Housing, Neighborhoods & Displacement

In the chronology

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

Dated events connected with this theme: twelve of 446, the highlights and a sample of the rest spread across the years, in date order. See all 446 dated events in the chronology →

1. about 1786 The William Whitted House is built facing East Queen Street A two-story frame house with a massive stone chimney is built about 1786 for William Whitted at East Queen and North Churton streets. A five-bay Italianate wing facing Churton Street was added later, possibly designed by Jules Korner of Kernersville.Search the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), 306 North Churton Street / 103 East Queen Street, William Whitted House
2. about 1900 The Morrow-Neville House is built on Mallette Street The two-story hip-roofed house at 118 Mallette Street, with a small rear ell and a square-columned porch that are probably original, dates from about 1900.Search the index · NC Digital Collections: Chapel Hill Historic Sites Survey: Final Report (1992), p. 21
3. early 1920s Merchant Luther Sturdivant builds a house in Partridge Field Sturdivant and his wife, longtime principal of the Carrboro Graded School, expected the empty tract called Partridge Field to become the town's new fashionable neighborhood. Knute Mann and builder John Squires soon built nearby, but by about 1940 only three more houses had followed and families were moving to the Hillsborough Road area instead.Search the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 31
4. March 1938 Brodie Thompson rebuilds the burned Odum house in record time After fire gutted the Odum house on Sunday, February 20, 1938, the insurance was settled in five days and Thompson's crew began clearing the ruins on the sixth. Within 26 days of the fire the new house on the old foundations had its walls, roof and most of its weatherboarding, which the Weekly called the fastest building job Chapel Hill had seen. The paper names only Mr. and Mrs. Odum; the house was probably that of sociologist Howard W. Odum. People: Howard W. OdumSearch the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 18, 1938, p. 1 (Odum House Rises Fast)
5. 1950s and 1960s James J. Freeland develops Mountain View and Colonial Hills east of Hillsborough Freeland laid out two small subdivisions of Minimal Traditional and Ranch houses on curving streets: Mountain View, beside the Eno on its north side at Highway 70 Business, where the family built its second house, and Colonial Hills, off Lawrence Road close to Highway 70A. People: James J. FreelandSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 20
6. 1960s James J. Freeland develops houses at Holiday Park In the 1960s, according to the 2017 architectural survey, Freeland developed Holiday Park northwest of town with its own pool and other amenities, at the recreation park he had opened in 1958; some of its houses were former Eno Mill village houses moved to the site. People: James J. FreelandSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 21
7. November 21, 1970 James Cates is killed outside the UNC Student Union James Lewis Cates Jr., 22, a Black Chapel Hill resident, was stabbed outside the UNC Student Union shortly before 2 a.m. during an all-night dance, in a clash with members of Durham's Storm Troopers motorcycle gang, and died at North Carolina Memorial Hospital. Three white men charged in his death were acquitted by an all-white jury in 1971. People: James L. Cates Jr.DigitalNC: The Daily Tar Heel, November 22, 1970, page 1
8. March 25, 1971 All-white jury acquits three men in the killing of James Cates A jury of 11 men and one woman, all white, found Ronnie Broadwell, Rufus Paul Nelson and William Johnson not guilty after about an hour and a half of deliberation. The defense called no witnesses. People: James L. Cates Jr.DigitalNC: The Daily Tar Heel, March 26, 1971, page 1
9. 2000 Jim Webb dies and his Briar Bridge Lane house passes to an estate supporting UNC's planning school Webb designed the Ruth Price House at 4 Briar Bridge Lane in 1953 and bought it in 1979. He lived there until he died in 2000, after which it went to his estate, which he had set up to benefit the UNC planning school.Search the index · NCModernist: Jim and John Webb
10. 2013 A new Northside Elementary opened on the old Training School grounds The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools opened a new Northside Elementary on the former Orange County Training School site. In 2012 neighbors had rallied to make sure the new school kept the Northside name.From the Rock Wall: Orange County Training School
11. July 6–7, 2025 Tropical Storm Chantal floods Orange County Chantal dropped up to 10 inches of rain on Orange County on the night of July 6, 2025. Chapel Hill crews made more than 50 water rescues around Camelot Village and Eastgate Crossing, Carrboro's Weatherhill Pointe flooded, and the Eno at Hillsborough set a record crest on July 7. The county declared an emergency that day.Search the index · Orange County, NC Emergency Operations Center: Tropical Storm Chantal Executive Summary #8 (September 4, 2025)
12. May 11, 2026 Orange County's clerk of superior court is honored for work in guardianship law Kleinschmidt received the Isabella Award at the National Probate Judges Conference for his contributions to guardianship and probate law. The award is named for judge Isabella Horton Grant and goes to people whose leadership improves guardianship laws, court administration and practice.Search the index · North Carolina Judicial Branch: Orange County Clerk Mark Kleinschmidt Honored Nationally for Leadership in Guardianship Law

See all 446 dated events in the chronology →