Rationing and price control in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, 1942–1945

The events, date by date

Every statement above comes from these dated entries in the chronology. Each links to its source.

1. 1942–1944 Guion Griffis Johnson leads home-front work in Chapel Hill and Orange County During World War II Johnson chaired the Community Service Committee of the Chapel Hill War Price and Rationing Board, was public relations officer for the Orange County Office of Civil Defense, and collected war records for Orange County. People: Guion Griffis Johnson Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Guion Griffis Johnson Papers, 1838-1987 (finding aid) · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, January 22, 1943, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 15, 1943, p. 3
2. January 5, 1942 Tire rationing board for southern Orange County receives its first quota Moody Durham came back from the state tire-rationing meeting in Raleigh on January 5 with the county's January quota of 21 passenger and 34 truck tires, of which his board for Chapel Hill and Bingham townships, with D. M. Fambrough and Carrboro town manager Winslow Williams, could allot 11 and 17. Inspectors at Strowd's garage, Obie Davis's Esso station and Neville's station in Carrboro checked applicants' tires, and by January 22 it had allowed only one of its eleven passenger tires. People: Moody W. Durham Place: Town Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: D. M. Fambrough, Winslow Williams, Obie Davis, Moody Durham · Also mentions: Chapel Hill and Bingham townships, Strowd's garageThe Chapel Hill Weekly, January 9, 1942, p. 1
3. late January 1942 Chapel Hill grocers limit sugar sales after a buying rush A run on sugar that began about January 22 led Chapel Hill grocers to limit each customer, the A. & P. to two pounds and Pender's store to a pound for every dollar of other groceries, after the Model Market had sold 2,000 pounds on Saturday, January 24. Grocers told the Weekly they would welcome Government rationing; in February the Office of Price Administration approved Pender's plan until ration cards were issued. Place: Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Model MarketSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 30, 1942, p. 1
4. October 13, 1943 OPA officials come to study Chapel Hill's rationing board community service program Mrs. Philip L. Crowlie, the Office of Price Administration's 'first official housewife', came with state, district and regional OPA officials to study the community service program of the Chapel Hill War Price and Rationing Board, which the OPA had already called a model for the Southeast. They heard three hours of committee reports at a meeting run by Mrs. Guion Johnson, who directed the program. People: Guion Griffis Johnson, Robert W. Madry Place: Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 15, 1943, p. 3
5. October 25-30, 1943 Volunteers issue 9,947 copies of War Ration Book No. 4 in Chapel Hill and Bingham townships Some 1,225 volunteers gave about 1,512 hours to issue 9,947 War Ration Books No. 4 at the five school buildings of Chapel Hill and Bingham townships: the Chapel Hill school, the Orange County Training School, and the Carrboro, White Cross and Orange Grove schools. About 2,000 people missed the registration, and a second one was held November 19 at the Town Hall. People: Guion Griffis Johnson, Moody W. Durham Place: Chapel Hill and Bingham townships · Also mentions: Chapel Hill school, Orange County Training SchoolThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 5, 1943, p. 1
6. by November 19, 1943 The OPA suspends a Chapel Hill grocery's sale of rationed meats for overcharging State OPA headquarters ordered Fowler's Food Market to stop selling certain rationed meats on November 29 and 30 and December 1 as a penalty for selling them above ceiling prices. The store could sell its other goods as usual. Place: Fowler's Food Market, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 19, 1943, p. 1
7. November 19 and 30, 1943 The Chapel Hill price panel settles restaurant overcharge cases Hearing cases from a state-wide restaurant price survey, the price panel of the War Price and Rationing Board found four of eight Chapel Hill restaurants had overcharged without intent and let them donate the overcharges: the University Restaurant $49, the Porthole $163.90 and the Campus Cafe $25 to the Treasury, and Danziger's $5 to the Red Cross. Chairman Sherman Smith called the town's price record excellent. Place: War Price and Rationing Board, Town Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: Sherman SmithThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 3, 1943, p. 1
8. June 25, 1945 Thieves break into the Hillsboro ration board office On the night of June 25 the office of the Hillsboro War Price and Rationing Board was entered through a barred rear window and robbed of coupons for 1,600 gallons of gasoline and 2,500 pounds of sugar, 23 gasoline permits and a ration book. In late July a man who had lived in Hillsboro confessed to the break-in, naming his brother, an escapee from a state road camp, as his accomplice. Place: War Price and Rationing Board office, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 28, 1945, p. 1
9. November 30, 1945 Hillsborough's wartime ration board closes to the public The Hillsborough War Price and Rationing Board closed its office to the public after November 30, 1945. Its price-control work had already gone to the Durham office on November 1, and only tire certificates were still handled locally. Place: Ration board office, HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 29, 1945, p. 1