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Schools and academies

Hillsborough Academy

Hillsborough Academy, chartered in 1779 as Science Hall, opened in Hillsborough's old Anglican church in 1785 and reopened for boys and girls in 1801. From 1819 it prepared boys for the university, and its buildings later housed the Caldwell Institute (1845) and the Hillsborough Military Academy (1859).

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.

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Sites linked through the same people

Indexed works

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

About the site

Dr. John Rogers, 1794-1832

Rogers, Ellen Stanley · 1966

Ellen Stanley Rogers's family history centered on Dr. John Rogers (1794-1832) and his connection to Hillsborough Academy. Compiled in 1966, 49 pages with bibliographical footnotes.

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

Duke NC Cardinal Library of Congress

Published by or for this institution

Constitution and temporary laws of the Polemic Society

1841

Constitution and temporary laws of the Polemic Society, a student society at Hillsborough Academy, printed in Hillsborough in 1841. Filed among North Carolina imprints of 1841 from Hillsborough, it is one of the early printed items from the town and a trace of student life at the academy.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Catalogue of the trustees, teachers and students of the Hillsborough Academy.

Hillsborough Academy (N.C.) · 1839 · Printed at the office of the Recorder

Catalogue of the trustees, teachers and students of the Hillsborough Academy for 1839, sixteen pages printed at the office of the Recorder in Hillsborough. Names fill most of it, which makes the pamphlet a checklist of who taught at and attended the academy in that year, and it also outlines the course of study. A North Carolina imprint of 1839.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Hillsborough Academy alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.

Hillsborough architectural survey

Slane, Heather Wagner · 2017 · hmwPreservation

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

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

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

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

Warren, Cheryl Davis · 2005

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

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

UNC

[Plan of the town of Hillsborough in Orange County, North Carolina]

Sauthier, Claude Joseph · 1768

Claude Joseph Sauthier's 1768 plan of the town of Hillsborough in Orange County, reproduced as a colored facsimile of the pen and ink manuscript on a sheet 43 by 53 centimeters. Relief is shown by hachures and the sheet is indexed for points of interest. The 1975 reproduction was made from negatives taken of the original in the Map Room of the British Museum.

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

UNC

Plan of the town of Hillsboro, taken in October 1863

1863

Plan of Hillsborough drawn in October 1863, showing the downtown blocks around the crossing of Tryon and Churton Streets, with the Eno River, spelled Enoe on the sheet.

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

DigitalNC DPLA

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina.

1905

Fire insurance map of Hillsborough, spelled Hillsboro, drawn by the Sanborn Map Company in January 1905 on two sheets, from the Sanborn Maps collection.

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

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Birdseye View of Hillsboro, N.C. Looking East

1905 · A. C. Bosselman & Co., New York, N.Y

Bird's-eye view of Hillsborough looking east, with houses and industrial buildings, on a postcard published by A. C. Bosselman & Co. of New York about 1905 to 1915. Card number 11116.

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

DPLA

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 Hillsborough Academy, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.

    Histories of the town and county

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

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

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

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

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 NAS Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary Nash, Frank · 1953

      Francis Nash's history of Hillsborough in colonial and Revolutionary times, first published in 1903 and reprinted in 1953 by Edwards & Broughton with an index and a sketch of the author. Topics include the Regulator Insurrection of 1766 to 1771, the Revolution and local genealogy.

    Show 2 more
    • 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.

    • Start here · NC 371.097 PENDER A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 Pender, Irene Oliver · 1983

      Irene Oliver Pender's history of the public schools of Orange County from 1752 to 1983, covering more than two centuries of schooling in Hillsborough, Efland, Cedar Grove and the rural districts of the county. Published in 1983, 186 pages with illustrations.

    Buildings and surveys

    • Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003

      Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.

    • Foundational · NC 720.975 HILLSBOR Hillsborough Historic District Inventory 2006

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

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

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

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

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

    Land, family and burial records

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

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

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

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

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

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

    In the chronology

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

    1. General Assembly charters an academy near Hillsborough named Science Hall Meeting at Halifax, the General Assembly passed an act to establish an academy in the neighborhood of Hillsborough, naming William Hooper, Thomas Burke, Nathaniel Rochester, James Hogg and others as trustees. The act named the school Science Hall and gave its trustees the same powers as those of Liberty Hall in Mecklenburg County. People: Alexander Martin, Nathaniel Rochester, Thomas Hart, James Hogg, Thomas Burke, William Hooper, William Johnston, John Kinchen Documenting the American South: Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1779 (Colonial and State Records, vol. 24)
    2. Hillsborough Academy opens in the old Anglican church The school chartered as Science Hall opened as Hillsborough Academy in the old Anglican church, which an act of the 1784 Hillsborough session had ordered repaired for a school and a free meeting house. It never thrived and closed in 1790. NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hillsborough Academy (G-37)
    3. Hillsborough Academy reopens for boys and girls under Andrew Flinn The academy's trustees announced that it had reopened on a larger plan for youth of both sexes under the Rev. Andrew Flinn, teaching Latin, Greek, English, mathematics and bookkeeping. People: William Kirkland, Duncan Cameron, William Cain Sr., Walter Alves Internet Archive: Charles L. Coon, North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840: A Documentary History (1915)
    4. Hillsborough Academy trustees engage Thomas Baron after George Johnston fails to arrive The academy trustees, Walter Alves among them, announced that George Johnston had not taken charge as promised and that they had engaged Thomas Baron, a Harvard graduate, to teach languages, arithmetic, geography and mathematics. People: William Kirkland, Duncan Cameron, George Johnston Internet Archive: Charles L. Coon, North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840 (1915)
    5. Richard Henderson becomes head of Hillsborough Academy In 1804 Hillsborough Academy announced Richard Henderson, formerly a professor at the university, as its head. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 133
    6. Rev. William Bingham takes charge of Hillsborough Academy The trustees announced that the Rev. William Bingham had taken charge of Hillsborough Academy, with exercises to begin on February 3 and Elizabeth Russell in charge of a female department. Internet Archive: Charles L. Coon, North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840: A Documentary History (1915)
    7. Hillsborough Academy is rechartered Hillsborough Academy received a new charter from the General Assembly in 1814. NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hillsborough Academy (G-37) · Also: Open Orange: Hillsborough Academy
    8. A Mr. Graham and Miss Farley take charge of Hillsborough Academy After William Bingham left in 1815, Hillsborough Academy was run for a time by a teacher named Graham, with Miss Farley presumably over the female department. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 14
    9. William Norwood becomes a trustee of Hillsborough Academy William Norwood was a trustee of Hillsborough Academy by 1816 and chaired its board in 1826. NCpedia: Norwood, William (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography)
    10. Witherspoon takes charge of the Hillsborough Academy Returning to Hillsborough at twenty-five, Witherspoon took a double charge: the pastorate of the newly built Presbyterian church and the principalship of the closely allied Hillsborough Academy. He gave up the academy sometime after 1819. NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Witherspoon, John Knox
    11. Hillsborough Academy publishes its rules for students Under principal John Witherspoon, Hillsborough Academy printed its rules of conduct in the Raleigh Register. Students had to attend daily worship, stay out of stores and taverns, avoid liquor, and keep the Sabbath. People: John Knox Witherspoon Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 133
    12. The university closes its grammar school and makes Hillsborough Academy its preparatory school When Abner W. Clopton gave up the grammar school the university dropped it. Caldwell arranged for Hillsborough Academy, under John Witherspoon with John Rogers teaching, to prepare boys for the university, whose faculty could attend its examinations and admit its top pupils on certificate. People: Abner Wentworth Clopton, John Knox Witherspoon, Joseph Caldwell, John Rogers Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 283
    Show all 35 dated events
    1. William A. Graham enters Hillsborough Academy to prepare for the university Joseph Graham of Lincoln County sent his youngest son, William A. Graham, then nearly fifteen, to Hillsborough Academy in 1819 as his last step before the university. The academy was under the Rev. John Witherspoon, assisted by John Rodgers, and Graham studied there about eighteen months. People: William A. Graham, Joseph Graham (1759-1836), John Knox Witherspoon Internet Archive: Max R. Williams, "The Education of William A. Graham", North Carolina Historical Review 40 (1963), p. 5
    2. Eagle Lodge votes money toward a male academy in Hillsborough A year after its revival, Eagle Lodge voted to put money toward building a male academy in Hillsborough. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 319
    3. A committee seeks builders for a brick academy in Hillsborough The Hillsborough Academy building committee advertised for contractors to put up a brick academy large enough for about 150 students, taking proposals until the first Monday in December; Joseph A. Woods was its secretary and held the plan. Hillsborough Recorder, October 31, 1821, p. 3
    4. John Rogers runs Hillsborough Academy John Rogers ran Hillsborough Academy from 1822 to 1826, when W. J. Bingham succeeded him. People: William James Bingham, John Rogers Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 133
    5. Hillsborough Academy pupils are examined before the university faculty At an examination held in the presence of the university faculty, fifteen Hillsborough Academy pupils were approved for the freshman class and six for the sophomore class. Principal John Rogers also announced an assistant who had taught for several years at a Maryland classical school. Internet Archive: Charles L. Coon, North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840: A Documentary History (1915), p. 284 (Raleigh Register, June 20, 1823)
    6. John Rogers and William Hooper take joint charge of Hillsborough Academy The trustees put the academy under Rogers and the Rev. William Hooper as a classical school preparing boys for the university's sophomore class, at thirty dollars a year. When Hooper was made a university professor that July, the trustees kept him on as joint manager while Rogers taught. Internet Archive: Charles L. Coon, North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840: A Documentary History (1915), p. 285 (Raleigh Register, June 21 and July 12, 1825)
    7. William James Bingham becomes principal of Hillsborough Academy After John Rogers resigned, the trustees engaged William James Bingham as principal of Hillsborough Academy, where he taught until he moved his school to the country in 1844. He had carried on his father's Mount Repose school since February 1826. People: William James Bingham, John Rogers Internet Archive: Charles L. Coon, North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840: A Documentary History (1915)
    8. William H. Polk, brother of James K. Polk, arrives to attend Hillsborough Academy Sent by his brother, then a congressman from Tennessee, to prepare for the university, William H. Polk reached Hillsborough on Sunday, November 18, 1832, and began school under William J. Bingham. Bingham's rooms were full, so he boarded at Mrs. Burgwin's with his cousin and classmate George Polk; Bingham charged $10 a month for board with lodging, fuel, candles and washing. Polk later attended university classes in the August 1833 and January 1834 terms but never matriculated. People: James K. Polk, William James Bingham Internet Archive: North Carolina Historical Review 44 (1967), p. 192
    9. Hillsborough Academy students print the constitution and laws of their Polemic Society Students of the Hillsborough Academy formed the Polemic Society for debate and speaking, with officers elected monthly, Saturday morning meetings and its own library, and had its rules printed in Hillsborough by Dennis Heartt. Only teachers and students of the academy could join. People: Dennis Heartt Polemic Society, Hillsborough Academy, Constitution and Temporary Laws of the Polemic Society (1841), scan p. 5
    10. William James Bingham opens his school at the Oaks William James Bingham gave up Hillsborough Academy after its spring 1844 session and in May announced a select classical and mathematical school twelve miles southwest of Hillsborough, to open that November on the Oaks tract he bought the same year. It became known as the Bingham School and stayed at the Oaks until December 1864. People: William James Bingham National Register of Historic Places nomination: Bingham School, Oaks (OR0003) · Also: NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Bingham School; Hillsborough Recorder, May 30, 1844, p. 3
    11. Hillsborough Academy appoints the Rev. John Witherspoon principal The academy trustees appointed the Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D., principal in place of John A. Bingham and James H. Norwood, who had resigned, with the next session to open January 6, 1845, and Witherspoon to live in town and take boarders. Norwood announced a private classical school of his own half a mile south of Hillsborough for January. People: John Witherspoon, William A. Graham Hillsborough Recorder, December 5, 1844, p. 3
    12. Hillsborough citizens pay to refit the academy building for the Caldwell Institute Townspeople paid for the repair and enlargement of the Hillsborough Academy building so that the Caldwell Institute could move in from Greensboro. The older school was absorbed into the institute under Alexander Wilson. NCpedia (Encyclopedia of North Carolina): Hillsborough Academy
    13. Caldwell Institute reopens in Hillsborough after leaving Greensboro The Orange Presbytery's Caldwell Institute, founded at Greensboro, moved to Hillsborough and began its first session there on July 9, 1845, with Alexander Wilson as president. It used the Hillsborough Academy building and absorbed that school. People: Alexander Wilson Hillsborough Recorder, August 7, 1845, p. 3
    14. Hillsborough hands the refitted academy building to the Caldwell Institute In the Institute chapel, before Orange Presbytery, students and townspeople, Henry K. Nash spoke for the town commissioners and delivered the keys of the newly finished building to the Caldwell Institute trustees. About seventy students were enrolled in the second week of the session. People: Henry Kollock Nash Hillsborough Recorder, July 23, 1846, p. 3
    15. Caldwell Institute closes in Hillsborough The Caldwell Institute ended in 1850 after five years in Hillsborough. NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hillsborough Academy (G-37)
    16. Hillsborough Academy is revived under Benjamin Huske and Ralph Graves After the Caldwell Institute closed, Alexander Wilson and Ralph H. Graves opened a classical school at Hillsborough on January 14, 1851. Wilson left for Burnt Shop in Alamance that spring, and on June 14 Benjamin R. Huske accepted the town's offer of the Academy building free of rent. With Graves he revived the Hillsborough Academy, which ran until 1858. People: Alexander Wilson NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Hillsborough Academy (G-37) · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, December 25, 1850, p. 3; Hillsborough Recorder, June 25, 1851, p. 3; Hillsborough Recorder, January 29, 1851, p. 3
    17. The legislature passes a bill incorporating the trustees of Hillsborough Academy The state Senate passed the House bill incorporating the trustees of Hillsborough Academy, suspending its rules to give the bill its second and third readings the same day. Orange member B. L. Durham had introduced the bill in the Commons after the academy gave notice in September that it would seek a charter. People: John Berry Hillsborough Recorder, December 8, 1852, p. 2
    18. Rev. John A. Bingham, former Latin professor at the Caldwell Institute, dies at his brother's home Rev. John A. Bingham died at his brother William J. Bingham's home in Orange County in his forty-first year. Raised and taught by his brother at the Hillsborough Academy, he had taught there with him, was licensed by Orange Presbytery in 1841, and was professor of Latin at the Caldwell Institute from 1845 until illness forced him to give up the post. Hillsborough Recorder, October 31, 1855, p. 3
    19. Hillsborough Military Academy opens Charles C. Tew, then superintendent of the state military academy at Columbia, South Carolina, opened the Hillsborough Military Academy in January 1859, holding its first classes in the old Hillsborough Academy buildings. His advertisements had set the opening for January 12. In October 1860 the Hillsborough Recorder reported that the academy's barracks, built to house 125 cadets, had been erected at a cost of $30,000. People: Charles Courtenay Tew NC State Historic Preservation Office: The Commandant's House, National Register nomination (OR0006), p. 4 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, November 10, 1858, p. 1; Hillsborough Recorder, October 24, 1860, p. 3; NCpedia: Tew, Charles Courtenay; Open Orange: Hillsborough Military Academy
    20. Hillsborough Academy trustees seek a new school as Tew's cadets move out The trustees of the Hillsborough Male Academy, John W. Norwood president, announced that Col. Tew was about to move his military school from the academy buildings to his own new establishment, and invited classical teachers to propose schools for the vacant academy by July 10. People: John Wall Norwood, Charles Courtenay Tew Hillsborough Recorder, June 6, 1860, p. 3
    21. Hillsborough voters refuse to sell the town's old academy and lot At the town election Hillsborough voters turned down a proposal to sell the town-owned academy building and its lot, by a majority of three votes. The Recorder predicted the building would stand as an eyesore until it fell into ruin. Hillsborough Recorder, May 16, 1877, p. 3
    22. T. J. Norcom opens a boys' school in the Hillsborough academy building Professor T. J. Norcom opened a school for boys in the Hillsborough academy building on Tuesday, October 11, but left town suddenly after teaching six pupils for about as many days. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), October 29, 1887, p. 3
    23. County commissioners agree to buy the historic bricks of the Walker Milling building Pressed by Hillsborough's historical groups to halt demolition of the old Walker Milling Co. building on courthouse square, the commissioners declined but agreed, on Chairman Harvey Bennett's tie-breaking vote, to buy the estimated 180,000 handmade bricks for resale within six months. Mrs. A. G. Engstrom told them the bricks came first from the old Hillsborough Academy, later the Bingham School. People: Harvey Bennett, Mary Claire Engstrom The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 10, 1964, p. 8

    Open these in the chronology →

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