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
The 1939 law ending University merchandising
How a 1939 state law forbidding the University to sell merchandise in competition with citizens moved its coal and appliance trade to Bennett and Blocksidge, with their new Carrboro coal yard, and the Carolina Sports Shop John Kenfield opened that fall.
In briefA new law, effective July 1, 1939, forbade the University to sell merchandise in competition with citizens, and the University Service Plants stopped selling coal, refrigerators, radios and appliances. Two of the plants' employees, Harvey Bennett and Frank Blocksidge, took over the stock and the Franklin Street salesroom as Bennett and Blocksidge, and the firm leased a coal yard beside the railroad tracks in Carrboro to take over the University's coal business; in June a crowd there watched a power-driven conveyor unload a 53-ton car of coal. University officials were unsure what the law meant for the Book Exchange and Swain Hall, the Weekly reported. That October tennis coach John Kenfield opened the Carolina Sports Shop on East Franklin Street.
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The full story
On June 19, 1939 a crowd in Carrboro watched a power-driven conveyor unload a 53-ton car of coal in under an hour and a half at the new yard of Bennett and Blocksidge beside the railroad tracks, a machine the Weekly said had never been seen there before. The firm had leased the yard to take over the University's coal business. Under a new law, effective July 1, forbidding the University to sell merchandise in competition with citizens, the University Service Plants stopped selling coal, refrigerators, radios and appliances. On June 26 the stock and the Franklin Street salesroom passed to two of the plants' employees, Harvey Bennett and Frank Blocksidge, incorporated as Bennett and Blocksidge. The Weekly reported University officials unsure what the law meant for the Book Exchange and Swain Hall. In the first week of October 1939 University tennis coach John Kenfield opened a sporting goods store, the Carolina Sports Shop, at 151 East Franklin Street in the former Lacock building. New owners bought him out in 1942 and made Henry Sawtelle McGinty manager.
In the chronology
Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 4 dated events in the chronology →
- Bennett and Blocksidge open a coal yard beside the railroad in Carrboro A crowd in Carrboro watched a power-driven conveyor unload a 53-ton car of coal in under an hour and a half at the new yard of Bennett and Blocksidge beside the railroad tracks, a machine the Weekly said had never been seen there before. The firm had leased the yard to take over the University's coal business.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 23, 1939, p. 2
- The University gives up its coal and appliance trade to Bennett and Blocksidge under a new state law Under a new law, effective July 1, forbidding the University to sell merchandise in competition with citizens, the University Service Plants stopped selling coal, refrigerators, radios and appliances and turned the stock and its Franklin Street salesroom over to two of its employees, Harvey Bennett and Frank Blocksidge, incorporated as Bennett and Blocksidge. The Weekly reported officials unsure what the law meant for the Book Exchange and Swain Hall.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 23, 1939, p. 1
- UNC tennis coach John Kenfield opens the Carolina Sports Shop Kenfield started a sporting goods store on the north side of East Franklin, at 151 East Franklin Street in the former Lacock building; his advertisements called it the Carolina Sport Shop, and the Weekly reported it opened in the first week of October 1939. New owners bought him out in 1942 and made Henry Sawtelle McGinty manager.Search the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 267 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, October 6, 1939, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 6, 1939, p. 6
- The University asks the public to help it obey the law limiting sales at the dining hall and Book Exchange The University appealed to Chapel Hill people and visitors not to ask for service at the University Dining Hall and the Book Exchange, which the 1939 law limited to students, staff, sometimes their families, and invited guests. The Weekly said waiters and clerks were hard pressed to refuse would-be customers, among them University trustees and other persons of standing.The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 26, 1940, p. 1
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Research sources
Sources and research tools for this storyline. Research guide: Follow an event across several accounts.
Background
- Umstead ActNCpedia Concise historical background
Records of the time
- G.S. 66-58. Sale of merchandise or services by governmental units The current text of the 1939 law, amended several times since.
Collections and databases
- NC LIVE: prepared search for The 1939 law ending University merchandising 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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