Storyline · 1923–1948
For a quarter century Chapel Hill and Orange County contended with stray dogs and repeated outbreaks of rabies, answering each with muzzles, leashes, quarantines and the shooting of dogs at large. In 1926 an outbreak put fifteen people under the Pasteur treatment, a course of rabies vaccine injections, and the aldermen ordered loose dogs muzzled and leashed or shot. Police shot loose dogs in 1929, and from 1932 a town pound killed unclaimed dogs. The county began vaccinating dogs in 1936, and outbreaks brought quarantines in 1937, 1940 and 1941. In 1948, with about 8,000 dogs thought unvaccinated, the commissioners ordered vaccination checks in every community.
By September 6, 1923 the Chapel Hill aldermen, finding only about a dozen of some 100 town dogs licensed, ordered the town's $1 dog license enforced and loose dogs taken to a pound west of the fire house. In February 1926 a rabid dog bit a Black resident, who began the Pasteur treatment (a course of rabies vaccine injections), and a child was bitten at the post office. Three days later, on February 17, the aldermen ordered every dog off its owner's premises muzzled and leashed, on pain of being shot by the police and a $50 fine for the owner. By mid-March the outbreak had put fifteen people under the Pasteur injections, and one dog killed on a farm northwest of town was known to have bitten 17 other dogs.
In May 1929 the police shot unmuzzled loose dogs, eight by May 10 and 14 or 15 a week later, and Police Chief Lloyd said the campaign had nearly ended the stray dog problem. By January 8, 1932, under a new ordinance passed after children were bitten, an old garage behind the town hall had become a dog pound, where unclaimed dogs were killed; ten had been taken by January 22. From August 17 to 19, 1934 a rabid dog ran loose in Carrboro until a resident shot it. Mayor John M. Foushee, after conferring with health officer S. A. Nathan and alderman Clyde Eubanks, ordered the police to kill every dog at large without a muzzle or leash, and the Carrboro police killed several dogs.
On May 4, 1936 the county began vaccinating dogs against rabies under the state law, with an inspector in each township appointed by health officer Dr. William P. Richardson, and that June, after rabid dogs were found at White Cross and Calvander, owners in the area were asked to keep their dogs confined for thirty days. Rabies broke out again among dogs in and near Chapel Hill from early January 1937, and eight people who had been bitten or exposed took the Pasteur treatment; the police were told to kill dogs without a current license tag, the state department of agriculture put Chapel Hill and its vicinity under quarantine, and in late February, after another case, the health department kept the quarantine in force for about two more months.
After the fifth rabid dog in four weeks was killed at Ransom Street and West University Drive, the aldermen met in special session on April 3, 1940 and required all dogs to be kept on their owners' premises, with any dog in a public place off a leash to be impounded or shot; the town meeting of May 10 voted all but unanimously to keep the quarantine, and after two more cases Richardson extended the restrictions beyond the time first set.
On April 4, 1941, after three rabies cases in the county in ten days, the Orange County Board of Health declared a county-wide quarantine from noon April 12, requiring every dog to be kept at home or on a leash. On July 6, 1948, after veterinarian W. G. Chrisman estimated that about 8,000 Orange County dogs were unvaccinated, the commissioners ordered the sheriff's office to check each community after its rabies clinic, give owners three days to vaccinate their dogs, and dispose of unvaccinated dogs whose owners could not be found.
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.
History of the Department of Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, compiled by William W. McLendon and published by the department in 2012. After a section of historical perspective, the book covers the deans, founding faculty and department chairs, then the subspecialty divisions, offshoot departments, teaching and research, with appendices. Much of it is biographical, profiling the physicians who built clinical medicine in Chapel Hill. 478 pages with illustrations.
Alice Noble's history of the School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1961. It runs 237 pages with illustrations and portraits.
Mary Jane Kagarise's history of the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill across its first four decades, 1952 to 1993, with biographies of the surgeons on its faculty. Published by the department in 1997 in a first edition of 461 pages with illustrations, some in color. Topics include surgery and medical colleges in Chapel Hill and biography of the department's faculty.
Reviewed in The American Journal of Surgery (1998).
Robert Korstad's history of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina over its first fifty years, 1939 to 1989, published by the university in 1990. It runs 192 pages with illustrations.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Two volumes collecting the Norma Berryhill Lectures, an annual address at the UNC School of Medicine named for the wife of its long-serving dean, W. Reece Berryhill. Volume one gathers the lectures from 1985 to 1999, edited by Floyd W. Denny, Jr., William B. Blythe and William W. McLendon; volume two, edited by McLendon and Elizabeth B. Dreesen, continues through 2008. Published by the Medical Foundation of North Carolina, with illustrations and portraits.
Departmental history of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill covering its first fifty years, published by the department in 2000. The history covers medical schools, medical education and the teaching of obstetrics in North Carolina. First edition, xvii and 366 pages with illustrations and portraits.
Annie Sutton Cameron compiled this account of Orange County's part in the First World War in 1919 as historian for the county's Council of Defense, at the request of its chairman J.S. Webb. It covers the Council and the Home Guard, drives for war bonds and overseas relief, Red Cross work, patriotic observances, the influenza epidemic and women's war work, with registers of the county's soldiers. Published online in 2002 by the UNC library in Documenting the American South's North Carolinians and the Great War.
Summary of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's twelve-volume institutional self-study, edited by C. Hugh Holman and dated January 15, 1974, issued in 1975. Topics include the university's accreditation, history and statistics, including the School of Public Health. ix and 546 pages with charts, some folded.
William Fred Mayes traces the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and its response to a changing society, with emphasis on the 1960s. The title page describes the account as selective and interpretive rather than complete. Published by the school in 1975, 68 pages with illustrations. Topics include schools of public health in Chapel Hill and their history.
Selections from the essays and addresses of William de Berniere MacNider, pharmacologist and physician at the University of North Carolina, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1953, two years after his death. Includes a portrait and a list of his publications.
An illustrated online timeline of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, issued by the school in 2025. One page with portraits.
Lynn Roundtree covers the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between 1957 and 1972 through its three chancellors, William Brantley Aycock, Paul F. Sharp and J. Carlyle Sitterson, set against the student movements of those years. Part of the Coates university leadership series, published by the author in 2024 and running to 926 pages. It is twentieth century campus history.
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 and its dogs, 1923–1948.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/chapel-hill-dogs-storyline-1923/. Accessed October 22, 2026.
