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University buildings and grounds

The Carolina Inn

The Carolina Inn is the hotel at the west gate of the UNC campus in Chapel Hill that John Sprunt Hill built in 1924 to designs by Arthur C. Nash, after too few alumni invested in his plan for an alumni hotel. In 1935 the Hill family gave it to the university, its income to support the North Carolina Collection.

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.

Show 16 more

Sites linked through the same people

  • Memorial Hall through John Sprunt Hill, Harry Woodburn Chase and 10 more
  • Hill Hall through John Sprunt Hill, Harry Woodburn Chase and 4 more
  • South Building through Albert Coates, Frank Porter Graham and 4 more
  • UNC Libraries through John Sprunt Hill, Harry Woodburn Chase and 4 more
  • UNC School of Law through John Sprunt Hill, Harry Woodburn Chase and 4 more
  • University YMCA through John Sprunt Hill, Harry Woodburn Chase and 4 more

Indexed works

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

About the site

The University's Living Room: A History of the Carolina Inn

Zogry, Kenneth Joel · 1999

Kenneth Joel Zogry's history of the Carolina Inn, the hotel that has stood beside the University of North Carolina campus since 1924. Six chapters run from the alumnus who built it, through the New Deal and Navy years of the 1930s and 1940s, postwar redecoration and Cold War politics, the changes of the 1960s and 1970s, and the challenges of the 1980s and 1990s. Published 1999 by the university, 149 pages with photographs, color illustrations and plans.

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

NC Cardinal UNC NCCU Chapel Hill PL CH Historical Society

The Carolina Inn : a grand reopening for the 'jewel' of the Carolinas.

2003 · The Herald-Sun

The Carolina Inn at Chapel Hill reopened after restoration in 1995, and the Herald-Sun of Durham marked it with an eight page illustrated supplement dated October 1 that year. Topics include the inn and the historic buildings of the town. It belongs with the other printed material generated by the 1995 reopening of the hotel.

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

UNC

Guide to the historic furnishings and photographic displays of the Carolina Inn

2001 · Carolina Inn

An 11-page guide to the historic furnishings and photographs displayed at the Carolina Inn, the university-owned hotel at the edge of the Chapel Hill campus, issued by the inn in 2001. It includes a floor plan for locating the pieces. It concerns the buildings of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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

UNC

The Inn crowd : October 16, 1995.

1996

A half hour videocassette of the narrated slide show 'The Carolina Inn', presented when the inn reopened in October 1995 at an event hosted by the Chapel Hill Preservation Society. Bitty Holton, Linnie Green, Judy Kramer and Betty Cloutier narrate. Topics include John Sprunt Hill and the Hill family, whose name is attached to the inn's founding.

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

UNC

Carolina Inn auction by Edwards Auction Gallery.

1994 · Edwards Auction Gallery

An auction catalogue produced in 1994 by Edwards Auction Gallery of Raleigh for a sale connected with the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill. Thirty-four unnumbered pages list the lots that were offered.

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

UNC

[A history of the Carolina Inn]

Case, Gretchen Alexa · 1992

Gretchen Alexa Case compiled this history of the Carolina Inn in 1992, a single illustrated volume with various foliations. It relates to the buildings of the University of North Carolina as well as to the inn itself. An unpublished piece of research, of use to anyone working on the inn or on the university's buildings.

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

UNC
Show 15 more works

Biographical information on James Weaver

Schmitt, Phillip T. · 1980 · P. Schmitt

Five leaves of handwritten notes and photocopied clippings assembled by Phillip T. Schmitt in 1980 about James Weaver, born 1914, an employee of the University of North Carolina connected with the Carolina Inn. The clippings come from the Chapel Hill newspaper and the News and Observer of Raleigh.

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

UNC

The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Carolina Inn (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · 1972 · Carolina Inn

A promotional booklet the Carolina Inn published about itself in 1972, ten unnumbered pages with illustrations. The inn stands on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill, and the booklet presents its rooms and its setting to guests.

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

UNC

The Carolina Inn

1950

Ten-minute videocassette on the Carolina Inn, the university's hotel in Chapel Hill, in color with black and white sequences. Funded by Frances Hill Fox, Mary and Watts Hill Jr., the inn and the Chapel Hill Preservation Society. Its subjects are the inn's history and its restaurant and menus.

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

UNC

The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, N.C.

1947

Promotional folder for the Carolina Inn at Chapel Hill, printed by the inn in 1947. A single sheet folded to ten unnumbered pages with illustrations. Brief in extent, it records how the inn presented itself to visitors in the years just after the Second World War, when the town was filling again with students.

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

UNC

Chapel Hill : a brief sketch of the seat of the University of North Carolina.

Chapel Hill Insurance and Realty Co · 1925 · Chapel Hill Insurance and Realty Co.

Six illustrated pages on Chapel Hill put out in 1925 by the Chapel Hill Insurance and Realty Company, which signed the sketch at the end. Part short history and part promotion, it names the Carolina Inn and the university among its subjects, with an emphasis on real estate investment.

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

UNC

Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill

1989

Photographs of the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill: exterior views from 1989 and from an unknown date, plus interior shots of the lobby and a hallway, in color and black and white.

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

DigitalNC DPLA

Carolina Inn: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1989

Group of eleven images of the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill from 1989, among them a drawing of the building, the inn in winter, a front view framed by trees and a view with trees and parked cars.

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

CH Historical Society

Carolina Inn, April 22, 1987

Morton, Hugh M. · 1987

The Carolina Inn, the university's hotel at the edge of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, among flowering trees on 22 April 1987. Color 35 mm mounted slide by Hugh Morton.

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

DPLA

Carolina Inn, circa 1970s

Morton, Hugh M. · 1970

Hugh Morton's color transparency of the Carolina Inn on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, about the 1970s, with trees around the historic hotel. One 4 x 5 inch sheet of film.

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

DPLA

Carolina Inn, 1960s-early 1980s

Morton, Hugh M. · 1960

The Carolina Inn at UNC-Chapel Hill framed by trees in bloom, in a color photograph by Hugh Morton from the 1960s to the early 1980s.

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

DPLA

John Sprunt Hill papers, 1679-1967.

Hill, John Sprunt, 1869-1961 · 1679

Four thousand five hundred items in five linear feet kept as the papers of John Sprunt Hill, 1869 to 1961, with material dated from 1679 to 1967, collection 3564 in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC. Genealogy, family histories and campaign literature appear among the genres. Topics include banking and business in North Carolina, the General Assembly, cooperative agriculture, Erwin Cotton Mills, the Carolina Inn, and Hill as a benefactor of the university.

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

UNC

Carolina Inn (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)

Newspaper clippings and promotional material on the Carolina Inn, the hotel beside the University of North Carolina campus that opened in 1924. An undated folder from the Businesses series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection.

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

CH Historical Society

Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Wootten, Bayard Morgan, 1875-1959; Moulton, George C. · Wootten-Moulton Studio

Wootten-Moulton Studio postcard of the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, from about 1933 to 1934, looking at the hotel's covered entrance and driveway from the side. The card is numbered C218-2. Bayard Wootten and George C. Moulton ran the studio together.

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

DPLA

The Carolina Inn at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina

Morton, Hugh M. · Colourpicture, Boston, Mass

A postcard of the Carolina Inn at Chapel Hill credited to the photographer Hugh M. Morton and printed by Colourpicture of Boston.

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

DPLA

The Carolina Inn, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Ruth, C. H. · North Carolina News Company, Durham, N.C

Credited to C. H. Ruth and published by the North Carolina News Company of Durham, a card showing the Carolina Inn at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Topics include hotels, universities and colleges, North Carolina postcards, and Orange County.

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

DPLA

Published by or for this institution

Carolina Innsites.

Carolina Inn (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · 1993 · The Carolina Inn

Newsletter the Carolina Inn began issuing in 1993, recorded as illustrated volumes with some color. It belongs with the inn, a hotel counted among the buildings of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and with the town's hotel literature.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Carolina Inn crier.

Carolina Inn (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · 1988 · The Inn

The house paper of the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, issued by the inn itself in illustrated volumes of 28 centimeters, with 1988 among the years recorded.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

[Carolina Inn].

1949 · The Inn

Pamphlets, flyers and menus gathered from the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill and kept together as a single group, dated 1949. The illustrated pieces, some of them in color, show how the hotel presented itself to guests and what it set before them. Material of this kind rarely survives, and it documents the town's hospitality trade at midcentury.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

A tribute to Chapel Hill

Graham, Frank Porter, 1886-1972 · 1934 · Carolina Inn

Frank Porter Graham's short tribute to Chapel Hill, printed by the Carolina Inn in 1934 on a single small sheet with illustrations. The verso gives the inn's room rates and notes that the hotel was owned and operated by the University of North Carolina, which Graham led as president at the time. Topics include hotel rates in Chapel Hill and description and travel of the university.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Carolina Inn records, 1843-1899, 1922-1928, 1940-1995 (bulk 1950-1970).

Carolina Inn (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · 1843

Records of the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, with material from 1843 to 1899, 1922 to 1928 and 1940 to 1995, the bulk falling between 1950 and 1970. About 3,400 items in three linear feet, collection 40098 in the University Archives at UNC. Oral histories are among the genres noted. Topics include hotels in Chapel Hill, inn employees, and the university's public services.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about The Carolina Inn 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

Little-Stokes, Margaret Ruth · 2006

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.

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

NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress CH Historical Society

The town and gown architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975

Little, M. Ruth · 2004 · Preservation Society of Chapel Hill

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.

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.

Chapel Hill historic sites survey : final report.

Gatza, M. B. · 1992 · Chapel Hill Planning Department

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.

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.

When Chapel Hill was a village

Love, Cornelia Spencer, 1892-1981 · 1976 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

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.

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

UNC Library of Congress CH Historical Society NC Cardinal

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina.

1925

Sanborn Map Company fire insurance map of Chapel Hill, June 1925, on eleven sheets, with Carrboro also drawn. Sanborn maps recorded the outline, construction and use of each building for fire insurers, so the set shows both towns block by block in the mid 1920s.

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

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Map of Chapel Hill & vicinity.

1933

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.

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

UNC

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 The Carolina Inn, 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.

    In the chronology

    1. John Sprunt Hill offers the Graves lot and $10,000 for an alumni hotel Hill offered the Graves property across from the west entrance plus $10,000 if 1,000 to 1,500 alumni would each give $100 toward a hotel whose profits would go to the University. The investors did not come, so he built the Carolina Inn himself. People: Harry Woodburn Chase Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 246
    2. John Sprunt Hill lets the building contract for the Carolina Inn John Sprunt Hill, for the incorporators of the Carolina Club, let the contract for the Carolina Inn to H. L. Smith of Durham. The old Graves house on the site, at the west gate of the campus, was to be moved south of the inn and joined to it for use as a student boarding house. The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 29, 1923, p. 1 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 29, 1923, p. 4
    3. The Carolina Inn is built John Sprunt Hill built the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, near the west gate of the campus. The general contractor, H. L. Smith of Durham, finished his work in November 1924, and the inn took in its first guests early in December before any official opening. People: John Sprunt Hill NCpedia · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, November 20, 1924, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 4, 1924, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, April 23, 1981, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, April 29, 1982, p. 5
    4. The Carolina Inn opens its cafeteria in the remodeled old house behind the hotel The Carolina Inn opened its cafeteria annex at Saturday lunch in the remodeled house that had been moved about fifty yards behind the new hotel, with prices the same as the downtown cafeterias, one room of tables and one of booths for families. The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 23, 1924, p. 1
    5. Annie Martin leases the Carolina Inn from John Sprunt Hill Mrs. Annie Martin, who had run several mountain hotels, took a lease of the Carolina Inn for a term of years from its owner, John Sprunt Hill, succeeding I. N. Gattman as manager. The Weekly reported she had already changed the kitchen and dining room staff and refurbished the inn. People: John Sprunt Hill The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 10, 1930, p. 1
    6. A private dining room is added to the Carolina Inn A new room for private parties was being built onto the Carolina Inn over the space of the pergola west of the dining room. The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 4, 1930, p. 1
    7. Officials at the Carolina Inn back Coates's plan for schools of public officers Forty-five judges, lawyers and lawmen invited by Judge W. A. Devin heard Coates propose an association of government officers served by a staff that would write guidebooks and train officials. They told him to go ahead, and Coates later called this the first meeting of the Institute of Government. Howard E. Covington Jr., The Good Government Man: Albert Coates and the Early Years of the Institute of Government (2018), p. 114
    8. The North Carolina Symphony Society meets at the Carolina Inn and elects Joseph Hyde Pratt president At a luncheon meeting at the Carolina Inn on Monday, March 21, 1932, backers of Lamar Stringfield's plan for a state orchestra elected Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt president of the North Carolina Symphony Society and approved a drive to enlist 20,000 members at $1 each. The society itself had been formed a few weeks earlier at a meeting in President Frank Porter Graham's office, with Pratt in the chair. The News's account of the 30th anniversary concert in 1962 recalled the Carolina Inn meeting as the start of what it called the nation's first state-supported orchestra. People: Lamar Stringfield, Joseph Hyde Pratt The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 26, 1962, p. 30 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 4, 1932, p. 5; Chapel Hill Weekly, March 25, 1932, p. 1
    9. The Hill family gives the Carolina Inn to the university John Sprunt Hill and his family gave the Carolina Inn, which he had built in 1924, to the university on the condition that its income support the North Carolina Collection. Hill presented the Inn at a meeting of the trustees' executive committee in Raleigh, which the Chapel Hill Weekly put on Wednesday, June 5, 1935; Names in Brick and Stone gives June 4. Names in Brick and Stone: Hill Hall · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 7, 1935, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 2, 1935, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 22, 1935, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, April 23, 1981, p. 1
    10. Alumni Association makes the Carolina Inn its official headquarters At its annual assembly the University Alumni Association gave a dinner at the Carolina Inn for Mr. and Mrs. John Sprunt Hill, who had given the Inn to the University, and marked the Inn's inauguration as official alumni headquarters, with the association's offices moving there from the South Building. People: John Sprunt Hill The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 14, 1936, p. 1
    11. The University refuses to give up part of the Carolina Inn yard to widen the highway The state highway commission had offered a curb, gutter and sidewalk for children walking to the Chapel Hill school only if the road beside the Inn were widened by a 10-foot strip. President Graham and the faculty grounds committee inspected the place and declined, proposing instead that the railroad trestle abutment be set back so the existing sidewalk could run under the tracks. People: Frank Porter Graham, William Chambers Coker The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 26, 1937, p. 1
    12. The PWA approves three more dormitories and a Carolina Inn addition for the University An unexpected last-minute PWA approval of a $700,000 project for three dormitories and an addition to the Carolina Inn, which was to include a long-wanted faculty club, raised the University's coming building program to $2,349,000, with the federal government paying 45 per cent. The program also took in a power plant, a zoology building, a dining hall, two other dormitories and the rebuilding of the Alumni Building, Gerrard Hall and Bynum Gymnasium, all to be started by December 31 and finished by the spring of 1940; George Watts Carr of Durham was engaged to design the Inn addition. People: Frank Porter Graham The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 7, 1938, p. 1
    Show all 56 dated events
    1. Muirhead Construction Company of Durham gets the contract for the Carolina Inn addition and a medical students' dormitory After bids were opened March 1, the contract for a southward addition to the Carolina Inn and a nearby housekeeping dormitory for medical and graduate students, both designed by Watts Carr in the style of the existing Inn, went to the Muirhead Construction Company of Durham. The project, about $400,000 in all, was to add 117 rooms; the dormitory was to be ready for students and the Inn addition by about December 1. The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 17, 1939, p. 1
    2. Alice Noble becomes first adviser to the pharmacy school's Kappa Epsilon chapter The Weekly reported that Kappa Epsilon, a group of women in the School of Pharmacy organized in the spring of 1938, would be installed as a chapter of the national Kappa Epsilon pharmaceutical sorority (the Lambda chapter, by the school's history) at ceremonies on January 12 and 13, 1940, with a charter presentation, initiation, a banquet at the Carolina Inn and a tea at Graham Memorial. The school's librarian Alice Noble, the group's adviser, became the chapter's first adviser. UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy: History · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, January 12, 1940, p. 2
    3. The Carolina Inn completes the first of its rear additions The Carolina Inn, which Arthur Nash designed for John Sprunt Hill, gained a rear addition in 1940, the first of three (later ones in 1970 and 1995) that tracked the university's growth. Designed by Watts Carr and built with the help of a PWA grant for about $290,000, the addition passed its final government inspection on January 22, 1940 and was turned over to the University; with its new cafeteria opening on February 2, the enlarged Inn had 92 rooms and 18 apartments. People: John Sprunt Hill, Arthur Cleveland Nash NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 60 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, December 2, 1938, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 8, 1939, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, January 26, 1940, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, February 2, 1940, p. 1
    4. Chapel Hill organizes civilian defense after Pearl Harbor Within days of Pearl Harbor, Mayor John Foushee called for hundreds of civilian-defense volunteers, and armed sentries guarded the airport, the University Lake dam and the power plant. A control center opened at the Carolina Inn, with a branch volunteer office for Black residents at Perry's barber shop, and UNC students formed a volunteer training corps. People: John M. Foushee The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 12, 1941, p. 1 (Committee Headed by Mayor Lays Plans for Community Aid in Defense)
    5. Archie Royal Davis's plans for the Naval Armory are settled and building begins After weeks of argument with consulting architect Arthur C. Nash, Durham architect Archie Royal Davis had his design for a Georgian Revival armory approved in mid-September 1942; R. K. Stewart and Son built it for about $41,000, meant as a temporary building to be replaced after the war. The Weekly had already described Davis's design, in the colonial style of the Carolina Inn, when bids were being opened on August 20, 1942, and on December 11 it reported the armory nearly finished, to be occupied when the University opened for the winter term on January 6, 1943. People: Arthur Cleveland Nash, Archie Royal Davis NC State Historic Preservation Office: Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill, National Register nomination (OR1541), p. 32 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, August 21, 1942, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 11, 1942, p. 1
    6. Judge Robert W. Winston dies at the Carolina Inn Robert Watson Winston, 84, former superior court judge and author of books and magazine articles on the South, died in his room at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill on the night of Friday, October 13, and was found the next morning. He had been in declining health for several years but kept at his work. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 19, 1944, p. 1
    7. The Carrboro Lions Club is organized Twenty-five Carrboro men organized a Lions Club with the help of a delegation from the Durham Lions, electing the Rev. V. E. Queen of the Methodist church president and Roy Riggsbee secretary. The club began regular meetings in the Methodist church hut on March 9 and received its charter at a banquet at the Carolina Inn on April 20 with 30 charter members. People: Roy Riggsbee The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 1, 1945, p. 1
    8. The Chapel Hill curb market marks eight years with a year of $40,004 in sales Farm women of the curb market celebrated its eighth birthday with prize baskets and elected new officers at the Carolina Inn. Its thirty sellers had sold $40,004.72 in the past year, almost six times the first year's total. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 11, 1945, p. 1
    9. Hugh Lefler tells Chapel Hill Rotarians and teachers that teachers are the community's real service group At a Halloween dinner the Chapel Hill Rotary Club gave the town's teachers at the Carolina Inn, Hugh Lefler told about 26 teachers and 50 Rotarians that teachers, not Rotarians, should be called the community's service organization, and that they were often paid less than janitors. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 8, 1945, p. 1
    10. A dinner at the Carolina Inn marks Fetzer's twenty-five years as director of athletics A dinner at the Carolina Inn on June 7, 1947 celebrated twenty-five years of Robert A. Fetzer's work in University athletics; the printed program called them twenty-five years as director of athletics. He had come in 1921 as assistant to his brother Bill, the director, and became director of athletics himself under the five-year contracts announced in January 1923. Chapel Hill Weekly: Chapel Hill Chaff (June 13, 1947), p. 1 · Also: UNC Libraries catalog: The Robert A. Fetzer twenty-fifth anniversary celebration; The Tar Heel, January 16, 1923, p. 1
    11. An Altrusa club is organized in Chapel Hill The newly organized Altrusa Club of Chapel Hill, with Mrs. Jean McAlpin Heer, the county welfare superintendent, as president, met at the Carolina Inn on November 18, heard Kathryn Cook's report on the district conference in Washington and named its standing committees. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 20, 1947, p. 8
    12. The North Carolina Bird Club meets in Chapel Hill and votes to merge with South Carolina's club More than 150 members of the North Carolina Bird Club held their annual meeting in Chapel Hill, heard naturalist Arthur A. Allen at a Carolina Inn banquet, and voted to merge with the South Carolina club. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 25, 1948, p. 8
    13. A fire in a Carolina Inn guest room fatally burns a visiting publisher's representative Fire broke out in a guest's room at the Carolina Inn about 4 p.m. and was put out by the Chapel Hill Fire Department, but the guest, William Alvard Borst, 37, a Harcourt, Brace and Company representative from New Haven, Connecticut, died of his burns that night at Memorial Hospital. State Bureau of Investigation agents were called in when local officers could not find the cause. People: L. B. Rogerson The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 14, 1953, p. 1
    14. Dickson, Nicholson and McCrary invite Herbert Aptheker to speak on campus Three of the students who later sued invited Aptheker to speak at Chapel Hill on March 9, 1966 under the sponsorship of Student Government, the Carolina Forum and the Daily Tar Heel, widening an earlier invitation from Students for a Democratic Society. The court found that the invitation went out on or about February 1 and that Aptheker accepted it two days later. The Daily Tar Heel reported that the three announced the invitation and his acceptance at a Carolina Inn press conference on February 4, and Aptheker later said Nicholson's letter of invitation was dated February 4. People: Paul Dickson III, Herbert Aptheker Caselaw Access Project: Dickson v. Sitterson, 280 F. Supp. 486 (M.D.N.C. 1968) · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, February 5, 1966, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, February 8, 1966, p. 6
    15. Two wings designed by Archie Royal Davis are added to the Carolina Inn Construction was under way by early October 1968 on the third major addition to the Carolina Inn, a $2 million project to plans by Archie Royal Davis, and it was largely finished by commencement in May 1970. Two wings on the Pittsboro Street side held a new cafeteria, ballroom and larger kitchen and forty-five more guest rooms, and the main entrance moved from Cameron Avenue to Pittsboro Street. NC State Historic Preservation Office: The Carolina Inn, National Register nomination (OR0545) · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, October 5, 1968, p. 3; The Daily Tar Heel, May 15, 1969, p. 1
    16. Work begins on a $2 million addition to the Carolina Inn Construction was under way on a $2 million addition to the University-owned Carolina Inn, financed by revenue bonds, that was to add a 24-room wing, a cafeteria, a ballroom seating 450 for dinner and a larger kitchen, and to move the main entrance from Cameron Avenue to a copy of the old front porch facing Pittsboro Street. Durham architect Archie Royal Davis drew the plans to follow Arthur C. Nash's colonial design, and the work was to take two years. People: Archie Royal Davis The Daily Tar Heel, October 5, 1968, p. 3
    17. The Carolina Inn's enlarged dining room reopens The Carolina Inn dining room reopened after being closed for repairs since December 9, its seating raised from 170 to 240, with cafeteria service at lunch and dinner. The Daily Tar Heel, April 23, 1970, p. 5
    18. Brick mason William "Smitty" Smith does his first stone repair, at the Carolina Inn Trained on brick, William E. Smith did his first rock work in 1971 or 1972 on the Pittsboro Street side of the Carolina Inn after watching an older mason on Cameron Avenue for an hour. He went on to run his own masonry business for more than fifty years. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Jeter and Ethel Neville House, National Register nomination (OR3151), p. 17
    19. UNC joins the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management UNC became the sixth member of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, a Ford Foundation-backed group of business schools recruiting Black and other minority students for MBA fellowships, at a luncheon in the Carolina Inn. Only five of the 120 first-year MBA students at UNC were Black, and none of the second-year class. Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), February 1973, p. 7
    20. Orange County begins appraising University property to see whether any of it is taxable County Manager Sam Gattis said county appraisers would begin assessing University property to see whether UNC must pay property tax, after a state revision made property not used wholly for public purposes, such as parking lots, rented faculty houses, vacant land and the Carolina Inn, open to county taxation. The University had been exempt for at least 105 years. The Daily Tar Heel, November 15, 1974, p. 1
    21. University grievance committee finds Carolina Inn workers denied equal merit pay The University Staff Employee Grievance Committee ruled that a Carolina Inn dishwasher denied a merit raise in five years deserved one and that Inn employees were treated less favorably than other state employees; only 10 of 40 eligible workers had received raises. Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor rejected the ruling on the individual case on October 21 but ordered every University unit to give merit raises to its most deserving two-thirds, and the worker's raise was granted in November. People: N. Ferebee Taylor The Daily Tar Heel, October 30, 1975, p. 1
    22. Protesters at the Carolina Inn press Governor Hunt to pardon the Wilmington Ten About 100 people, most of them white, demonstrated outside the North Carolina Press Institute banquet at the Carolina Inn days after Governor Jim Hunt commuted, rather than pardoned, the Wilmington Ten's sentences. The Wilmington Ten defense committee, the Young Socialists and the BSM Central Committee sponsored it; there was some shoving and a window was broken, and BSM chair Byron Horton regretted that so few Black students came. Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), February 3, 1978, p. 2
    23. Jesse Stroud, Carolina Inn porter and civil-rights letter writer, dies Jesse Robert Stroud, born in Chapel Hill in 1910, died in July at the Pine Ridge Nursing Home. A football player at Lincoln High School and North Carolina College by the paper's account, he spent most of his working life as a porter at the Carolina Inn, and he wrote pointed letters to the Anvil and the old Chapel Hill Weekly against bigotry and against churches he said tolerated Chapel Hill's racial ghettoes. He counted Terry Sanford, Sam Ervin and William Friday among his acquaintances. The Daily Tar Heel, August 3, 1978, p. 30
    24. State Property Tax Commission rules UNC must pay local taxes on the Carolina Inn The state Property Tax Commission ruled that University property used for commercial rather than educational purposes could be taxed, making the Carolina Inn, the rented first floor of the Hill Building on Franklin Street and parts of the Horace Williams Airport property taxable by Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County. About $3 million of the $40 million in University property taxed in 1974 was held taxable; Vice Chancellor John Temple estimated the tax on the Inn at $40,000 to $50,000. The Daily Tar Heel, January 19, 1979, p. 1
    25. A judge rules UNC must pay local taxes on the Carolina Inn and its off-campus utilities On June 8, 1979, Superior Court Judge Henry A. McKinnon Jr. ruled that the University must pay Orange County, Chapel Hill and Carrboro property taxes on about $17.6 million of property whose main purpose was not educational: its former off-campus electric and telephone utilities, the Carolina Inn and the first floor of the Hill Building on Franklin Street. He held the Horace Williams Airport exempt. The University and the three governments had appealed a January ruling of the state Property Tax Commission. The Daily Tar Heel, June 14, 1979, p. 6 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, April 15, 1980, p. 3
    26. Fire guts a second-floor suite at the Carolina Inn A fire that began behind a television in Suite 210 of the Carolina Inn about 6:20 p.m. on January 16, 1980, destroyed the room, where sprinklers and plaster walls held it; smoke and water damaged other second-floor rooms, guests were moved to other motels and a public safety officer was hurt. A state insurance official put the damage at about $50,000, and rebuilding began at once. The Daily Tar Heel, January 17, 1980, p. 1
    27. The N.C. Supreme Court rules that Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County cannot tax University property Reversing the state Property Tax Commission, the court held that state property cannot be taxed whatever its use, so UNC owed no local taxes on the Carolina Inn, the Hill building on Franklin Street and Horace Williams Airport. The decision ended a six-year effort by the county and the two towns to collect taxes for 1969 to 1974, which the commission had put at $2 million. The Daily Tar Heel, July 17, 1980, p. 4
    28. Jeff MacNelly is named to the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame UNC's School of Journalism announced that Jeff MacNelly, then a two-time Pulitzer winner, and five other journalists would be inducted into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame at a banquet at the Carolina Inn on Sunday, April 14. Daily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): Hall of Fame to honor journalists (April 9, 1985)
    29. UNC announces it will stop running the Carolina Inn Chancellor Paul Hardin announced on March 5, 1991, that the University would no longer manage the Carolina Inn after September and offered its 71 full-time employees priority transfers to other UNC jobs, since they could not stay state employees under any new arrangement. The inn had lost more than $332,000 in 1990-91, after a profit of almost $500,000 in 1984-85, and officials weighed an outside management company or a nonprofit corporation under the UNC Foundation. The Daily Tar Heel, March 6, 1991, p. 1
    30. Seven companies bid to run the Carolina Inn for the University The University, which had said in March that it would stop running the money-losing Carolina Inn, hired Hospitality Valuation Service of Mineola, N.Y., in June to find an operator, and seven companies submitted proposals by the August 19 deadline, among them the Camberley Hotel Company, Doubletree Inc. and East West Partners Management of Chapel Hill. Associate Vice Chancellor Carolyn Elfland said the state-owned inn, which lost $332,000 in 1989-90, would not be sold and that renovation and expansion would cost about $9 million; 44 of its 72 permanent employees had moved to other University jobs. The Daily Tar Heel, August 26, 1991, p. 1
    31. UNC narrows the firms bidding to manage the Carolina Inn to three University and state officials cut the list of firms seeking to run the financially troubled Carolina Inn from seven to three: Camberley Hotel Co. of Atlanta, Doubletree Inc. of Phoenix, and a joint bid from Winthrop Hotels and Resorts of Boston and Southeastern Historic Properties of Winston-Salem. Final proposals with renovation plans were due at the end of November, and a contract could run 20 or 30 years. The Daily Tar Heel, September 30, 1991, p. 1
    32. UNC trustees rename the Black Cultural Center for Sonja Haynes Stone Meeting at the Carolina Inn, the Board of Trustees voted in closed session, with one member opposed, to name the Black Cultural Center for the late professor Sonja Haynes Stone, while about 50 members of the Sonja Stone Task Force waited in silence holding posters of her. Chancellor Paul Hardin told the board the students had his support, and Student Body President Matt Heyd spoke for the change. The marchers then went to South Building, removed the first of three Styrofoam "stones" standing for their demands and held a reception at the renamed center. People: Sonja Haynes Stone Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), October 28, 1991, p. 5
    33. Carvings of Prince's circus parade move to the Alumni Center Carvings made from the circus parade illustrations in The Southern Part of Heaven, long displayed at the Carolina Inn, were moved in 1992 to the George Watts Hill Alumni Center. People: Carl Boettcher NCpedia: Prince, William Meade
    34. The Eighth International Conference of Lesbian and Gay Officials meets in Chapel Hill More than 75 openly lesbian and gay elected and appointed officials from across the United States and Canada met at the Carolina Inn for fundraisers, planning sessions and seminars after the 1992 election. Chapel Hill Mayor Ken Broun and Carrboro Mayor Eleanor Kinnaird addressed the conference, and B-GLAD supplied volunteers. People: Ellie Kinnaird Lambda (Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association, UNC), January 1993, p. 5 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, November 23, 1992, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, November 23, 1992, p. 3; The Daily Tar Heel, November 24, 1992, p. 3
    35. UNC agrees to lease the Carolina Inn to Doubletree Hotels After years of losses at the University-owned inn, UNC officials approved a contract leasing it to the Phoenix-based Doubletree Hotel Corporation, subject to approval by the N.C. Council of State. Doubletree would take a management fee of 2.5 percent of revenue for five years, then split net income, and would renovate the 1924 inn after the Bicentennial. The Daily Tar Heel, April 21, 1993, p. 3
    36. Doubletree names Gary Walton the Carolina Inn's first permanent manager in two years Gary Walton of the Doubletree Hotels Corporation became general manager of the Carolina Inn, which Doubletree leased from the University, the first permanent manager in about two years. Walton said major renovations, to be paid by more than $9 million from the University, would wait at least a year. The Daily Tar Heel, July 22, 1993, p. 4
    37. UNC trustees approve a $13.5 million renovation and new wing for the Carolina Inn The Board of Trustees voted on March 25 to approve $13.5 million in work on the Carolina Inn, including a new 56-room wing, renovated dining rooms, a swimming pool and a changed main entrance, and approved tearing down the 1939 Alumni House to make room for the wing. Doubletree Hotels Corp., which had run the University-owned hotel under a lease since 1993, had agreed to the renovation as part of its contract; the architects were Glave Newman Anderson of Richmond. The Daily Tar Heel, March 29, 1994, p. 1
    38. Wrecking crews begin tearing down the Alumni House to make room for a Carolina Inn wing After a noon ceremony with Chancellor Paul Hardin, a wrecking ball began demolishing the three-story brick building on Columbia Street south of the Carolina Inn, built in 1939 as the Bryant Apartments with 12 three-room apartments and home of the General Alumni Association from 1969 to 1993. The site was cleared for a 56-room wing, and the inn was to close November 20, 1994, for about nine months of renovation. The Daily Tar Heel, August 31, 1994, p. 1
    39. The Carolina Inn reports a $443,000 profit in its first year under Doubletree management In fiscal 1993-94, its first year managed by Arizona-based Doubletree Hotels, the University-owned inn earned $443,000, and its total income including Doubletree's fees exceeded what it had made in all its previous years combined. Associate Vice Chancellor Carolyn Elfland credited cost-cutting and freedom from the state personnel system, since occupancy rose only from 72.2 to 72.8 percent. The Daily Tar Heel, September 8, 1994, p. 1
    40. The Carolina Inn closes for a $13.5 million renovation The Carolina Inn closed for a nine-month, $13.5 million renovation and expansion planned to add 45 rooms and 4,000 square feet. Its Garden Court cafeteria, part of the inn since 1924, had served its last meal the day before and was to become a ballroom. Doubletree Hotels, which had leased the University-owned inn since 1993, set the reopening for September 1995. The Daily Tar Heel, November 22, 1994, p. 1
    41. The Carolina Inn joins the Study List The committee approved the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill for the Study List on July 9, 1998, among twenty public requests from the central and southeastern regions. The same meeting recommended the West Chapel Hill Historic District for nomination, and the inn's own nomination followed on April 8, 1999. NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register Advisory Committee agendas, minutes and approved lists, p. 782
    42. The Carolina Inn is listed in the National Register On August 6, 1999 the National Park Service listed the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill in the National Register of Historic Places. NC State Historic Preservation Office: North Carolina Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, Orange County · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: The Carolina Inn, National Register nomination (OR0545)
    43. The Board of Governors elects James Moeser chancellor at the Carolina Inn At a Board of Governors meeting in the Carolina Inn ballroom, UNC system president Molly Broad introduced University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor James Moeser, and the board unanimously elected him the ninth chancellor at Chapel Hill, ending an eight-month search. People: James Moeser The Daily Tar Heel: BOG Names Moeser as 9th Chancellor of University (April 17, 2000)
    44. Randall Robinson addresses the Blacks in the Diaspora student conference at the Carolina Inn TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson spoke to about 200 people at a luncheon of the seventh annual Blacks in the Diaspora Student Academic Conference, sponsored by the Black Cultural Center and the Institute for African-American Research, on segregation, Black History Month and his case for reparations in The Debt. Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), March 2001, p. 4

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