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The Orange Printshop

The Orange Printshop was the Chapel Hill printing business Louis Graves founded in 1923 alongside his Chapel Hill Weekly, which it printed along with books and magazines; in 1924 it moved into its own brick building off Rosemary Street. W. M. Pugh leased it from 1940 until it closed on August 15, 1962.

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.

Sites linked through the same people

Indexed works

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

About the site

Orange Print Shop: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Three undated photographs taken inside the Orange Print Shop in Chapel Hill, showing employees at work, among them Duncan Sinclair. Part of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

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

Published by or for this business

The Orange Printshop guide

Orange Printshop (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · 1930 · Orange Printshop

A guide issued in 1930 by the Orange Printshop of Chapel Hill.

Included because: Published by or for this business.

UNC

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about The Orange Printshop 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.

The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: 1795-1975

Little-Stokes, Margaret Ruth · 2006

Margaret Ruth Little-Stokes's survey of Chapel Hill's town and campus buildings from 1795 to 1975, published by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill in 2006. Chapters run from the first campus buildings through David Swain's romantic campus to midcentury modernism, followed by area surveys of the campus, east and west Chapel Hill, downtown, Northside and the suburbs.

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

The town and gown architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975

Little, M. Ruth · 2004 · Preservation Society of Chapel Hill

M. Ruth Little's 2004 architectural history of Chapel Hill and the university campus from 1795 to 1975, written for the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. A 99-page survey with a bibliography.

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

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

Chapel Hill historic sites survey : final report.

Gatza, M. B. · 1992 · Chapel Hill Planning Department

M. B. Gatza's final report of the 1992 Chapel Hill historic sites survey for the town Planning Department, with contributions by Beverly C. Kawalec and Catherine Bishir. It covers historic buildings and districts in Chapel Hill in 80 pages.

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

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

Chapel Hill township survey final report

Lally, Kelly A. · 1992

Kelly A. Lally's October 1992 final report on the architectural survey of Chapel Hill township, including Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Besides the report and a bibliography, most of its 56 pages form an annotated index of the historic buildings surveyed.

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

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

When Chapel Hill was a village

Love, Cornelia Spencer, 1892-1981 · 1976 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

Cornelia Spencer Love's recollections of Chapel Hill as a village, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1976 with drawings by John V. Allcott. Love lived from 1892 to 1981, and the book covers Chapel Hill biography, the town's social life and customs, and the faculty of the university before 1962. viii and 87 pages with illustrations.

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

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina.

1925

Sanborn Map Company fire insurance map of Chapel Hill, June 1925, on eleven sheets, with Carrboro also drawn. Sanborn maps recorded the outline, construction and use of each building for fire insurers, so the set shows both towns block by block in the mid 1920s.

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

Show 1 more surveys and maps

Map of Chapel Hill & vicinity.

1933

Street and property map of Chapel Hill and the surrounding country, revised to 1 January 1933 and printed in the town. Topics include streets, real property and the historical geography of Chapel Hill along with maps of the University of North Carolina in its 1793 to 1962 period. A useful sheet for tracing lot lines and street names as they stood at the start of the 1930s.

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

UNC

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 The Orange Printshop, 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

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 STO Chapel Hill: A Pictorial History Stolpen, Steven · 1978

      Steven Stolpen's pictorial history of Chapel Hill, one of the Donning Company's photographic town histories, published in Norfolk, Virginia in 1978. Photographs and portraits carry the story of the town and the university, including references to Thomas Wolfe's years as a student at Carolina. 156 pages with illustrations.

    • 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.

    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 917.56 HIS Historic Buildings and Landmarks of Chapel Hill, N.C Chapel Hill Historical Society · 1973

      A pocket-sized guide to the historic buildings and landmarks of Chapel Hill, prepared by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and printed by Creative Printers in 1973. Forty pages with illustrations and maps, 14 by 22 cm. Topics include architecture, historic buildings and historic districts in Chapel Hill, and the guide is useful for a walking tour of the older parts of town.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Chapel Hill, N.C. History of Town Lots (1790-1930s) Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2014

      Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.

    In the chronology

    1. Louis Graves founds the Orange Printshop in Chapel Hill Graves set up a printing plant in the basement of the new Strowd Building, and the Chapel Hill Weekly was first printed there in its issue of April 19, 1923, after its first seven issues had been printed in Durham. Run as the Orange Printshop with self-help student printers, it advertised its opening for outside work in May. Graves leased it to W. M. Pugh in 1940. It printed books and magazines and set a record for delivering the state Session Laws. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 285 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, February 24, 1928, p. 3; Chapel Hill Weekly, February 26, 1937, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 19, 1923, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, May 10, 1923, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 1, 1923, p. 4
    2. Work begins on a brick building for the Chapel Hill Weekly and the Orange Printshop Workmen began clearing ground on Rosemary Street behind the hardware store and the People's Bank for a one-story brick building with a fireproof roof for the Chapel Hill Weekly and its printer, the Orange Printshop, which had worked since May 1923 in the basement under Sutton and Alderman's drugstore. Charles Martindale was the builder, and the paper hoped to move in by October 1. People: Louis Graves The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 10, 1924, p. 1
    3. The Orange Printshop moves into a new brick building off Rosemary Street The Orange Printshop, which printed Louis Graves's Chapel Hill Weekly, moved into a new brick building made for it on the lot behind Patterson Brothers drug store. It added new presses and machinery with the move. People: Louis Graves The Tar Heel, September 27, 1924, p. 4 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 12, 1925, p. 5
    4. The Orange Printshop and the Chapel Hill Weekly finish a brick addition on Rosemary Lane A 60-by-32-foot brick addition with a fireproof roof, designed by H. D. Carter and built by Brodie Thompson, went up in front of the old building of the Orange Printshop and the Chapel Hill Weekly on Rosemary Lane, giving room for offices, paper stock and student editors. The shop held an open house on September 13 with its presses and linotypes running. People: H. D. Carter, Brodie Thompson, Louis Graves The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 23, 1935, p. 3
    5. The Orange Printshop of Chapel Hill prints the state's 1939 Public Laws in record time The Orange Printshop of Chapel Hill, managed by W. M. Pugh, printed the North Carolina Public Laws of 1939, and Secretary of State Thad Eure, presenting a copy to Governor Hoey, said it had beaten all records for delivery after the legislature adjourned. About twenty men and women worked night and day as the copy came in from Raleigh. People: Thad Eure, Clyde Roark Hoey The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 28, 1939, p. 1
    6. The Orange Printshop delivers North Carolina's 1939 Public Laws to the Capitol W. M. Pugh, manager of the Orange Printshop in Chapel Hill, took the first copies of the 1939 Public Laws to Raleigh only 23 days after the legislature adjourned. The Weekly said the laws had never been printed so promptly, and Governor Hoey and Secretary of State Eure praised the shop. The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 19, 1939, p. 4
    7. Louis Graves sells the Orange Printshop business to W. M. Pugh Weekly editor Louis Graves sold the Orange Printshop's name, good will and stock to William M. Pugh, who had managed it for him for twelve years, and leased him the printing plant and building, keeping only the Weekly's two offices. The shop had 27 people on its payroll in mid-December 1939 and went on printing the Weekly. The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 5, 1940, p. 1
    8. The Orange Printshop reprints Frank Nash's Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary The Orange Printshop of Chapel Hill reissued Frank Nash's Hillsboro: Colonial and Revolutionary, first published in 1903, adding an index and a biographical sketch of the author by Judge John J. Parker. Internet Archive: North Carolina Historical Review 31 (1954), p. 108
    9. The Orange Printshop closes after 39 years The Orange Printshop, founded by Louis Graves in 1923 with the Chapel Hill Weekly, stopped work at the close of business on August 15, 1962. W. M. Pugh had run it as lessee since the 1940s, and the building had just been sold to the Bank of Chapel Hill. People: Louis Graves The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 23, 1962, p. 5 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, October 31, 1962, p. 14

    Open these in the chronology →

    Research sources

    Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Research a business or a changing street.

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 12

    Show all 12

    Collections and databases

    Local help 6

    Nearby

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    Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
    Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026