3
    6. Caldwell Institute opens its spring session with 53 pupils The spring term at Caldwell Institute began with fifty-three pupils, which the trustees called the largest session the school had had. A growing music class led the school to add an assistant music teacher, and the young men formed a debating society named for Dr. Brower. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 14, 1891, p. 3
    7. Caldwell Institute holds its commencement through a week of rain Rev. Mr. Crawford of Trinity College preached on Wednesday and spoke Thursday morning, W. W. Kitchin of the Roxboro bar gave the Thursday address and presented the medals, and pupils gave essays, music and dialogues that night. A correspondent credited Principal J. H. McCracken with building a school of about 80 pupils and a new schoolhouse in a year. People: William W. (William Walton) Kitchin, J. H. McCracken Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 20, 1891, p. 3
    8. Caldwell Institute opens its fall term with about sixty students Caldwell Institute opened under Principal J. H. McCracken and had about sixty students in its first weeks, with more still arriving. The paper called the school's prospects very bright. People: J. H. McCracken Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), August 29, 1891, p. 3
    9. Caldwell Institute holds its 1892 closing exercises Over two days the school held a lecture, a pupils' concert with recitations and a calisthenics drill, an address, and a medal presentation, including a scholarship medal given by Julian S. Carr. A correspondent called the evening crowd the largest ever at Caldwell. People: Julian S. Carr, J. H. McCracken Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 4, 1892, p. 2
    10. Caldwell Institute holds its commencement, with an address by Trinity College president John F. Crowell Caldwell Institute closed its session on May 18 before a large crowd. Rev. J. N. Cole of Raleigh preached the commencement sermon, Trinity College president John F. Crowell spoke on the restoration of rural life, and the school awarded its medals, one of them given in memory of a former student. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 27, 1893, p. 2
    11. Caldwell Institute holds its closing exercises Caldwell Institute closed its session with a sermon by Rev. L. J. Holden and an annual address by Rev. G. T. Watkins on life as a race, then gave the Medal of Progress to A. W. Kinion, a scholarship to Emma Woods and the society medal to F. W. McCracken. Principal J. H. McCracken announced that the next session would open late in August. People: J. H. McCracken Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 9, 1894, p. 2
    12. Caldwell Institute holds its commencement, with an address by Rev. M. McG. Shields Caldwell Institute held its commencement before a crowd too large for the academy. Students, teachers and visiting ministers marched from the music hall to the academy, and Rev. M. McG. Shields of Burlington spoke for an hour on success and how to obtain it. People: J. H. McCracken Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 6, 1896, p. 3
    13. Caldwell Institute's trustees accept J. H. McCracken's resignation and elect Thomas T. Candler principal Caldwell Institute held its commencement on May 23 and 24, with a sermon by Rev. E. E. Rose and an annual address by Dr. Crawford of Trinity Park, Durham. That evening the trustees accepted principal J. H. McCracken's resignation and elected Thomas T. Candler, a young man from the University of North Carolina, in his place. People: J. H. McCracken Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 3, 1897, p. 2
    14. Caldwell Institute trustees vote to build a new academy At the Caldwell Institute commencement the trustees met and voted to build a new academy building, in appreciation of principal Thomas T. Candler's work. Several trustees pledged a hundred dollars apiece and others gave building materials, with work to start in the summer or fall. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 26, 1898, p. 3
    15. Caldwell Institute starts a school library Under Prof. Roberts, its head since August 1901, Caldwell Institute started a library with help from the school's society and well-wishers as the academy recovered from two unsettled years. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 27, 1902, p. 3
    16. Caldwell Institute gets a large new school district A committee from Caldwell Institute asked for one district made from parts of the Wilson, Little River and Poplar Grove districts. The board approved and had the boundary surveyed. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 54

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