Historic district and property boundaries Every building in the state survey Cemeteries (county GIS; burials at Cemetery Census)

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.

John W. Graham2 entries, including John W. Graham's volunteer company leaves Hillsborough and elects its officers (May 16-17, 1862)
William Jennings Bryan2 entries, including William Jennings Bryan speaks from his train at the Hillsborough depot (September 17, 1896)
A. K. McAdams1 entry: Emergency drought feed grain reaches Hillsborough for Orange farmers (by October 22, 1953)
Dennis Heartt1 entry: Hillsborough restricts Black vendors at the depot and in the produce trade (August 4, 1863)
John Sprunt Hill1 entry: John Sprunt Hill is burned in effigy at the Hillsborough depot over the highway route (March 2, 1922)
Joseph G. Cooley1 entry: Joseph G. Cooley succeeds Sterling Ruffin as railroad agent at Hillsborough (October 1, 1883)
Josiah Turner Jr.1 entry: The officer holding Josiah Turner Jr. at Hillsborough says he will arrest anyone who brings a habeas corpus writ (August 5, 1870)
R. B. (Robert Brodnax) Glenn1 entry: A Hillsboro crowd waiting for Bryan learns that Charles D. McIver has died on his train (September 17, 1906)
Samuel Mallett Gattis1 entry: William Jennings Bryan speaks from his train at the Hillsborough depot (September 17, 1896)

Sites linked through the same people

Memorial Hall through William Jennings Bryan, Samuel Mallett Gattis and 1 more
North Carolina Railroad through John W. Graham, Josiah Turner Jr. and 1 more
Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough through John W. Graham, Josiah Turner Jr. and 1 more
Eagle Lodge through Joseph G. Cooley and Samuel Mallett Gattis
Eno Mill through John W. Graham and Samuel Mallett Gattis
Gerrard Hall through John W. Graham and Samuel Mallett Gattis

In the chronology

by May 2, 1855 Hillsborough station opens its freight warehouse under agent Dr. Hooker The North Carolina Railroad's freight warehouse at Hillsborough was ready for use, and Dr. Hooker, newly appointed the company's agent at the Hillsborough station, took up his duties. The road had also dropped a rule that charged more per barrel to farmers shipping fewer than five barrels of flour at a time. Hillsborough Recorder, May 2, 1855, p. 2
May 16-17, 1862 John W. Graham's volunteer company leaves Hillsborough and elects its officers A volunteer company raised by John W. Graham to spare its men from conscription left the Hillsborough depot for Camp Mangum near Raleigh, and the next day elected John W. Graham captain, D. S. Ray first lieutenant and R. D. Graham third lieutenant. People: John W. Graham Hillsborough Recorder, May 21, 1862, p. 3
January 3, 1863 President Jefferson Davis speaks to a crowd at the Hillsborough depot Passing through by train on his way back to Richmond from the western states, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was met at the Hillsborough depot by a large crowd of women and men and made a short address praising North Carolina for the troops it had sent and its promptness under conscription, and hoping for an early peace. Hillsborough Recorder, January 7, 1863, p. 2
March 13, 1863 Hillsborough licenses food sellers at the depot and hires a paid town patrol The Hillsborough town commissioners ordered that anyone selling cooked food at the railroad depot pay the magistrate of police two dollars a month, under penalty of a fine for white or free people and a whipping for the enslaved, and, because so many of the men liable to patrol duty were away, authorized the magistrate of police to hire two men to patrol the town for the next month. Hillsborough Recorder, March 18, 1863, p. 2
August 4, 1863 Hillsborough restricts Black vendors at the depot and in the produce trade Meeting on the evening of Tuesday, August 4, the Hillsborough town commissioners amended their ordinance of March 13 so that the magistrate of police could issue no new licenses for enslaved or free Black people to sell food at the railroad depot, and could license white sellers there only on payment of five dollars a month. They also forbade enslaved and free Black people to buy chickens, butter, eggs or other provisions to sell again, on pain of twenty lashes for the enslaved and a ten-dollar fine for free people, for each offense. People: Dennis Heartt Hillsborough Recorder, August 5, 1863, p. 3
by July 6, 1864 The Hillsborough Soldiers' Aid Society, its funds spent feeding wounded soldiers on the railroad, appeals for provisions The women of the Hillsborough Soldiers' Aid Society, having used up nearly all their means giving food and refreshments to the many sick and wounded soldiers passing through on the railroad, asked country people for flour, meat and other provisions. Gifts were to be left with Mrs. Owen in Hillsborough. Hillsborough Recorder, July 6, 1864, p. 2
August 5, 1870 The officer holding Josiah Turner Jr. at Hillsborough says he will arrest anyone who brings a habeas corpus writ At the Hillsborough depot, Lieutenant J. W. Hunnicutt told Senator John W. Graham that he had arrested Josiah Turner Jr. by Governor Holden's order and that he had a general order, passed down through Colonel Burgen, to arrest anyone who came with writs of habeas corpus, Graham included. Graham gave this account under oath at Holden's impeachment trial on February 16, 1871, adding that Hunnicutt said Burgen had detailed him to take ten men to Hillsborough for the arrest. People: John W. Graham, Josiah Turner Jr. Trial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina (1871), vol. 1, p. 916
late September 1870 Sheriff Turner and armed men try to take Colonel Kirk off a train at Hillsborough Soon after his militia regiment was mustered out in late September 1870, George W. Kirk rode the North Carolina Railroad toward Raleigh under a protective arrest arranged with a federal marshal. At Hillsborough, by his account, Sheriff Turner waited with thirty to thirty-five men armed with shotguns and pistols to take him from the train; the marshal refused to give him up, and the men clung to the cars cursing until the train got under way. Kirk told this to the Senate select committee on January 27, 1871, and called the men Ku Klux, which he asserted but did not show. U.S. Senate, Select Committee, Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States (1871), p. 6
June 13, 1871 W. T. Blackwell has rival tobacco maker Wright arrested at Hillsborough in the Durham brand dispute Blackwell, the Durham smoking tobacco maker, had his rival Wright of Pittsylvania Court House, Virginia, arrested by the sheriff at the Hillsborough depot in their quarrel over the Durham brand; Wright waited in town for bail. Hillsborough Recorder, June 14, 1871, p. 3
early October 1879 P. B. Ruffin is promoted from the Hillsborough depot and Sterling Ruffin becomes station agent P. B. Ruffin, railroad agent at Hillsborough, was made secretary and treasurer of the North Carolina Division of the Richmond & Danville Railroad, succeeding the late Captain Thornburg. Sterling Ruffin was appointed agent at Hillsborough in his place. The Chapel Hill Ledger, October 11, 1879, p. 3
October 1, 1883 Joseph G. Cooley succeeds Sterling Ruffin as railroad agent at Hillsborough Sterling Ruffin resigned as the North Carolina Railroad's agent at Hillsborough effective October 1, 1883, and Joseph G. Cooley, a former Hillsborough man, took his place. Cooley signed the depot's train schedule for the rest of the year. People: Joseph G. Cooley Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), October 6, 1883, p. 3
by July 5, 1888 The Richmond and Danville Railroad builds two cottages for its workers at the Hillsborough depot The Richmond and Danville Railroad Company built two cottages near the Hillsborough depot to house the families of its employees, one on each side of the track. Hillsboro Recorder, July 5, 1888, p. 3

Show all 25 dated events

May 30, 1893 Jefferson Davis's funeral train passes through Hillsborough without stopping People from the town and the countryside waited at the Hillsborough depot most of the morning of May 30 to see the train carrying Jefferson Davis's remains to Richmond, and were disappointed when it went through at full speed. Several Hillsborough residents attended the ceremonies at Raleigh the same day. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 3, 1893, p. 2
by April 27, 1895 G. E. Thurston succeeds J. W. Massey as the Southern Railway agent at Hillsborough The Southern Railway transferred its Hillsborough station agent, J. W. Massey, to Selma and put his brother-in-law G. E. Thurston of Raleigh in charge of the Hillsborough station. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 27, 1895, p. 3
September 17, 1896 William Jennings Bryan speaks from his train at the Hillsborough depot Democratic presidential nominee William J. Bryan stopped at Hillsborough on his North Carolina tour, was introduced by S. M. Gattis, spoke for two or three minutes to several hundred people and shook hands. People: Samuel Mallett Gattis Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 24, 1896, p. 2
by January 23, 1902 Hillsborough's new railroad depot nears completion A new railroad depot at Hillsborough, replacing the old one, was all but finished in late January 1902 and was expected to be a considerable improvement. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), January 23, 1902, p. 3
by November 19, 1903 R. W. Finlator succeeds J. K. Powell as Southern Railway agent at Hillsborough In November 1903, days after the depot fire, R. W. Finlator of Greensboro succeeded J. K. Powell as the Southern Railway's agent at Hillsborough, Powell being promoted to Selma. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), November 19, 1903, p. 3
November 9, 1903 Fire destroys the Hillsborough depot About midnight on November 9, 1903, fire destroyed the Southern Railway's freight and passenger depot and telegraph office at Hillsborough with all the freight, baggage, tickets and records inside, including goods just unloaded for local merchants. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), November 12, 1903, p. 3
May 9, 1904 Work begins on a new railroad depot to replace the one burned in November Contractor J. D. Elliott began work on the new depot on May 9; it was to resemble the one destroyed by fire the previous November and to be finished in about four weeks. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 12, 1904, p. 3
September 17, 1906 A Hillsboro crowd waiting for Bryan learns that Charles D. McIver has died on his train Six or seven hundred people gathered at the Southern Railway station in Hillsboro to see and hear William Jennings Bryan. When his special train arrived, Governor Robert B. Glenn told them from the rear platform that Charles D. McIver, president of the State Normal College, had dropped dead in one of the cars after the train left Durham; Bryan bowed and went inside without speaking, and the crowd broke up in silence. People: William Jennings Bryan, R. B. (Robert Brodnax) Glenn Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 20, 1906, p. 3
March 2, 1922 John Sprunt Hill is burned in effigy at the Hillsborough depot over the highway route In the fight over the route of the Central Highway through Hillsborough, State Highway Commissioner John Sprunt Hill of the fourth district was burned in effigy at the railroad station, just outside the town limits, as a crowd gathered for the afternoon trains. Newspapers across the state reported a large crowd of townspeople, but the town board said only two or three people did it, and many citizens did not learn of it until they read the morning papers. The News (Chapel Hill), March 9, 1922, p. 1
September 16, 1944 Hillsboro's express office moves from King Street to the railroad depot Depot agent W. A. Neal moved the Hillsboro express office into the railroad depot on Saturday, September 16, after it had stood on King Street for about forty years. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 28, 1944, p. 1
by March 25, 1948 Southern Railway drops two night trains through Hillsboro To meet an Office of Defense Transportation order cutting coal-burning passenger mileage by 15 percent, the Southern Railway took off trains No. 111 and No. 112 between Greensboro and Goldsboro, which had passed Hillsboro about 1 a.m. Mail that had come on No. 112 now arrived on the 7:40 a.m. train, piling up the Hillsboro post office's morning work. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 25, 1948, p. 1
September 3, 1949 Hillsboro's Southern Railway station stops weekend freight, express and telegraph service The Southern Railway put its three-man Hillsboro station on a five-day week, closing freight, express and the Western Union telegraph office there on Saturdays and Sundays. The change followed the national railroad settlement that gave non-operating employees a 40-hour week from September 1. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 25, 1949, p. 1
by October 22, 1953 Emergency drought feed grain reaches Hillsborough for Orange farmers Four carloads of grain, corn, cottonseed meal and oats, arrived at the Hillsborough rail station under the federal Drought Emergency Feed program, which opened to Orange farmers when the county was named a drought disaster area. By then 255 county farmers with less than a 30-day supply of feed had applied. People: A. K. McAdams The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 22, 1953, p. 1

Open these in the chronology →

Indexed works

The index has no works about Hillsborough railroad depot itself yet. The surveys and maps below cover where it stands. Search the index for Hillsborough railroad depot, or tell us about a book or record we have missed.

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Hillsborough railroad depot 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.