Storyline · 1935–1942
From 1935 the Carolina Theatre gave an annual trophy to Chapel Hill's most valuable citizen, chosen by a committee. The first winner, Mrs. R. B. Lawson, was cited for years of aid to the poor through the King's Daughters and volunteer relief work. Automobile dealer Bruce Strowd won in 1937 for his work for the town's schoolchildren, and on unemployment and the county welfare board. Harry F. Comer of the University YMCA won for 1938, and R. M. Grumman of the University extension division and Mrs. Grumman, until recently a librarian and teacher at the Carrboro school, in 1939. In January 1942 the trophy, then given by the Carolina and Pick theatres, went to Mrs. Robert H. Wettach.
On December 21, 1935 the Carolina Theatre's new annual bronze plaque for Chapel Hill's most valuable citizen went to Mrs. R. B. Lawson, chosen by a committee headed by Lawrence Flinn for years of leadership in aid to the poor through the King's Daughters and as a volunteer with federal and local relief. On December 20, 1937 the theatre's trophy went to automobile dealer Bruce Strowd, chosen by Dr. S. A. Nathan, Mrs. Isaac Manning and W. M. Pugh. They cited his work for the town's schoolchildren, the free rides he gave rural children coming to school, his help with unemployment and his work on the county welfare board. On December 22, 1938 the trophy for 1938 was presented at the theatre to Harry F. Comer, secretary of the University YMCA, chosen by a committee with Mrs. Manning as chairman. On December 22, 1939 it went to R. M. Grumman, director of the University extension division, and Mrs. Grumman, until recently librarian and a teacher at the Carrboro school. On January 8, 1942 the trophy given each year by the management of the Carolina and Pick theatres was presented to Mrs. Robert H. Wettach at the Carolina theatre. She was chosen by Mrs. I. H. Manning, Mayor John Foushee, J. S. Bennett and Dr. S. A. Nathan.
Every statement above comes from these dated entries in the chronology. Each links to its source.
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.
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 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 about the sites and people its dated events name, those named most often first, so they may discuss the storyline only in part. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Black-and-white exterior view of the Varsity Theatre on East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, dated between 1957 and 1983. Neighbors in the frame include Village Opticians, Jeff's Campus Confectionery and Schoolkids Records, which also traded as Record Bar.
Views of the Carolina Theatre, a movie house on East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, from about 1941 to 1945 and from 1977. The earlier pictures are in black and white.
Front of the Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill during a parade in 1994, with cars in view. One photograph in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Negatives from 1983 of several Chapel Hill storefronts, among them the Varsity Theatre, Record Bar, the Sharyn Lynn Shoppe and Revco. From the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
Jean Bolduc's collection of oral history interviews with Black residents of Durham and Orange counties, published by The History Press in 2016, 125 pages with photographs and portraits. The narrators are the poet Jaki Shelton Green, civil rights lawyer Floyd McKissick, Walter Jackson, Nate Davis, Brenda Stephens, Diane Wright, Jackie Wagstaff and Michelle Johnson, and a closing chapter deals with the Ku Klux Klan. The interviews document Black life and race relations in the two counties across the twentieth century.
Jean Bolduc's 2016 collection of interviews with African American residents of Durham and Orange counties, presented as short biographies. The subjects are Floyd McKissick (1922-1991), the first African American admitted to UNC's law school, Walter Jackson, Brenda Stephens, Nate Davis, poet Jaki Shelton Green, Jackie Wagstaff, Diane Wright and Michelle Johnson, with a closing chapter on the Ku Klux Klan. 125 pages with illustrations.
Robert E. Seymour, a Baptist pastor in Chapel Hill associated with Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, looks back on segregation and race relations in the South from the pulpit. A clergyman's memoir covering church history in the town, Baptists in North Carolina and the segregation of African Americans. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2011, 204 pages.
Chapter history of Epsilon Beta of Chi Omega at the University of North Carolina, covering 1923 to 1999 and written by Blanche Clark with Ann Thornburgh. Twenty nine unnumbered leaves with illustrations and a portrait, issued in Chapel Hill in 1999. Guion Griffis Johnson is among the people discussed.
Joint resolutions of the House of Commons from April 17 to May 2, 1782, with messages, petitions and depositions. Among them are thanks to Thomas Burke, the Hillsborough lawyer who had been governor, a land dispute involving James Taylor and Edmund Pendleton of Virginia, and a poll tax exemption for Francis Falkner. 87 images.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
From the 1782 session of the General Assembly, joint select committee reports and papers of 8 to 18 May, in 134 images. Captain James Reed, James Houston of Rowan County and George Meek are among those whose cases came before the committees. Other matters include State Legion officers, disabled veterans, price regulation, Cherokee affairs, Thomas Burke, and Hillsborough and Orange County.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Resolutions of the North Carolina Senate from 16 to 18 May 1782: naming Thomas Davis public printer, favoring Joseph Pitman of Edgecombe County, obtaining clothing for Continental officers and soldiers, and answering a memorial of John Huske. Nathanael Greene, Jethro Sumner and the Battle of Eutaw Springs are among the names. 51 images, with Hillsborough tied to the session.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Reports and messages of joint select committees from August and September 1780, when the General Assembly met at Hillsborough after the defeat at Camden. Committees worked on supplies and provisions for the army and the adjustment of public claims. Horatio Gates, Richard Caswell, Abner Nash, William Hooper, hospitals, surgeons, cavalry and wagons all appear. 88 pages.
NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Oral histories recorded between 1974 and 1978 for the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Generations of Carrboro Mill Families project, forty items across 1.5 linear feet in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 4205. The interviews concern textile workers and mill families in Carrboro, African American life in Carrboro and Chapel Hill, schooling, the depression that began in 1929, and women's work and family customs.
Mailings and publications of the Eno River Association, beginning in 1973. Subjects include the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley, citizens' associations and community organizing in Durham, conservation of natural resources with citizen participation, and local environmentalists. Part of the North Carolina Collection at Durham County Library.
The activist John Kenyon Chapman left papers covering 1969 to 2009, about 11,200 items across 21.5 linear feet in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 5441. The papers document civil rights and community organizing in North Carolina, African American life in Chapel Hill, student political activity at the university, anti-apartheid work, and the Greensboro Massacre of 1979.
Institutional records of the Chapel Hill Historical Society from 1966 onward, filling six crates: the Society's own files as an organization, collection CHHS.000.
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's most valuable citizen award, 1935–1942.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/most-valuable-citizen-storyline-1935/. Accessed October 22, 2026.
