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Public buildings and services

Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

The Old Orange County Courthouse at 106 East King Street in Hillsborough is the Greek Revival temple-form brick building that John Berry designed and built in 1844-45, following a line of county courthouses that began in 1756. The old town clock still hangs in its cupola, and it was listed in the National Register in 1971.

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 Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.

About the site

Index to Orange County Courthouse murals : completed in 2004 for Orange County's 250th anniversary observance by Chapel Hill artist Michael Brown and sponsored by attorneys in Orange and Chatham county : Joe Buckner, chief judge, District Court

2004 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

Folded guide to the six mural panels painted in the Orange County Courthouse at Hillsborough by Chapel Hill artist Michael Brown for the county's 250th anniversary in 2004, three on the east wall and three on the west. Sponsored by attorneys practicing in Orange and Chatham counties and issued by the Chapel Hill Historical Society, the sheet describes the county history and social customs each panel depicts. One illustrated sheet of six pages.

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

UNC

A note on the Hillsborough tower clock.

1976 · National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc

Four pages on the tower clock at the Orange County courthouse in Hillsborough, printed with illustrations in the bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors for August 1976. The compilers credit information from J. M. Atwater of Greensboro and Frank Albright, the retired curator of Old Salem.

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

UNC

The Orange County bond issue concerns you.

1949

Campaign literature from 1949 urging Orange County voters to back a bond issue covering courthouse and school buildings. Eight unnumbered pages with illustrations, some in color, and a map, 21 cm.

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

UNC

More about the Hillsboro clock

Nash, Frank, 1855-1932 · 1932

Frank Nash's short piece on the Hillsborough town clock, pages 88 and 89 of a 1932 publication. Nash, a Hillsborough lawyer and local historian who died that year, adds to the story of the town's famous eighteenth-century clock, now in the courthouse cupola.

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

UNC

Orange County courthouse, Hillsboro, North Carolina / L. Orr.

Orr, Louis, 1879-1966 · 1949

Louis Orr's 1949 etching of the Orange County courthouse in Hillsborough, a view of its Greek Revival architecture. Image 25 by 20 cm, one of Orr's prints in the popular graphic arts collection.

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

Library of Congress Digital Collections

[Untitled photo, possibly related to: Very old courthouse in Hillsboro, North Carolina]

Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990 · 1939

Untitled Marion Post Wolcott negative from December 1939, possibly related to her photograph of the very old courthouse in Hillsborough. One Farm Security Administration safety film negative, no larger than 3 1/4 by 4 1/4 inches.

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

Library of Congress Digital Collections
Show 8 more works

Very old courthouse in Hillsboro, North Carolina

Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990 · 1939

Marion Post Wolcott photographed an old courthouse in Hillsborough, the Orange County seat, in December 1939 for the Farm Security Administration. One safety film negative.

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

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Court House, Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina

Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952 · 1938

Frances Benjamin Johnston's 1938 view of the Orange County courthouse in Hillsborough, showing its columned portico and cupola, made for the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South. One 8 by 10 inch safety film negative.

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

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Orange County Courthouse, King & Churton Streets, Hillsborough, Orange County, NC

Historic American Buildings Survey · 1933

Hillsborough's Orange County Courthouse, at King and Churton Streets, documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey after 1933 in 8 photographs, 21 measured drawings, 3 data pages and a caption page. Names attached include the builder John Berry and photographer Jack E. Boucher.

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

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Orange County Court House, Hillsboro, N.C.

1905

The Orange County courthouse in Hillsborough with its bell tower, a street lamp and overhead wires, and a man leaning on a pole at right. Published about 1905 to 1915 for the W. A. Hayes Drug Store and printed in Germany for A. C. Bosselman. The card credits King George III with giving the town its tower clock in 1769.

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

DPLA

Black and White Sheet Film WM_063_02: Orange County Courthouse at Hillsborough: Post Office, circa 1904-1954: Scan 1

Wootten-Moulton Studios · 1904

Black-and-white sheet film negative by Wootten-Moulton Studios of the Orange County Courthouse at Hillsborough, with the post office also named in the title. Undated; the studio's negative series spans about 1904 to 1954.

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

DPLA

Court House, Hillsboro, N.C.

A postcard view of the Orange County courthouse at Hillsborough, titled with the older spelling Hillsboro. Topics include courthouses, Hillsborough and Orange County, placing the card among North Carolina postcards contributed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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

DPLA

Hillsboro, N.C. Court House

Paul C. Koeber Co., New York, N.Y

The courthouse at Hillsborough seen on a card from the Paul C. Koeber Company of New York, which printed the town's name in the older form Hillsboro.

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

DPLA

Old County Courthouse: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Front exterior of the old Orange County courthouse, in an undated photograph. From the Chapel Hill Government binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

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

CH Historical Society

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough 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 Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough, 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.

    • Foundational · NC 307.1 HIL Hillsborough, North Carolina General Development Plan 1968-1988 1968

      Hillsborough's general development plan for the twenty years from 1968 to 1988, prepared for the town's planning commission with a federal urban planning grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Issued in Hillsborough in 1968, 110 pages with maps, some in color.

    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

    Storylines about this site, each with a page of its own:

    1. The Assembly moves the county seat to the Eno crossing of the Western path Judging the Piney Ford site too far west, the Assembly directed that the courthouse, prison and stocks stand where the Western path crossed the Eno, on land where James Watson lived. The site, just east of the present courthouse, was the start of Hillsborough. People: James Watson Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 169
    2. A law orders a road from Orange courthouse to the Cape Fear The act was not carried out at once, and in the meantime farmers cut their own rough roads across the county. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 24
    3. Alexander Mebane, Josiah Dixon and William Churton lay out Hillsborough's first prison Lot No. 1 in the town was set aside for the market house, courthouse, prison, pillory and stocks. People: William Churton Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 23
    4. The first Orange County courthouse is built at Hillsborough A frame courthouse went up at the new county seat in 1755. Until then the court had met in private homes. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 169
    5. Hillsborough's first courthouse is ready for use Until it opened, the county court met at the home of James Watson. It was the first of the four courthouses Hillsborough has had. People: James Watson Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 20
    6. The county town becomes a courthouse village of stores, ordinaries and public buildings William Few recalled that in 1764 the town was the metropolis of the county, where the courts were held and all public business done, a village of thirty or forty inhabitants with two or three small stores and two or three ordinary taverns, and that Scottish merchants then opened stores of European goods and a church, courthouse and jail were built. Claude Joseph Sauthier's 1768 plan of the town marks Canby's Ordinary, Nunn's Ordinary, McNair's Store, the market house, the first courthouse and the second jail. People: William Few Orange County Historical Museum (Churton Street): 1768
    7. Settlers west of the Haw River call Orange County's representatives and vestry to a settlement at the courthouse Inhabitants on the west side of the Haw River addressed Orange County's Assembly men and vestrymen, asking them to fix a day before the next court to meet at the courthouse and settle accounts of taxes and officers' fees, and declaring they would pay no more taxes until they had a full settlement. Documenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Regulators' Advertisement No. 5, address from inhabitants near Haw River to the Orange County Vestry and General Assembly representatives, March 22, 1768
    8. Tradition holds that King George III gave Hillsborough its town clock A 1915 university bulletin repeated the local account that the clock in the courthouse tower was a 1769 gift to the town from George III. M. C. S. Noble (University of North Carolina Bureau of Extension), The Teaching of County Geography (1915), scan p. 19
    9. Crowds force the Orange County polls to close four times in the election for the fifth Provincial Congress The whole county, then taking in later Caswell, Alamance, Person and Durham, voted only at the Hillsborough courthouse, and the crush of voters forced four halts; by sunset about a quarter had voted. The winners, James Saunders, William Moore, John McCabe, John Atkinson and John Paine, faced a petition to keep them from their seats. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 45 · Also: Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary
    10. Hillsborough gets its first regular Presbyterian services After years of occasional preaching in the courthouse by David Caldwell, John DeBow and others, the Rev. Alexander McMillan began regular services there in 1777, shared with Little River and New Hope. Presbytery deposed him in September 1778, and the town had no organized Presbyterian church for many years. People: David Caldwell, John DeBow Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 70
    11. Rochester serves as clerk of the Orange County court Rochester resigned his seat in the first General Assembly of the state to become clerk of court. He was also commissioned to supervise the building of a new courthouse and to help establish an academy in the Hillsborough area, and he gave up the clerkship in 1778 because its fees did not cover the expenses of the office. NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Rochester, Nathaniel
    12. The superior court sits at Hillsborough for the first time in five years Judges Samuel Ashe and James Iredell opened the March 1778 term in the old courthouse, with Waightstill Avery prosecuting and John Henderson of Granville as grand jury foreman. The district court had not sat since September 1772, when the quarrel between Governor Martin and the Assembly over the court law shut the courts. People: Samuel Ashe, James Iredell, Waightstill Avery Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 69 · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952
    Show all 148 dated events
    1. The Assembly orders a new courthouse built at Hillsborough Nathaniel Rochester and William Courtney oversaw the work. Planned in brick but built of wood because of wartime shortages, it was one room about 40 by 25 feet near the present courthouse site and served until fire destroyed it in late 1789 or 1790. People: Nathaniel Rochester, William Courtney Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 48
    2. The Presbytery removes Alexander McMillan, who had led Presbyterian worship in Hillsborough McMillan had held regular services in the courthouse jointly with the Little River and New Hope congregations until the Presbytery deposed him for misconduct. For some years afterward Hillsborough had no regular Presbyterian services. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 48-49
    3. The Board of War makes the courthouse a storehouse and the church a hospital With supply wagons crowding every road into Hillsborough, the board designated the courthouse a storehouse and ordered the church repaired for use as a hospital. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 51
    4. The Assembly levies a tax on the Hillsborough District to repair the courthouse, stocks and streets An act taxed residents of the district and the town, with the money going to repair the courthouse and stocks and the town's streets. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 65
    5. A brick courthouse replaces the first one at Hillsborough The county's second courthouse, built of brick, went up in 1782. The book says fire destroyed it seven years later and a wooden courthouse followed in 1790. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 169
    6. The court repays John Walker for repairs to the district courthouse and jail The court allowed John Walker 40 pounds, 18 shillings and 6 pence he had advanced for repairing the courthouse and jail of the Hillsborough District, to be paid by the commissioners for the courthouse repairs under an act of the Assembly passed at Tarborough. Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: August Term 1788
    7. Fire destroys the greater part of Hillsborough A letter written at Hillsborough early in March 1790 reported that the greatest part of the town had been destroyed by fire a few days earlier, news that reached New Bern by March 18 and was printed in the State Gazette of North Carolina on March 27. The district and county courthouse was among the buildings lost, the courts moved into a private house, and the General Assembly ordered a replacement built on the same lot before the year was out. North Carolina Newspapers (DigitalNC): The State gazette of North-Carolina, March 27, 1790, Page 3
    8. General Assembly orders a new district courthouse built at Hillsborough Alexander Mebane of Orange brought in the bill, and the act named William Watters, Absalom Tatom and Jeduthan Harper commissioners to raise a courthouse on the lot where the burned one had stood and to sell off its brick and remains. It was paid for by a poll and land tax on Orange and by lighter taxes on Wake, Chatham, Caswell, Granville and Randolph, the counties of the Hillsborough district. People: Alexander Mebane, Absalom Tatom Documenting the American South: Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1790, Chapter XXVII
    9. The court allows the treasurer of public buildings for repairs to the jail and court house The court allowed James Baldridge, treasurer of public buildings, £16.16 out of the money in his hands for repairs done on the court house and prison, as shown in the account he filed. Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1798
    10. The court levies taxes for building a bridge and repairing the courthouse Among the year's taxes the court ordered fourpence on each poll, each three hundred acres and each £100 of value for building a bridge, and threepence on each for repairing the courthouse. The same term it allowed Sheriff Samuel Turrentine £1 4s. 6d. that he had spent on courthouse repairs. Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1802
    11. The court names commissioners to let repairs to the courthouse and pillory The court appointed Samuel Benton and Catlet Campbell to act with the treasurer of public buildings in letting the repairs to be done to the courthouse and the pillory. Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1802
    12. The court orders a public clock for the courthouse and levies a tax for it The court ordered commissioners to contract with a suitable person to put up a public clock attached to the courthouse in Hillsborough, levied a tax of one shilling on each poll, on every 300 acres and on every 100 pounds of town property to pay for it, and named Duncan Cameron, John Allison, Catlet Campbell, Abner B. Bruce and Sterling Harris, or any three, to carry out the order. People: Duncan Cameron Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1805
    13. The court lets the treasurer of public buildings hire a keeper for the courthouse The court authorized the treasurer of public buildings to employ a proper person to take care of the courthouse and the public lot on which it stands. At the same term it appointed Dr. James Webb treasurer of public buildings, and he gave bond with John Taylor and David Ray. People: James Webb Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1809
    14. The court orders the street opposite the Hillsborough courthouse paved The court appointed William Kirkland and William Whitted commissioners, with the treasurer of public buildings, to contract with a suitable person to pave the street opposite the courthouse in Hillsborough, and set aside one hundred dollars for the work from money in the treasurer's hands. People: William Kirkland Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1814
    15. The court orders the bar and jury boxes in the courthouse rebuilt The court appointed William Norwood, Thomas Ruffin, James Webb, Thomas Clancy and John Taylor Jr. a committee to alter the form of the bar, the jury boxes and a table in the courthouse and to contract for the work, to be paid by the treasurer of public buildings. People: William Norwood, Thomas Ruffin, James Webb Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1817
    16. Superior court acquits Joseph Cook and sends Thomas Palmer's murder case to Guilford At the spring superior court in Hillsborough, Joseph Cook, charged as an accessory in the killing of John Bracken, was acquitted for lack of proof that he took part, and the murder case against Thomas Palmer, indicted by the grand jury, was moved to the Guilford County superior court for trial. Hillsborough Recorder, March 27, 1822, p. 3
    17. Hillsborough's market house is torn down The town clock, which had hung in the market-house tower after leaving the old Episcopal church steeple, was put in storage until the new courthouse was finished. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 22
    18. Henry Evans, a free cabinetmaker of color, buys a shop lot on Churton Street Evans paid $265 for old lot 6 on Churton Street, across from the courthouse then being built, and made furniture there, including chancel pieces for St. Matthew's, where he was baptized in 1842. The Bailey map marks his workshop. People: Henry Evans Burwell School Historic Site Task Force: Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 (2019), p. 37
    19. A Person County murder case moved to Orange ends in a manslaughter verdict against Jarrot Jarrot, a man enslaved by a Mr. Trotter of Person County, had been convicted at Person Superior Court of murdering Thomas Chatham; the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial and the case was moved to Orange. At Orange Superior Court a jury found him guilty of manslaughter, and he was sentenced to be branded and then discharged. Hillsborough Recorder, March 11, 1841, p. 3
    20. Orange County justices turn down a plan to tax the county $10,000 for a new court house At the February term of the county court, the justices of the peace refused a motion to build a new court house, which would have cost the county about $10,000 in taxes. Meetings that spring, both for and against dividing the county, praised the refusal on the ground that taxpayers could not bear the cost, though they granted the old court house was in bad condition. Hillsborough Recorder, May 19, 1842, p. 3
    21. John Berry builds the Orange County Courthouse County magistrates ordered a new Hillsborough courthouse in early 1844 and set aside $6,000, and its cornerstone was set to be laid with Masonic ceremonies on September 7, 1844. John Berry designed and built the Greek Revival temple-form building, which was standing by May 1845; the town clock went into its cupola in July 1846. NC State University Libraries, North Carolina Architects and Builders: Berry, John (1798-1870)
    22. County court lays an $8,000 tax to build a new courthouse At its February term the Orange County Court voted, reportedly 42 to 33, to build a new courthouse at Hillsborough instead of repairing the old one, and then laid a tax of $8,000 to pay for it. Western voters saw the tax as a move to fix the county seat and block a division of Orange. Hillsborough Recorder, March 14, 1844, p. 3
    23. Courthouse commissioners let the contract to John Berry The commissioners named by the county court to build the new courthouse, James S. Smith, Cadwallader Jones sen., Osmond F. Long, John U. Kirkland, Harrison Parker, William Murray, Edwin M. Holt and Michael W. Holt, let the contract privately to John Berry of Hillsborough without public notice. Western critics attacked the bargain in the paper through the spring. People: James Strudwick Smith, Cadwallader Jones, John U. Kirkland, Harrison Parker Hillsborough Recorder, May 30, 1844, p. 3
    24. Eagle Lodge Masons lay the cornerstone of the new Orange County courthouse Masons of Eagle Lodge, with brethren from University Lodge, laid the cornerstone of the new courthouse in Hillsborough, with Dr. James S. Smith acting as deputy grand master. The Rev. William M. Green gave the oration in the old courthouse nearby. People: James Strudwick Smith, William Mercer Green Hillsborough Recorder, September 12, 1844, p. 3 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 3, 1953, p. 3
    25. The Old Orange County Courthouse is moved up Churton Street to Queen Street After the county built a new courthouse, its commissioners advertised the old wooden courthouse for sale at the November 1845 county court, to be removed from the court square. The Baptist missionary Elias Dodson bought it, and by about 1847 it stood at the corner of Churton and Queen streets as a church. The building later became the freedmen's school and then the home of Dickerson Chapel AME Church. People: Elias Dodson North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation (National Register documentation, about 2013) · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, September 18, 1845, p. 3
    26. Witherspoon's farm Tusculum is sold at the courthouse door Dr. Edmund Strudwick, who had long held the mortgages, bought the farm at public sale. Susan Witherspoon was allowed to stay on at Tusculum by Strudwick's provision. People: Edmund Strudwick NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Witherspoon, John Knox
    27. Lemuel Lynch is paid to repair the courthouse clock The old town clock, in storage since the market house came down, was repaired for the new courthouse and by mid-July 1846 was striking the hours from the cupola, where it still hangs. Lemuel Lynch was paid $250 for the work and afterward $25 a year to keep it running on time. People: Lemuel Lynch Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 22 · Also: Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary; Hillsborough Recorder, July 23, 1846, p. 3
    28. Orange County railroad meeting backs a central route through Orange and Guilford A county meeting at the Hillsborough court house, chaired by Dr. Edmund Strudwick, adopted William A. Graham's resolutions that the central railroad should run through Orange and Guilford, pledged enough subscriptions to grade the road through the county, and named ten delegates to the Salisbury railroad convention in June. Graham and Giles Mebane spoke. People: William A. Graham, Edmund Strudwick, Giles Mebane, Dennis Heartt, David L. Swain, Cadwallader Jones, John Wall Norwood, John U. Kirkland, James Patterson Hillsborough Recorder, March 21, 1849, p. 3
    29. Job Berry and Billy Payne begin the congregation that became Dickerson Chapel Dickerson Chapel AME Church dates its founding to 1851, when Job Berry, an enslaved painter and its first pastor, began gathering the congregation with Rev. Billy (William) Payne, enslaved by Dr. Edmund Strudwick. With state law barring Black preachers, they met in homes; the congregation moved into the old courthouse on Queen Street in 1866. People: Edmund Strudwick, Job Berry News of Orange County: Hillsborough church awarded $400k preservation grant (2025)
    30. First Baptist Church of Hillsborough is organized in the old courthouse The First Baptist Church was organized in Hillsborough and met in the former 1790 courthouse building, now Dickerson Chapel, until 1862, while it raised its own church building on a lot acquired between 1854 and 1860. The historic district survey gives the organizing date as November 19, 1853; in 1952 the church itself told the News of Orange it had been organized on November 3, 1852, and held its centennial in 1953. People: Elias Dodson North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation (National Register documentation, about 2013) · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 24, 1952, p. 1
    31. Joseph Brockwell's murder case is moved to Chatham and ends in a manslaughter verdict Orange Superior Court moved the murder case against Joseph Brockwell, charged with killing James Davis at Chapel Hill in March, to Chatham County on the prisoner's plea that he could not get a fair trial in Orange. At Chatham Superior Court the next week he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to be branded and imprisoned six months. People: Hugh Waddell, John Wall Norwood, Samuel (Samuel Field) Phillips, Josiah Turner Jr. Hillsborough Recorder, September 27, 1854, p. 2
    32. Orange Superior Court sends the William Hester slave-stealing case to Chatham Orange Superior Court removed the case of State v. William Hester, charged with stealing an enslaved man, to Chatham County on Hester's affidavit that he could not get a fair trial in Orange and feared violence if acquitted. The court house was crowded when the case came up. He was tried at Chatham Superior Court the next week. A 1920 Chatham Record reminiscence, reprinted in the News, called him Gillis Hester and named the man he was charged with stealing as Dick, held by John U. Kirkland. It said Hester was convicted at Pittsboro, lost his appeal to the state Supreme Court and was hanged there on May 5, 1855. Hillsborough Recorder, September 20, 1854, p. 2 · Also: The News (Chapel Hill), January 8, 1920, p. 1; The News (Chapel Hill), January 29, 1920, p. 1
    33. First Baptist Church of Hillsborough builds its church Seven years after organizing in the old courthouse, the First Baptist Church of Hillsborough began its brick church about 1860, to a design by William Percival. The congregation met in the courthouse until 1862 and the war stalled the work; John Berry took over from the first builder, D. Kistler, and finished it. The Baptist State Convention met in the newly completed church in the fall of 1868, when Rev. Thomas H. Pritchard of Raleigh preached the dedication sermon. People: William A. Graham, John Berry, William Percival Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 301 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, October 13, 1869, p. 1; Hillsborough Historic District NR additional documentation; Hillsborough Recorder, November 4, 1868, p. 2
    34. The county school board names committeemen for all 53 districts in wartime The Board of Superintendents appointed school committeemen for each of Orange County's 53 districts, a sign the public schools stayed open during the war. That month W. H. Brown's examining committee also called would-be teachers to the courthouse in May. People: William H. Brown Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 185
    35. Job Berry calls a fair to buy a building for a Black school The Hillsborough Recorder printed Job Berry's notice that the colored citizens of Hillsborough would hold a fair on September 23 to raise money for a school building. The school later met in the old courthouse at Queen and Churton streets. People: Job Berry Elizabeth Keckly Center research database: Job Berry
    36. The AME congregation later called Dickerson Chapel begins worshipping in the old courthouse The AME congregation later known as Dickerson Chapel moved into the 1790 courthouse building on Queen Street in 1866, sharing it with the freedmen's school the Philadelphia Friends ran there. Lefler and Wager date its formal organization to 1873, and the Friends conveyed the building to the church's trustees in 1886. People: Job Berry News of Orange County: Hillsborough church awarded $400k preservation grant
    37. E. H. Pogue starts making tinware for the wholesale trade in Hillsborough E. H. Pogue announced that he had begun manufacturing tinware in Hillsborough for merchants and retail dealers, and would also sell it to townspeople at wholesale rates. By early 1867 his store stood west of the courthouse, where he also sold groceries, stoves and tobacco and took country produce in barter. Hillsborough Recorder, March 7, 1866, p. 3 (E. H. Pogue tinware advertisements)
    38. Rev. Job Berry and the Philadelphia Friends open Hillsborough's first school for Black children and adults Job Berry, who had advertised a fair in September 1865 to raise money for a school, worked with the Friends of Philadelphia to buy the former Orange County courthouse on Queen Street for twelve hundred dollars and open a freedmen's school in it on June 5, 1866. More than three hundred children and adults learned to read and cipher there. The Freedmen's Bureau's state superintendent of education wrote on June 2, 1866 that a freedmen's school had then been running in Hillsborough for more than four months, with 107 pupils in April, and would reopen under its former principal. People: Job Berry News of Orange County: Rev. Job Berry's legacy rooted in faith, marriage, education · Also: Freedmen's Bureau, North Carolina Field Offices, Hillsboro: Letters Received, part 1, transcription p. 14
    39. Orange County's first elected board of commissioners takes office Elected in April 1868 at the election that ratified the new constitution, five commissioners qualified at the courthouse and chose Lemuel Lynch chairman, replacing the old county court of justices. Within days the newly elected sheriff, treasurer, register of deeds and clerk of superior court gave their bonds. People: John U. Kirkland, Jones Watson, David C. Parks, George Laws, Lemuel Lynch, William N. Patterson Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 193 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, April 29, 1868, p. 2
    40. Commissioners order a new bell for the courthouse The board authorized David C. Parks to buy and hang a new bell for the courthouse and to sell the old one on the best terms he could. People: David C. Parks Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 197
    41. The old corner store on the courthouse square is torn down Workmen pulled down the old frame store on the corner of the courthouse square; its weatherboards were hand-riven oak fastened with wrought nails, which the Recorder took to date from Revolutionary days. A large new building was framed on the site by June, and work on it resumed in December after a long halt. Hillsborough Recorder, March 22, 1876, p. 3
    42. The courthouse gets a belfry for its bell and freshly painted clock faces Workmen built a belfry for the courthouse bell, which had been lying useless on the portico, and a Mr. Jones repainted the faded faces of the old town clock; Josiah Turner, the saddler, had kept the clock running since the previous May. The Recorder welcomed the care of the bell but called the belfry unsightly and badly placed on the court green. Hillsborough Recorder, April 12, 1876, p. 3
    43. County commissioners let the contract for a fence around the courthouse square After months of complaint about the open courthouse grounds, roamed by hogs and cattle, the county commissioners let the contract for a fence around the square to the lowest bidder for $214.75; the new railing was up by mid-December, a neat job the Recorder said only wanted paint. Hillsborough Recorder, October 4, 1876, p. 3
    44. County commissioners repair and repaint the Orange County courthouse Workmen began repairing the exterior of the Orange County courthouse for the county commissioners on April 11, 1877, after the court yard had been fenced and gated. Painters had finished the building by late May and gave the portico columns their last coat by late June, while the grand jury and the Recorder urged the commissioners to remodel the crowded courtroom next. By September the town had added a graveled walk around the yard, fenced since December 1876, and forbade hitching horses to the fence, since the yard was now an enclosed public square rather than a common. Hillsborough Recorder, April 18, 1877, p. 3 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, December 13, 1876, p. 3
    45. Orange Superior Court quashes the libel indictment brought for Josiah Turner against the Raleigh News At the spring term of Orange Superior Court under Judge Cox, the indictment against Walter Clark, John D. Cameron and the other owners and editors of the Raleigh Daily News for an alleged libel on Josiah Turner Jr. was quashed on motion of their counsel, John W. Graham and Thomas Ruffin Jr. People: Josiah Turner Jr., Walter Clark, John W. Graham, Thomas Ruffin Jr. Hillsborough Recorder, May 9, 1877, p. 3
    46. Orange reassigns the parts of Durham and Patterson townships left outside Durham County Meeting together, the Orange magistrates and county commissioners attached the parts of Patterson and Durham townships not taken into Durham County to Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Little River townships, according to whether they lay east of Chapel Hill Township, south of the Eno or north of it. People: Jones Watson, Nathaniel D. Bain Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 18, 1881, p. 3
    47. County commissioners order repairs to the court house cupola The county commissioners named D. C. Parks, Charles F. Crabtree and George Laws a committee to have needed repairs made to the court house cupola, and by December Richard Berry, a Black painter, was painting it. People: David C. Parks Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 10, 1887, p. 3
    48. Fire destroys eight wooden buildings near the Hillsborough court house A fire that started on the roof of Robert Faucette's shoe shop before dawn burned a row of eight old wooden buildings in downtown Hillsborough, among them D. M. Laws's three buildings, the John Laws & Son tin shop and buildings owned by Samuel T. Smith, Israel Turner, George Hill and Lewis Jenkins. The court house roof caught several times before townspeople, white and Black, held the fire to the row. People: Dudley M. Laws Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), March 24, 1888, p. 3
    49. County commissioners let Hillsborough build a mayor's office and guard house on the court house square At their July meeting the county commissioners gave Hillsborough's mayor and town commissioners leave to put up a brick building on the southwest corner of the court house square for a mayor's office and guard house. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), July 7, 1888, p. 3
    50. County commissioners and justices vote to borrow for court house repairs Meeting jointly, the county commissioners and justices of the peace authorized the commissioners to borrow money to repair and alter the court house and to provide seats for the public, after a July 4 attempt to meet had failed for want of a quorum of magistrates. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), August 10, 1889, p. 3
    51. Joseph S. Kinion's workmen remodel the Orange County court house Under Joseph S. Kinion, workmen put a new tin roof on the court house, took out the gallery, moved the jury rooms to the front under the clock over the north entrance and turned the rest of the second floor into a court room seating about 250 outside the bar. The county reported $1,204.70 spent on the alterations by December 1. People: Dudley M. Laws Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), October 26, 1889, p. 3 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office, Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation
    52. Charles D. McIver holds a county institute for white teachers at the court house Charles D. McIver ran a week-long institute for Orange County's white public school teachers, open to the public, at the Hillsborough court house and closed it with an address on the people's relation to education. Attendance was thin, with seventeen teachers present on the third day out of more than forty in the county. People: John W. Thompson Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), November 15, 1890, p. 3
    53. County commissioners license John U. Smith of Raleigh to sell liquor by the quart in Hillsborough The commissioners met at the court house on Monday, visited the poor house on Tuesday, and that afternoon granted state and county licenses to sell liquor by the measure from a quart upward. Smith said he would open July 1 in a house he bought from Charles Smith, next door to Faucette's shoe shop. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 9, 1891, p. 3
    54. Commissioners and justices decline money for the Raleigh exposition and set the 1891 county levy Meeting in joint session, the commissioners and justices voted unanimously not to give money to the Southern Inter-State Exposition at Raleigh. They also voted 13 to 2 to work the public roads by an alternative system, with a special road tax of 7 cents on the $100, and set a county tax of 25 cents on the $100 and a $2 poll tax. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 6, 1891, p. 3
    55. The county school board loses its courthouse meeting room to lawyer Isaac R. Strayhorn On July 6, 1891 the Board of Education found its meeting place, the southwest corner room of the courthouse, occupied by Isaac R. Strayhorn, whom the county commissioners had let use it without consulting the board. In September the commissioners decided to wait until his year's rent ran out on January 1, 1892. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 44
    56. Burglars break open the sheriff's safe in the Hillsborough court house Burglars took tools from Al. Crabtree's shop, forced the front door of the court house and the door of the sheriff's office, and pried open Sheriff John K. Hughes's safe, taking about $200. Most of the money belonged to people for whom the sheriff had sold machinery as agent, and a small part was county funds; there was no clue to the thieves. People: John Knox Hughes Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), November 16, 1899, p. 3
    57. County commissioners contract for a fireproof vault in the court house The Orange County commissioners contracted with the B. F. Smith Fireproof Construction Company of Washington, D.C., to build a fireproof vault in the court house room where the board met, for $3,900, to be finished by May 1, 1907. By early May the new vaults for the clerk of court and the register of deeds were finished and on show to visitors. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), January 10, 1907, p. 3
    58. County commissioners order a steel fence for the courthouse yard The Orange County commissioners ordered a steel fence from the Ward Fence Company of Decatur, Indiana, to enclose the courthouse yard at about $250, and had Sheriff S. W. Andrews auction the old fence on February 8. The new fence arrived in early April, and on April 6 the board let the contract for painting it to George Laws for $37.50. People: Samuel Weldon Andrews, John F. McAdams Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 6, 1908, p. 2
    59. The Oxford Orphanage Singing Class gives a concert at the Hillsboro court house The Oxford Orphanage Singing Class sang to a large audience in the court house under the auspices of Eagle Lodge and the Masons, taking in $50 in ticket sales. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 7, 1911, p. 5
    60. Three students are convicted in Hillsborough in Isaac William Rand's death At the Orange County Courthouse one of the four defendants was freed after the first testimony, and a jury of Orange County farmers found the other three guilty within a few hours. The judge gave the minimum four months with the option of hiring them out, and their families paid the fees and took them home the same day. People: John W. Graham, Isaac William Rand, Victor Silas Bryant Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 11
    61. A Red Cross mass meeting at the Hillsborough court house enrolls new members On the eve of draft registration, J. C. Webb presided over a mass meeting at the court house where Edward Bond of Edenton, a soldier back from the Mexican border, and Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence spoke, and Frank Nash introduced Mrs. Palmer Jerman of Raleigh on the purpose of the Red Cross. Six young women then enrolled members. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, Frank Nash, J. Cheshire Webb State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History (typescripts, 1918-1919), scan 2
    62. A Sunday rally at the Hillsborough court house gives $400 to the Red Cross War Fund After a week of canvassing by C. H. Robertson's membership committee, a Sunday afternoon service at the court house led by the town's ministers raised $400 for the national Hundred Million Dollar Red Cross War Fund and brought the chapter to 200 members. By July 1 the chapter reported 400 members to Atlanta. People: Charles H. Robertson State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History (typescripts, 1918-1919), scan 3
    63. The Orange County Red Cross chapter organizes permanently under John W. Graham At a court house meeting on July 5, 1917, the chapter read its national authority to organize with jurisdiction over all of Orange County except Chapel Hill and elected Maj. John W. Graham chairman, with Henrietta P. Collins as secretary and Margaret Forrest as treasurer. The Red Cross Central Committee's recognition letter followed on July 17. People: Henrietta P. Collins, John W. Graham Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 30
    64. Orange County women organize the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense About fifty women representing every women's organization in the county met at the Hillsborough court house on August 1, 1917, and elected Mrs. J. Cheshire Webb chairman, Lula Cassidy secretary and Mrs. Isaac Manning treasurer. On Labor Day they replaced township units with one central committee of eleven departments. People: Lula M. Cassidy Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 48
    65. Eugene C. Branson urges county teachers to back the food conservation drive At a court house meeting of teachers and school committeemen called by J. C. Webb, Branson explained why food conservation mattered, and Mrs. Isaac Manning described her work in the south end of the county. Forty-two teachers attended, and the meeting laid the plan to register every woman at her school house on October 27. People: J. Cheshire Webb Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 53
    66. Hillsborough men enlist in a Home Guard detachment of the state militia Answering Gov. Bickett's call, the Council of Defense chose 25 men on October 20, 1917, and they enlisted for the duration at the Hillsborough court house on October 22 and 24, electing Shepperd Strudwick first lieutenant. The county bought their uniforms, and they drilled twice a week until the influenza ban on meetings. People: Shepperd Strudwick (1868-1961), J. Cheshire Webb, Thomas W. Bickett Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 58
    67. A Liberty Bonfire on the court house square rallies Hillsborough for the Second Liberty Loan On the night of Tuesday, October 23, young Billy Hayes lit a Liberty Bonfire at the corner of the court house square, and seven speakers gave three-minute talks. The county's four banks sold $132,550 in second-loan bonds, and a women's committee under Mrs. James H. Webb raised $79,800. People: Frank Nash, John W. Graham, Samuel Mallett Gattis, Paul C. Collins Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 62
    68. Orange County raises about $2,000 in a Y.M.C.A. war fund drive A Y.M.C.A. drive ran November 11-19, 1917, led by N. W. Brown, G. K. Collins and T. M. Grant. At a packed court house rally on November 18, with Maj. John W. Graham presiding, pledges reached $1,400, and the rest of the $2,000 was raised afterward. People: John W. Graham, Samuel Mallett Gattis, N. W. Brown Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 71
    69. Orange County raises its Third Liberty Loan honor flag at the court house The county subscribed $99,150 to the Third Liberty Loan against a $75,000 allotment, and on May 9, 1918, raised its Honor Flag at the court house, with Judge Bond of Edenton speaking. Hillsborough had raised its own town Honor Flag at the cross streets on May 2. People: Paul C. Collins Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 63
    70. The Council of Defense extends into township community councils At a court house meeting on June 15, 1918, J. Cheshire Webb organized community councils of defense for each of the seven townships, choosing the township over the school district as the unit. Their charge was to support every war activity without forming new organizations. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Eugene Cunningham Branson Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 45
    71. Hillsborough dedicates a tablet crediting Daniel Boone with an expedition from the Old State House During a day of patriotic meetings and a war bond drive, Hillsborough dedicated a steel tablet at the site of the Old State House stating that frontiersmen under Richard Henderson, led by Daniel Boone, set out from there for Kentucky on March 17, 1776. A Trading Path tablet was added to the monument on July 4, 1931. The inscription is disputed: the American Revolution tour AmRevNC says Boone was not with the party that left the courthouse that day. People: Richard Henderson, Frank Nash Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina: Old State House, Indian Trading Path and Boone Trail Highway Marker (#5), Hillsborough
    72. A War Savings rally in Hillsborough welcomes home wounded volunteer Jim Cheshire On the night of Registration Day, September 12, 1918, a crowd packed the court house for a War Savings rally to hear two of Pershing's soldiers. One was Jim Cheshire, the first man to volunteer from the town and the first to come home, sent back wounded to train troops. That day 1,727 county men registered for the draft. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Samuel Mallett Gattis Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 60
    73. Orange County organizes for the United War Work drive A court house meeting on September 19, 1918, elected N. W. Brown county chairman for the United War Work drive. The county raised $7,485; Carrboro gave $1,240 on a $500 quota, and Hillsborough Township, under Elizabeth Cornelius, gave $2,300. People: R. H. Claytor, N. W. Brown, H. Winder Webb, H. S. Bradshaw Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 72
    74. The Mayo family's quarry land near Hillsborough is sold to Duke's land agent for $500 A deed at the Orange County courthouse records that Duke land agent Murray Jones paid the Mayo family $500 in March 1925 for land with a working stone quarry, the source of the stone for Duke's new campus. According to family accounts, George Mayo refused to sell until he was jailed and signed so his family would not go hungry. The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough: Mayo Rock Quarry
    75. Orange commissioners vote $25,000 to pave the old Raleigh road east of Chapel Hill Meeting in Hillsboro, the Orange County commissioners voted to borrow $25,000 and lay a penetration-asphalt surface on the old Raleigh road from the Chapel Hill limits to the Durham County line, about two and a quarter miles, after Durham County agreed to pave to the line if Orange met it. Chairman J. D. Webb was to go ahead and report back November 1. People: Junius D. Webb The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 15, 1926, p. 1
    76. Orange commissioners rescind their vote to pave the old Raleigh road At a hurried meeting the commissioners rescinded the paving resolution they had passed five days earlier. The rescinding resolution was signed by commissioners Hawkins and McCauley; chairman J. D. Webb of Chapel Hill, called to Hillsboro on short notice, asked in vain for a delay. The Weekly reported that a group of Hillsboro citizens opposed borrowing for the road, while Chapel Hill wanted it. People: Junius D. Webb The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 22, 1926, p. 1
    77. Civil Works crews begin rebuilding Hillsborough's courthouse square About 20 long-unemployed men started Civil Works project 38016 at the Orange County courthouse on December 1, a week after the county commissioners chose it, and some 65 were at work by late January. The project took in repairs and a new cellar at the courthouse, a remodeled board of education building with an office for the mayor, a garage for 25 school buses, grading of the court house lot, and curb, gutter and flagstone walks laid with stone from the old jail. People: H. D. Carter The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 26, 1934, p. 5
    78. The end of Civil Works money leaves the Hillsborough courthouse renovation half done When Civil Works payments stopped, masons and carpenters left the courthouse renovation in mid-course and the sheriff's office full of debris. Because CWA materials could not be used with non-CWA labor, the county commissioners paid workmen to relay the old floor so the sheriff could use his office; the unfinished Hillsboro library was also suffering damage. The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 18, 1934, p. 1
    79. The Orange, Person and Chatham boards of health meet together in Hillsborough At the joint meeting in the courthouse, Dr. Charles S. Mangum reviewed the district health unit's growth to a staff of 14 under Dr. W. P. Richardson and a $43,000 budget, and the boards named an executive committee to draw up a district health program. A proposed three-county home of 50 to 70 beds for incurable tuberculosis patients drew strong support but no formal action. People: Charles Staples Mangum, William P. Richardson The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 11, 1938, p. 1
    80. The 1844 Orange County Courthouse is rehabilitated The county rehabilitated its courthouse of about 1844 in 1943 and later added an annex, but the building stayed too small, and a new courthouse was finished just south of it in 1954. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), Historical Background, 1940-1960s
    81. Home demonstration clubs report the year's work at Achievement Day in Hillsboro At the county home demonstration clubs' Achievement Day at the courthouse, the home agent reported that women had canned an average of 350 quarts and that 94 percent made their own clothes, and that the women's curb market in Chapel Hill had taken in $30,280.68 over the past year. Clubs from Caldwell, Carr, Cedar Grove, Efland, New Hope, Orange Grove, St. Mary's, Schley and Murphy had made 699 garments and 744 other articles for the Red Cross. People: Woodward Byars News of Orange County: Achievement Day report of the county home demonstration clubs (December 7, 1944)
    82. County commissioners approve an $85,000 remodeling of the courthouse interior After hearing architect H. Raymond Weeks's final tentative report, the commissioners gave the go-ahead to spend about $85,000 remodeling the inside of the century-old courthouse, with a basement, larger record vaults, jury rooms, judges' chambers, a courtroom balcony, heat, a sprinkler system and rest rooms for white and Black men and women, while leaving the exterior unchanged. The accountant, tax collector and other county offices were to go to a new office building. People: Howard Raymond Weeks, Collier Cobb Jr. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 6, 1947, p. 1
    83. Journey of Reconciliation comes to Chapel Hill Interracial riders testing segregation on interstate buses reached Chapel Hill on April 12, 1947. The next day police arrested four of them at the bus station and a white cab driver struck rider James Peck. Convicted in Orange County, Bayard Rustin, Igal Roodenko and Joe Felmet surrendered at the Hillsborough courthouse on March 21, 1949 to serve chain-gang sentences. People: Bayard Rustin, George Houser, Igal Roodenko, Joseph A. Felmet Town of Chapel Hill: Information packet for Freedom Riders resolution (Council agenda, January 28, 2008) · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, February 27, 1976, p. 1
    84. Preservationists ask the county commissioners to spare the courthouse stair hall As the county commissioners passed the final orders for a $1,045,000 bond vote on June 10, a group led by Elizabeth Sunderland and Eva Gatling of the Duke fine arts faculty asked them not to tear out the front stair hall of the old courthouse in the planned interior remodeling. After also hearing a telegram from playwright Paul Green, the board said it would revise the plans to leave the stair halls alone except for repairs. People: Paul Green, Collier Cobb Jr., Howard Raymond Weeks The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 8, 1947, p. 1
    85. Orange County voters defeat the $1,045,000 school, office building and courthouse bonds Orange County voters turned down all three bond questions: $810,000 for school buildings, much of it to finish the Chapel Hill high school, $150,000 for a county office building, and $85,000 to remodel the courthouse interior. The two Chapel Hill boxes voted heavily for the bonds, but Hillsboro and the rural precincts, led by organized opposition at Efland and St. Mary's, outvoted them. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 19, 1947, p. 1
    86. Workmen begin repairing the courthouse clock tower Repairs began on the clock tower of the Orange County courthouse in Hillsboro: rotten timbers were replaced and the tower was given a copper roof. Curry Roberts did the work on a cost-plus contract. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 7, 1948, p. 1
    87. Commissioners hear Thomas T. Waterman's report on restoring the courthouse A detailed report by Thomas T. Waterman of Washington, an authority on old buildings whom the board had invited to look at the courthouse, was read at the commissioners' regular meeting. It suggested how the old building could be modernized and restored while keeping its original features; the board took no action pending a vote of the people on such a program. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 4, 1948, p. 1
    88. Hillsboro opens the Christmas season with a parade and the courthouse lawn tree The Hillsboro Merchants Association opened the Christmas shopping season with a parade led by Santa Claus and the high school band, the lighting of the big tree on the courthouse lawn and a window-decoration contest won by Gordon's Grocery. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 2, 1948, p. 1
    89. The grand jury and Judge Nimocks call the courthouse the worst in the state The grand jury's report at the March term denounced crowded county offices and poor school conditions and urged adoption of the fact-finding committee's plan, saying the county could not afford not to carry it out. Judge Q. K. Nimocks called the courthouse facilities the worst in North Carolina and completely inadequate. People: John S. Bennett The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 31, 1949, p. 1
    90. The grand jury again finds the courthouse unfit for county business Reporting to Judge Q. K. Nimocks at the June term, the grand jury said the courthouse needed much to be suitable, citing the crowded and unprivate quarters of the clerk of court and register of deeds, the county accountant's having to give up his office to the grand jury, and the lack of room for witnesses. It found the prison camp in excellent condition. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 16, 1949, p. 1
    91. County commissioners call a November 22 vote on $1.25 million in school and courthouse bonds After sounding out opinion at seven community meetings, the Orange County commissioners called a special election for November 22 on $1,000,000 in school building bonds and $250,000 for a new courthouse and county office building. They named county Democratic chairman Robert O. Forrest to head a countywide steering committee for the campaign. People: Robert O. Forrest The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 8, 1949, p. 1
    92. Hillsboro Garden Club asks the commissioners to keep the old courthouse for an historic shrine Just before the bond vote was called, a Hillsboro Garden Club delegation led by the Rev. Charles S. Hubbard asked the commissioners to do nothing to the old courthouse that would harm its later restoration, and offered to keep the courtroom as a museum at no cost to the county. The club said it had sought federal and state interest; the commissioners promised careful consideration and said no bond money would go to the old building. People: Charles S. Hubbard The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 8, 1949, p. 1
    93. Governor Scott urges Orange farmers to back the school and courthouse bonds Speaking to about 300 farmers at an Orange County Farm Bureau membership rally at Aycock School, near his mother's birthplace, Governor W. Kerr Scott asked them to fight for the bond issues and for rural electricity, telephones, schools and roads. He also said the University's ownership of the Chapel Hill power and telephone systems was not wholesome and that it should sell them. People: W. Kerr Scott The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 17, 1949, p. 1
    94. Orange County voters approve $1.25 million in bonds for schools and a courthouse Following a county-wide school study begun in October 1948, voters approved bonds of up to $1,250,000 for new and enlarged schools and a new courthouse. Voters had turned down similar bonds in 1947. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 142
    95. A Chapel Hill delegation urges a Colonial design and Archie Davis for the new courthouse Chapel Hill mayor Edwin S. Lanier, Carl Smith and Creighton Humphries asked the county commissioners to build the new courthouse in the Colonial style, in keeping with the traditions of the county and of Hillsboro, and to give the design to architect Archie Davis. The board also took under advisement the school board's request that it buy the former Latta Dairy building on Court Square for school offices. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 9, 1950, p. 1
    96. County commissioners hire Archie Royal Davis to design the new courthouse The county commissioners approved a contract with Chapel Hill architect Archie Royal Davis, for 5 percent of construction cost, to design the courthouse to be built with the $250,000 voted in 1949. His preliminary Colonial plan put the courtroom and the main county offices on the floor facing Margaret Lane and the health and welfare offices on the ground floor, and the board declined the school board's request to buy the old Latta dairy building for offices. People: Archie Royal Davis, Collier Cobb Jr. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 6, 1950, p. 1
    97. Commissioners contract to tear down the old school office on the new courthouse site The commissioners approved a contract with Louie Murray to demolish the old wooden building on Margaret Lane used by the county Board of Education and clear the site for the new courthouse, with the salvaged materials as his pay. The building had gone up about 1914 as a tobacco warehouse and later served as a skating rink. People: Collier Cobb Jr. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 7, 1950, p. 1
    98. Commissioners let a contract to heat the old courthouse The commissioners awarded a $13,200 contract to Alliance Plumbing and Heating Company of Durham, low among five bidders, to heat the century-old courthouse from boilers in the jail building, and $960 to a Durham firm to weatherstrip and repair its windows. At the same meeting they set uniform office hours for the courthouse. People: Collier Cobb Jr., Archie Royal Davis The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 7, 1950, p. 1
    99. M. C. Burt asks the commissioners for toilets for Black citizens at the courthouse Black county agent M. C. Burt told the county commissioners that the courthouse had no toilets for Black visitors or Black county employees and asked that some be built. The board called for a study by county officials and asked for cost estimates. People: Moses Cimuel Burt The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 5, 1951, p. 1
    100. The National Production Authority refuses to let the county start its new courthouse The National Production Authority denied the county's application for permission and scarce materials to begin the new courthouse, saying only the most essential building could go ahead under defense controls. The denial came just as the Local Government Commission advised that courthouse bonds could now be sold; architect Archie Davis planned to reapply for the first quarter of 1952. People: Archie Royal Davis The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 30, 1951, p. 1
    101. Federal production authority again refuses a permit to begin the new courthouse The National Production Authority denied the architect's second request for a permit and controlled materials to begin the new Orange County courthouse, this time for the first quarter of 1952, after a first denial late that summer. County officials were told they could apply again for the second quarter, so the bond-financed project stayed on hold under defense-period controls. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 8, 1951, p. 1
    102. The National Production Authority clears construction of the new Orange County courthouse The federal agency that allotted steel and other materials needed for defense had held the county's application since November 10, 1951; its notice granting priorities and authorizing construction 'to start immediately' reached architect Archie Royal Davis on April 15, leaving the next move to the county commissioners. People: Archie Royal Davis The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 17, 1952, p. 1
    103. Bids for the new courthouse come in about $61,000 over the bond money The county commissioners opened bids for the ground and second floors of the new courthouse, leaving the basement unfinished for the time being; the low bids came to $311,355.46 with the architect's fees, against the $250,000 in bonds the voters had approved, and Coltrain-Graham Company of High Point was low on the general contract at $274,560. People: Collier Cobb Jr., Archie Royal Davis The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 29, 1952, p. 1
    104. The school board cuts its building request $48,000 so the courthouse can be built without a tax increase Meeting jointly with the county commissioners, the Board of Education agreed to cut its $109,000 capital outlay request by $48,000; with a $7,000 cut by the Chapel Hill school board and other savings, the commissioners said they could let the courthouse contracts and keep the county tax rate at $1.00 instead of raising it 5 to 7 cents. People: Collier Cobb Jr. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 19, 1952, p. 1
    105. Hurricane Able blows a giant elm onto the old courthouse The winds of Hurricane Able, which struck the Carolina coast and died out over the Piedmont, did their worst damage in Hillsborough on the courthouse grounds, snapping a giant elm near the northeast corner of the courthouse at the ground. The tree fell across that corner of the building, knocking off a chimney, damaging the eaves and gutters and shaking loose plaster in the office of the register of deeds. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 4, 1952, p. 1
    106. Digging begins for the new Orange County courthouse Excavation for the new Orange County courthouse at Hillsborough began in the week of October 6, 1952. The steel shortage could still slow the job, but the contractor said he expected the steel by the end of the year so the concrete could be poured and the building go on with little interruption. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 16, 1952, p. 1
    107. County commissioners order the big elm on the courthouse yard cut down On October 6, 1952, a month after Hurricane Able threw another elm against the courthouse, the commissioners ordered the large elm at the northwest corner of the courthouse yard taken down and the eleven other trees on the yard pruned and treated, on the advice of Norman Armstrong of the Armstrong Tree Service of Chapel Hill. He had found heartwood decay and cankers that would not heal and proposed a willow oak in its place; by October 23 the felling was drawing a crowd of onlookers. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 9, 1952, p. 1
    108. Repairs begin on the old Orange County courthouse On November 17, 1952, while concrete footings were being poured for the new courthouse a few hundred feet to the south, George W. Kane of Durham began repairing the old courthouse's roof and southeast chimney, damaged months before by a falling tree. Painting, gutters, roof work and rewiring were to follow under separate contracts, and on December 1 the commissioners let the rewiring to Electric Construction Company of Chapel Hill for $947. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 20, 1952, p. 1
    109. Orange County sells $250,000 in bonds for a new courthouse On June 17, 1952 the county borrowed against its courthouse bonds with a $250,000 bond anticipation note sold to First Securities Corporation of Durham, and on November 18 it sold the $250,000 in courthouse bonds themselves to Vance Securities and J. Lee Peeler at an average interest of 2.4689 percent, completing the $1.25 million voted in 1949. The courthouse bonds brought the county's net bonded debt to $1,378,000 at the end of 1952, when the new courthouse was rising beside the old one on the same axis, sharing a courtyard. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 224 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 19, 1952, p. 1; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 20, 1952, p. 1
    110. Steel arrives and construction starts on the new Orange County courthouse After long delays, the first carloads of structural steel for the new courthouse behind the old one reached Hillsborough, and the High Point general contractor put a foreman in charge and ordered cement for the brickwork. By late May the steel frame was up and masons had begun laying brick. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 9, 1953, p. 1
    111. County commissioners vote 2 to 1 to issue $80,000 in bonds to finish the new courthouse Chairman R. O. Forrest and R. J. M. Hobbs voted to issue the bonds without a popular vote, as debt retired the year before allowed, while Sim Efland held out for paying as the county went; ceilings, plastering, lighting, heating and plumbing had been cut from the original contracts to keep them within the $250,000 voted in 1949. The board refused the school board's request for $65,000 to finish the Hillsboro elementary school, and when no one objected at the October 5 hearing it passed the bond order. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Sim Efland, Robert O. Forrest The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 27, 1953, p. 1
    112. County commissioners sign contracts to finish the new courthouse The commissioners signed contracts with general contractor Coltrane and Graham and with Thompson Electric Company to complete the new courthouse at their original bids, after rising costs had forced change orders. The plumbing and heating contractors said they could not finish at their old prices, and the building, walls up and roof work begun, was said to be about 75 percent complete. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 5, 1953, p. 1
    113. County commissioners authorize $80,000 in notes to finish the courthouse The commissioners passed a resolution to sell $80,000 in bond anticipation notes, repayable at $20,000 a year, to finish the courthouse contract, while contractors' figures of $43,000 for completing the basement, against an estimate near $20,000, led them to put that work out for separate bids later. The notes went to the R. S. Dickson Company at 1.44 percent. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 7, 1954, p. 1
    114. Planting begins on the old courthouse grounds with the county's Rural Progress prize money White and Black vocational agriculture students from Hillsboro and Central high schools dug the beds as shrub planting began on the old Orange County Courthouse lawn, paid for with $500 that farm leaders set aside from the County of the Year prizes. The plan was drawn by F. J. LeClair, the university's landscape architect. People: Francis Joseph LeClair, Elmer R. Dowdy The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 15, 1954, p. 1
    115. A plaque honoring the county's 1953 Rural Progress award arrives for the old courthouse The plaque the county commissioners bought to honor Orange's farm people and agricultural workers for winning the 1953 state 'County of the Year in Rural Progress' award, and for giving the prize money toward beautifying the old courthouse grounds, arrived to be hung in the courthouse corridor. People: Don S. Matheson, Robert O. Forrest The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 24, 1954, p. 1
    116. Commissioners inspect the finished new courthouse for acceptance With the original construction contract for the new Orange County courthouse complete, the commissioners met architect Archie Royal Davis and the main contractors for a formal acceptance inspection; acceptance was expected once a few items, among them the front sidewalk, were redone. Bids were being sought for furnishings, and the basement, left out of the first plans, was still to be finished. People: Archie Royal Davis The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 15, 1954, p. 1
    117. Superior Court hears its last case in the 1845 Orange County courthouse The final case of the civil term before Judge Clifton L. Moore was the last Superior Court case tried in the old courthouse, which the paper said was built for $8,000 in 1845; the next term was to open in the new $250,000 courthouse across the square. Court officers and the twelve jurors paused for a photograph to mark the moment. People: Edwin M. Lynch, Samuel T. Latta Jr. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 9, 1954, p. 1
    118. County officials move from the old courthouse into the new one County officials began moving from the old Orange County courthouse to the new building on Margaret Lane, the clerk of court and register of deeds first, and finished on Tuesday, September 28. The new building gave the home demonstration clubs a kitchen and homemaking laboratory and the county's microfilming machine an office of its own. People: Edwin M. Lynch, Robert O. Forrest The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 30, 1954, p. 1
    119. The county school superintendent's office moves into the old courthouse Superintendent G. P. Carr and his staff finished moving into the first floor of the 1845 courthouse, which had been renovated after the other county offices left for the new building in October. People: G. Paul Carr The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 23, 1954, p. 1 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 8, 1954, p. 1
    120. The sheriff's two-way radio system goes into operation at the courthouse Transmitting equipment for the Orange County sheriff's radio system went into operation at the courthouse in Hillsborough, linking the office with the Chapel Hill police and all five county patrol cars. Until then the cars could call only the Chapel Hill police station; night calls still went through Chapel Hill. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 13, 1955, p. 1
    121. The county health department moves into the new courthouse basement The Orange County health department moved into its new quarters on the newly finished basement floor of the county courthouse in Hillsborough, with the welfare department to follow that Saturday and the Negro farm and home agents also to take space there. The basement had been cut from the original plans for lack of money and finished under a separate contract; the commissioners accepted it on February 7. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 10, 1955, p. 1
    122. The county buys the Dickerson Chapel A.M.E. lot east of the courthouse The commissioners paid the trustees of Dickerson Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church $3,500 for a lot about 100 by 165 feet with a five-room house that had served as a home, a funeral home and the church parsonage, a first step toward gathering land east of the courthouse for parking or later county buildings. A private lot still lay between it and a 20-foot strip the county had bought the year before from the Nate Brown estate. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 2, 1956, p. 1
    123. Thieves break into the Orange County courthouse and a dozen Hillsboro offices and stores Overnight from February 22 to 23, three men broke into thirteen places in Hillsboro, among them the courthouse, Hillsboro High School and the draft board office, and got away with about $1,250 in cash and goods. The courthouse stayed shut the next morning, and two of the men were later sentenced to three to five years in Orange Superior Court. People: Odell H. Clayton The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 28, 1957, p. 1
    124. County commissioners set aside the old courthouse courtroom for a historical museum At the request of the Hillsboro Garden Club's museum committee, the commissioners approved use of the upstairs courtroom of the old courthouse as an Orange County historical museum, on condition that it still serve for meetings for the next few years, and voted $250 for five display cases. The club had asked for $500 to $1,000; state archivist C. C. Crittenden had advised keeping the courtroom intact. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 4, 1957, p. 1
    125. Hillsboro marks June Dairy Day with a milking contest on the courthouse lawn Mayor Ben Johnston proclaimed June 22 Dairy Day in Hillsboro and challenged Superintendent G. Paul Carr and Sheriff O. H. Clayton to a milking contest on the old courthouse lawn. Water superintendent Myron Lloyd, milking for the mayor, won before a small crowd, and the county's dairy princess received gifts from local merchants. People: G. Paul Carr, Odell H. Clayton The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 27, 1957, p. 1
    126. The Orange County Historical Museum opens The Hillsborough Garden Club, led by Mrs. Clarence Jones, founded the Orange County Historical Museum, which opened in November 1957 on the second floor of the 1845 Orange County Courthouse after the county commissioners approved the space and gave $250. The museum moved to its Churton Street home in 1983. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 14, 1957, p. 1 · Also: Orange County Historical Museum: Our History
    127. Orange commissioners keep the courthouse home demonstration kitchen for white use and vote a separate one for Black clubs Weeks after Black home agent Bonnie Davis asked why the kitchen promised her clubs, which had given $500 toward it about three years before, was never provided, the commissioners split over letting both races share the white agent's second-floor kitchen. Chairman R. J. M. Hobbs broke a 2-2 tie to keep it white-only and set up a temporary separate kitchen, likely on the ground floor, and the $500 was returned. White agent Jessie Trowbridge and county club leaders opposed sharing; the News reported Commissioner Donald Stanford saying the real objection was to the races using the same kitchen. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Bonnie B. Davis The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 10, 1959, p. 6
    128. Portrait of the late Sheriff Oddie Clayton is hung in the sheriff's office A portrait of the late Orange County sheriff Oddie Clayton, painted by Hillsborough artist Edmund Strudwick and paid for by public subscription in a drive led by ABC Police Chief Burch Compton, was hung in the county sheriff's office before members of his family. People: Odell H. Clayton, Edmund Strudwick The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 22, 1962, p. 1
    129. The Orange County Historical Museum reopens in the old courthouse after refurbishing Hillsboro women including Mrs. Marion Roberts and Mrs. Clarence D. Jones spent months refurbishing the county museum in the old courthouse, which reopened with Governor Thomas Burke's desk top, a flax wheel and early courthouse relics such as branding irons, shackles and the jail key. It was open Sundays from 2 to 4 and by appointment. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 10, 1963, p. 1
    130. County commissioners endorse a joint Orange-Chatham antipoverty proposal to the North Carolina Fund On February 3 the Orange commissioners signed a joint Orange-Chatham proposal asking the North Carolina Fund and other sources for about $1.8 million for six projects meant to break the cycle of poverty. They included an infant day care center in Chapel Hill, a homemaker service, wider public kindergartens, summer reading-readiness classes, a study of likely dropouts, and help for families to be moved by the New Hope dam. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 6, 1964, p. 6
    131. County commissioners pass a $40,000 bond order to remodel the courthouse The Orange County commissioners gave final passage to an order authorizing up to $40,000 in County Courthouse Bonds for remodeling and improving the courthouse. By June the work, air-conditioning the building, was under way on bond anticipation notes, and the county's only other non-school bonded debt was $150,000 still owed on earlier courthouse bonds. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 14, 1964, p. 21
    132. A bronze plaque honoring builder John Berry is placed on the Old Orange County Courthouse A bronze plaque naming John Berry a contributor to the tradition of American architecture was dedicated at the 1845 courthouse he built in Hillsborough. The Hillsborough Historical Society presented it, and Donald M. Stanford, chairman of the county commissioners, accepted it. NCpedia: Berry, John (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Mary Claire Engstrom, 1979) · Also: Internet Archive: North Carolina Historical Review 42
    133. The Old Orange County Courthouse is listed in the National Register On June 24, 1971 the National Park Service listed the Old Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough in the National Register of Historic Places. NC State Historic Preservation Office: North Carolina Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, Orange County · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register file OR0014
    134. Orange County moves to make the old courthouse a courtroom again over Hillsborough's objection By September 1981 the county commissioners were choosing an architectural firm to renovate the old Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough, home of the county museum, as a second courtroom, saying it would cost less than a new annex. Hillsborough Mayor Fred Cates said the town owned the building and its lot, that the second-floor courtroom could not safely hold crowds, and that the town would keep it a museum and seek national landmark status; the county had earlier lost a court case over moving the museum to the Confederate Memorial Library. The Daily Tar Heel, September 23, 1981, p. 6
    135. The 1953 Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough joins the Study List The committee's list of properties approved for the Study List on October 12, 2006 includes the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough. The survey layer identifies it as the 1953 Colonial Revival courthouse on Margaret Lane, not the older courthouse listed in the National Register in 1971. NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register Advisory Committee agendas, minutes and approved lists, p. 1085
    136. Soil collection ceremony at the Orange County courthouse honors Cyrus Guy and four other 1869 lynching victims The Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition held a soil collection ceremony for Washington Morrow, Wright Malone, Daniel Morrow, Thomas Jefferson Morrow and Cyrus Guy, all lynched in 1869. One jar for each man was to go to the Equal Justice Initiative's memorial collection in Montgomery, Alabama, and a second jar was to stay in Orange County. People: Daniel Morrow, Jefferson Morrow, Washington Morrow, Wright Malone, Thomas Jefferson Morrow, Renée Price Chapelboro: 'Do Not Forget Us': Soil Collection Ceremony Held for 5 Orange County Lynching Victims (May 1, 2023)

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