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Theme

Buildings & Preservation

Historic houses, architecture, landmarks, districts, and preservation.

In briefFrom Hillsborough’s 18th-century houses and the university’s first buildings to mill villages, the Carolina Inn and the Confederate monument, the county’s buildings carry its history in plain sight. The storylines follow the Burwell School, the founding of the university, Carrboro’s mill town, Silent Sam and the Occoneechee Speedway.

1,268 works about Buildings & Preservation are indexed here. 23 held at OCPL →

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Ruffin House, Hillsborough, 1937.

Events and storylines

Named events and storylines the index follows in detail. Each has its own page.

The Burwell School and the Burwell householdHillsborough’s girls’ school, 1837–1857, and the enslaved people who worked in the household, Elizabeth Keckly among them The founding of the University and Chapel Hill, 1789–1795The 1789 charter, the trustees’ 1792 choice of New Hope Chapel Hill at their Hillsborough meeting, the Old East cornerstone of October 1793, and the first students of 1795 From West End to Carrboro: railroad, mills, and a new town, 1882–1913The 1882 spur line and depot, West End and Lloydville, the Alberta and Durham Hosiery mills and their villages, Venable’s incorporation in 1911, and the renaming for Julian Carr in 1913 Silent SamThe Confederate monument on McCorkle Place, its 1913 dedication and its 2018 toppling Occoneechee Speedway, HillsboroughNASCAR’s early dirt track on the Eno, 1949–1968; not the Orange County Speedway in Rougemont Restoring the Colonial Inn, 1946–1947Paul Henderson’s purchase of the run-down inn at auction, the citizens’ petition for building priorities, the restoration, and the reopening of Hillsboro’s hotel in May 1947
Show all 36 events and storylines
Hillsborough’s courthouse, jail, pillory and stocks, 1752–1837The county’s public buildings at Hillsborough in the court minutes: repairs and a stockade for the jail, the pillory and stocks, the taxes and treasurers for public buildings, a public clock, and the courtroom refitted The Orange County Historical Museum, 1956–1963How the Hillsboro Garden Club made a county museum in the upstairs courtroom of the old courthouse, with help from the state archives and the county commissioners, from its first committee in 1956 to the opening in November 1957 Hillsboro’s new post office, 1948–1959A decade of postal change at Hillsborough: Tom Bivins’s years as postmaster, the long search for a post office site, the town board’s protest over the building by the Eno, and the 1958 move into Fred Cates’s leased building under Maude Brown Carrboro’s old school becomes its town hall, 1959–1961How Carrboro bought the old Carrboro School on West Main Street when the new school opened, voted bonds to remodel it, and made it a town hall with room for the library, the police and fire departments and a National Guard platoon The Walker Milling building on Court Square, 1963–1964The Walker Milling Co. building, a three-story landmark on Court Square in Hillsborough: the mill’s closing in 1963, the county’s purchase of the property to protect its land needs around the courthouse, and the 1964 demolition that historical groups asked the commissioners to stop Hillsborough’s preservation bodies: the Historical Society and the Historic Hillsborough Commission, 1962–1964The two bodies that took up historic preservation in Hillsborough: the Hillsborough Historical Society, from its first public meeting in 1962 and its purchase of the William Read House, and the Historic Hillsborough Commission the legislature created in 1963 The University’s Carnegie library and Hill Music Hall, 1906–1930How the University built its library with Andrew Carnegie’s gift: the endowment raised in 1906, the start of construction and the electrical contract, the Masons’ cornerstone at the 1907 commencement, and the opening that fall of the building later named Hill Hall Chapel Hill’s federal post office, 1911–1922Chapel Hill’s road to a federal post office building: the postal savings bank of 1911, John Nolen’s advice on a site, the McNider lot, the bids and contract, the contractor’s death, the 1920 move to Franklin Street, and the crowded office by 1922 Building the Chapel Hill Baptist Church, 1921–1924How the Chapel Hill Baptists built their church at Franklin and Columbia streets facing the campus: the site and the state board’s money, the contract and groundbreaking, Frank Milburn’s design, the formal opening in 1923, and Eugene I. Olive’s arrival as pastor Gimghoul Castle at Piney Prospect, 1923–1931How the Order of Gimghouls built its castle at Piney Prospect: the 1924 vote to build at Dromgoole Rock, the sale of the old lodge lot on Rosemary Lane, the Valdese stonemasons and the stone hauled in, and the stone seat for Kemp P. Battle Kenan Memorial Stadium, 1926–1988How Kenan Memorial Stadium was built: William R. Kenan Jr.’s gift, the trustees’ choice of the ravine site, the town’s complaints about blasting, the concrete stands, Kenan’s added $28,000, and the opening game and Thanksgiving Day dedication of 1927 The new University library, 1926–1929How the University got its new library, later Wilson Library: the trustees’ $861,000 request in 1926, the $625,000 the 1927 legislature allowed, the steam shovel on the south edge of the campus in 1928, and the dedication of October 19, 1929 The fraternity house boom and the University’s land, 1922–1930The big fraternity houses built in Chapel Hill from 1922 to 1930: the Columbia Street and Cameron Avenue courts, the trustees’ stand against selling University land, the Phi Delta Theta fire, the new fraternity colony on the Pittsboro highway, and the Daily Tar Heel’s count Old Memorial Hall condemned and replaced, 1929–1931How the University’s old Memorial Hall was closed in 1929 when its roof arches were found rotted, torn down in February 1930 and replaced by the new Memorial Hall with its Doric portico, dedicated in October 1931 with the old hall’s benches and tablets Lowering the Franklin Street sidewalk and the Texaco corner, 1930–1931How a Texaco station at Franklin and Columbia streets cost the south side of Franklin Street its old elms in 1930: the aldermen’s conditions, the lowered sidewalk and its grass strip, the station’s building, and the sugar maples planted in 1931 The Civil Works Administration in Orange County, 1933–1934The Civil Works Administration in Orange County from November 1933 to March 1934: George H. Lawrence’s projects and quota, the work on Hillsborough’s courthouse square and library, Chapel Hill’s streets, the creek, schools and campus, the February cuts, and the program’s end Orange County’s PWA school building program, 1935–1936How Orange County rebuilt its schools with Public Works Administration aid in 1935 and 1936: the application and approval, the county’s share cut and raised again, the Black schools in Chapel Hill and Hillsboro, the bonds, the rural additions and the new Chapel Hill high school The University’s PWA building program of 1938–1941The University’s second round of PWA building, from the 1938 special legislative session to the buildings finished in 1940: the dining hall, the new dormitories, the Carolina Inn addition, the power plant on West Cameron Avenue and the rebuilt Bynum Gymnasium, Alumni Building and Gerrard Hall Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street post office, 1937–1984How Chapel Hill’s new federal post office went up in two halves on the old site at Franklin and Henderson streets: the contract of July 1937, the steam shovel and the crowds that watched it, the move into the rear section and the opening in July 1938 Chapel Hill’s 1938 town hall and its later uses, 1938–1989How Chapel Hill built its town hall at Rosemary and Columbia streets with PWA help: the grant and the bond vote of 1938, John M. Booker’s call for a Franklin Street site, the contract, the move-in and dedication of 1939, the Roberson portrait and the old buildings cleared The Institute of Government’s building, 1935–1939How Albert Coates built a home for the Institute of Government: the campus site and PWA grant of 1935, the grant’s withdrawal in 1936, the Franklin Street lots cleared in 1938, the private gifts and loan that paid for it, and the November 1939 dedication Raising Old East and building Old West and Gerrard Hall, 1821–1837How the University raised Old East a story and built Old West and Gerrard Hall to William Nichols’s designs: the trustees’ vote of about 1821, the enslaved men who did much of the work, the settled accounts, the naming of Gerrard Hall and its completion in 1837 Building the Orange County courthouse, 1842–1846How Orange County built the courthouse that still stands in Hillsborough: the justices’ refusal of 1842, the $8,000 tax of 1844, John Berry’s contract and the Masonic cornerstone, the old wooden courthouse sold and moved, and the town clock set in the new cupola The Hillsborough Military Academy, 1858–1861How Charles C. Tew of South Carolina built a military school on the west end of Hillsborough: the land bought in 1858, the opening in January 1859, the barracks cornerstone, the Commandant’s House, the cadets’ registers and Tew’s departure for Fort Macon in April 1861 Building Memorial Hall, 1883–1885How a proposed monument to David L. Swain became Memorial Hall: Governor Jarvis’s promise at the 1883 commencement, the prison brick, the winter halt, the canvass for memorial tablets, the architect’s death, Paul C. Cameron’s loan and the dedication of June 3, 1885 Hillsborough’s downtown fires of 1888 and the rebuildingHow downtown Hillsborough burned twice in 1888 and was rebuilt: the March fire that took eight wooden buildings near the court house, the new buildings for Israel Turner and S. T. Smith, the November fire that burned the Recorder office, and H. L. Parish’s new brick store The Bellevue Manufacturing Company, 1904–1919How the Bellevue Manufacturing Company built its cotton mill in West Hillsborough: the land bought for the site, the incorporation under Shepperd Strudwick in 1904, the knitting mill, spinning plant and railroad siding of 1905, and the ginghams and electric power that followed Saving Carr Mill, 1975–1978How residents saved Carrboro’s former Alberta textile mill from demolition and it became Carr Mill: the 1975 petition and National Register nomination, the partnership that took on its reuse, the town’s 1976 permit and its amendments, and the shopping village, offices and farmers’ market of 1977 and 1978 Leasing and renovating the Carolina Inn, 1991–1994How the University handed the Carolina Inn to an outside operator between 1991 and 1994: the end of University management, the bidding, the Doubletree lease, the trustees’ renovation plan, the Alumni House demolition, the first profitable year and the inn’s closing for renovation The Bicentennial of UNC and Chapel Hill, 1993–1994How UNC and Chapel Hill marked their 200th year in 1993 and 1994: the town’s markers, mural, books and exhibits, the University’s convocation with President Clinton, its lectures, music and open house, and the town’s Chapel Hill Revisited day, through the commencement that closed the Observance

More storylines

Other storylines that include this theme, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineMoorefields, from Alfred Moore to the National Register1785–1972 · 8 events · Built about 1785 near Hillsborough as the summer home of Alfred Moore, whom President John Adams later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Moorefields stayed with Moore's descendants for more than a century. Local tradition held that Thomas Hart Benton and Mrs. Henry Clay were born there, though both were born before the house was built. On Moore's death in 1810 it passed to his son Alfred, a speaker of the House of Commons, and in 1837 to the younger Moore's son-in-law, Francis Nash Waddell. It was advertised for public sale in 1913. Edward T. Draper-Savage, related to the family by marriage, restored it from 1949, and it entered the National Register in 1972. StorylineThe Eagle Hotel and University Inn site, 1799–19941799–1994 · 11 events · By 1799 John Taylor Sr. had put up a tavern on Franklin Street, and the lot stayed in the hotel trade as the Eagle Hotel, the Chapel Hill Hotel and the University Inn. Nancy Hilliard added an annex for President Polk's 1847 visit. The University agreed to buy the inn in 1906, fire destroyed its main building in 1921 and Graham Memorial took the site, and in 1993 and 1994 UNC archaeologists dug up its foundations. StorylineHall's Mill on the Eno, 1835–20171835–2017 · 6 events · A mill on the Eno west of Hillsborough and the brick house across the road passed through several families before a 2017 review found the site did not qualify for the National Register. The Rev. Ira Ellis bought the land in 1835, and his Federal brick house, later called Little Ayr Mount, is usually dated to that purchase. In 1878 Nelson Parrish Hall bought the house and 267 acres, and the mill took the Hall name. After Hall died, his widow Martha bought the farm from his estate and sold it to sheriff R. D. Baine. Only the mill's stone dam, a foundation and the trace of its race survived. StorylineEnlarging the antebellum campus, 1840–18611840–1861 · 21 events · In 1840 President David L. Swain began the stucco finish on the brick college buildings, and by August 1841, with the session crowded beyond its rooms, the university had contracted for two new dormitory buildings. Swain then brought in the architect Alexander Jackson Davis, who first came to Chapel Hill in 1844. Davis's three-story additions to Old East and Old West, on which the masonry subcontractor Dabney Cosby put enslaved workmen, among them Osborne and his brother Albert, were finished in 1848 with halls for the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies, furnished by the free Black cabinetmaker Thomas Day. Smith Hall followed, named in 1852, and New East and New West, begun in 1858, were ready on July 31, 1861. StorylineThe Samuel Phillips law office, 1843–19831843–1983 · 8 events · Samuel Phillips built a small law office on East Franklin Street about 1843; a boys' school met there, and Phillips and Judge William Horn Battle taught law in it. The merchant Adam A. Kluttz bought it about 1894, Professor W. S. Bernard made it his home in 1916, and it was rented to students from the 1950s. In 1982 the Chapel Hill Preservation Society bought it and sold it to buyers who restored and enlarged it in 1983. StorylineSmith Hall becomes the Playmakers Theatre, 1850–19821850–1982 · 9 events · Alexander Jackson Davis designed Smith Hall, built from 1850 to 1852 as the university's library and ballroom and named for Benjamin Smith. The Carolina Playmakers made it their theatre in 1925, and it reopened after a 1938 fire. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1974, and a federally funded restoration reopened it in January 1982.
Show all 25 storylines
StorylineEno Presbyterian Church moves to Cedar Grove, 1879–18991879–1899 · 6 events · After wind-driven woods fires burned Eno Presbyterian Church at its old site near the river in 1893, the congregation moved to Cedar Grove. Its frame church, built in 1878, had hosted Orange Presbytery in 1879, a meeting the Chapel Hill Ledger called the best attended since the war. In October 1893 the pastor, W. F. Wilhelm, died at Hillsborough after a long fever, and every business in town closed for his funeral. At Cedar Grove the congregation built its new church from 1897 to 1899, and the elder Robert W. Anderson became the first burial in its cemetery in 1898. H. S. Bradshaw was installed as pastor on the last day of 1899. StorylineHillsborough's roller mill, 1893–19641893–1964 · 7 events · When a contractor razed Walker Milling Co.'s three-story landmark on Court Square in 1964 to clear the lot for parking, historical groups asked the commissioners to save it, but by a split vote they agreed only to buy its old handmade bricks for resale. The story began in 1893, when Jackson Crabtree's new Hillsboro Roller Mills started turning out flour. In 1900 the Hillsboro Milling and Manufacturing Company organized under Dr. C. D. Jones, and Crabtree later sold it the old river mill. By 1917 Houston J. Walker and his brother had bought the roller mill. In 1963 Charles M. Walker Jr. said he would close the business, and the commissioners bought the mill and its lot for $25,000. StorylineShepperd Strudwick and Hillsborough's new enterprises, 1902–19091902–1909 · 13 events · Shepperd Strudwick, who brought his family back to Hillsborough about 1902, stood at the head of one new enterprise after another. Ralph Adams Cram designed his new house at the corner of Churton and Union. In 1904 a new Business Men's Association elected him president, and he became president of the Bellevue Manufacturing Company, a cotton mill in west Hillsborough. In 1905 voters made him a town commissioner on a ticket understood to favor licensing barrooms. In 1907 the new Hillsboro Clay Manufacturing Company chose him president and treasurer for a brick plant, and by 1909 the Observer listed him at the head of the clay company and the Bellevue mill. StorylineThe Michie house on South Columbia Street, 1919–19951919–1995 · 4 events · Sallie Michie bought the house beside what became the Ackland Art Museum in 1919 and for decades refused to sell it to UNC. She died in 1992, leaving it to the Magna Carta Dames and the Daughters of the American Revolution, and UNC moved to buy or condemn it. In 1993 a judge ruled that the two groups were not bound by the will's trust, and a judge ordered it sold to UNC by eminent domain in 1995, and it was razed for parking that November. StorylineEast of Chapel Hill: the Strowd farm, the DuBose estate and Paul Green's Greenwood, 1925–19511925–1951 · 14 events · Between 1925 and 1951 farmland on Chapel Hill's eastern edge became estates and home colonies, beginning with the auction of lots from Robert L. Strowd's farm in April 1925. The realty company that bid in the remaining land went bankrupt, and its receivers auctioned the farm in 1928. In 1931 St. Pierre DuBose of Durham bought 308 acres on the new Nelson-Raleigh highway and built a country house. In 1933 four University economics professors bought 42 acres of the old Strowd farm for a home colony, and Paul Green arranged to buy about 200 acres. In 1938 Green offered lots there as Greenwood, where the illustrator William Meade Prince later lived and worked until his death in 1951. StorylineThe old Methodist church at Henderson Street and Rosemary Lane, 1926–19381926–1938 · 3 events · The long-closed 1853 Methodist church at Rosemary and Henderson streets in Chapel Hill found a series of new uses after 1926. That July it became an automobile repair station, the Club Service Motor Co., with a platform built from the rear door to Henderson Street for cars. In December 1934 the American Legion post announced a bargain with Lueco Lloyd to buy the building, once the church of the Rev. Adolphus W. Mangum, and make it a memorial hut, but by March 1935 the post gave up the plan as more than it could pay for. In January 1938 the Orange County Women's Market, a farm women's market, reopened there on Saturdays. StorylineThe American Legion's hut, 1934–19441934–1944 · 5 events · The Chapel Hill post of the American Legion first planned to make the old Methodist church into its memorial hut, then built a log hut on Rosemary Lane. In December 1934 the post announced a bargain to buy the church for $3,750, but by March 1935 it had given up the plan, finding the work would cost more than it could raise. It then planned a log hut on a Rosemary Lane lot from trees given by country members. Legionnaires did much of the building, and a crew of Black masons filled the cracks between the logs. The first meeting in the hut came on March 19, 1937, and in 1944 the post burned the mortgage. StorylineRebuilding Chapel Hill High School, 1940–19471940–1947 · 20 events · Chapel Hill High School was already crowded in 1940, with offices and the auditorium in use as classrooms, when fire destroyed the building on South Columbia Street on August 8, 1942. Classes met in the Baptist church and then in the old Hume house on West Franklin Street while a school planning board drew up designs for a fireproof building. The boards turned down bids that ran well over the budget in 1945 and let contracts that December. Ground was broken in February 1946 for a first wing designed by Durham architect Raymond Weeks, and the first section of the new school on West Franklin Street opened in 1947, paid for largely with insurance money from the fire. StorylineSchools and a new courthouse: the county bonds, 1947–19541947–1954 · 65 events · In 1947 Orange County's commissioners and school board put a $1,045,000 bond issue for school buildings, a county office building and a remodeled courthouse before the voters, who turned down all three questions on June 10. In October 1948 the two boards named a fifteen-member citizens' committee to study the county's needs. Its February 1949 report, hearings on every school's needs, and grand juries that condemned the courthouse led to a vote on November 22, 1949 that approved $1.25 million in bonds for new and enlarged schools and a new courthouse. Masons laid the new courthouse's cornerstone in October 1953, and it opened on October 4, 1954. StorylineThe Chapel Hill Fire Department, 1951–19641951–1964 · 11 events · In 1951 the Chapel Hill aldermen stopped the town fire department from answering calls outside the town limits unless a fire endangered property in town, and in 1956 the town agreed to protect the suburban Greater Chapel Hill Fire District in return for its 10-cent fire tax. A reorganization had made J. S. Boone full-time chief by 1955. A 100-foot aerial ladder truck arrived in 1959, and a second station opened in Glen Lennox. In 1962 James Stewart was promoted to chief, and Boone, a town fireman for 34 years, became assistant chief at his own request. In 1963 the department moved into a new $80,000 central fire station, and Boone retired in January 1964. StorylineCameron Park School, 1952–19591952–1959 · 17 events · In January 1952 the county boards offered to buy part of Cameron Park, Rebecca Wall's land between St. Matthew's Church and her home, Burnside, for a new Hillsboro elementary school. She turned the offer down, and on September 15, 1952, the deadline the board had set before condemnation, she signed a deed for the land for $18,000. At the Garden Club's request the board named committees to fit the school to the town and protect the site's trees. Architect Archie Royal Davis drew a 16-classroom plan, and the school opened in 1956, taking the lower grades out of the crowded Hillsboro High School building. A second wing with an auditorium and a library went up in 1959. StorylineOrange County’s bicentennial, 1952–19531952–1953 · 7 events · In August 1952 the county commissioners named a committee under L. J. Phipps to plan the county's 200th anniversary, and in September they named 55 people to committees for programs, finance, publicity, exhibits and a pageant. Lefler and Wager's county history came off the press on October 1, 1953. The bicentennial week of October 7 through 13 opened with the laying of the new courthouse's cornerstone and brought parades in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, Garden Club tours of old homes, and six showings of the pageant The Road to Orange. In January 1954 the commissioners paid about $9,000 in unpaid bicentennial bills. StorylineA home for the Chapel Hill Public Library, 1958–19681958–1968 · 5 events · Chapel Hill's first public library opened on December 15, 1958 in the east wing of the Hill House, with about 4,500 books. In November 1964 the State Library Commission again turned down the town's request for a share of new federal library money, because its library did not belong to a county or regional system. In 1965 voters approved a library bond of up to $150,000 by 1,079 to 65. Around 1965 the library committee kept Don Stewart and his modern plan, though its head had asked him about a traditional design. His 1966 building on East Franklin Street used sloping native stone walls and stained wood to fit among the older faculty houses. When the library moved to Pritchard Park in 1994, the building became home to the town museum. StorylineCaring for the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, 1960–19941960–1994 · 15 events · Ownership of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery was long unsettled between the University and the town, and vandals damaged dozens of stones in 1974 and 1985. After Rebecca Clark showed the Town Council its neglect in 1985, the state let the town take charge in 1987, the council adopted a $290,000 improvement plan, and a 1989 deed settled ownership. In 1992 students held a candlelight march for the Black dead buried there and pressed the town to finish the repairs, and the cemetery entered the National Register in 1994. StorylineLosing old Franklin Street buildings, and the Preservation Society, 19661966 · 7 events · In 1966 fire twice gutted the Patterson Building on East Franklin Street, which the Daily Tar Heel had called the only building left of the original town, and its ruins were torn down. The Mary Manning house, where Arthur Nash had boarded, was razed, the Presbyterians sold their 1840s manse, and old buildings on West Franklin Street came down for a shopping center. In September about 50 citizens met at Town Hall to form a Chapel Hill Preservation Society and a committee to save the manse. StorylineThe Dey House, the historic district and the Press building, 1970–19921970–1992 · 35 events · In 1971 the Chapel Hill Historical Society fought Delta Upsilon's plan to raze the Dey House for a new fraternity house, and in 1972 the aldermen approved the plan on condition that the house be offered to anyone who would move it. The Chapel Hill Historic District entered the National Register in 1971, the society published a landmarks guide in 1973, and in 1976 the aldermen took up a historic district ordinance. From 1978 the Historic District Commission twice refused the University a certificate for a UNC Press building in the Battle Park neighborhood, and in 1979 the houses on the site came down after the legislature exempted the University from local historic district rules. In 1980 the trustees leased a house near the press site to the Preservation Society to repair, and the Town Council refused to rezone a historic district lot for a sorority house; in 1984 it refused to allow larger bed and breakfast inns in the district. In December 1990 fire gutted the press building, Brooks Hall, and in 1992 the Press began rebuilding it on the same site with sprinklers and fire walls. StorylineCarrboro’s attempts at local historic districts, 1983–19931983–1993 · 4 events · Carrboro's aldermen began studying local historic district zoning in 1983, and its commercial district entered the National Register in 1985. Residents' opposition led the aldermen to table a district in 1989, and in 1993 a proposal for local historic districts failed by one vote. StorylineHistoric district studies for Cameron-McCauley, Northside and Gimghoul, 1988–20041988–2004 · 10 events · Residents asked Chapel Hill to study Cameron-McCauley and Northside as historic districts in 1979 and 1985. A consultant found in 1988 that Cameron-McCauley qualified and suggested appearance controls or a neighborhood plan for Northside; in 1989 the council sent the Cameron-McCauley report to the state and heard residents on a local district. The town made Cameron-McCauley a local historic district in 1990 and Gimghoul, listed in the National Register that August, its third in 1993. West Chapel Hill entered the National Register in 1998, and in 2004 Northside became what the town called its first neighborhood conservation district. StorylineThe movement for a freestanding Black Cultural Center, 1990–19941990–1994 · 114 events · The Faculty Council asked in 1990 for a new Black Cultural Center building, and after professor Sonja Haynes Stone died in August 1991, a student campaign won the center her name that October. In 1992 a coalition pressed for a freestanding building; Chancellor Paul Hardin opposed one into September, and after marches, a Spike Lee rally and his working group's report, he endorsed it on October 15. The trustees approved a site in July 1993. Student leaders accepted the trustees' Coker Woods site that November, and the Bicentennial Campaign took on the building's $7 million. In 1994 director Margo Crawford resigned, the Board of Governors approved the building, and NationsBank and other donors brought gifts to about $1.6 million by November.

Indexed works

Works about Buildings & Preservation from library and archive catalogs. The most widely held appear first; novels are not shown here. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

Filter these works by material, period, or place. Counts refer to works, not individual copies. A work may appear under more than one period or place.

Material

Photographs & portraits 558Histories 179Postcards 80Maps 67Periodicals 41other types 162

Period

Colonial era (to 1775) 617th century 718th century 49Revolution (1775–1783) 2419th century 70Civil War (1861–1865) 1020th century 223World War II era 9

Place

Chapel Hill 641Orange County 449North Carolina (statewide) 393Hillsborough 200Carrboro 36Chatham County (neighboring) 31

Widely held

The Pelican Guide to Hillsborough, Historic Orange County, North Carolina

Dula, Lucile Noell · 1989

Lucile Noell Dula's guidebook to Hillsborough and its historic buildings, published by Pelican in 1989. It pairs a tour of the town with notes on its history, in 128 illustrated pages with a bibliography. Part of the Wall Local History Collection.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Historic buildings.

✓ Held at OCPL · 917.565 DUL or NC 917.565 DUL NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress Wake Forest CH Historical Society

Horace Williams

Winston, Sr., Robert Watson · 1942 · The University of North Carolina press

Robert Watson Winston's biography of Henry Horace Williams (1858-1940), who taught philosophy at the University of North Carolina for half a century, subtitled gadfly of Chapel Hill. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1942, 309 pages with frontispiece and portraits; this copy is autographed. Topics include educators in Chapel Hill and the university's history.

Included because: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.

Reviewed in Social Forces (1943).

✓ Held at OCPL · NC BIO WILLIAMS WIN UNC Duke NC State NC Cardinal Durham Chapel Hill PL NCCU Library of Congress

The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: 1795-1975

Little-Stokes, Margaret Ruth · 2006

Margaret Ruth Little-Stokes's survey of Chapel Hill's town and campus buildings from 1795 to 1975, published by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill in 2006. Chapters run from the first campus buildings through David Swain's romantic campus to midcentury modernism, followed by area surveys of the campus, east and west Chapel Hill, downtown, Northside and the suburbs.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Buildings.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress CH Historical Society

Francis Preston Venable of the University of North Carolina

Bursey, Maurice M. · 1989 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

Maurice M. Bursey's biography of Francis Preston Venable (1856 to 1934), chemist and president of the University of North Carolina, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1989. It also covers the history of the university's chemistry department. Illustrated, 111 pages, with bibliographies.

Included because: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.

Reviewed in Isis (1992).

NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Chapel Hill PL Durham Library of Congress CH Historical Society

The Campus at Chapel Hill

Allcott, John V. · 1986 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

John V. Allcott's history of the architecture of the University of North Carolina campus across two centuries, from the first buildings of the 1790s to the 1980s, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1986. A 108-page illustrated survey with a bibliography. Allcott taught art history at the university.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Buildings.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Library of Congress Davidson CH Historical Society
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The Campus at Chapel Hill: 225 Years of Architecture

Allcott, John V.; Bauer, JJ · 2019 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

A history of the buildings on the University of North Carolina campus by John V. Allcott and JJ Bauer, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 2019. It follows campus construction from the 1790s forward: the plans behind each building campaign, the architects, and the university figures who pushed projects through. 132 pages with photographs, maps and plans.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Buildings.

NC Cardinal UNC Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress CH Historical Society

Historic Coker Hills

Ridky-Blackburn, Jill · 2016

Jill Ridky-Blackburn's history of Coker Hills, a neighborhood in Chapel Hill, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 2016. Chapters describe the land before the subdivision, the Coker who gave it its name, how the neighborhood began, the architects, builders and houses that shaped it, its legacy, memories of growing up there and the residents' later advocacy. Subjects include historic buildings in Chapel Hill. 242 pages with illustrations, portraits and a map.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Historic buildings.

NC Cardinal UNC NC State Chapel Hill PL CH Historical Society

Recently indexed: Album, University of North Carolina (1892) · Autobiography and biography of Rev. Joseph Caldwell ... : first president of the University of North Carolina (1860) · Autobiography and biography of Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D.D. LL.D., first president of the University of North Carolina (1860) · Ballot (1923) · The Betty Smith House : a Chapel Hill landmark (1984) · Books and people (1985)

Search all 1,268 indexed works →

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this theme. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled. Books marked Wider context cover the broader subject rather than this theme itself.

  • Foundational · NC 363.69 HIS Historic Preservation Element: Orange County Comprehensive Plan ; Orange County, North Carolina Orange County (N.C.) · 1996

    The historic preservation element of Orange County's comprehensive plan, prepared for the county Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Department by the Jaeger Company of Gainesville, Georgia, and adopted on 1 April 1996. Partly financed by National Park Service funds through the state Division of Archives and History, it sets county policy on historic buildings and sites and their conservation. 59 pages plus 50 unnumbered, with illustrations and maps, some folded and in color.

  • Start here · NC 720.975 BEL Photocensus: A Photographic Survey of Buildings in the Hillsborough, N.C. Historic District Built Before 1950 Bellinger, Susan McArtor · 1991

    Susan McArtor Bellinger's photographic survey of the buildings in the Hillsborough Historic District put up before 1950, self-published in Hillsborough in 1991. Arranged as a guidebook, it records houses and other structures in photographs. 142 pages with illustrations.

  • Start here · NC 720.975 BRO Carrboro, N.C: An Architectural & Historical Inventory Brown, Claudia Roberts · 1983

    Architectural and historical inventory of Carrboro by Claudia Roberts Brown, published in 1983 by the Carrboro Appearance Commission and the town. The 48-page survey, with illustrations and maps, documents the town's historic buildings and their conservation.

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  • Foundational · NC 720.975 HILLSBOR Hillsborough Historic District Inventory 2006

    An inventory of the buildings in the Hillsborough Historic District, dated 2006. It concerns historic buildings and the buildings and structures of Hillsborough. Useful for anyone checking a particular property in the town's historic district.

  • Foundational · NC 917.56 HIS Historic Buildings and Landmarks of Chapel Hill, N.C Chapel Hill Historical Society · 1973

    A pocket-sized guide to the historic buildings and landmarks of Chapel Hill, prepared by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and printed by Creative Printers in 1973. Forty pages with illustrations and maps, 14 by 22 cm. Topics include architecture, historic buildings and historic districts in Chapel Hill, and the guide is useful for a walking tour of the older parts of town.

  • Foundational · NC 917.565 EID Sense of Place: A Hillsborough Memoir 1991

    Elizabeth Matheson's pictorial memoir of Hillsborough, published by the Hillsborough Historical Society in 1991. Its 63 pages picture the town's historic buildings and views, with notes on its history.

  • Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003

    Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.

  • Wider context · NC 975.604 BRO A Lasting Gift of Heritage: A History of the North Carolina Society for the Preservation of Antiquities, 1939-1974 Brook, David Louis Sterrett · 1997

    Founded in 1939 chiefly to see Tryon Palace rebuilt at New Bern, the North Carolina Society for the Preservation of Antiquities went on after the war to fight for old buildings across the state. David Louis Sterrett Brook, a former head of the State Historic Preservation Office, tells its story through 1974. Published in 1997 by the Division of Archives and History with Preservation North Carolina, 205 pages.

  • Start here · NC 720.975 BIS North Carolina Architecture Bishir, Catherine W. · 1990

    A history of building in North Carolina from the colonial period to the eve of World War II by Catherine W. Bishir, with photographs by Tim Buchman. Alongside grand public buildings and fine houses it takes in farmhouses, log houses, barns, churches, mills and factories, setting their design and construction in the state's cultural and political history. The University of North Carolina Press published the large volume in 1990 for the Historic Preservation Foundation of North Carolina; 514 pages.

In the chronology

A selection of 12 events from the 1,242 chronology entries for this theme, including highlights and examples from different years. See all 1,242 dated events in the chronology →

  1. A log house, later the Weaver House, is built beside the Hillsborough wagon road A story-and-a-jump house of hewn logs, one room on each floor, went up a few yards from the wagon road to Hillsborough, whose roadbed could still be traced in 1983. Tradition says it was first a tavern; it is the oldest building standing in Carrboro. Place: Weaver House, 116 Walters Road, CarrboroSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 29
  2. Suit by William Kirkland and others leads to the sale of Hannah and her children Legal proceedings brought by William Kirkland, Catlett Campbell, Jacob Greer and Isaac Mordecai against Robert Bell placed Hannah and her children Jenny and David in the hands of the sheriff. Sheriff Samuel Turrentine sold the three at public auction at the Hillsborough Market House to Duncan Cameron for 200 pounds. People: Duncan Cameron, William Kirkland Place: Hillsborough, Market House · Also named: Catlett Campbell, Jacob Greer, Isaac Mordecai, Robert Bell, Samuel Turrentine, David, Hannah, JennyOn These Grounds (UNC Libraries): 1804, Sale of Hannah, Jenny, and David
  3. Burwell School for young women operates Robert and Margaret Anna Burwell operated their Hillsborough school for girls from 1837 to 1857. People: Margaret Anna Burwell, Robert Armistead Burwell, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly Place: HillsboroughNCpedia
  4. Hillsborough builds the Confederate Memorial Library Federal relief crews began a new library on Churton Street in Hillsborough in December 1933, with local money, including $7,000 from the Hillsborough United Daughters of the Confederacy, paying for materials. The cornerstone of the Confederate Memorial Public Library was laid on July 13, 1934, and the building became the Orange County Historical Museum in 1983. Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Churton StreetThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 20, 1934, p. 3 (Laying of Cornerstone)
  5. Civic groups join a central committee to preserve Hillsboro's historic places With the new National Council for Historic Sites and Buildings offering its help through state archivist C. C. Crittenden, Hillsboro civic and business groups named members to a central committee working with the Garden Club's restoration committee under Norfleet Webb. The plan favored preserving landmarks such as the Regulators' graves and the courthouse over rebuilding. Place: Hillsboro · Also named: Norfleet Webb, C. C. CrittendenSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 17, 1949, p. 1
  6. Morehead Planetarium is dedicated Morehead Planetarium was dedicated at UNC on May 10, 1949. People: John Motley Morehead III Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Morehead PlanetariumSearch the index · Morehead Planetarium
  7. North Carolina Memorial Hospital opens North Carolina Memorial Hospital opened to patients on Tuesday, September 2, 1952, without a formal ceremony, as the core of the new University Medical Center. Its opening allowed the UNC School of Medicine to grow from a two-year program into a four-year school. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: North Carolina Memorial Hospital, UNC School of MedicineThe Chapel Hill Weekly, September 5, 1952, p. 1 · Also: UNC Libraries: Office of the Dean of the School of Medicine of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1905-2020
  8. Chapel Hill Public Library opens Chapel Hill's first public library held its formal opening on December 15, 1958 in the east wing of the Hill House on West Franklin Street, with about 4,500 books, 2,000 of them lent by state and regional libraries. It moved to its own building at 523 East Franklin Street in 1967 and to Pritchard Park in 1994. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Hill House, Pritchard Park, East Franklin StreetThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 11, 1958, p. 1 (Library Opening Monday) · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, December 18, 1958, p. 7
  9. The Sonja Haynes Stone Center celebrates its grand opening After more than a decade of organizing, the freestanding Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History opened in Coker Woods with a four-day celebration. A Friday candlelight procession from the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery preceded Saturday's dedication by Chancellor James Moeser before more than 500 guests. People: Sonja Haynes Stone, James Moeser Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, Sonja Haynes Stone CenterThe Daily Tar Heel: Set in Stone, August 23, 2004, p. 1
  10. Orange County Main Library opens on Margaret Lane The county's new 23,500-square-foot Main Library at 137 West Margaret Lane in Hillsborough held its grand opening on January 8, 2010, after planning that began with a task force in 2000 and a groundbreaking in April 2008. It added a teen center, a 90-person meeting room and a local history area. Place: HillsboroughWRAL: Grand opening planned for new Orange County library (January 1, 2010)
  11. Occoneechee Speedway joins Eno River State Park North Carolina finalized the addition of more than 200 acres near Hillsborough, including the Historic Occoneechee Speedway trail and the James M. Johnston Nature Preserve, to Eno River State Park. The Eno River Association had arranged the sale from the Jenrette Foundation, formerly the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. Place: Eno RiverNC State Parks: Historic Occoneechee Speedway Added to Eno River State Park (January 28, 2025)
  12. Drakeford Library Complex opens Orange County's Southern Branch Library opened in February 2025 in the $42 million Drakeford Library Complex at 203 South Greensboro Street in Carrboro, replacing the Carrboro Cybrary, which had closed on January 31, 2025. The building, named for Robert Drakeford, Carrboro's first Black mayor, also houses town recreation offices and WCOM Radio. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Robert Bob Drakeford, Robert DrakefordThe Local Reporter: Southern Branch Library has a "soft opening" (February 12, 2025)

See all 1,242 dated events in the chronology →

Places in this theme

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 176 with a known location.

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.

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All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this subject. Research guide: How to research with Orange County Indexed.

Background 6

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National Register files 14

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Historic sites, markers, and maps 15

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Records of the time

Collections and databases 10

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Local help 5

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  • 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

Background reading at OCPL

Books from OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection that provide broader context. They may not discuss Buildings & Preservation directly.

  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection Coastal Plain and Fancy: The Historic Architecture of Lenoir County and Kinston, North Carolina Little, M. Ruth · 1998

    The historic buildings of Lenoir County and its seat, Kinston, on the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina: an essay on the county's architecture by M. Ruth Little, followed by a catalogue of properties by Robbie D. Jones and others. Published in 1998 by the Lenoir County Historical Association with the City of Kinston, 480 pages with photographs, maps, a glossary of architectural terms, a bibliography and an index.

    Subjects in the Library of Congress catalog record: Architecture -- North Carolina -- Lenoir County; Architecture -- North Carolina -- Kinston; Historic buildings -- North Carolina -- Lenoir County OCPL call number: NC 720.975 LIT
  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection An Architectural History of Burlington, North Carolina 1987

    The architecture and historic buildings of Burlington, Alamance County's largest community, in a history compiled by Allison Harris Black for the city's Historic District Commission; published in 1987, 172 pages, illustrated, with notes and an index. Alamance County was carved out of Orange in 1849.

    Subjects in the OCPL catalog record: Architecture -- North Carolina -- Burlington -- History; Burlington (N.C.) -- Historic buildings OCPL call number: NC 720.975 ARC
  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection Architects and Builders in North Carolina: A History of the Practice of Building 1990

    How North Carolina's buildings were planned and put up from about 1650 to the late twentieth century, told by Catherine W. Bishir, Carl R. Lounsbury, Charlotte V. Brown and Ernest H. Wood III: frontier construction, craft traditions to 1830, antebellum improvement, the mechanized making of materials after 1850, new technology after the Civil War, the rise of professional architects to 1945, and practice since. Published by UNC Press in 1990; 540 pages with a long bibliography and an index.

    Subjects in the Library of Congress catalog record: Architectural practice -- North Carolina; Building -- Practice -- North Carolina; Construction industry -- North Carolina OCPL call number: NC 720.975 ARC

Search the Wall Collection for related books →

Related themes

UNC & Campus Life →Schools & Education →Housing, Neighborhoods & Displacement →Churches & Faith →Politics & Government →Libraries, Archives & Public Memory →

Picture: Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress; public domain. Image credits →

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