Schools and academies
Chapel Hill High School, the town's high school for white students, met from 1916 in a graded school building on West Franklin Street, and from 1947 in its own building there after a 1942 fire destroyed its Columbia Street school. In 1966 a new campus on High School Road opened as the town's first integrated high school.
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 named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.
Books, articles, records, and images about Chapel Hill High School. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.
The yearbook of Chapel Hill High School, issued in annual volumes with photographs of students, staff and school life. Some issues carry the spine title Chapel Hill High School, and no volume is known to have appeared in 1935. Illustrated volumes, 28 to 31 cm.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Barbara Lorie, interviewed by Melissa Froemming for the Southern Oral History Program on February 26, 2001, recalls her career as a teacher and civil rights worker in Chapel Hill. After a year at Durham Academy she was hired by principal May Marshbanks to teach literature at the newly integrated Chapel Hill High School, where she tried unconventional classroom methods to bridge racial divisions among students. The interview runs one hour fifteen minutes. Electronic edition 2007, Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Burnis Hackney entered Chapel Hill High School, newly integrated, in 1966, one of the first Black students there after Lincoln High School closed. In this Southern Oral History Program interview, recorded February 5, 2001, by Bob Gilgor, Hackney weighs his conviction that integration was right against what was lost when Lincoln's traditions were set aside, and how the merger played out for students. About an hour and a half. Published online in 2006 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Gloria Register Jeter (born 1952) attended both segregated and integrated public schools of Chapel Hill and offers a critical view of how desegregation was carried out, in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded December 23, 2000, by Bob Gilgor. Jeter argues that the merger of Lincoln High School into Chapel Hill High School cost the Black community its school traditions and institutions, and describes the student protests that followed. Published online in 2006 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Joanne Peerman, a Chapel Hill native and the daughter of a well-known coach, was in one of the first classes to integrate Chapel Hill High School. In this Southern Oral History Program interview, recorded by Bob Gilgor in February 2001, she describes her schooling under segregation and after it, the last years of Lincoln High School, and the civil rights demonstrations that accompanied school integration. About an hour and a half; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
A short interview, about thirty-one minutes, with Kathryn Cheeks, a white woman from Chapel Hill who attended elementary school while the town's public schools were desegregating. Talking with Susan Upton in March 2003, she recalls what a child noticed and missed about desegregation, race relations at Chapel Hill High School, and the civil rights demonstrations of the period. Part of the Southern Oral History Program; electronic edition issued by the UNC library in 2006 through Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Raney Norwood was among the African American students who moved from Lincoln High School to the newly desegregated Chapel Hill High School. Interviewed by Bob Gilgor in January 2001, he recalls the traditions left behind at Lincoln, a hard first year at the new school, and the nonviolent protests students mounted to carry those traditions over. An Upward Bound math-science program also comes up. Runs about an hour and three quarters; electronic edition issued by the UNC library in 2006 through Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Sheila Florence (born 1947) was one of the first African American students to enter Chapel Hill High School when it desegregated. In this January 2001 interview with Bob Gilgor she describes growing up in segregated Chapel Hill, the poor state of the town's Black schools, including Lincoln High School, the harassment she faced at the formerly white school, and the civil rights demonstrations of the era. About an hour and forty minutes; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Stella Nickerson describes her girlhood in Chapel Hill's Black community during the years of school integration. Interviewed by Bob Gilgor in January 2001, she remembers a close neighborhood in which work, school and church were bound together, the disciplined atmosphere of the all-Black schools, and the changes integration brought as students moved from Lincoln High School to Chapel Hill High School. Runs about seventy-two minutes; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Thurman Couch went from Lincoln High School into the first group of African American students at Chapel Hill High School. Interviewed by Bob Gilgor in February 2001, he compares the two schools, speaks as a former athlete about sports before and after desegregation, and argues that integration cost the Black community its school traditions and weakened the bond between school and neighborhood. The town's civil rights demonstrations also come up. About an hour; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Walter Durham, born about 1948 into a landowning Black family, grew up between Carrboro and Chapel Hill and attended Carrboro's all-Black schools until Lincoln High School merged into Chapel Hill High School in 1966. Over two sessions with Bob Gilgor in January 2001 he describes neighborhood life, church and school, what students lost and gained in the merger, and the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s. About two hours and ten minutes; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Jennifer Nardone's 2002 study of how Chapel Hill desegregated its public schools between 1954 and 1969, with Lincoln High School and Chapel Hill High School both included. Fifty-three illustrated leaves with a closing bibliography. School integration and discrimination in education are the subject terms, and the pairing of the two schools reflects the town's move to a single high school.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Cherie Janice McDougall reported in 1950 on the problem areas named by students at Chapel Hill High School, examining student attitudes. The typescript runs to 118 pages with eleven unnumbered leaves and closes with a bibliography, and it records how the town's school and its student body were examined at midcentury.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Allison William Honeycutt's 1944 evaluation of Chapel Hill High School, examining its management and organization, staffing and performance against the standards of the day. 131 leaves with illustrations and a bibliography.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Edwin McKoy Highsmith's 1914 inquiry into student government in secondary schools, a study of 35 pages ending with a bibliography. The text refers to Chapel Hill High School and documents how students shared in running the town's school early in the century.
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Students leaving the Chapel Hill High School building in 1955. One photograph from the schools series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
In 1940 the Chapel Hill High School faculty posed outside the school building for this group photograph, part of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Team portrait of Chapel Hill High School tennis players, taken in 1936. One photograph from the schools series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Chapel Hill High School's building on Pittsboro Street, seen from outside in four photographs from 1936. Part of the schools series in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Henry Marrow, principal of Chapel Hill High School, posed with what appear to be five of his teachers in 1913. One photograph from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Photographs of people attending Chapel Hill High School's 50th reunion in 1995, with names given for some, among them Fred Bowman, Margaret MacCarthy, Evander Blackwood and Bill Browne. From the Schools series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Chapel Hill High School in newspaper clippings, photocopied articles, promotional materials, photographs, reports and notes, and material the school produced. Undated folder in the Schools series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
School buses lined up outside Chapel Hill High School, in one undated photograph from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Chapel Hill High School's Class of 1968, in promotional materials and photographs. Undated folder in the Schools series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Chapel Hill High School teachers seated around a table, in one undated photograph from the schools series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Four children, one of them in a donkey costume, grouped with other photographs of Chapel Hill High School students. Undated, from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Negative of the Chapel Hill High School basketball team in a posed group. Undated, from the schools series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Action shot of Chapel Hill High School cheerleaders in the middle of a cheer. Undated, one photograph from the schools series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Chapel Hill High School's quiz bowl team shown with its trophy in one undated photograph from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection (CHHS.002).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Clippings from Chapel Hill High School yearbooks, a miscellaneous gathering in an undated folder of the Schools series, Chapel Hill Historical Society Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
Yearbook material produced by Chapel Hill High School, in an undated folder from the Schools series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection (CHHS.001).
Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.
A seventy fifth anniversary issue of Hillife, the Chapel Hill High School yearbook, published by the school in 2000 with support from the PTSA. Notes describe then and now pictures of a few students from each year and one page remembrances written for each year. 256 pages with illustrations and portraits, covering the school's alumni.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The student handbook for Chapel Hill High School issued by the 1970 to 1971 Student Council, 36 pages with plans at 16 cm. Topics include high school students in Chapel Hill and the school's own students in handbook form, a pocket guide to how the school was organized at the start of the 1970s.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Student writing published by Chapel Hill High School students from 1957. The periodical includes prose by American high school students. Volumes measure 24 centimeters.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
A 2004 guide from the Chapel Hill High School Drug/Alcohol Awareness Task Force, subtitled prevent substance abuse before it starts, addressed to parents. Issued in Chapel Hill. The title and the issuing body are the whole of what is recorded.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Graduates of Chapel Hill High School and of Lincoln High School are listed together in this alumni directory for the Chapel Hill and Carrboro City Schools, published in 1996 for the system's golden anniversary. 228 pages with illustrations and portraits.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Program for a bicentennial play staged by Chapel Hill High School, marking two hundred years of Chapel Hill from 1793 to 1993 and named for the chapel of ease that gave the town its name. Eight unnumbered pages, published by the school in 1994.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
A 1988 reunion volume built around the 1936 Hillife, the Chapel Hill High School yearbook, reproducing pages from the original along with reunion programs and answers to questionnaires returned by classmates. Sixty two unnumbered leaves with illustrations. Topics include the school's alumni and its student periodicals, which makes it a source on the class of 1936.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
A literary magazine from Chapel Hill High School beginning in 1974, carrying prose and verse by students of the school. Topics include school prose and school verse by American high school students in Chapel Hill. Volumes with illustrations at 20 to 22 cm, a companion to the other student publications of the period.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School students began this title in 1974, another outlet for school prose and school verse. Issued in volumes with illustrations at 28 cm, it keeps the creative work of the school's students from the middle 1970s.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Student handbook for Chapel Hill Senior High School, issued by the school in 1974 under the title Paper Tiger, 49 pages with plans of the building. A handbook for high school students, it sets out what a student needed to know about the school that year, and it now is a reference on the school as it was in the mid-1970s.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
A student periodical published by the students of Chapel Hill High School from 1974, covering school prose by American high school students in Chapel Hill. Issued in volumes at 28 cm, it collects writing by the school's own students and sits alongside the other titles the high school produced in that decade.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Published by the senior class of Chapel Hill High School from 1974, a yearbook recording each graduating class in portraits and photographs.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
A 20-page handbook from Chapel Hill High School describing its library-media center, its holdings, facilities and services, published by the school library in 1970. Illustrated with plans of the center and a portrait.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Programs for the commencement exercises at Chapel Hill High School, beginning with 1949 and issued by the school itself. Topics include commencement ceremonies in Chapel Hill along with the school, and the note calls each issue a program for the exercises. Volumes at 23 cm, the kind of printed ephemera that records the close of a school year.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The yearbook of Chapel Hill High School, published by the school itself. The entry covers the annual series. Yearbooks of this kind record the students, staff and activities of each graduating class, which makes the run a source for names and school life in Chapel Hill and Orange County.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Student newspaper of Chapel Hill High School, issued in volumes with illustrations in varying sizes.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The 1973 'Hillife', the student yearbook of Chapel Hill High School, issued for that school year. It sits in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection, with the Chapel Hill Historical Society named as the source of the volume.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School's yearbook for 1972, published under the title 'Hillife' by the school's students. Topics include school yearbooks in Chapel Hill, the high school's student body, and Orange County. One of the Chapel Hill Historical Society volumes in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Hillife for 1971 is the Chapel Hill High School yearbook, printed by the Hunter Publishing Company of Winston-Salem. It reached DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection by way of the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School's 1970 yearbook, 'Hillife', printed by the Hunter Publishing Company of Winston-Salem. The Chapel Hill Historical Society contributed the volume to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection, where it joins other years of the same title.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
For 1969, students at Chapel Hill High School produced 'Hillife'. Part of DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Students at Chapel Hill High School produced this 1968 volume of 'Hillife'. It is one of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's volumes in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The 1967 'Hillife' is the annual of Chapel Hill High School, with the school named as creator. Contributed by the Chapel Hill Historical Society to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
'Hillife' for 1966, the annual of Chapel Hill High School. From the Chapel Hill Historical Society, in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The 1965 'Hillife' from Chapel Hill High School. It came to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection from the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
For the 1964 school year, Chapel Hill High School issued 'Hillife'. The volume is part of the North Carolina Yearbooks collection at DigitalNC, from the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
A 1963 volume of 'Hillife', the yearbook of Chapel Hill High School. The Chapel Hill Historical Society supplied the volume to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The 1962 'Hillife' is the student annual of Chapel Hill High School. It sits in the North Carolina Yearbooks collection at DigitalNC, from the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The 1961 volume of 'Hillife', Chapel Hill High School's yearbook. From the Chapel Hill Historical Society, in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Yearbook of Chapel Hill High School for 1960, published under the title 'Hillife'. It reached DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection by way of the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
A 1959 'Hillife' from Chapel Hill High School, the students' own yearbook for that session. The Chapel Hill Historical Society supplied it to the North Carolina Yearbooks collection at DigitalNC.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Students at Chapel Hill High School produced this 1958 'Hillife'. It belongs to the North Carolina Yearbooks collection at DigitalNC, from the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School students put out 'Hillife' for 1957. The Chapel Hill Historical Society supplied it to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Hillife for 1956, the yearbook published by students at Chapel Hill High School. The Chapel Hill Historical Society supplied the volume for DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
For 1955, 'Hillife' records the year at Chapel Hill High School. It forms part of DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection, from the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School's yearbook for 1954, Hillife. It reached DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection through the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The Chapel Hill High School annual for 1953, called Hillife. It sits in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection, contributed by the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The Chapel Hill High School yearbook for 1952, titled 'Hillife'. It is a Chapel Hill Historical Society volume in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School's yearbook for 1951, 'Hillife', with the school named as creator. The Chapel Hill Historical Society contributed it to the North Carolina Yearbooks collection at DigitalNC.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Hillife of 1950 documents Chapel Hill High School. Orange County appears as the place. The Chapel Hill Historical Society is the source in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School issued 'Hillife' for 1949. The volume deals with school yearbooks of Chapel Hill and with the school's students, under Orange County. It belongs to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection, from the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The 1948 Hillife is the Chapel Hill High School yearbook, concerning school yearbooks of Chapel Hill, the school's students and Orange County. It came to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection from the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
'Hillife' for 1947, produced by the student body of Chapel Hill High School. The Chapel Hill Historical Society supplied it to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Hillife for 1946, the yearbook of Chapel Hill High School. Like the other Hillife volumes, it comes through the Chapel Hill Historical Society, in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Ribbon-bound booklet for the baccalaureate service of the Chapel Hill High School class of 1945, with a group photograph of the graduates. Henry G. Ruark is named as its creator.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Program for Chapel Hill High School's commencement on 6 June 1945, naming the graduates, the junior marshals and the faculty.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Dated 1945, this 'Hillife' is the annual of Chapel Hill High School. Contributed to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection by the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The Proconian, student newspaper of Chapel Hill High School, in a run of 55 issues dating from 1944.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School's 'Hillife' for 1944, made by the school's students. The Chapel Hill Historical Society supplied the volume for DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School's 'Hillife' for 1943, with Alfred H. Kirkland of Chapel Hill named in the publisher statement. The Chapel Hill Historical Society contributed it to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
'Hillife' for 1942, the Chapel Hill High School annual for that year. From the Chapel Hill Historical Society, in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
A yearbook from Chapel Hill High School for 1941, titled Hillife. From the Chapel Hill Historical Society, in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Chapel Hill High School's students issued 'Hillife' for 1940. The Chapel Hill Historical Society is the source of the copy in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
'Senior Life' for 1939, a yearbook of Chapel Hill High School. The Chapel Hill Historical Society is named as the source, in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Under the title 'Senior Life', Chapel Hill High School issued its 1938 yearbook. The Chapel Hill Historical Society contributed the volume to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Yearbook for 1937 from Chapel Hill High School, published as 'Hillife' with the school as creator. The Chapel Hill Historical Society is the contributing institution for this North Carolina Yearbooks record at DigitalNC.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
The 1936 'Hillife' records a school year at Chapel Hill High School, with the school credited as creator. The Chapel Hill Historical Society is the contributing institution for this DigitalNC record in North Carolina Yearbooks.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Dated 1934, Hillife is the annual of Chapel Hill High School, concerning school yearbooks of Chapel Hill, the school's students and Orange County. The Chapel Hill Historical Society contributed it to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Students of Chapel Hill High School put out Hillife in 1931. The Chapel Hill Historical Society is the source of the volume in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
From 1930, an early volume of 'Hillife', the yearbook of Chapel Hill High School. It came to the North Carolina Yearbooks collection at DigitalNC through the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Hillife, 1929 edition, records the year at Chapel Hill High School. It belongs to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection by way of the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
A 1928 Hillife from Chapel Hill High School. It comes from the Chapel Hill Historical Society and sits in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Dated 1926, this 'Hillife' is the yearbook of Chapel Hill High School. It came to DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection from the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
'Hillife' for 1925, published by the students of Chapel Hill High School. The Chapel Hill Historical Society is the named source, in DigitalNC's North Carolina Yearbooks collection.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Yearbooks and school directories from Chapel Hill, led by Highlife, the Chapel Hill High School annual, from 1925 to 2008, with volumes from East Chapel Hill High, Culbreth and McDougle middle schools, Phillips Junior High and other local schools. Collection CHHS.008 of the Chapel Hill Historical Society.
Included because: Published by or for this institution.
Not about Chapel Hill High 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.
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.
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 Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
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 Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Kelly A. Lally's October 1992 final report on the architectural survey of Chapel Hill township, including Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Besides the report and a bibliography, most of its 56 pages form an annotated index of the historic buildings surveyed.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
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.
Bernard Lee Bryant's compilation of who occupied each structure on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill at five-year intervals from 1793 to 1998, issued by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1999 as a photocopy of his original computer printout on cotton paper. 191 leaves.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Henry Dennis Carter's reconstruction, drawn as a blueprint in 1934, of Chapel Hill as it stood between 1875 and 1885, showing the buildings of the village. A note on the map says the information came from old residents who gave it to Mary L. Thornton.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Dating from 1888 and attributed to Hunter Lee Harris, a map of Chapel Hill and its vicinity, reproduced as a photocopy measuring 22 by 37 centimeters. Harris died in 1893, which brackets the drawing to the late nineteenth century. An early depiction of the streets of the village and the land around it.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
Pen-and-ink manuscript map of Chapel Hill dated 1852, with a table of measurements, showing the University campus, the village around it, street widths and layout, and the town limits. Later notes attributed to Kemp P. Battle give the longitude and latitude of landmarks as measured from atop New East Hall in 1880.
Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.
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.
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.
Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.
Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection at the Main Library in Hillsborough whose titles, catalog subjects or descriptions are about this site. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.
The yearbook of Chapel Hill High School, issued in annual volumes with photographs of students, staff and school life. Some issues carry the spine title Chapel Hill High School, and no volume is known to have appeared in 1935. Illustrated volumes, 28 to 31 cm.
These books don’t necessarily mention Chapel Hill High 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.
Storylines about this site, each with a page of its own:
Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Investigate a school or community institution.
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