Chapel Hill Town Hall (1938)

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• Chapel Hill’s 1938 town hall and its later uses, 1938–1989 18 events

1. October 1931 Chapel Hill collects $24,356 in taxes in October, double the year before The town took in $24,356 in taxes in October, more than twice the October collections of 1930 ($11,839) and 1929 ($11,287). Town manager John Foushee guessed that people with savings found the 1 per cent discount for October payment worth more than bank interest. People: John M. Foushee The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 6, 1931, p. 1
2. by October 23, 1936 A sewing room for women on relief opens in Chapel Hill's old town hall At the request of county welfare officer George H. Lawrence, the second floor of the former town hall at Columbia Street and Rosemary Lane was put at his disposal as a sewing room for women on relief. A month later the new Health and Welfare Council named a committee for the sewing room. People: George H. Lawrence The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 23, 1936, p. 6
3. August 11, 1937 Aldermen name a committee to review the West Franklin Street paving assessments Lawyer John Manning, speaking for owners on West Franklin Street, asked the aldermen to cancel the 1927 assessments of $7.70 a front foot for curb, gutter and paving and to reassess the owners at much lower rates, saying many of them, most of them Black, had been misled about the cost and faced foreclosure. The board named aldermen F. O. Bowman and R. J. M. Hobbs to study the case with Town Manager John L. Caldwell. People: John Manning, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, John Caldwell, Frederick O. Bowman, John L. Caldwell, John M. Foushee The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 13, 1937, p. 1
4. August 11, 1937 Chapel Hill aldermen keep the town tax rate at $1.65 At their monthly meeting the aldermen set the 1937 town rate at $1.65 per $100, the same as in 1936, after the board of assessors raised total assessments in the town to $3,255,000. The operating share of the rate fell 1 cent and the school levy rose 1 cent. People: Dudley Dewitt Carroll, Ben F. Wilson The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 13, 1937, p. 1
5. October 13, 1937 Chapel Hill aldermen pass a $16,000 street bond ordinance and call an election The aldermen adopted an ordinance for up to $16,000 in bonds for street surfacing, curb, gutter and sidewalk work and set an election for November 16, after the State Local Government Commission, citing the attorney general's reading of the 1936 debt-limitation amendment, said a vote was required. The Weekly explained that about $13,000 would be repaid by owners who had petitioned for curb and gutter, leaving about $3,000 for intersections on the town. People: John M. Foushee The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 22, 1937, p. 5
6. October 21 and 28, 1937 The aldermen's committee holds hearings on the West Franklin Street paving assessments Owners told the committee they had been assured in 1927 that the charge would be far below the $7.70 a front foot finally levied, and Mrs. J. P. Nesbitt testified that her husband had been told the assessments were meant to get Black residents off West Franklin Street. Former mayor Zeb P. Council answered in a letter that the board of 1927 had acted on a valid petition; the committee members signaled that they thought the levy too high and might seek an act of the legislature to validate relief. People: John Manning, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, John Caldwell, Frederick O. Bowman, John L. Caldwell, Zeb P. Council, Clarence P. Hinshaw The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 29, 1937, p. 2
7. July 1, 1938 John M. Booker proposes a Franklin Street site for the new town hall In a letter dated June 28 and printed in the Chapel Hill Weekly on July 1, professor John M. Booker proposed that the town buy the lots west of the Presbyterian Church on Franklin Street for the new town hall, set the hall back in line with the church, and make it part of a civic center with the post office and the Village Apartments. He did not offer to buy a lot himself. Late in July he urged the aldermen to plan buildings in advance, and editor Louis Graves backed the idea and called for town planning. People: Louis Graves, John M. Booker NC State Historic Preservation Office: Chapel Hill Town Hall, National Register nomination (OR0327), p. 8 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 1, 1938, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 29, 1938, p. 2
8. July 23, 1938 Chapel Hill voters approve bonds for the new town hall The $24,000 bond issue for the town's share of the town hall went to the voters in a special election on July 23, 1938, and passed 211 to 27, with 910 voters registered; the aldermen canvassed the returns on July 26. The campaign drew the Weekly's first calls for more citizen part in town affairs. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Chapel Hill Town Hall, National Register nomination (OR0327), p. 8 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 29, 1938, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 29, 1938, p. 6
9. July–August 1938 Chapel Hill auctions off its old town hall to clear the site for a new one With a Public Works Administration grant available for 45 percent of a new building, the town decided to rebuild on its own lot at Rosemary and Columbia streets. On July 27, 1938 the town manager, J. L. Caldwell, advertised the old town hall, whose courtroom the Weekly called filthy, for sale at auction on the premises on August 5, the buyer to remove it within seven days. It was sold and hauled away. People: John L. Caldwell NC State Historic Preservation Office: Chapel Hill Town Hall, National Register nomination (OR0327), p. 7 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 29, 1938, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 22, 1938, p. 1
10. August 5, 1938 John M. Booker calls for town-sponsored planning in Chapel Hill After voters approved financing for the new town hall 211 to 27 on July 23, John M. Booker urged the aldermen to plan the town's buildings in advance rather than one at a time. In a longer letter to the Chapel Hill Weekly, printed August 5, he faulted the rush with which the town hall was planned and proposed planning as a town concern, with town meetings open to all citizens. Editor Louis Graves took up the call. People: Louis Graves NC State Historic Preservation Office: Chapel Hill Town Hall, National Register nomination (OR0327), p. 8 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 8, 1938, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 29, 1938, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 5, 1938, p. 2
11. August 1938 to March 1939 Chapel Hill builds a new town hall with PWA help The town hall at 100 West Rosemary Street, on the site of the town's first town hall, was a joint federal and town project: the Public Works Administration paid 45 per cent of the cost (46 per cent, the Weekly said at the dedication), where Little credits the WPA with about half. The contract went to H. F. Mitchell Jr. of Burlington on August 18, 1938, and work began that day to meet the federal deadline. The building went into use in late March 1939 and was dedicated at an open house on April 10, 1939. University architects Atwood and Weeks designed the two-story brick building in a Williamsburg-inspired Colonial style with a hipped slate roof, cupola and swan's-neck pediment. People: Thomas C. Atwood, Howard Raymond Weeks NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 66 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 31, 1939, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 19, 1938, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 14, 1939, p. 1
12. December 1942 Two bus companies make their case in Chapel Hill for a route through Hillsboro At the Town Hall, J. G. Humphrey and William B. Umstead for the Carolina Coach Company and Willis Smith for the Virginia Stage Lines explained rival applications to the state Utilities Commission to the mayor, aldermen and other citizens: Carolina Coach sought to extend service from Chapel Hill through Hillsboro and Yanceyville to Reidsville, the Virginia Stage Lines to run from Raleigh through Chapel Hill, Hillsboro and Yanceyville toward Washington. Both promised several daily round trips to Hillsboro, and by January 7 about fifty citizens, Mayor Madry among them, had signed a petition for the Virginia Stage Lines. People: William B. Umstead, Robert W. Madry The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 24, 1942, p. 1

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