Public buildings and services
In Hillsborough. 17 dated events, 1849–1964.
This site has no map location yet.
People named in this site’s dated entries, the most often named first, each with one of those entries; its card in the chronology cites the source.
Books, articles, records and pictures in the index about North Carolina Railroad, found by its names in titles, catalog subjects and the index’s descriptions, and read one by one. Those held at OCPL come first.
Book three of an 1860 map series tracing the North Carolina Railroad through Alamance, Orange and Wake counties. The sheets show the right of way and the property it crossed, providing material for railroad and land tenure history.
Why this is here: Found by the site’s name in its title, catalog subjects or description, and read by hand.
Environmental assessment from May 2015 on closing three private railroad crossings on the North Carolina Railroad and Norfolk Southern line in Orange County, at Gordon Thomas Drive, Greenbriar Drive and Byrdsville Road. Prepared by the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration under the National Environmental Policy Act, with maps and plans.
Why this is here: Found by the site’s name in its title, catalog subjects or description, and read by hand.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Finding of no significant impact, October 2015, for closing three private railroad crossings on the North Carolina Railroad and Norfolk Southern line in Orange County: Gordon Thomas Drive, Greenbriar Drive and Byrdsville Road. The North Carolina Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration prepared it under the National Environmental Policy Act. 91 images.
Why this is here: Found by the site’s name in its title, catalog subjects or description, and read by hand.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Keri Petersen's dissertation on the hired enslaved workers who built the North Carolina Railroad through the Piedmont, Hillsborough included, from 1851 to 1856, and the hundreds more who kept it running through the Civil War.
Why this is here: Found by the site’s name in its title, catalog subjects or description, and read by hand.
Sketch of the North Carolina Railroad for the North Carolina Geological Survey, about 1880, reduced by William Cain (1847 to 1930), who taught engineering and mathematics at the University of North Carolina, from a tracing by a Mr. Cook. The line crosses Orange County between Wayne County in the east and Mecklenburg in the west.
Why this is here: Found by the site’s name in its title, catalog subjects or description, and read by hand.
Map of the North Carolina Railroad route from Goldsboro to Charlotte, about 1856, by an unidentified maker. Counties are outlined and named, with some towns, post offices, rivers and creeks. Orange County lies along the route, and the Raleigh and Gaston and the Wilmington and Weldon lines also appear.
Why this is here: Found by the site’s name in its title, catalog subjects or description, and read by hand.
Bound volume of hand-colored manuscript maps, 1851, the third of five showing North Carolina Railroad property surveys. Charles R. Barney and Upton Bruce Gwynn drew the plats for chief engineer Walter Gwynn, after surveying began in August 1850. This volume covers land in Orange, Alamance and Wake counties.
Why this is here: Found by the site’s name in its title, catalog subjects or description, and read by hand.
The 1884 stockholders' proceedings of the North Carolina Rail Road Company, the line through Hillsborough and Orange County, printed by the company. Banking is among the topics. 28 images.
Why this is here: Published by or for the site; found by its name and read by hand.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Stockholders' proceedings of the North Carolina Rail Road Company for 1878, with topics that include soldiers, banking and colleges, from the railroad that crossed Orange County at Hillsborough. 46 images.
Why this is here: Published by or for the site; found by its name and read by hand.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Proceedings of the 1870 annual stockholders' meeting of the North Carolina Rail Road Company, the line serving Hillsborough and Orange County, printed during Reconstruction. Topics include cotton, banking and African American history. 62 images.
Why this is here: Published by or for the site; found by its name and read by hand.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The North Carolina Rail Road Company's stockholders met in 1866, a year after the Civil War ended, and these printed proceedings set out their business. Topics include banking, cotton and African American history, and the line's Orange County town was Hillsborough. 86 images.
Why this is here: Published by or for the site; found by its name and read by hand.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Annual stockholders' meeting proceedings of the North Carolina Rail Road Company for 1862, printed in the middle of the Civil War, with matters touching soldiers and banking. The road ran through Hillsborough in Orange County. 60 images.
Why this is here: Published by or for the site; found by its name and read by hand.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Printed proceedings of the North Carolina Rail Road Company's annual stockholders' meeting for 1854, while the line through Hillsborough and Orange County was still being built. Banking and railroad finance are among the topics. 36 images.
Why this is here: Published by or for the site; found by its name and read by hand.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The published proceedings of the yearly stockholders' meetings of the North Carolina Rail Road Company, a serial whose title and place of printing changed from year to year; the 1854 meeting was printed at Hillsborough, other years at Greensboro, Raleigh, Salisbury and Company Shops. The issues for 1870 and 1871 also carry the company by-laws.
Why this is here: Published by or for the site; found by its name and read by hand.
Twenty 1850 papers of the North Carolina Railroad Company concerning Orange County, dealing with right of way, landowners, stations, roads and waterways. Brick Church is named, with Charles R. Barney, Upton Bruce Gwynn and W. N. Pratt.
Why this is here: Published by or for the site; found by its name and read by hand.
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.
In 1849 the legislature chartered the North Carolina Railroad, finished in 1856 from Goldsboro through Raleigh, Greensboro and Salisbury to Charlotte. Allen W. Trelease follows the company to 1871, when it leased its line to the Richmond and Danville, and weighs what the railroad meant for the state's development; the line spurred the growth of Durham, Company Shops (later Burlington) and High Point. UNC Press, 1991; 486 pages with illustrations and maps.
Burlington began as Company Shops, the town the North Carolina Railroad built around its maintenance shops in the 1850s, incorporated in 1866 and renamed in 1887, and Durward T. Stokes tells its history. The town lies in Alamance County, formed from Orange in 1849. John F. Blair published the 169 pages, with illustrations, a bibliography and an index, in 1981.
Background from selected state and local sources
Newspapers, photographs, and records of the time
Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further
Other sources to search and local organizations that can help.
