Hill Hall

In the chronology

1. June 1, 1907 Masons lay the cornerstone of the Carnegie library On the Saturday of the 1907 commencement the Grand Lodge of Masons, led by Grand Master Francis D. Winston, laid the cornerstone of the new library built with Andrew Carnegie's gift. Construction had begun in October 1906. People: M. C. S. Noble
2. Late September or early October 1907 UNC's Carnegie Library opens UNC's new library, built with a gift from Andrew Carnegie first offered in 1905 as $50,000 and later raised to $55,000, was finished in the summer of 1907 and opened to students that fall once its furniture arrived. It served as the main library until Wilson Library opened in 1929 and was renamed for John Sprunt Hill in 1931. People: Andrew Carnegie
3. January 9, 1919 Fire destroys three fraternity houses on Fraternity Row and nearly takes the Carnegie Library Fire broke out about 2 a.m. and destroyed the Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Pi Kappa Phi and Sigma Nu houses at the lower end of Fraternity Row, a private lane behind the Carnegie Library. The library, about thirty feet from the Sigma Nu house, lost only some window panes and had water damage. The university then bought land across South Columbia Street and swapped it with the fraternities for their old lots, which led to the fraternity courts of the 1920s.
4. November 14, 1930 The old Carnegie Library is dedicated as the music building After the library moved to its new building, the Carnegie Library was remodeled for the music department with an auditorium and a Reuter organ, most of the cost given by the Hill family. It was dedicated on November 14, 1930, and named Hill Music Hall by trustee resolution in the summer of 1931.
5. December 9, 1931 Adeline McCall plays piano in a Folk Music Institute laboratory concert The university's Institute of Folk Music held its second laboratory concert at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9, 1931, in Hill Music Hall, with Lamar Stringfield on flute, Adeline McCall on piano and Thor Johnson on viola. The program included a composition by Herbert Hazelman, an Asheville freshman.
6. December 9, 1936 A puppet Hansel and Gretel is staged in Adeline McCall's music series for children The Music Club and the Parent-Teacher Association presented Hansel and Gretel, a puppet show with music, at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9, 1936, in Hill Music Hall. It was the fifth in a series of music events for children under Adeline McCall's direction, and elementary school children sang songs from Humperdinck's opera.
7. November 29, 1939 House Speaker William Bankhead dedicates the Institute of Government building On the eve of Thanksgiving a standing-room crowd in Hill Music Hall heard Bankhead, Governor Clyde Hoey and President Frank Graham praise Coates, with eight of the state's eleven congressmen and former governor O. Max Gardner on hand. A reception followed in Graham Memorial, and guests stayed for the Virginia football game the next day. People: Clyde Roark Hoey, Frank Porter Graham, Albert Coates, Gladys Hall Coates, O. Max Gardner
8. December 2, 1956 Les Petites Musicales stages The Magic Flute in Hill Hall An abridged English Magic Flute in Hill Hall used the University Glee Club under Joel Carter, who also sang Papageno, with the former Metropolitan Opera bass Norman Cordon as Sarastro.
9. December 16, 1958 The Chapel Hill Choral Club sings Bach's Christmas Oratorio The Chapel Hill Choral Club, directed by Joel Carter, performed the first three parts of Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Hill Hall as part of the Tuesday Evening Series.
10. May 8–9, 1960 Martin Luther King Jr. speaks in Chapel Hill Invited by campus religious groups and the Carolina Forum, King spoke at University Baptist Church on May 8, 1960, visited two UNC sociology classes, and addressed an overflow crowd in Hill Hall on May 9 on the struggle for racial justice. People: Martin Luther King, Jr
11. May 7, 1970 The general faculty votes to let striking students take their grades as they stand or finish coursework later With more than 4,000 students rallying outside, the general faculty meeting in Hill Hall overwhelmingly approved a substitute motion by Marvin Silver and Gerhard Lenski calling the strike 'a reasonable, peaceful and responsible course of action' and allowing final grades on work completed so far or delayed completion of course requirements, with a right of appeal. Faculty chairman Daniel Okun's letter the next day explained the policy as no penalties for strike absences and make-up exams for those who could not in conscience sit the scheduled exam. People: Joseph W. Straley, Daniel A. Okun, Oscar Knefler Rice
12. 1996 Allan Gurganus is a visiting scholar at UNC's Institute for the Arts and Humanities Gurganus spent 1996 as a visiting fellow of UNC's Institute for the Arts and Humanities and presented at the institute's symposium Echoes of Home, Imitations of Return in Hill Hall that October. People: Alan Shapiro
13. 2017 William J. Barber II gives the Weil Lecture on American Citizenship William J. Barber II delivered UNC's 2017 Weil Lecture on American Citizenship in Moeser Auditorium, Hill Hall, speaking on the morality of citizenship.

Open these in the chronology →