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Theme

Growth, Land & Planning

Farmland becoming subdivisions, the fights over water, roads, and zoning, and how the county decided what it would become.

In briefFarmland became subdivisions after Research Triangle Park opened in 1959, and the county has fought since over water, roads, landfills, zoning and the rural buffer. The storylines follow the Cane Creek Reservoir, the Rogers Road landfill, University Lake and OWASA, campus expansion and the effort to keep housing affordable.

898 indexed works are connected with this theme. 21 held at OCPL →

Search these works Research sources View indexed works ↓
The 1925 Sanborn fire insurance map of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

Events and storylines

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

Orange County landfill campaignSiting, expansion and closure of the landfill, and the neighborhood’s demands Cane Creek Reservoir and Bingham TownshipOWASA’s reservoir, the watershed land purchases and the farm families displaced 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 Historic Black neighborhoods of Chapel Hill and CarrboroNorthside, Pine Knolls, Tin Top and Pottersfield in Chapel Hill, the Lloyd–Broad neighborhood in Carrboro, and their churches, schools and businesses Research Triangle Park and the county’s transformationThe park of 1959 and the commuting, housing, and growth pressure that remade rural Orange County into a university region Water for the towns: University Lake, the 1976–77 drought, and OWASAChapel Hill’s reservoir of 1932, the water crisis of 1976–77, the creation of the Orange Water and Sewer Authority in 1977, and the reservoir fight that followed at Cane Creek
Show all 9 events and episodes
Cedar Grove and rural northern OrangeThe crossroads communities north of Hillsborough: Cedar Grove, Efland, Caldwell, their farms, stores, churches, and schools, and the families who held the land Preserving affordable housingPublic housing, the community land trust, and the campaigns to keep long-time residents in place UNC expansion and neighborhood changeThe university’s growth into the streets around it: land taking, campus planning, student housing pressure, and the neighborhoods that changed

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina, the most widely held first, novels aside. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Narrow these works. Each link opens the search already limited to this theme. Counts are indexed works, not copies on a shelf; a work can carry more than one period or place.

Material

Histories 159Periodicals 84Maps 73Statistics 25Interviews 21other types 137

Period

18th century 32Revolution (1775–1783) 619th century 63Civil War (1861–1865) 920th century 66World War I era 4World War II era 421st century 7

Place

Chapel Hill 385North Carolina (statewide) 334Orange County 324Research Triangle 138Carrboro 115Hillsborough 90

Widely held

American Indians in North Carolina: Geographic Interpretations

Ross, Thomas E. · 1999 · Karo Hollow Press

Thomas E. Ross's geographic study of American Indians in North Carolina. It examines Native peoples' history, cultural assimilation, and social and economic conditions across the state, with statistics. Published by Karo Hollow Press in 1999, eleven preliminary pages and 242 pages with illustrations and maps.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Indians of North America -- North Carolina -- Economic conditions -- Statistics. -- Indigenous peoples.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 970.004 ROS NC State NC Cardinal Durham Chapel Hill PL UNC Library of Congress

Chapel Hill, N.C. History of Town Lots (1790-1930s)

Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2014

Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Land Use -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill -- History.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY NC Cardinal UNC Durham CH Historical Society

Hillsborough, North Carolina : history of town lots : the complete reference guide

Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2016

Stewart E. Dunaway worked through Hillsborough, N.C., lot by lot, giving each town lot a synopsis of its history, a plat showing where it sits and transcripts of the deeds he could locate for it. The second issue runs to 720 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: City planning.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY NC Cardinal UNC Durham

Hillsborough, North Carolina History of Town Lots

Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2015 · Stewart E. Dunaway

Stewart E. Dunaway's 2015 addendum to his history of Hillsborough's town lots, adding deed records arranged by lot number and further town history, with the expansion of the 1890s covered for the first time. Self-published in North Carolina as version 1.0, 446 pages with illustrations, facsimiles and maps. Topics include deeds, court records, land titles and real property in Hillsborough.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: City planning.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY NC Cardinal UNC Durham

Hillsborough District Court Civil Action Concerning Land (1778-1806)

Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2011

Stewart E. Dunaway's abstracts of civil suits over land heard in the Hillsborough District Superior Court between 1778 and 1806. The district covered Orange, Wake, Granville, Caswell, Person, Chatham and Randolph counties, and the papers concern boundaries, ownership and disputed tracts. Published through Lulu in 2011, 337 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Land use.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 929.375 HILLSBOR NC Cardinal UNC Durham

The Research Triangle: From Tobacco Road to Global Prominence

Rohe, William M. · 2011 · University of Pennsylvania Press

William M. Rohe's history of Research Triangle Park and the region around it, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2011. Topics include regional planning and the economic and social conditions of the Research Triangle Park region, one corner of which is Chapel Hill and the university. 298 pages with illustrations and maps.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Research Triangle Park (N.C.) -- History.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 975.655 ROHE Chapel Hill PL NC Cardinal Library of Congress
Show 2 more

North Carolina Land Grant Entry Book ... Orange County

Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2010

Stewart E. Dunaway's two-volume edition of the Orange County land entry book, the register in which settlers first claimed vacant land from the state before a grant was surveyed and issued. Volume one covers the first thousand entries, all made in 1778; volume two runs from 1779 to 1795. Each entry is reproduced from the original in the State Archives with an abstract of its contents. Self-published through Lulu in a second version dated 2010, two volumes at 28 cm with facsimiles and maps.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Durham record: Land Use -- North Carolina -- Orange County.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 929.375 NORTH NC Cardinal UNC Durham

The school that Jack built : city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1945-2012

Kaiser, Edward J. (Edward John) · 2013

Edward J. Kaiser's history of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1945 to 2012, published by the department in 2013. The title nods to John A. Parker, 1909 to 2001, who figures in the book. One hundred eighty-six pages with illustrations and portraits at 28 cm.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: City planning.

UNC NC State CH Historical Society

Recently indexed: Against fluoridation of water at the university (1952) · Annual report for (1984) · [Appeal on behalf of project to establish home for aged women] (1875) · Building zone ordinance for the town of Chapel Hill (1928) · The campus as a work of art (1991) · Campus beautiful (1919)

Search all 898 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.

  • Foundational · NC 307.1 HIL Hillsborough, North Carolina Subdivision Regulations 1968 1968

    The subdivision regulations adopted by the Town of Hillsborough in 1968, an 18-leaf document setting the rules for dividing land within the town. Subjects include city planning and land subdivision law for Hillsborough. A companion to the general development plan of the same year, and a small source for the town's planning history.

  • Foundational · NC 307.1 HIL Hillsborough, North Carolina General Development Plan 1968-1988 1968

    Hillsborough's general development plan for the twenty years from 1968 to 1988, prepared for the town's planning commission with a federal urban planning grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Issued in Hillsborough in 1968, 110 pages with maps, some in color.

  • Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Chapel Hill, N.C. History of Town Lots (1790-1930s) Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2014

    Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.

Show 6 more
  • Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Hillsborough, North Carolina History of Town Lots: The Complete Reference Guide Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2013

    Stewart E. Dunaway worked through Hillsborough, N.C., lot by lot, giving each town lot a synopsis of its history, a plat showing where it sits and transcripts of the deeds he could locate for it. The second issue runs to 720 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.

  • Foundational · NC 929.375 HILLSBOR Hillsborough District Court Civil Action Concerning Land (1778-1806) 2011

    Stewart E. Dunaway's abstracts of civil suits over land heard in the Hillsborough District Superior Court between 1778 and 1806. The district covered Orange, Wake, Granville, Caswell, Person, Chatham and Randolph counties, and the papers concern boundaries, ownership and disputed tracts. Published through Lulu in 2011, 337 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.

  • Foundational · NC 333.76 FRA The Couch Tract of the Durham Division of the Duke Forest: A History of Agricultural Land-use Patterns 1750-1950 Frankel, Rachel · 1984

    Rachel Frankel's Duke University honors paper of 1984 on the Couch tract in the Durham Division of Duke Forest, a history of agricultural land use from 1750 to 1950. The Couch family, family farms and rural land use in Orange County are its subjects. A photocopied typescript, 97 leaves with maps and a bibliography.

  • 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.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Hillsborough, North Carolina History of Town Lots: Addendum 2015 Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2015

    Stewart E. Dunaway's 2015 addendum to his history of Hillsborough's town lots, adding deed records arranged by lot number and further town history, with the expansion of the 1890s covered for the first time. Self-published in North Carolina as version 1.0, 446 pages with illustrations, facsimiles and maps. Topics include deeds, court records, land titles and real property in Hillsborough.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 929.375 EJECTMEN Orange County N. C. Ejectments 2015

    Ejectment suits were the legal route for disputing who held title to a tract of land, and the case files often include plats and drawings of the property. Stewart E. Dunaway gathered Orange County's ejectment cases from the state archives and reproduced them in facsimile, with maps, in a self-published volume issued through Lulu in 2015 (issue 2).

In the chronology

Other storylines that include this theme, earliest first. Each has its own page.

Historic Rogers Road neighborhood1840–2021 · 25 events · The Rogers-Eubanks area grew from Black-owned farms and sawmills after emancipation, and in 1972 the county landfill was placed beside it. Residents organized through RENA and the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition from 2007, the landfill closed in 2013, and the neighborhood won a community center in 2014 and the sewer extension in 2019. Saving the Eno1966 to present · 6 events · The Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley, formed in 1966 to stop Durham's reservoir plans, won Eno River State Park and has kept adding land to it. Hurricane Fran, September 19961996–1998 · 12 events · Hurricane Fran crossed the county overnight on 5 to 6 September 1996, felling thousands of trees, cutting power to about 29,000 Chapel Hill customers and pushing the Eno at Hillsborough to its highest recorded flow. Chapel Hill declared an emergency, OWASA issued a boil-water advisory, UNC suspended classes for a campus cleanup, and Duke Forest spent two years salvaging timber.

Dated events connected with this theme: sixteen of 209, the highlights and a sample of the rest spread across the years, in date order. See all 209 dated events in the chronology →

Earliest first. Scroll sideways, or use the arrows.

16 dated events

  1. Orange County is created

    Founding or opening · Countywide

    The colonial assembly formed Orange County from portions of Bladen, Granville, and Johnston counties. Its original boundaries were far larger than those of present-day Orange County.

  2. The North Carolina Railroad is chartered and built

    Founding or opening · Hillsborough

    The General Assembly chartered the North Carolina Railroad in 1849, after Senate speaker Calvin Graves cast the deciding vote. The state built the 223-mile line from Goldsboro to Charlotte between 1851 and 1856, running it through Hillsborough, and the first train ran its full length in January 1856.

    Subject: North Carolina Railroad

  3. Drought shrinks the University's water supply and delays the fall opening

    Disaster or outbreak · UNC, Chapel Hill

    After four hot, dry months Strowd's Creek, the main water source, had dwindled, and plants in the arboretum died. On local health officials' advice Chase asked students not to arrive before October 4, when a temporary six-inch line to Morgan's Creek was due to be ready.

    People: Harry Woodburn Chase

  4. The university's attorney finds the trustees never deeded the cemetery to the town

    Law, policy or court · Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, South Road (NC 54) and Country Club Road, Chapel Hill

    In a letter of November 11, 1960 to J. A. Branch of the university business office, university attorney J. A. Williams reported no sign that the trustees had ever conveyed title to the cemetery land to Chapel Hill.

    Subject: Old Chapel Hill Cemetery

  5. The Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley forms

    Founding or opening · Eno River

    Residents who had begun organizing in 1965 against plans to dam the Eno for a water-supply reservoir formed the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley on October 14, 1966. Led by Margaret and Holger Nygard, it began the campaign that preserved the river corridor in Durham and Orange counties.

    Part of Saving the Eno · 6 events

    People: Margaret Nygard · Holger Nygard

  6. Eno River State Park is created

    Founding or opening · Eno River

    After years of citizen opposition to damming the Eno for a reservoir, Governor James Holshouser accepted the first tracts for Eno River State Park in June 1973, including 90 acres donated by Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Bernheim. The first 1,000 acres opened to the public in 1975 along the river in Orange and Durham counties.

    Part of Saving the Eno · 6 events

    People: Margaret Nygard

    Subject: Eno River State Park

  7. The state approves conveying the university's water and wastewater systems to OWASA

    Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill

    The Governor and Council of State approved the conveyance of the University of North Carolina's water and wastewater utilities to OWASA under Agreements of Sale and Purchase among the university, the two towns and the authority. The university's Board of Trustees had approved the conveyance on June 11, 1976.

  8. Severe drought creates a local water crisis

    Disaster or outbreak · Chapel Hill

    A drought from August 1976 to January 1977 forced Chapel Hill and UNC to buy more water from Durham, ban unnecessary water use and cut campus services. By August 1977 University Lake was lower still, and the new Orange Water and Sewer Authority kept conservation rules and used federal drought aid to buy Durham water.

    Part of Water for the towns: University Lake, the 1976–77 drought, and OWASA · 31 events

  9. Bob Drakeford is elected mayor of Carrboro

    Appointment, election or service · Carrboro

    Robert "Bob" Drakeford, a Carrboro alderman since 1975 and a Carrboro Community Coalition candidate, won the mayor's race on November 8, 1977, with 57 percent of the vote over John Boone. He was the town's first Black mayor and served until 1983.

    Part of Carrboro’s Black political firsts · 12 events

  10. Orange County Rural Buffer is established

    Law, policy or court · Carrboro

    Orange County adopted the Orange County-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan and map on August 19, 1986, designating a low-density Rural Buffer. The three governments signed the Joint Planning Agreement on November 2, 1987, and the county dates the buffer to 1988.

  11. The Siena Hotel prepares to open on East Franklin Street

    Founding or opening · 1500 block of East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    The 80-room Siena Hotel, built by the Siena Partnership of Joe Hakan and Sam Longiotti as part of a nine-acre development with the Chapel Hill Center, was scheduled to open in late October 1987.

  12. Hurricane Fran strikes Orange County

    Disaster or outbreak · Countywide

    Hurricane Fran came ashore on the night of September 5, 1996 and crossed to the Triangle overnight. In Chapel Hill winds topped 70 mph, falling trees caused about 29,000 power outages and UNC cancelled classes, and the Eno at Hillsborough hit a record flow. No one in Orange County was killed.

    Part of Hurricane Fran, September 1996 · 12 events

  13. Orange Regional Landfill takes Hurricane Fran yard waste free as Chapel Hill faces tens of thousands of tons of debris

    Health or relief action · Chapel Hill; Orange Regional Landfill

    The Orange Regional Landfill on Eubanks Road accepted yard waste at no charge until further notice. Town Manager Cal Horton estimated Chapel Hill had 25,000 to 40,000 tons of fallen limbs and trees and said the town would eventually remove curbside debris, while urging residents to haul debris to the landfill themselves.

  14. Occoneechee Mountain becomes a State Natural Area

    Founding or opening · Hillsborough

    At the urging of the Eno River Association and The Nature Conservancy, the state began buying land on Occoneechee Mountain just south of Hillsborough, with the Conservancy purchasing 96 acres for the state. The 124-acre Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area was dedicated on July 20, 1999, with a blessing from an Occaneechi tribal member.

    Part of Saving the Eno · 6 events

    Subject: Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area

  15. Commissioners drop Eubanks Road and choose two other transfer station candidates

    Law, policy or court · Orange County

    Conceding that the 2007 choice had not adequately weighed its effect on Rogers Road, the commissioners voted 5 to 1 to pursue two other sites, the 143-acre Howell property and an OWASA tract in Bingham Township.

  16. UNC announces a campus extension at Carolina North

    Publication, speech or performance · Horace Williams tract, Chapel Hill

    The university announced plans for a mixed-use extension on about 230 acres around the former Horace Williams Airport, with student and workforce housing, research space and retail, calling it the largest expansion since 1793; groundbreaking is expected in summer 2027.

    Subject: Horace Williams Airport

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 25 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

Show 25 more

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Background context 6

Background from selected state and local sources

Show all 6

Read contemporary evidence 4

Newspapers, photographs, and records of the time

Search beyond the index 10

Other catalogs, databases, and guides worth searching

Show all 10

Ask locally 4

Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further

Additional research sources

Other catalogs to search and local organizations that can help.

Background reading at OCPL

Held in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection. Selected because their titles or catalog subjects provide wider historical context for this theme; they may not discuss the Orange County theme directly.

  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection Planning Legislation in North Carolina 1982

    A loose-leaf collection of North Carolina's statutes on city planning, redevelopment and regional planning, compiled and annotated by Philip P. Green Jr. for the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill. This 13th edition of 1982 continues a guide the Institute had been issuing since at least 1959.

    Subjects in the Library of Congress catalog record: City planning and redevelopment law -- North Carolina; Regional planning -- Law and legislation -- North Carolina OCPL call number: NC 348.026 PLA
  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection Favored by Fortune: George W. Watts & the Hills of Durham Covington, Howard E. · 2004

    Four generations of a Durham family in Howard E. Covington Jr.'s collective biography: George Washington Watts, John Sprunt Hill (his son-in-law), and the two George Watts Hills, father and son. Their interests ran from the American Tobacco Company to Central Carolina Bank, Watts Hospital and the Carolina Inn at Chapel Hill, and they pressed for credit unions, better highways and Research Triangle Park. Published by the UNC Library at Chapel Hill in 2004; 372 pages and 48 pages of plates.

    Subjects in the Library of Congress catalog record: Watts, George Washington, 1851-1921; Hill, John Sprunt, 1869- -- Family; Hill family OCPL call number: NC 338.097 COV
  • Background reading · Rebecca Wall Collection Habits of Industry: White Culture and the Transformation of the Carolina Piedmont Tullos, Allen · 1989

    Allen Tullos follows the Carolina Piedmont's turn from farms to cotton mills, setting the stories of entrepreneurial families such as the Dukes, Loves and Tompkinses beside the recollections of the white men and women who went into the mills. Oral histories, many recalling the Depression years, carry much of the account, with attention to mill paternalism and the region's religious life. UNC Press, 1989; 419 pages with illustrations.

    Subjects in the Library of Congress catalog record: Industries -- North Carolina -- History; North Carolina -- Economic conditions; Families -- North Carolina -- History OCPL call number: NC 338.097 TUL

Search the Wall Collection for related books →

Related themes

UNC & Campus Life →Schools & Education →Business, Shops & Commerce →Roads, Rail & Transportation →Eno & Environment →

Picture: Public domain. Image credits →

More to discover

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Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026