Carolina Nursing through the decades: a historic timeline
An illustrated online timeline of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, issued by the school in 2025. One page with portraits.
Storyline
Rebuilding the Forest Theatre in stone, 1939–1943
How the Forest Theatre in Battle Park was rebuilt in local stone with WPA labor: the approval of 1939, the work begun under Al Bell in 1940, the first public event and first Playmakers play in 1941, and President Graham’s dedication in May 1943.
In briefThe Forest Theatre in Battle Park took its present stone form in a WPA rebuilding begun in 1940. By December 1939 the WPA had approved a project of about $20,000, mostly WPA labor and materials, for stone seats, light towers, dressing rooms and a gate. Work began in 1940 under Al Bell, who had supervised the building of the Lost Colony theatre on Roanoke Island, with the University putting about $1,500 into materials. Crews built a screen wall, curved seating along the hillside, towers for lights and sound, and a rough stone stage. May Day and the Playmakers' Romeo and Juliet were held in the new theatre in May 1941, and President Frank Porter Graham dedicated it in May 1943.
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No works in the index are currently linked directly to this storyline. The works below provide background on UNC & Campus Life.
The full story
By December 21, 1939 the WPA had approved a project to give the Forest Theatre in Battle Park stone seats for about a thousand people laid along the hillside, stone light towers, dressing rooms and a stone gate, at a cost of about $20,000, mostly WPA labor and materials, with work to begin in the spring. By April 19, 1940 work on the field-stone seats was under way under Al Bell, who had supervised the building of the Lost Colony theatre on Roanoke Island, and the University was putting about $1,500 into materials. That year WPA crews remade the amphitheatre in local stone: a screen wall along Country Club Road, curved seating following the hillside, towers for lights and sound, and a rough stone stage. The present structure dates from this rebuilding. On May 3, 1941 the University's May Day, with the crowning of the May Queen and a maypole dance by elementary school girls, was held in the theatre, which the Weekly said would be the first public affair there since the rebuilding. The Playmakers opened their first play in the new theatre, Romeo and Juliet, on May 23. In May 1943 President Frank Porter Graham dedicated the rebuilt Forest Theatre at the opening of the Playmakers' A Midsummer Night's Dream.
In the chronology
Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 5 dated events in the chronology →
- The WPA approves stone seats and buildings for the Forest Theatre By December 21, 1939, the WPA had approved a project to give the Forest Theatre in Battle Park stone seats for about a thousand people laid along the hillside, stone light towers, dressing rooms and a stone gate, at a cost of about $20,000, mostly WPA labor and materials, with work to begin in spring 1940. People: Frederick H. Koch, L. B. RogersonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1939, p. 1
- The WPA rebuilds the Forest Theatre in stone Works Progress Administration crews remade the amphitheatre in local stone: a screen wall along Country Club Road, curved seating following the hillside, towers for lights and sound, and a rough stone stage. The present structure dates from this rebuilding.Search the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 66 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1939, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 19, 1940, p. 3; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 23, 1940, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, May 23, 1941, p. 2
- Work begins on the stone seats of the new Forest Theatre Work on field-stone seats for the Forest Theatre in Battle Park, a WPA project, was under way by mid-April under Al Bell, who had supervised the building of the Lost Colony theatre on Roanoke Island. The theatre was estimated at about $13,000, mostly WPA labor, with the University putting about $1,500 into materials. People: Frederick H. Koch, Arthur R. HollettSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 19, 1940, p. 3
- Rebuilt Forest Theatre holds its first public event, the University May Day The University's May Day, with the crowning of Queen Marjorie Johnston and a maypole dance by elementary school girls, was held in the Forest Theatre, which the Weekly said would be the first public affair there since the theatre was rebuilt in stone with W.P.A. aid. The Playmakers opened their first play in the new theatre, Romeo and Juliet, on May 23. People: Frederick H. Koch, Arthur R. HollettSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 9, 1941, p. 7
- President Frank Porter Graham dedicates the remodeled Forest Theatre President Frank Porter Graham dedicated the rebuilt Forest Theatre at the opening of the Playmakers' A Midsummer Night's Dream in May 1943. The Daily Tar Heel set that opening for Friday, May 14; Henderson's chronology gives May 19. People: Frank Porter GrahamArchibald Henderson (ed.), Pioneering a People's Theatre (1945), scan p. 18 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, May 14, 1943, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 30, 1943, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, May 14, 1943, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, May 21, 1943, p. 1
Places in this history
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.
- Forest Theatre University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 5 events here
- Battle Park Houses, farms, parks and cemeteries · Chapel Hill · 2 events here
Background on UNC & Campus Life
Background reading on UNC & Campus Life. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss this storyline. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Widely held
North Carolina baseball: the blue thread and the rise of an ACC power
A 2025 history of University of North Carolina baseball from its nineteenth-century beginnings to the program's rise as an ACC power. Chapters cover the early years on campus, the building of Boshamer Stadium, and the Mike Fox era. Self-published by the author, 288 pages.
Tar Heel Bred
Scott Whisnant's memoir of a life measured out in North Carolina basketball seasons. A former sportswriter, Whisnant writes for readers raised in ACC country who learned the fight song early and treated the conference tournament in Greensboro as the high point of the year, recalling family, friends and the personal milestones that fell alongside Tar Heel games. Subjects include humor and anecdotes as well as the team's history. Published by Bearface Publishing in 2025, 318 pages with photographs.
Bright and tender dark: a novel
Joanna Pearson's novel of a cold case at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Karlie Richards was a nineteen-year-old student when she was murdered; decades later her onetime roommate, divorced and in middle age, finds herself drawn back to the crime as online conspiracy theories about it multiply. A psychological thriller with a Chapel Hill setting, published by Bloomsbury in 2024, 275 pages.
Chapel Hill Murder and Mayhem
Rick Jackson's true crime history of Chapel Hill, published by The History Press in 2023, in 28 short chapters. Cases include the Efland bank robbery, the execution of John Henry Breeze, the unsolved murder of Suellen Evans, the killing at the Internationalist Bookstore and the death of Eve Carson.
Lessons afield : adventures in nature with students and other living things
R. Haven Wiley's anecdotes of field work with students at Mason Farm, the university's biological reserve on the edge of Chapel Hill, and at other natural settings in North Carolina. It is natural history and nature anecdotes, personal pieces from a working naturalist. Published in Carrboro by Hickory Woods Press in 2023, 109 pages with illustrations.
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Putting Down Roots
William R. Burk's history of botany at the University of North Carolina, from its early natural scientists such as Denison Olmsted and Elisha Mitchell through later figures including George Francis Atkinson, Joseph Austin Holmes and Henry Van Peters Wilson, closing with a chapter on the Department of Botany itself. Published in Fort Worth in 2023.
Bloodmarked
Tracy Deonn's young adult fantasy novel set around the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bree, an African American teenager with newly awakened powers she cannot yet control, learns that the leaders of the secret Order mean to hide the coming demon war, and she and her friends flee so that she can find her own training. Subjects include magic, secret societies, imaginary wars and psychic trauma. Published by Simon & Schuster in 2022, 561 pages.
Reviewed in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books./Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (2022).
A Consequential Life: David Lowry Swain, Nineteenth-Century North Carolina, and Their University
Willis P. Whichard's biography of David Lowry Swain, governor of North Carolina from 1832 to 1835 and president of the University of North Carolina from 1835 until his death in 1868. The subtitle ties Swain, nineteenth-century North Carolina and the university together, and the book belongs with the lives of college presidents and governors. Published in 2022.
The dove in the belly
Jim Grimsley's coming-of-age novel about Ronny, who grew up in a trailer alongside his mother and a string of stepfathers, kept his head down, earned good grades and won a scholarship to UNC in Chapel Hill. On campus he finds his first love and begins to sort out who he is. Subjects include gay college students, first loves and mothers and sons. Published by Levine Querido in 2022, 322 pages.
Hooper finds the pitch
A picture book by Courtney Soling Smith about a Boston terrier named Hooper and a glee club at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Published in 2022 by the Orange County Historical Museum in Hillsborough, 35 unnumbered pages with illustrations, facsimiles and portraits.
Together: The Amazing Story of Carolina Basketball's 2021-2022 Season
Adam Lucas's account of the 2021-2022 Carolina men's basketball season, Hubert Davis's first as head coach. Davis, appointed in April 2021, was the first Black head coach in the program's history, and the season ended at the NCAA tournament in New Orleans. Published 2022 by the UNC Department of Athletics, 155 pages with color illustrations. Topics include the Tar Heels, Davis, and college basketball in Chapel Hill in the twenty-first century.
Research sources
Sources and research tools for this storyline. Research guide: Follow an event across several accounts.
Background
- Forest Theatre, Chapel Hill (The Cultural Landscape Foundation)
- 100 Years of Forest TheatreUNC-Chapel Hill
- Forest Theatre (also known as the Koch Memorial Theatre)UNC-Chapel Hill
- University histories, exhibits, and research guides
Records of the time
- M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 66North Carolina Digital Collections State records, photographs, and publications
Collections and databases
- NC LIVE: prepared search for Rebuilding the Forest Theatre in stone, 1939–1943 Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
Local help
- Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Local History Help Hours and request formOCPL Local History Liaison Meet with the Local History Liaison at the Main Library, usually Mondays from noon to 3 p.m., or send a question using the online request form
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