311 W. FRANKLIN ST. / TRAILWAYS BUS STATION

Trailways Bus Station, also known as the Chapel Hill Bus Station, the Greyhound Bus Station, and the Union Bus Station, was built in 1946. It was a "segregated" structure, and had separate entrances and waiting rooms according to race.

1947, view south east (image courtesy of UNC)

1947, view east; note "Colored Waiting Room" sign (image courtesy of UNC)

1947, interior view (image courtesy of UNC)

1947, interior view (image courtesy of UNC)

1947 ad (from the Chapel Hill Weekly)

On April 9, 1947, eight African American and eight white members of CORE (known as the Freedom Riders) set out from Washington, D.C. on Greyhound and Trailways buses; on April 12, both buses arrived in Chapel Hill. As the buses departed Chapel Hill for Greensboro on April 13, four of the riders were arrested. The commotion aboard the buses drew a large crowd of spectators, including several white taxi drivers. The men were taken to the police station, with a fifty dollar bond placed on each man. As white rider James Peck got off the bus to pay their bonds, a taxi driver struck him in the head.  In May 1947, those members who had been arrested went on trial and were sentenced. The riders unsuccessfully appealed their sentences. On March 21, 1949, they surrendered at the courthouse in Hillsborough and were sent to segregated chain gangs.

(The above is from https://www.stoppingpoints.com/north-carolina/sights.cgi?marker=Journey+...)

Sometime between 1960 and 1964, when faced with "sit-in's" and other protests, the Bus Station Grill removed its lunch counter stools and conducted standup food service, irregardless of race.

The structure was torn down in 2001 to make way for construction of the Franklin Hotel.

View south east, June 2019 (via Google Street View)