Carolina Nursing through the decades: a historic timeline
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.
Storyline
The 1933 bank holiday in Orange County
The national bank holiday of March 1933 in Chapel Hill and Carrboro: the Bank of Chapel Hill’s closing and reopening, the merchants who kept taking checks, the University’s postponed recess, and the closing of the bank’s Carrboro branch that April.
In briefThe March 1933 bank holiday left University students unable to get cash, and the University and Chapel Hill merchants made allowances. The Bank of Chapel Hill closed on March 6 and 7 under the national and state orders, and President Graham postponed the University's recess because students could not get cash to travel home and back. Students were allowed to register without paying fees at once, and merchants kept accepting checks and giving credit. The bank reopened for limited business on March 8, and when full banking resumed on March 15 deposits far exceeded withdrawals. In April, with the Carrboro mills idle, the bank closed its Bank of Carrboro branch and moved the accounts to the parent bank.
Read the full storyRead the 3 eventsAll storylines
Read the events and sources below.
No works in the index are currently linked directly to this storyline. The works below provide background on UNC & Campus Life.
The full story
Under the national and state bank holiday orders, the Bank of Chapel Hill closed on March 6 and 7, 1933. On March 6 President Graham called an emergency convocation in a packed Memorial Hall and announced that the University's recess, set for March 13 to 18, was postponed because students could not get cash to travel home and back. Students cut off from their funds were allowed to register for the spring quarter without paying fees at once. The bank reopened on March 8 for limited business. Through the holiday Chapel Hill merchants kept accepting checks and giving credit, and the town theatre took checks for tickets. Full banking resumed on March 15, when deposits far exceeded withdrawals and the staff worked until about 11 at night. In April, with the Carrboro mills idle and other business falling off, the Bank of Chapel Hill closed its Bank of Carrboro branch and moved the branch's accounts to the parent bank. The branch cashier, W. E. Thompson, went with them.
In the chronology
Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →
- The Bank of Chapel Hill closes for the national bank holiday and reopens Under the national and state orders, the Bank of Chapel Hill closed on March 6 and 7, reopened on March 8 for limited business, and resumed full banking on March 15, when deposits far exceeded withdrawals and the staff worked until about 11 at night. Merchants kept accepting checks and giving credit through the holiday, and the town theatre took checks for tickets. People: Milton E. HoganSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 17, 1933, p. 1
- The University cancels its March recess because of the bank holiday At an emergency convocation in a packed Memorial Hall, President Graham announced that the recess set for March 13-18 was postponed because students could not get cash to travel home and back. Students cut off from funds were allowed to register for the spring quarter without paying fees at once. People: Frank Porter GrahamSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 10, 1933, p. 1
- The Bank of Chapel Hill closes its Bank of Carrboro branch With the Carrboro mills idle and other business falling off, the Bank of Chapel Hill closed its Carrboro branch and moved its accounts to the parent bank. The branch cashier, W. E. Thompson, went with them. People: W. E. ThompsonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 21, 1933, p. 3
Places in this history
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.
- Bank of Chapel Hill Businesses, mills and venues · Chapel Hill · 2 events here
Background on UNC & Campus Life
Background reading on UNC & Campus Life. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss this storyline. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Widely held
North Carolina baseball: the blue thread and the rise of an ACC power
A 2025 history of University of North Carolina baseball from its nineteenth-century beginnings to the program's rise as an ACC power. Chapters cover the early years on campus, the building of Boshamer Stadium, and the Mike Fox era. Self-published by the author, 288 pages.
Tar Heel Bred
Scott Whisnant's memoir of a life measured out in North Carolina basketball seasons. A former sportswriter, Whisnant writes for readers raised in ACC country who learned the fight song early and treated the conference tournament in Greensboro as the high point of the year, recalling family, friends and the personal milestones that fell alongside Tar Heel games. Subjects include humor and anecdotes as well as the team's history. Published by Bearface Publishing in 2025, 318 pages with photographs.
Bright and tender dark: a novel
Joanna Pearson's novel of a cold case at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Karlie Richards was a nineteen-year-old student when she was murdered; decades later her onetime roommate, divorced and in middle age, finds herself drawn back to the crime as online conspiracy theories about it multiply. A psychological thriller with a Chapel Hill setting, published by Bloomsbury in 2024, 275 pages.
Chapel Hill Murder and Mayhem
Rick Jackson's true crime history of Chapel Hill, published by The History Press in 2023, in 28 short chapters. Cases include the Efland bank robbery, the execution of John Henry Breeze, the unsolved murder of Suellen Evans, the killing at the Internationalist Bookstore and the death of Eve Carson.
Lessons afield : adventures in nature with students and other living things
R. Haven Wiley's anecdotes of field work with students at Mason Farm, the university's biological reserve on the edge of Chapel Hill, and at other natural settings in North Carolina. It is natural history and nature anecdotes, personal pieces from a working naturalist. Published in Carrboro by Hickory Woods Press in 2023, 109 pages with illustrations.
Show 6 more
Putting Down Roots
William R. Burk's history of botany at the University of North Carolina, from its early natural scientists such as Denison Olmsted and Elisha Mitchell through later figures including George Francis Atkinson, Joseph Austin Holmes and Henry Van Peters Wilson, closing with a chapter on the Department of Botany itself. Published in Fort Worth in 2023.
Bloodmarked
Tracy Deonn's young adult fantasy novel set around the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bree, an African American teenager with newly awakened powers she cannot yet control, learns that the leaders of the secret Order mean to hide the coming demon war, and she and her friends flee so that she can find her own training. Subjects include magic, secret societies, imaginary wars and psychic trauma. Published by Simon & Schuster in 2022, 561 pages.
Reviewed in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books./Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (2022).
A Consequential Life: David Lowry Swain, Nineteenth-Century North Carolina, and Their University
Willis P. Whichard's biography of David Lowry Swain, governor of North Carolina from 1832 to 1835 and president of the University of North Carolina from 1835 until his death in 1868. The subtitle ties Swain, nineteenth-century North Carolina and the university together, and the book belongs with the lives of college presidents and governors. Published in 2022.
The dove in the belly
Jim Grimsley's coming-of-age novel about Ronny, who grew up in a trailer alongside his mother and a string of stepfathers, kept his head down, earned good grades and won a scholarship to UNC in Chapel Hill. On campus he finds his first love and begins to sort out who he is. Subjects include gay college students, first loves and mothers and sons. Published by Levine Querido in 2022, 322 pages.
Hooper finds the pitch
A picture book by Courtney Soling Smith about a Boston terrier named Hooper and a glee club at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Published in 2022 by the Orange County Historical Museum in Hillsborough, 35 unnumbered pages with illustrations, facsimiles and portraits.
Together: The Amazing Story of Carolina Basketball's 2021-2022 Season
Adam Lucas's account of the 2021-2022 Carolina men's basketball season, Hubert Davis's first as head coach. Davis, appointed in April 2021, was the first Black head coach in the program's history, and the season ended at the NCAA tournament in New Orleans. Published 2022 by the UNC Department of Athletics, 155 pages with color illustrations. Topics include the Tar Heels, Davis, and college basketball in Chapel Hill in the twenty-first century.
Research sources
Sources and research tools for this storyline. Research guide: Follow an event across several accounts.
Background
- Bank Holiday of 1933NCpedia Concise historical background
Collections and databases
- NC LIVE: prepared search for The 1933 bank holiday in Orange County Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
Local help
- Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Local History Help Hours and request formOCPL Local History Liaison Meet with the Local History Liaison at the Main Library, usually Mondays from noon to 3 p.m., or send a question using the online request form
More to discover
Keep Reading Local
The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.
