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Schools and academies

Cameron Park School

Cameron Park School is an elementary school on St. Mary's Road in Hillsborough, built on the Cameron Park property the county school board bought in 1952. It opened in 1956 with grades one through four from Hillsboro High School and was enlarged in 1959, 1978 and the late 1980s.

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 Cameron Park School. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.

Published by or for this institution

Cameron Park Elementary tree guide

2007 · Cameron Park School

Guide to the trees on the grounds of Cameron Park Elementary School in Hillsborough, written by Pascale Mittendorf and Liz Waters as part of the school's fiftieth anniversary in 2007. The land was once owned by Paul and Anne Ruffin Cameron. Twenty-eight pages with illustrations, published by the school.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Cameron Park School 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.

Hillsborough architectural survey

Slane, Heather Wagner · 2017 · hmwPreservation

Survey of Hillsborough's historic buildings by Heather Wagner Slane of hmwPreservation, completed in September 2017. The 40-page report covers the town's architecture and history with color illustrations and maps.

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.

Time in place, place in time : history and sense of place in Hillsborough, North Carolina

Warren, Cheryl Davis · 2005

Cheryl Davis Warren's 2005 study of history and sense of place in Hillsborough, 216 leaves with illustrations, maps and a bibliography. Written as human geography, it treats the town's past alongside its social conditions and the ways residents understand where they live.

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

UNC

Architectural survey and National Register evaluation of St. Mary's road (S.R. 1002), Orange County, North Carolina

Henry, Geoffrey B. · 1999

Geoffrey B. Henry of GAI Consultants surveyed the historic buildings along St. Mary's Road (S.R. 1002) near Hillsborough in August 1999 and evaluated them for the National Register, for the Orange County Department of Planning. A 53-page report with maps.

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.

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 Cameron Park School, 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

    • Start here · NC 975.656 LLO History of the Town of Hillsborough, 1754-1982 Lloyd, Allen Alexander · 1983

      A 1982 revision of Allen Alexander Lloyd's history of Hillsborough, now written with Pauline O. Lloyd and carried forward from the town's founding in 1754 to 1982. Published in Hillsborough by A. A. Lloyd, 310 pages with illustrations and a bibliography.

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 HOLADAY Hillsborough Holaday, Chris · 2002

      J. Chris Holaday's Images of America volume on Hillsborough (Arcadia, 2002), built mostly from photographs and postcards. Chapters cover homes, churches and schools, business and industry, local people, scenes around town, and sports, entertainment and events.

    • 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.

    Show 1 more
    • 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 720.975 HILLSBOR Hillsborough Historic District Inventory 2006

      An inventory of the buildings in the Hillsborough Historic District, dated 2006. It concerns historic buildings and the buildings and structures of Hillsborough. Useful for anyone checking a particular property in the town's historic district.

    • Start here · NC 720.975 BEL Photocensus: A Photographic Survey of Buildings in the Hillsborough, N.C. Historic District Built Before 1950 Bellinger, Susan McArtor · 1991

      Susan McArtor Bellinger's photographic survey of the buildings in the Hillsborough Historic District put up before 1950, self-published in Hillsborough in 1991. Arranged as a guidebook, it records houses and other structures in photographs. 142 pages with illustrations.

    Show 1 more
    • Rebecca Wall Collection · 917.565 DUL The Pelican Guide to Hillsborough, Historic Orange County, North Carolina Dula, Lucile Noell · 1989

      Lucile Noell Dula's guidebook to Hillsborough and its historic buildings, published by Pelican in 1989. It pairs a tour of the town with notes on its history, in 128 illustrated pages with a bibliography. Part of the Wall Local History Collection.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Hillsborough, North Carolina History of Town Lots: The Complete Reference Guide Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2013

      Stewart E. Dunaway worked through Hillsborough, N.C., lot by lot, giving each town lot a synopsis of its history, a plat showing where it sits and transcripts of the deeds he could locate for it. The second issue runs to 720 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Hillsborough, North Carolina History of Town Lots: Addendum 2015 Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2015

      Stewart E. Dunaway's 2015 addendum to his history of Hillsborough's town lots, adding deed records arranged by lot number and further town history, with the expansion of the 1890s covered for the first time. Self-published in North Carolina as version 1.0, 446 pages with illustrations, facsimiles and maps. Topics include deeds, court records, land titles and real property in Hillsborough.

    • Foundational · NC 333.3 IND An Index to the Town Lots of Hillsborough: Orange County, North Carolina 1982

      An index to the town lots of Hillsborough, Orange County, compiled in 1982 as a guide to the deeds and court records that trace each lot's ownership.

    In the chronology

    Storyline about this site, with a page of its own:

    1. County boards offer to buy Cameron Park land for a new Hillsboro elementary school The county commissioners and board of education approved buying 21.75 acres of Cameron Park, between St. Matthew's Episcopal Church and the Wall home, Burnside, as the site of a new Hillsboro elementary school, and mailed the offer to owner Rebecca Wall. Negotiations had stalled in November over her conditions, among them that the school be named for Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin, and by February they were at a standstill. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 10, 1952, p. 1
    2. Rebecca Wall turns down the county's offer for the Cameron Park property Reporting on school and courthouse finances, the county commissioners said they still had no site for the new Hillsboro elementary school because Miss Wall had rejected the county's offer for her Cameron Park property. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 24, 1952, p. 1
    3. The county board buys the Cameron Park property in Hillsborough for a new elementary school On September 15, 1952, the deadline the board had set before it would begin condemnation, Rebecca Wall signed a deed for 21.15 acres of Cameron Park to the county Board of Education, which paid her $18,000 and named the school to be built there Cameron Park. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 82 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 18, 1952, p. 1
    4. School board names committees to plan Hillsboro's new elementary school and guard the Cameron Park trees Answering a Garden Club request, the county Board of Education named a building committee of Clarence D. Jones, Mrs. Don S. Matheson and E. J. Hamlin to work with Hillsboro on the design of the new elementary school at Cameron Park so it would fit the town's architecture, and a horticulture committee to protect the rare trees and shrubs of what the board called the Cameron Park Arboretum. People: Don S. Matheson The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 6, 1952, p. 1
    5. A school committee approves plans for the new Hillsboro elementary school at Cameron Park A local committee gave the county school board and architect Archie Royal Davis the go-ahead to finish plans for a modern elementary school on the Cameron Park property, facing St. Mary's Road between the Episcopal church and the A. H. Graham estate. The first stage was to be the basic plant and six classrooms, with room to add up to 24. People: Archie Royal Davis The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 14, 1953, p. 1
    6. The school board orders plans drawn for Cameron Park School The county Board of Education directed architect Archie R. Davis to draw plans for the new Cameron Park School in Hillsborough, a 16-classroom building with lunchroom, offices and heating plant estimated at $235,000. It approved spending the $170,000 then on hand and put off $65,000 of the work until more money came. People: Archie Royal Davis The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 10, 1953, p. 1
    7. A Hillsboro delegation asks the county boards for $65,000 in bonds to start Cameron Park School L. E. Beard, Sidney Green, Mrs. Beth Roberts and Principal G. A. Brown went before the county Board of Education and then the county commissioners to press for $65,000 in bonds so work could begin on the Cameron Park School, citing an urgent need for more classrooms in Hillsboro. People: Grady A. Brown The News of Orange County (Hillsborough): Cameron Park School delegation, March 4, 1954, p. 1
    8. County commissioners order $65,000 in bonds to build the Cameron Park School in Hillsboro With no one appearing to protest at a public hearing, the commissioners unanimously passed an order for $65,000 in school building bonds, issued without a vote of the people, for the Cameron Park Elementary School on St. Mary's Road. Hillsboro's crowded school was teaching classes in its auditorium, gym, halls and condemned basement rooms. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Sim Efland, Robert O. Forrest The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 6, 1954, p. 1
    9. The Hillsboro PTA asks the school board to hurry the Cameron Park School The Hillsboro Parent-Teacher Association filed a resolution asking the Board of Education to push the long-delayed Cameron Park elementary school, voted in the 1949 bond issue, so it could open in the fall of 1955, noting that classes met in every corner of the old building and the elementary grades had lost their accreditation for lack of proper classrooms. The board answered that the 1949 bonds had not provided enough and that county money had been assured only in June 1954. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 25, 1954, p. 1
    10. Bids are opened for Hillsboro's new Cameron Park School A record 22 firms sought the general contract when bids were opened in the old courthouse; Charles C. Hayes Construction Company of Durham was low at $187,740, and the four low bids came to $255,999 against $235,000 on hand, a gap officials expected to close by dropping items. Architect Archie R. Davis said the school, the last to be built from the 1949 bond issue, could be finished by the next September. People: Archie Royal Davis, G. Paul Carr The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 16, 1954, p. 1
    11. Work begins on the Cameron Park Elementary School in Hillsborough Excavation for the new Cameron Park Elementary School began after school officials signed about $235,000 in contracts, with Charles C. Haynes Construction Company as general contractor and Archie R. Davis as architect. The plan called for fourteen classrooms and a lunchroom in a building 350 feet long, set 100 feet back from St. Mary's Road. The school board had already trimmed the specifications and asked for $65,000 in state school building money for the job. People: Archie Royal Davis, G. Paul Carr The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 20, 1955, p. 1
    12. Murphey School parents seek transfers while others fight to keep the school Parents asked the county school board to let 19 children leave Murphey School for the new Cameron Park School, and some were keeping their children out or sending them to Durham. Other parents of the district held a mass meeting and hired a Durham lawyer to keep Murphey open; the board said it had no plan to close the school and put off the transfers until May. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 12, 1956, p. 1
    Show all 26 dated events
    1. The county school board accepts the new Cameron Park School from its builder The board formally accepted the Cameron Park School building, subject to the architect's approval, and approved preliminary drawings for an Aycock School lunchroom. The 14-teacher elementary unit was finished too late for the 1955-56 term and was to open that fall. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 10, 1956, p. 8
    2. Fred Rogers is named the first principal of Cameron Park School Rogers, 27, principal of Efland Elementary for two years and a High Point College graduate from Bladen County, was chosen to head the new 14-teacher elementary school in Hillsboro, which would hold its first classes that fall. The county board confirmed him as principal and fifth-grade teacher on July 2. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 14, 1956, p. 1
    3. Cameron Park School opens in Hillsborough with the lower grades from Hillsboro High The new Cameron Park School took all of grades one through four from the Hillsboro High School building, leaving grades five through twelve there, with Fred Rogers, formerly of Efland, as principal. Transfer requests from other districts poured in and drew pupils away from West Hillsborough School. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 83 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 20, 1956, p. 3
    4. Hillsborough dedicates the new Cameron Park School The county dedicated Cameron Park School on St. Mary's Road, then in its third month of use, with an address by Charles Milner of the UNC Extension Division and the passing of keys from school board chairman C. W. Stanford to local committee chairman Bonner D. Sawyer to principal Fred W. Rogers. The newly formed Cameron Park Parent-Teacher Association sponsored the program and installed Harry P. Breeze as its president. People: G. Paul Carr, Bonner D. Sawyer, Charles W. Stanford The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 29, 1956, p. 1
    5. Cameron Park School is accredited Principal Ted Shoaf told the Cameron Park School Parents and Teachers Association that the school, opened the year before, was now accredited. At the same meeting parents approved a new music program taught by a special teacher and paid by a charge of about eight cents a week a pupil, since the state did not provide music teachers. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 3, 1957, p. 3
    6. The county school board lets contracts for a new wing at Cameron Park School The Orange County Board of Education let contracts totaling $220,366.58, including architect's fees, for a second wing at Cameron Park School in Hillsboro, with 13 classrooms, an auditorium and a library. T. W. Poe Construction Co. of Durham won the general contract. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 9, 1958, p. 1
    7. Cameron Park School in Hillsborough gets its first addition Three years after it opened, the county enlarged Cameron Park School with a second section of building, raised under Superintendent G. Paul Carr to plans by the architect Archie Royal Davis. People: Archie Royal Davis, G. Paul Carr DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 165
    8. Murphey School closes and its pupils go to Hillsborough After years of falling attendance the county Board of Education voted on June 1, 1959 to close Murphey School, then a 79-pupil elementary school, at the end of the year and send its pupils and teachers to the new wing of Cameron Park School in Hillsborough. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Murphey School, National Register nomination (OR0467), p. 20 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 4, 1959, p. 1
    9. The county school board refuses to sell the Regulator hanging ground at Cameron Park School Asked by a Hillsboro man to sell him a small piece of the Cameron Park School grounds described as the land where the Regulators were hanged, the Board of Education said the land was not for sale and agreed to enclose the marker already there and the ground around it and keep it for historical purposes. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 6, 1959, p. 1
    10. The Cameron Park PTA honors retiring teachers Jessie Latta and Mamie Ray Two Hillsboro teachers with more than 40 years each in the classroom, Mrs. Jessie Latta and Mrs. Mamie Ray, who were retiring at the end of the school year, received engraved silver bowls from the Cameron Park PTA, presented by school board members who had been their pupils. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 4, 1961, p. 8
    11. Orange County Board of Education closes Caldwell School In spring 1961 the county board weighed its attorney's proposal to close White Cross and Caldwell schools. In March 1963, in the consolidation that came with the new Orange High School, it eliminated the Caldwell district and closed Caldwell School, a school for white pupils built in 1925; that May Caldwell pupils were moved into the Aycock district, and other parts of the old district joined Cameron Park. A sale of the building fell through in 1963 because the board could not give clear title, and it was not sold until the 1970s. The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 8, 1963, p. 2 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 1, 1961, p. 1; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 6, 1961, p. 6; February 4, 1963 resolution; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 6, 1963, p. 14; Open Orange: Caldwell School
    12. Orange County Schools regroup pupils by grade across the Hillsborough schools to complete integration For 1969-70 the county put all its pupils outside the Efland area into Hillsborough schools, each serving set grades: kindergarten at Central Elementary, grades 1-2 at Cameron Park, 3-4 at Central, 5-6 at the old Orange Junior High, 7-9 at a new Orange Junior High and 10-12 at Orange High. Efland-Cheeks took kindergarten through third grade and Efland Elementary grades 4-6, and Aycock, Cedar Grove and West Hillsborough dropped out as separate schools. People: G. Paul Carr DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 139
    13. Cameron Park School is enlarged again under Superintendent Michael Simmons A further addition to Cameron Park Elementary in Hillsborough went up in 1978, the third stage of the building, which by the early 1980s housed kindergarten through fifth grade. People: Michael Simmons DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 165
    14. Cameron Park School is enlarged again in the late 1980s Following its 1978 addition, Cameron Park School on St. Mary's Road in Hillsborough received further additions on its north and south sides in the late 1980s. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Cedar Grove School, National Register nomination (OR3044), p. 32 · Also: Hillsborough Historic District additional documentation

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