Storyline · 1924–1962
From 1924 to 1962 Chapel Hill's clubwomen, Boy Scouts and aldermen worked to clear billboards and advertising signs from the village and the highways into town. In 1924 the Community Club protested commercial sign-boards, and in 1925 the Boy Scouts took down nearly all the signs on the Durham highway to the county line. Under the 1928 zoning ordinance the board of adjustment ordered every billboard removed by 1930, but the town attorney found the ban invalid. In 1932 the aldermen resolved to help remove billboards at curves. After billboard companies ignored the 1955 zoning ordinance's deadline, the town in 1962 reached an agreement with General Outdoor Advertising to take down its billboards in the suburban zoning district.
By June 1924 the women of the Chapel Hill Community Club had adopted a resolution, signed by president Mrs. Walter Patten and secretary Mrs. Thorndike Saville, protesting large commercial sign-boards on the streets and on private property and calling on the aldermen to prevent them. In March 1925 the Leonidas Polk chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Community Club, working with Durham clubwomen, began asking landowners along the Chapel Hill-Durham highway to take down advertising signs, and by early May the Chapel Hill Boy Scouts had taken down nearly all the signs on the four miles to the Durham County line.
In June 1928 the aldermen unanimously adopted a zoning ordinance with a board of adjustment. Acting under it on April 19, 1929, the board resolved that every billboard be removed from the village by January 1, 1930. After a deadline was set for the Carolina Theatre's signs to come down, manager E. Carrington Smith asked the aldermen to withdraw the ban, and by early August the town attorney, B. D. Sawyer, had found it an invalid denial of property rights. On August 27 the board refused a banner across Franklin Street for a merchants' trade week and resolved unanimously against any banners across the street in future.
On May 11, 1932, after more than 150 residents petitioned advertisers to remove signs along the highways into town, the aldermen resolved to help remove billboards at curves, keep roadsides free of trash and plant grass, shrubs and trees, in a drive led by Mrs. W. S. Bernard and Mrs. J. M. Valentine. In August 1961, told that billboard companies had ignored the 1955 zoning ordinance's five-year deadline to take down highway signs, the aldermen asked the town attorney how to enforce it, and in November they held to enforcement after General Outdoor Advertising promised a court fight. On February 12, 1962 the town approved an agreement with the company to take down its billboards in the suburban zoning district by July 1.
Every statement above comes from these dated entries in the chronology. Each links to its source.
People with a page of their own whom the dated events above name, those named most often first.
No indexed work is about this storyline itself yet. These are the most widely held histories of the theme it is filed under, so they may not discuss it. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Thomas E. Ross's geographic study of American Indians in North Carolina. It examines Native peoples' history, cultural assimilation, and social and economic conditions across the state, with statistics. Published by Karo Hollow Press in 1999, eleven preliminary pages and 242 pages with illustrations and maps.
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.
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.
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.
Stewart E. Dunaway's abstracts of civil suits over land heard in the Hillsborough District Superior Court between 1778 and 1806. The district covered Orange, Wake, Granville, Caswell, Person, Chatham and Randolph counties, and the papers concern boundaries, ownership and disputed tracts. Published through Lulu in 2011, 337 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.
William M. Rohe's history of Research Triangle Park and the region around it, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2011. Topics include regional planning and the economic and social conditions of the Research Triangle Park region, one corner of which is Chapel Hill and the university. 298 pages with illustrations and maps.
Stewart E. Dunaway's two-volume edition of the Orange County land entry book, the register in which settlers first claimed vacant land from the state before a grant was surveyed and issued. Volume one covers the first thousand entries, all made in 1778; volume two runs from 1779 to 1795. Each entry is reproduced from the original in the State Archives with an abstract of its contents. Self-published through Lulu in a second version dated 2010, two volumes at 28 cm with facsimiles and maps.
Edward J. Kaiser's history of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1945 to 2012, published by the department in 2013. The title nods to John A. Parker, 1909 to 2001, who figures in the book. One hundred eighty-six pages with illustrations and portraits at 28 cm.
Mark Chilton's short history of transportation planning in the North Carolina Piedmont, drawing lessons from earlier projects. Subjects include the Cape Fear Navigation Company and river navigation, and the railroads of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, including the State University Railroad Company whose spur brought trains to the two towns. Chilton was mayor of Carrboro when the book appeared. Published by Hand Made Books, Carrboro, 2012, 92 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits.
Stewart E. Dunaway's four-volume set of ejectment cases from Orange County, reproducing the original documents and maps from the North Carolina State Archives with partial transcriptions. The volumes cover 1778 to 1814, 1817 to 1832, 1833 to 1849 and 1850 to 1902. Ejectment suits contested title and possession of land, and the cases include surveys and plats. Self-published in 2010.
Stewart E. Dunaway's transcription of letters exchanged between Jesse Benton and Thomas Hart from 1780 to 1790, concerning Hart's affairs at Hartford, his place at Hillsborough. The letters concern the economic and social conditions of Hillsborough in the eighteenth century and the Revolution in North Carolina. Self-published through lulu.com in 2009, 68 pages with illustrations and facsimiles, and part of the library's Wall Local History Collection.
Albert N. Link's early history of Research Triangle Park, published in 1995 by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina. Topics include research parks, research institutes and industrial research in the state, with the park's own history at the center. 149 pages with illustrations and maps.
Each dated event above names its source, the place to start. For finding more on an event across newspapers, records and histories, see the research guide Follow an event across several accounts. Ask at the North Carolina Room of the Orange County Public Library for help with local sources.
Friends of the Orange County Public Library. “Chapel Hill against billboards and street banners, 1924–1962.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/billboards-storyline-1924/. Accessed October 22, 2026.
