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From West End to Carrboro: railroad, mills, and a new town, 1882–1913

The 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.

In briefIn 1882 a university railroad spur ended a mile west of Chapel Hill, and the settlement of West End grew around its boxcar depot. Thomas Lloyd opened a gin and grist mill in 1883 and the Alberta Cotton Mill in 1899, which Julian Carr's Durham Hosiery bought in 1909. Incorporated as Venable in 1911, the town became Carrboro in 1913.

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Carr Mill, Carrboro
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  1. Julian Shakespeare Carr, later Carrboro's namesake, is born in Chapel Hill Julian S. Carr was born in Chapel Hill on October 12, 1845, the son of the Franklin Street merchant John Wesley Carr, and later studied at the university. He built tobacco, banking and textile fortunes in Durham, and his Durham Hosiery Mills went on to own both Carrboro mills; the town took his name in 1913. People: Julian S. Carr, John Wesley Carr Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Franklin StreetUNC Wilson Library, Southern Historical Collection: Julian Shakespeare Carr Papers (#00141), biographical note · Also: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro Inventory
  2. Robert F. Hoke obtains a charter for the Chapel Hill Iron Mountain Railroad While the university was closed, Robert F. Hoke, owner of an iron mine north of Chapel Hill, obtained a state charter for a railroad to carry ore from Iron Mountain to the North Carolina Railroad. People: Robert F. Hoke Place: Orange County · Also mentions: North Carolina RailroadUNC Press, UNC A to Z: University Railroad
  3. The railroad is rechartered as the State University Railroad The legislature rechartered the stalled iron-mine line as the State University Railroad, shifting its purpose to a rail link for the university, with UNC president Kemp P. Battle working alongside Hoke to raise funds. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Robert F. Hoke Place: Orange County · Also mentions: State University RailroadOrangePolitics: Road to Iron Mountain: The railroad comes to Chapel Hill
  4. Jack Brim, a Black blacksmith, and then Bennie F. Ray open smithies at West End As the settlement around the depot and Lloyd's mills grew in the later 1880s, Jack Brim, an African American blacksmith, opened a shop at West End, and Bennie F. Ray opened a second smithy after him. Ray's shop was still working north and east of the depot in the early 1910s. Place: West End (now Carrboro), near the depot · Also named: Jack Brim, Bennie F. RayTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 11
  5. Robert F. Hoke raises subscriptions to run the railroad toward Chapel Hill When iron prices rose in 1880 and shipping ore to Pennsylvania furnaces paid, Gen. Robert F. Hoke, who owned most of Iron Mountain north of Chapel Hill, began organizing the branch line from University Station. His Iron Mountain Company put up $6,000, the largest single pledge, and Julian S. Carr was among the other subscribers. People: Julian S. Carr, Robert F. Hoke Place: University Station to West End (now Carrboro) · Also mentions: University StationTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 10
  6. Ruffin Cheek and then Hiram Stone open West End's first general stores Ruffin Cheek, followed by Hiram Stone, opened grocery and general merchandise stores at West End in the 1880s. The book counts their stores, east of the railroad spur on what became East Main Street, as the start of Carrboro's business district. Place: East Main Street, West End (now Carrboro) · Also named: Ruffin Cheek, Hiram Stone · Also mentions: West EndTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 11
  7. The Neville Building, thought to be Carrboro's first store, goes up east of the depot A one-story frame store later called the Old Neville Building was put up in the 1880s on East Main Street between Broad and Lloyd streets and is believed to be the first store building in Carrboro. Its last tenant was the Carrboro Cash Store, run by Cliff and Wilbur Partin. Place: East Main Street between Broad and Lloyd streets, Carrboro · Also named: Cliff Partin, Wilbur PartinSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 24
  8. Railroad service reaches West End The first passenger train on the University Railroad left Chapel Hill on Monday, February 6, 1882, and ran through University Station to Raleigh. The line ended about a mile west of the village at West End, where a boxcar served as the depot, and the settlement that became Carrboro grew up around it. Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: University Railroad, University Station, West EndThe News and Observer (Raleigh), February 8, 1882, p. 2: The University Railroad Completed (DigitalNC)
  9. Julia Spencer drives a last spike to celebrate the finished University railroad Chapel Hill celebrated the completed State University Railroad with speeches and the driving of the last spikes, one by Julia J. Spencer, daughter of Cornelia Phillips Spencer, and one by the railroad's agent, J. G. Cooley. Passenger trains had been running to the West End terminus since February. People: Joseph G. Cooley Place: West End (now Carrboro) · Also named: Julia J. Spencer, Cornelia Phillips Spencer · Also mentions: State University RailroadDigitalNC: The News and Observer (Raleigh), May 11, 1882, p. 3 · Also: Battle, History of the University, vol. II, pp. 248-249
  10. Chapel Hill's mail moves to the University Railroad and its telegraph office opens Mail began running regularly to and from Chapel Hill on the State University Railroad, which the item credited to Congressman W. R. Cox, and a telegraph office opened at Chapel Hill on two wires that made the town part of the main line. People: William R. Cox Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: State University RailroadSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), July 29, 1882, p. 2
  11. Thomas Lloyd and William Pritchard build a grist mill and cotton gin at the West End depot Thomas F. Lloyd, a Confederate veteran, and his partner William Pritchard built a steam-powered grist mill and cotton gin in a two-story frame building just north of the railroad depot at West End in 1883. Farmers from southern Orange County brought grain and cotton there, and Lloyd bought out Pritchard's share in 1886. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: Carrboro · Also named: William Pritchard · Also mentions: West EndNC State Historic Preservation Office: Alberta Mill Complex, National Register nomination (OR0001), p. 6 · Also: Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory; Open Orange: Lloyd Grist Mill and Cotton Gin, 101 B St., Carrboro
  12. A post office called Blackwood opens at Robson station on the University Railroad A post office named Blackwood was established at Robson station on the University Railroad, halfway between University Station and Chapel Hill, with Morris King as postmaster. Place: Robson station, State University Railroad, Orange County · Also named: Morris King · Also mentions: University Railroad, University StationSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 14, 1883, p. 3
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  1. Court-appointed commissioners award damages to landowners along the University Railroad Commissioners named by the Superior Court, C. W. Johnston, Wm. Barton and R. P. Hall, met and assessed what the State University Railroad owed for running through private land, allowing Holloway $100, Robert Strayhorn $75, Richard Fitzgerald $25 and Sarah Fitzgerald $70; the Fitzgeralds were Black landowners. Place: State University Railroad line, Orange County · Also named: C. W. Johnston, Wm. Barton, R. P. Hall, Robert Strayhorn, Richard Fitzgerald, Sarah FitzgeraldSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 2, 1883, p. 2
  2. Thomas F. Lloyd buys out his partner and adds a flour mill by the depot Lloyd bought William Pritchard's share of the steam grist mill and cotton gin the two had built north of the station in 1883, and had a flour mill built on the property. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: Carrboro · Also named: William PritchardTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 11 · Also: Open Orange: 101 B St. / Lloyd Grist Mill
  3. Berry's Grove Baptist Church is organized Berry's Grove Baptist Church was organized in 1887 with A. T. Hord as first pastor and built a 400-seat church the next year. Place: Berry's Grove Baptist Church · Also named: A. T. HordSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 301
  4. Fred Smith begins about fifty years as conductor on the Chapel Hill branch train Captain Fred Smith became conductor on the University Station branch on October 16, 1888, after about 18 months as brakeman, fireman, flagman and baggage master on the Goldsboro to Greensboro line, and kept the job for about half a century, until passenger service ended. Louis Graves later wrote that he served from 1889, but the Weekly gave the 1888 date in 1925 and again in 1931. People: Fred Smith Place: Carrboro · Also named: Louis Graves · Also mentions: University StationSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 282 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, February 13, 1931, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 23, 1925, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 16, 1936, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 14, 1939, p. 4
  5. Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten was born on Lloyd Street in what became Carrboro Elizabeth Nevills, later known as Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten, was born near the railroad tracks on what is now Lloyd Street in Carrboro. As a child she wrote “Freight Train,” which Folkways released on record in 1958 and which carried her into the folk revival. People: Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten Place: CarrboroSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Elizabeth Libba Cotten
  6. Heavy rains wash out parts of the University Railroad Heavy September rains did damage around Hillsborough, and washouts badly damaged the University Railroad, the branch line between University Station and Chapel Hill. Place: University Railroad, University Station to Chapel Hill · Also mentions: University StationSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 16, 1893, p. 3
  7. Brodie Lloyd builds a rental house on Oak Avenue before the Alberta mill opens The house at 307 Oak Avenue is one of very few in Carrboro older than the Alberta Cotton Mill and among the first investment houses of Brodie Lloyd, Thomas F. Lloyd's cousin; once the mill opened it was rented to its workers. Carpenter Thomas Clark and later his daughter and her husband, knitter Ben Williams, lived there from the 1920s. People: Thomas Clark (Carrboro carpenter), Brodie Lloyd Place: Williams House, 307 Oak Avenue, Carrboro · Also named: Ben Williams, Thomas F. Lloyd · Also mentions: Alberta Cotton MillTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 46
  8. A new mill house on Center Street becomes the community's first school The Alberta Cotton Mill built the house at 109 Center Street about 1898, apparently the first on that side of the street, and it was soon put to use as the village school. It went back to being a house when the Carrboro Public School opened on West Main Street about 1908. Place: 109 Center Street, Carrboro · Also mentions: Alberta Cotton MillSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 44
  9. Carpenter Thomas Clark moves to West End at Brodie Lloyd's request Thomas Clark, the earliest carpenter known to have worked in Carrboro, came in from the Cane Creek section of Orange County while the Alberta Cotton Mill was going up, at Brodie Lloyd's urging. He built rental houses for Lloyd, among them 101, 103 and 109 Shelton Street and 205 Weaver Street, and helped Bennie Ray build his two-story house at 301 Weaver Street. People: Brodie Lloyd, Thomas Clark (Carrboro carpenter) Place: West End (now Carrboro) · Also named: Bennie Ray · Also mentions: Alberta Cotton Mill, Weaver StreetSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 17
  10. Herbert Lloyd takes over his brother's cotton gin and grist mill As Thomas F. Lloyd turned to building the Alberta Cotton Mill, his brother Herbert took charge of the steam gin and grist mill by the tracks, the frame buildings that had started the settlement in the early 1880s. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: Former Lloyd grist mill, 101 Broad Street, Carrboro · Also named: Herbert Lloyd · Also mentions: Alberta Cotton MillSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 38
  11. Thomas F. Lloyd builds the Alberta Cotton Mill Lloyd built the Alberta Cotton Mill beside the railroad in West End in 1898 and 1899, the brick mill that later became Durham Hosiery Mill No. 4 and then Carr Mill Mall. People: Julian S. Carr, Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Alberta Cotton Mill, West EndTown of Carrboro: Carrboro Walking Tour · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, April 9, 1982, p. 4
  12. Brodie Lloyd builds a row of rental houses on Weaver Street for Alberta mill workers Brodie Lloyd put up the one-story house with a triple-A roof at 302 Weaver Street, along with nearly identical houses at 300, 304 and 306 Weaver, as rentals for hands at the Alberta Cotton Mill run by his cousin Thomas F. Lloyd, renting either to the workers or through the mill. By 1983 only 302 stood where it was built; 300 had been moved and the others torn down. People: Brodie Lloyd, Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Alberta Cotton Mill, Weaver StreetSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 33 (no. 12, House, 302 Weaver Street)
  13. Thomas F. Lloyd builds twelve houses for Alberta Cotton Mill workers On the mill tract east and northeast of the new Alberta Cotton Mill, Lloyd put up a dozen one-story frame houses for his hands. A house of the same period built for Alberta workers still stands at 105 Short Street. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: Alberta Cotton Mill tract, Weaver and North Greensboro streets, CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 32
  14. A wind and rain storm blows out windows at the Alberta cotton mill A wind and rain storm on the night of October 30, 1899 blew out and smashed five large second-story windows of the Alberta cotton mill at West End and tore guttering from the mill's north side. In Chapel Hill it uprooted large trees, blew down signs and dropped a big oak onto the roof and porch of R. A. Eubanks's house. People: Robert A. Eubanks Place: Alberta cotton mill, West End (Carrboro), and Chapel Hill · Also mentions: West EndThe News (Chapel Hill), November 2, 1899, p. 1
  15. A frame depot replaces the box car that had served West End as a station From 1882 a box car had been the passenger depot at West End. In 1900 a one-story frame depot was built a few yards north of the later station; after the 1913 station opened it became a freight shed, and a new freight house had replaced it by 1925. Place: Carrboro Station, 201 East Main Street, Carrboro · Also mentions: West EndTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 35
  16. Four mill houses go up on Shelton Street for Bill Lloyd Bill Lloyd, a cousin of Alberta Cotton Mill owner Thomas F. Lloyd, had four identical one-story houses built to rent to the mill's workers. Each had two front doors so family members on different shifts could come and go; carpenter Thomas Clark, brought from Cane Creek by the Lloyds, built number 107. People: Thomas Clark (Carrboro carpenter) Place: 101-107 Shelton Street, Carrboro · Also named: Bill Lloyd, Thomas F. Lloyd · Also mentions: Alberta Cotton MillTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 30
  17. Lloyd and Neville's cotton gin operates on Laurel Street The gin occupied the lot at 108 Laurel Street from the first years of the century into the 1930s. When it was dismantled its materials are said to have gone into houses, perhaps the two porcelain-enamel-tile houses at 108 and 110 Laurel Street. Place: 108 Laurel Street, CarrboroSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 48
  18. Mill owner Isaac W. Pritchard builds a large frame house on Ransom Street Isaac Pritchard, who ran one of the first textile mills near the Carrboro depot, built a spacious house at 400 Ransom Street combining a hipped roof and Palladian dormer with a Queen Anne entrance and wraparound porch. Most of his land later became part of the Westwood subdivision. People: Isaac W. Pritchard Place: 400 Ransom Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 48
  19. Southern Railway begins buying cross ties from farmers at the Carrboro depot In the 1900s the Southern Railway began buying hand-hewn oak cross ties at the depot, where its agent graded them and paid the farmers who hauled them in from Orange and nearby counties. By the early 1920s Carrboro was among the largest tie markets in the East, and tie wagons crowded its streets into the early 1930s. Place: Carrboro depot and East Main StreetSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 23
  20. Thomas F. Lloyd gives a church lot facing his mill to Chapel Hill's four congregations Lloyd offered a Weaver Street lot to the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists and Methodists of Chapel Hill. The first two gave up their rights, and the Baptists and Methodists built Union Chapel on it in 1901 or 1902, a frame building about twenty by thirty feet. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: Weaver Street facing the Alberta Cotton Mill, Carrboro · Also mentions: Union Chapel, Weaver StreetSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 39
  21. The state charters the Blanche Hosiery Mills Company at West End The secretary of state issued a charter to the Blanche Hosiery Mills Company, formed by W. R. Lloyd, T. J. Hogan, John Lloyd and W. E. Lindsay to make hosiery. The company began on $6,500 in stock, with leave to raise it to $15,000. People: William E. Lindsay Place: Alberta Cotton Mill, West End (now Carrboro) · Also named: W. R. Lloyd, T. J. Hogan, John LloydDigitalNC: The News & Observer (Raleigh), March 4, 1902, p. 5 · Also: The Morning Post (Raleigh), March 4, 1902, p. 5
  22. The Blanche Hosiery Company builds its own knitting mill near the West End depot After more than a year in the upper story of Tom Lloyd's cotton mill, the Blanche Hosiery Company put up a $1,500 building of its own near the depot and planned to move in about July 1. The owners said Lloyd charged too much for power. Place: near the railroad depot, West End (now Carrboro) · Also named: Tom LloydDigitalNC: Charlotte Daily Observer, June 15, 1902, p. 3 · Also: DigitalNC newspaper, June 11, 1902, p. 2
  23. Baptists organize Union Chapel in West End On land Thomas Lloyd deeded for churches, Baptists and Methodists shared a small Weaver Street building on alternate Sundays, and the Baptists organized as Union Chapel with seventeen charter members; the congregation became Venable Baptist in 1911 and Carrboro Baptist in 1914. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder), John C. Hocutt Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Union Chapel, Weaver StreetHillSong Church: HillSong Church History
  24. Elizabeth Cotten composes Freight Train At about age eleven, growing up near the railroad tracks in the settlement that became Carrboro, Elizabeth Cotten wrote "Freight Train." She played a right-handed guitar upside down, and the song became a folk standard after Folkways released her recording in 1958. People: Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten Place: CarrboroSearch the index · NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Elizabeth Cotten 1893-1987 (G-129)
  25. A legislative committee kills a bill to tear up the University Railroad A committee of the General Assembly killed the measure that would have let the railroad from University Station to Chapel Hill be abandoned once a planned Durham-Chapel Hill trolley line had run ninety days, leaving the trolley project in doubt. People along the line and at Chapel Hill had opposed removing the track. Place: University Railroad, University Station to Chapel Hill · Also mentions: University StationSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), March 9, 1905, p. 2
  26. The Carrboro Public School is built on West Main Street The one-story frame school at 114 West Main Street replaced the first school, held in a Center Street mill house, and taught seven grades under Mr. McDuffie, also the Baptist pastor. After the graded school opened late in 1921 it became the Methodist parsonage, serving until 1955. Place: (Former) Carrboro Public School, 114 West Main Street, Carrboro · Also named: McDuffieSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 36
  27. Estelle Ray builds a two-story house on Oak Avenue and takes in boarders The Ray-Upchurch House at 301 Oak Avenue went up in 1909, likely with help from Estelle Ray's carpenter son and other relatives who later worked on the Lloyd yarn mill. For almost fifty years Ray, and after her, her daughter Bedie Upchurch, let rooms there to boarders. Place: Ray-Upchurch House, 301 Oak Avenue, Carrboro · Also named: Estelle Ray, Bedie UpchurchSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 17
  28. Julian Carr's Durham Hosiery Mills buys the Alberta Mill In early February 1909 Julian S. Carr and his sons closed a deal for both the Alberta Cotton Mill that Thomas F. Lloyd had built at West End and the Blanche Hosiery Mill, to change hands on April 1 and run together as Durham Hosiery Mills' Mill No. 4. The deeds were recorded in March. People: Julian S. Carr, Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Alberta Cotton Mill, West EndDigitalNC: The Durham Recorder, February 12, 1909, p. 3 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Alberta Mill Complex, National Register nomination; Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro Inventory
  29. Blacksmith Bennie Ray builds a two-story house on Weaver Street With carpenter Thomas Clark, Ray built a cross-shaped two-story house at 301 Weaver Street, rare among Carrboro's early houses; his family still owned it in 1983. He ran a blacksmith shop on Lloyd Street with his brother Tom and son Atlas, who kept it going after Bennie died in 1933. People: Thomas Clark (Carrboro carpenter) Place: Bennie Ray House, 301 Weaver Street, Carrboro · Also named: Bennie Ray, Tom Ray, Atlas Ray · Also mentions: Weaver StreetSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 34
  30. Carrboro Methodist Church is organized Methodists in the mill village that became Carrboro organized a church in 1910 with W. A. Stanbury as first pastor. Place: Carrboro · Also named: W. A. StanburyLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 298
  31. Carrboro businessman Miles Andrews builds a frame house on East Main Street Miles Andrews, a Carrboro businessman and farmer, builds a one-story, hip-roofed frame house in the 100 block of East Main Street and lives there for many years. It was the only frame building on the block to survive the 1924 fire. Place: 106-C East Main Street, Carrboro · Also named: Miles AndrewsNational Register: Carrboro Commercial Historic District nomination (OR0126, 1985), section 7
  32. Carrboro's business district shifts from Weaver Street to East Main Street In the late 1910s the center of Carrboro's trade moved from the Weaver Street block by the Alberta mill to East Main Street. Some frame store buildings were hauled over from Weaver Street, and others were newly built on East Main. Place: Weaver Street and East Main Street, Carrboro · Also mentions: Weaver StreetSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 23
  33. Durham Hosiery Mills builds a two-story company house on New Hill for the Oakley family The L-shaped house at 303 South Greensboro Street was one of three two-story houses for large families in the last group the mill built for Mill No. 7. The company recruited the experienced Oakleys from Burlington, whose men became superintendents and foremen, and Cora Oakley ran part of the house as a boardinghouse at 25 cents a room a week. Place: Oakley House, 303 South Greensboro Street, Carrboro · Also named: Cora Oakley · Also mentions: Mill No. 7Search the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 42
  34. Mill houses go up for the Lloyd Manufacturing Company's workers One-story frame houses with front porches were built between 1910 and 1915 as worker housing for the Thomas F. Lloyd Manufacturing Company; 25 of them form the Thomas F. Lloyd Historic District on the National Register. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: CarrboroThe Local Reporter: Carrboro's Heritage Embraces Preservation of the Town's Early Architecture
  35. The Carrs open a night school for Carrboro children working in the mills In the early 1910s the Carr family's company started a night school for children who spent their days in the Carrboro mills. It soon closed because the pupils were too tired after work and had chores waiting at home. Place: CarrboroSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 20
  36. Lloyd organizes a second mill company and builds a yarn mill Thomas F. Lloyd organized the Thomas F. Lloyd Manufacturing Company in February 1910 and built a second mill across Main Street from the Alberta mill in 1910 and 1911 to spin cotton yarn. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 13 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Alberta Mill Complex, National Register nomination; Open Orange: Thomas F. Lloyd Manufacturing Co. / Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7
  37. Venable is incorporated The General Assembly incorporated the mill settlement west of Chapel Hill as the Town of Venable in an act ratified March 3, 1911, naming William H. Parker mayor and T. N. Mann, J. F. Ragan, T. A. Ray and J. F. Partin commissioners until the first election. The town, named for UNC president Francis P. Venable, became Carrboro in 1913. Place: Carrboro · Also named: William H. Parker, T. N. Mann, Francis P. VenablePrivate Laws of the State of North Carolina, Session of 1911, chapter 315, pp. 788-791 (Internet Archive)
  38. Thomas F. Lloyd, founder of Carrboro's first two mills, dies Thomas F. Lloyd died in May 1911, close to the time his second mill, a one-story brick yarn mill a block south of the Alberta mill, was finished. A Confederate veteran with no schooling, he had built the gin, grist mill and flour mill by the depot before starting the Alberta mill in 1898. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 14
  39. Durham Hosiery Mills nearly doubles Mill No. 4 About 1912 the company added a two-story extension to the west end of the old Alberta mill, enlarged its one-story south wing and put up a new power house northeast of the reservoir. Orders for cotton hosiery had outgrown the building. The Sanborn maps show the work done between March 1911 and December 1915. Place: Mill No. 4 (now Carr Mill), CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 13 · Also: Library of Congress, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Chapel Hill, March 1911 sheet 4 and December 1915 sheet 1
  40. Union Baptist Church becomes Venable Baptist Church Once the Methodists stopped meeting there around 1910, the chapel was known as Union Baptist Church. In 1912 the congregation took the name of the newly incorporated town of Venable. Place: Union Chapel, Weaver Street, CarrboroSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 39
  41. The county board of elections creates a Venable precinct and merges the Chapel Hill precincts The Orange County board of elections created a new voting precinct for Venable (now Carrboro) and the country around it, joined the North and South Chapel Hill precincts into a single Chapel Hill precinct, and moved the line between the White Cross and Cates precincts in Bingham Township. Place: Venable (Carrboro) and Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill Township · Also mentions: Chapel Hill precinctThe News (Chapel Hill), September 19, 1912, p. 8
  42. A new wood-frame railroad station is built in Carrboro The depot that still stands east of the old Alberta mill (Carr Mill) was built about 1913 as an extension of a small frame depot of about 1900, which had itself replaced the boxcar that served as West End's first station. The older depot was later removed, and the 1913 building served as the passenger and freight depot. Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Carr MillNC State Historic Preservation Office: Alberta Mill Complex, National Register nomination (OR0001), p. 6 · Also: Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory; Open Orange: Southern Railway Station - Carrboro
  43. Venable is renamed Carrboro A 1913 act of the General Assembly changed the name of the Town of Venable to Carrboro. Julian S. Carr, owner of the local mill since 1909, had asked UNC president Francis Venable's consent in January 1913, and the town's own history says Carr agreed to supply the community with electricity. People: Julian S. Carr Place: CarrboroOn the Books (UNC Libraries): 1913 Private Laws, Chapter 97, Section 1, An Act to Change the Name of the Town of Venable · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, April 9, 1982, p. 4
  44. The Lloyd yarn mill becomes Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7 The Thomas F. Lloyd Manufacturing Company mill was sold to Durham Hosiery Mills, which ran it as Mill No. 7 alongside Mill No. 4, the former Alberta mill. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder), Julian S. Carr Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Mill No. 7Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 14 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Alberta Mill Complex, National Register nomination; Open Orange: Thomas F. Lloyd Manufacturing Co. / Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7
  45. The Blanche Hosiery Mill Company is chartered again with $100,000 in authorized capital Four years after Julian Carr's company bought the first Blanche mill, W. E. Lindsay, Blanche Gilbert Lindsay and W. S. Robertson took out a new charter for the Blanche Hosiery Mill Company. By late April its new plant was finished, with 58 knitting machines and work for about 40 hands. People: William E. Lindsay Place: Carrboro · Also named: Blanche Gilbert Lindsay, W. S. RobertsonSearch the index · DigitalNC: The News & Observer (Raleigh), March 9, 1913, p. 19 · Also: DigitalNC newspaper, April 25, 1913, p. 3
  46. A. J. Blackwood recruits Cora Oakley's family from Burlington to the Carrboro mills In 1914 A. J. Blackwood, a Burlington neighbor lately made superintendent of Mill No. 4, drew Cora Oakley and her large family to Carrboro with slightly higher wages and a ten-hour day. Durham Hosiery Mills hired many experienced hands away from Burlington-area mills in this way. Place: Mill No. 4, Carrboro · Also named: A. J. Blackwood, Cora OakleySearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 14
  47. Carrboro Methodists build their first church Organized in 1910 as a mission of the Chapel Hill Methodists, the congregation met in the public school until early 1914, when it built a plain frame church on the large lot east of the school, later the Britt Building site. From about 1900 the town's Methodists had shared Union Chapel with the Baptists. Place: West Main Street east of 114 West Main, Carrboro · Also mentions: Union ChapelSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 36
  48. Venable Baptist Church becomes Carrboro Baptist Church In 1914, the year after the town was renamed for Julian S. Carr, the Baptist congregation changed its name again, to Carrboro Baptist Church. Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Carrboro Baptist ChurchSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 19
  49. Carrboro's mayor reports a population of 1,000 Two years after taking its present name, the mill town counted about 800 white and 200 Black residents, by figures the mayor gave the bulletin's author. Place: CarrboroM. C. S. Noble (University of North Carolina Bureau of Extension), The Teaching of County Geography (1915), scan p. 30
  50. Durham Hosiery Mills builds a house on West Main Street for its Carrboro superintendent Some time between 1915 and 1925 the company built a one-and-a-half-story house with a tall hipped roof and Tuscan porch columns at 103 West Main Street for the head of its Carrboro mills; it was long thought the best house in town. Ralph Ward of Mill No. 4 lived there first and Floyd M. Durham of Mill No. 7 later, and Marvin J. Dawson bought it at the 1939 company sale. People: Ralph H. Ward Place: 103 West Main Street, Carrboro · Also named: Floyd M. Durham, Marvin J. Dawson · Also mentions: Mill No. 7Search the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 17
  51. Durham Hosiery Mills builds its last group of mill houses on South Greensboro Street Around 1915 carpenter John Squires built five houses on South Greensboro Street south of Carr Street, thought to be Durham Hosiery Mills' last housing project in Carrboro. The company then planted Lombardy poplars along the street, which was called Poplar Street until the diseased trees came down in the 1930s. Place: South Greensboro Street south of Carr Street, Carrboro · Also named: John SquiresSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 16
  52. Mill worker Jesse Riggsbee builds his own house on South Greensboro Street Riggsbee and his wife both worked for Durham Hosiery Mills but chose to build rather than rent from the mill or a speculator, and two relatives later built on adjoining West Carr Street lots. A humidifier mechanic, he lived there until his death in 1946. Place: Riggsbee House, 300 South Greensboro Street, Carrboro · Also named: Jesse RiggsbeeSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 42
  53. W. H. Parker serves as mayor of Carrboro W. H. Parker was mayor of Carrboro by January 26, 1915, two years after the mill town of Venable took the name Carrboro, when he signed a notice that the town would ask the General Assembly to amend its charter. Lefler and Wager's list of Carrboro mayors begins with him in 1917, but at the town election of May 7, 1917 the News reported T. N. Mann elected mayor over J. C. Merritt and C. G. Cates. Parker served again from 1937 to 1941. Place: Carrboro · Also named: W. H. Parker, C. G. Cates, T. N. Mann, J. C. MerrittLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 371 · Also: The News (Chapel Hill), January 28, 1915, p. 4; The News (Chapel Hill), May 10, 1917, p. 5
  54. The Lloyd grist mill burns, and a brick mill later replaces it The original wood-frame grist mill and cotton gin buildings at Carrboro burned around 1916; that fall the News was urging citizens to rebuild the burned roller mill. In August 1919 the News said the roller mill had still not been rebuilt. The brick mill that survives at 101 B Street was built after that, and around 1921, a few years after it went up, lightning struck it and the fire burned its interior. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder) Place: CarrboroNC State Historic Preservation Office: Alberta Mill Complex, National Register nomination (OR0001), p. 6 · Also: Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory; Open Orange: 101 B St. / Lloyd Grist Mill; The News (Chapel Hill), October 12, 1916, p. 1; The News (Chapel Hill), August 21, 1919, p. 5
  55. Fitch-Riggs Lumber Company buys Andrews and Lloyd's Carrboro lumber business In 1923 the Mebane firm Fitch-Riggs took over Andrews and Lloyd, a small Carrboro lumber business with one employee, and R. Bernice Fitch ran the Carrboro plant. It traded as Fitch-Riggs Lumber Co. into 1925 and as Fitch Lumber Co. by 1927, and by 1953 it was Carrboro's oldest small concern, with 20 men, a planing mill and a coal yard. Place: Carrboro · Also named: R. B. Fitch, Bernice Fitch · Also mentions: Fitch Lumber Co.Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 284 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, December 23, 1924, p. 2
  56. Carrboro Baptist Church completes its brick church at Greensboro and Main The mill-town congregation built a brick church at the corner of Greensboro and Main streets and moved in after its dedication early in 1924; the building is now the Town's Century Center. The church history says the congregation borrowed $50,000 and paid off the debt in 1942; the Weekly put the cost at about $45,000, of which only $15,000 had to be borrowed, the rest raised in Carrboro, mostly among working people. Place: CarrboroHillSong Church: HillSong Church History · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 6, 1924, p. 1
  57. J. F. Sturdivant completes a master's thesis on the Carrboro mill village In 1924 J. F. Sturdivant finished a UNC master's thesis studying Carrboro as a small mill village. It found every house painted and about two-thirds with electric lights, and it counted 197 workers at Mill No. 4 and 81 at Mill No. 7 in the early 1920s. Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. F. Sturdivant · Also mentions: Mill No. 7Search the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 19
  58. Fire on East Main Street in Carrboro leads to brick rebuilding Early on December 3, 1924, a fire that started in Lueco Lloyd's boarding house burned five frame buildings on East Main Street in Carrboro before it was stopped at Marks's brick store. By late December Lloyd was preparing to put up two brick stores on the site, and the rebuilt block was brick. People: Lueco Lloyd Place: CarrboroThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 4, 1924, p. 1 · Also: Open Orange: 106 E. Main St.; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 23, 1924, p. 2
  59. Durham Hosiery closes Mill No. 4, the former Alberta mill Durham Hosiery Mills closed its No. 4 spinning mill in Carrboro, the former Alberta mill, once the stock on hand had been run out, about June 1930, saying there was no longer a market for the product as the Depression cut into the hosiery business. The Weekly counted about 175 people on the payroll; the knitting room in the same building kept running for a time on a large order. Place: CarrboroCarr Mill Mall: History · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 9, 1930, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 4, 1930, p. 5; The Daily Tar Heel, April 9, 1982, p. 4
  60. Passenger trains stop running on the University Railroad Mixed passenger service on the ten-mile line between University Station and Carrboro ended as car ownership spread and roads improved, leaving the line to freight. The State Utilities Commission granted the railroad's request to drop passenger service, and the last passenger train ran on Saturday, October 24, 1936, a trip some Chapel Hill and Carrboro people made into a railway picnic. Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: University StationUNC Press, UNC A to Z: University Railroad · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, October 16, 1936, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 23, 1936, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 6, 1936, p. 1
  61. Durham Hosiery closes its last Carrboro mill Durham Hosiery Mills dissolved its business at Mill No. 7 in June 1938 and laid off the workers, ending the company's operations in Carrboro. Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Mill No. 7Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 24 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Alberta Mill Complex, National Register nomination (OR0001); Open Orange: Thomas F. Lloyd Manufacturing Co. / Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 16, 1938, p. 1
  62. Durham Hosiery Mills sells its Carrboro houses and land at auction A year after its last Carrboro mill closed, the company auctioned much of its Carrboro property in 1939. Most houses went for $500 to $550, many to the families living in them, while Marvin J. Dawson of Chapel Hill, merchant Ernest Hearn, former foreman W. A. Riggsbee and Dick Andrews bought others as investments. Place: Carrboro mill village · Also named: Marvin J. Dawson, Ernest Hearn, W. A. Riggsbee, Dick AndrewsSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 24
  63. A wartime munitions plant opens in the former Mill No. 7 National Munitions Corporation converted the empty Mill No. 7 on Roberson Street into a shell-loading plant that pressed tetryl pellets for Navy anti-aircraft ammunition, growing from about 126 workers to more than 500; an explosion hit its pellet houses on September 6, 1942. Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Mill No. 7, Roberson StreetDigitalNC: Bazooka Day Demo, Pellet Houses Explosion Photographs, and More in Latest Batch Centered on National Munitions Corporation · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 19, 1942, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 14, 1942, p. 1
  64. The former Alberta mill reopens as Carrboro Woolen Mills After fifteen idle years the modernized Mill No. 4 building reopened as Carrboro Woolen Mills, owned by Pacific Mills of Boston. It began weaving cloth for the armed forces on twelve looms in late April 1945 and ran until the early 1960s. Place: Carrboro · Also mentions: Carrboro Woolen MillsCarr Mill Mall: History · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 3, 1945, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, April 9, 1982, p. 4
  65. Pacific Mills buys the former munitions plant in Carrboro's Mill No. 7 The deed transferring the National Munitions property in Carrboro, the former Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7, to Pacific Mills, Inc., was filed with the register of deeds. Pacific Mills, which already ran the Carrboro Woolen Mills in old Mill No. 4, planned to renovate the 38,000-square-foot building for woolen and worsted yarn and roughly double its Carrboro output. Place: Mill No. 7, Carrboro · Also mentions: Carrboro Woolen MillsThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 30, 1946, p. 1
  66. Southern Railway renames its Chapel Hill depot Carrboro The Southern Railway changed the name of its depot in Carrboro from Chapel Hill to Carrboro, removing what the paper called a thorn in the side of townspeople who resented that their town was not on the railroad map. Retired railroad man C. R. Williams recalled that the depot was built about 1880 and was once the largest crosstie market in that part of the country; it had stood inside Carrboro's limits since the town was chartered in 1911. Place: Southern Railway depot, Carrboro · Also named: C. R. WilliamsThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 23, 1949, p. 1
  67. The Alberta Mill complex is listed on the National Register The mill, the railroad depot and the brick grist mill were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places, a year after the 1975 nomination made during the fight over demolishing the mill. Place: CarrboroThe Local Reporter: Carrboro's Heritage Embraces Preservation of the Town's Early Architecture
  68. The idle Carrboro depot is converted into The Station Lee Epting restored the idle Carrboro depot and opened it as The Station restaurant. Renovation was under way in November 1975 for a planned January opening, a late February 1976 review called it the area's newest restaurant, and by April it had an outdoor deck. By the late 1970s The Station was also a bar with live bands. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Lee EptingThe Daily Tar Heel, April 26, 1976, p. 3 · Also: Epting Events; The Daily Tar Heel, August 2, 1979, p. 32; Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory; Open Orange: Southern Railway Station - Carrboro; The Daily Tar Heel, November 20, 1975, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, February 26, 1976, p. 4; The Daily Tar Heel, April 20, 1976, p. 7
  69. The Carrboro Commercial Historic District is listed in the National Register On June 20, 1985 the National Park Service listed the Carrboro Commercial Historic District in Carrboro in the National Register of Historic Places. Place: Carrboro Commercial Historic District, CarrboroNC State Historic Preservation Office: North Carolina Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, Orange County · Also: National Register: Carrboro Commercial Historic District nomination (OR0126, 1985)
  70. The Thomas F. Lloyd Historic District is listed in the National Register On August 14, 1986 the National Park Service listed the Thomas F. Lloyd Historic District in Carrboro in the National Register of Historic Places. Place: Thomas F. Lloyd Historic District, CarrboroNC State Historic Preservation Office: North Carolina Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, Orange County · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register file OR0033
  71. Carrboro backs a study of turning the old University Railroad line into a greenway The Town Council unanimously approved an agreement to study converting the 11-mile rail corridor, which still carries coal to UNC's cogeneration plant, into a multi-use trail once the plant stops using coal. Place: CarrboroChapelboro: Carrboro Commits to New Co-Gen Rail Line Project

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 the 9 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.

All places and the county map →

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

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

Histories 65Photographs & portraits 19Biography 8Periodicals 2Pictorial works 2other types 5

Period

19th century 4Civil War (1861–1865) 220th century 4World War II era 1

Place

Carrboro 93Chapel Hill 37Orange County 28North Carolina (statewide) 20Hillsborough 6City of Durham (neighboring) 2

Carrboro, Volume II

Otto, David A.; Ellington, Richard · 2015 · Arcadia Publishing

Second Images of America volume on Carrboro by David A. Otto and Richard Ellington (Arcadia, 2015). Chapters follow the town from mill village to growing urban center, then turn to its merchants, the arts, festivals, changing demographics and changing architecture, in 95 illustrated pages.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Carrboro (N.C.) -- History -- Pictorial works.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 975.656 OTTO UNC Chapel Hill PL Durham Library of Congress CH Historical Society NC Cardinal

Carrboro

Ellington, Richard ; Otto, David A. · 2011

Pictorial history of Carrboro in Arcadia's Images of America series by David A. Otto and Richard Ellington, published in 2011. Its 127 pages of photographs, maps, facsimiles and portraits cover the town's history, social life and African American community, with a bibliography and index.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Carrboro (N.C.) -- History -- Pictorial works.

✓ Held at OCPL · 975.656 OTTO UNC Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress CH Historical Society NC Cardinal

Orange County Trio: Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, North Carolina, Histories and Tour Guides

Ryan, Elizabeth Shreve · 2004 · Chapel Hill Press

Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Carrboro (N.C.) -- History.

✓ Held at OCPL · 975.656 RYAN NC Cardinal UNC Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress CH Historical Society

Celebrating 50 years on the air and 50 who made a difference : WCHL 1360

2003

Anniversary booklet marking fifty years of WCHL 1360, the Chapel Hill radio station, with profiles of fifty people from Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Published in 2003, 36 pages with portraits. Contributors include Roland Giduz, Jim Heavner, Jonathan Howes, Neil Offen and Rosemary Waldorf.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Carrboro (N.C.) -- History.

UNC CH Historical Society

Many Things Never Before Remembered in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough, North Carolina

Wyatt, Lesley · 1998 · L. Wyatt

Lesley Wyatt's history calendar for 1999, subtitled the amazing history calendar, a wall calendar with local history notes on Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough. Published by the author in Carrboro in 1998, 28 unnumbered pages with illustrations in a large 28 by 44 cm format. Topics include the history of all three towns and of Orange County.

Included because: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Carrboro (N.C.) -- History.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 975.656 WYA UNC

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
Show 6 more

Carrboro, N.C

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.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Carrboro (N.C.) -- History.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 720.975 BRO NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Durham Chapel Hill PL CH Historical Society

Mill village memories

Quinney, Valerie · 1980

Valerie Quinney's article on the Carrboro mill village, pages 98 to 109 of a 1980 publication, with illustrations and portraits. Topics include Carrboro history and mills and mill work, drawing on residents' recollections of life around the town's cotton mills. It also discusses mill owner Thomas F. Lloyd.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Carrboro (N.C.) -- History.

UNC

A place to live : Carrboro, North Carolina

1978 · F.L. Shetley and L. Bonds?

A six-page illustrated leaflet on Carrboro, printed in December 1978 at the expense of Frances L. Shetley and Lou Bonds, whose names appear on the cover. A short piece of Carrboro history focused on the town's historic buildings, it is a brief local portrait of older structures as they stood when it was printed. A small ephemeral piece.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Carrboro (N.C.) -- History.

UNC

Carr Mill shopping village

1977 · Carr Mill?

A short booklet on Carr Mill, the former Carrboro mill remodeled as a shopping village, issued around 1977. A note beneath the title names the owner, a limited partnership called Carr-Mill, the leasing agent Southern Real Estate of Charlotte, the architects Miller/Steever/Finch of Charlotte, and the contractor Wooten-Brawley of Statesville. Five unnumbered pages with illustrations, a map and a plan.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Carr Mill (Carrboro, N.C.).

UNC

Greetings from Cottenboro : Julian Carr has got to go

Goldstein, Bob, 1967- · 2020 · Bob Goldstein

Poster by Bob Goldstein from 2020 arguing that Carrboro should stop carrying the name of Julian Shakespeare Carr, and proposing Cottenboro after the musician Elizabeth Cotten. A single sheet measuring 30 by 31 centimeters. Topics include Carr, Cotten and the question of the town's name, placing the poster with the local debate over commemoration.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Carr, Julian Shakespeare.

UNC

Carrboro centennial commemorative : celebrating 100 years in the Paris of the Piedmont.

2011 · R. Dickson

Published in April 2011 as a supplement to the Carrboro Citizen, this forty-seven page commemorative marks Carrboro's first hundred years with history, biography and recollections of town life, illustrated with photographs, portraits and facsimiles. The subtitle uses the town's own nickname, Paris of the Piedmont.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Carrboro (N.C.) -- History.

UNC

Search all 100 indexed works →

Start at OCPL

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

  • Foundational · NC 385.065 TRE The North Carolina Railroad, 1849-1871, and the Modernization of North Carolina Trelease, Allen W. · 1991

    In 1849 the legislature chartered the North Carolina Railroad, finished in 1856 from Goldsboro through Raleigh, Greensboro and Salisbury to Charlotte. Allen W. Trelease follows the company to 1871, when it leased its line to the Richmond and Danville, and weighs what the railroad meant for the state's development; the line spurred the growth of Durham, Company Shops (later Burlington) and High Point. UNC Press, 1991; 486 pages with illustrations and maps.

  • 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.

  • Wider context · NC 975.658 STO Company Shops, the Town Built by A Railroad Stokes, Durward T. · 1981

    Burlington began as Company Shops, the town the North Carolina Railroad built around its maintenance shops in the 1850s, incorporated in 1866 and renamed in 1887, and Durward T. Stokes tells its history. The town lies in Alamance County, formed from Orange in 1849. John F. Blair published the 169 pages, with illustrations, a bibliography and an index, in 1981.

Show 6 more
  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 STANLEY West Hillsborough Origins: Stories & Poems by A Native Son Stanley, Charles B. · 2018

    Charles B. Stanley's stories and poems about growing up in West Hillsborough, the mill village on the west side of town, subtitled by a native son. Born in 1940, Stanley writes of the neighborhood's social life and customs in the twentieth century in autobiographical verse and prose. Published in 2018 by the Create Short Book Writers Project, 162 pages with illustrations and portraits.

  • Wider context · NC 385.097 RAI Railroading in the Carolina Sandhills: A Compilation of Historical Essays on Railroad Operations 1985

    Railroads of the Sandhills region of North and South Carolina, in essays by S. David Carriker on the lines and how they were run. Heritage Publishing Company of Matthews issued the first volume, on the nineteenth century from 1825 to 1900, in 1985 and the second, on 1900 to 1985, in 1987. Both are illustrated, partly in color, and indexed, and Carriker later wrote and edited further volumes.

  • Foundational · 975.656 RYAN Orange County Trio: Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, North Carolina, Histories and Tour Guides Ryan, Elizabeth Shreve · 2004

    Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 OTTO Carrboro Otto, David · 2015

    Second Images of America volume on Carrboro by David A. Otto and Richard Ellington (Arcadia, 2015). Chapters follow the town from mill village to growing urban center, then turn to its merchants, the arts, festivals, changing demographics and changing architecture, in 95 illustrated pages.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 WYA Many Things Never Before Remembered in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough, North Carolina: The Amazing History Calendar 1999 Wyatt, Lesley · 1998

    Lesley Wyatt's history calendar for 1999, subtitled the amazing history calendar, a wall calendar with local history notes on Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough. Published by the author in Carrboro in 1998, 28 unnumbered pages with illustrations in a large 28 by 44 cm format. Topics include the history of all three towns and of Orange County.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · 975.656 OTTO Carrboro Otto, David · 2011

    Pictorial history of Carrboro in Arcadia's Images of America series by David A. Otto and Richard Ellington, published in 2011. Its 127 pages of photographs, maps, facsimiles and portraits cover the town's history, social life and African American community, with a bibliography and index.

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this storyline. Research guide: Follow an event across several accounts.

Background

National Register files

Historic sites, markers, and maps

Records of the time

Collections and databases

Local help

Background reading at OCPL

Books from OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection that provide broader context. They may not discuss From West End to Carrboro: railroad, mills, and a new town, 1882–1913 directly.

  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection Rocky Mount Mills: A Case History of Industrial Development, 1818-1943 1943

    The company history of Rocky Mount Mills, issued in 1943, 125 years after the cotton mill was founded at the falls of the Tar River by a group that included Joel Battle. North Carolina's second cotton mill, it ran on enslaved labor until the 1850s, was burned by Union raiders in 1863 and was rebuilt after the war. Fifty pages with portraits, a map and a color frontispiece.

    Subjects in the OCPL catalog record: Textile industry OCPL call number: NC 677.21 ROC

Search the Wall Collection for related books →

Related themes

UNC & Campus Life →Everyday Life & Traditions →Schools & Education →Business, Shops & Commerce →

Picture: Carr Mill, Carrboro. CC BY-SA 3.0. Photograph by Ikanreed; via Wikimedia Commons

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