CIVIL RIGHTS TOUR

CIVIL RIGHTS TOUR


A tour of Orange County's Civil Rights historic sites

25 May 1963

A list of segregated Chapel Hill businesses, from the January 12, 1964 Daily Tar Heel

 

101 W. ROSEMARY ST. / SOUTHLAND MOTOR COMPANY / CAROLINA CAB STAND / CAROLINA COACH BUS STATION

101
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1920-1927
/ Modified in
1928
,
1935
/ Demolished in
1955-1966
People: 
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
,
Type: 

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  • Tue, 07/25/2023 - 2:55pm by SteveR

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101
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1920-1927
/ Modified in
1928
,
1935
/ Demolished in
1955-1966
People: 
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
,
Type: 

 

There once was a wood frame structure housing a blacksmith shop and wood shop on this site, but by 1915 it was demolished [1]. The lot was part of the William Lloyd property, but was sold to Claude Cates by Lueco Lloyd in June 1927 [2]. Cates sold it via trust to S. Carl Forrest in November 1935 [3]. Forrest sold it to Albert Poe in January 1936 [4]. Poe sold it to John M. Foushee in January 1956 [5].

The initial service station structure was built circa 1927; initially owned/operated by E. G. and/or J. E. Burroughs as a Texaco station. In 1928 it became The Southland Motor Company, selling Studebaker and Erskine automobiles; the garage to the structure's rear was likely built then.

By 1936 this was a taxi stand for Carolina Cab (the Carolina Cab Company was owned by Charles Bartlett; he started it in 1935 and closed the business in 1955). In April 1936, the bus station was moved from 136 East Franklin Street to this location (until May 1947, when it moved into a new structure) [6].

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 at this bus station. 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.[7] (For the 1947 report on the incident by Bayard Rustin and George Houser, see: We Challenged Jim Crow; also Bayard Rustin's A Report on Twenty-Two Days on the Chain Gang at Roxboro, North Carolina.)
 
By 1966 the structure was demolished for a parking lot, owned/operated by the Chapel Hill Parking Association. [8]

View north west, 1954 photo excerpt (via CHHS Hill Life)

June 1955 photo excerpt (photo by Roland Giduz, via UNC)

Excerpt from the 09.23.1927 Chapel Hill Weekly

Excerpt from the 08.17.1928 Chapel Hill Weekly

Ad from the 06.29.1928 Chapel Hill Weekly

Excerpt from the April 24, 1936 Chapel Hill Weekly

 

ENDNOTES
[1] 1911, 1915 Sanborn maps
[2] Orange County deed book 86, page 236
[3] Orange County deed book x, page x
[4] Orange County deed book 1044, page 56; also see book 110, page 44.001. Other likely associated property transactions are book 126, page 6 and book 126, page 10.
[5] Orange County deed book 158, page 183; also see book 158, page 208
[6] The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 24, 1936
[7] Via https://www.stoppingpoints.com/north-carolina/sights.cgi?marker=Journey+... also see https://www.ncpedia.org/journey-reconciliation-1947 and https://humanities.unc.edu/reconciliation75
[8] Orange County deed book x, page x

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Chapel Hill Bus Station 1946Chapel Hill Bus Station 1947

311 W. FRANKLIN ST. / TRAILWAYS BUS STATION

311
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1946
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

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  • Tue, 07/25/2023 - 10:39am by SteveR

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311
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1946
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

 

Trailways Bus Station, also known as the Chapel Hill Bus Station, the Greyhound Bus Station, and the Union Bus Station, was built in 1946-1947. It was a "segregated" structure, and had separate entrances and waiting rooms according to race.

Chapel Hill Bus Station 1946

1947, view south east (image courtesy of UNC)

Chapel Hill Bus Station 1947

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)

 

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)

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Colonial ad, 1963  Colonial Drugstore 1964

450 W. FRANKLIN ST. / COLONIAL DRUG CO. STORE

450
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

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  • Sat, 11/14/2020 - 9:00am by SteveR

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450
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

 

The first occupant of this structure was Milton's Clothing Cupboard, in 1948.

The Colonial Drug Company (a.k.a. Colonial Drugstore) moved into this structure in 1951.

On February 28, 1960, there was a "sitdown protest" inside the store at its dining counter by a group of African American high school students from nearby Lincoln High School, known as the Chapel Hill Nine. The next day, approximately one hundred black youths picketed in front of Colonial Drug and several other segregated businesses on West Franklin Street. The store was protested in front of numerous times over the years, and it never desegregated/integrated until the The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. 

1963 (photo by Roland Giduz, via UNC)

Colonial ad, 1963

Ad in the Chapel Hill Weekly, 1963

  Colonial Drugstore 1964

1964 (photo by Jim Wallace, via UNC)

1964 (photo by Jim Wallace, via UNC)

1963/1964 (photo by Richard A. Lamanna via UNC)

Colonial Drugs

John Carswell and son "removing" Lincoln High School student James Brittain from the store (Photograph by Al Amon)

Pro-segregation counter protestors, June 1963 (photo by Jim Wallace)

John Carswell's sons, June 1963 (photo by Jim Wallace)

 

John Carswell (aka "Big John"), the proprietor of the Colonial Drug Store, did not believe that the movement in Chapel Hill was an authentic expression of the feelings of local black residents.  Apparently, the FBI convinced him that the protests were the work of communist agitators from Berkeley, California.  These outsiders, Carswell believed, "picked a lot of gullible teenagers in high school. . ." to instigate local problems.  Carswell's drug store was the main focus of local black youths during the Chapel Hill Civil Rights movement.  Carswell felt that the youths had no reason to target his business, as he "...resented the fact that they would turn against me. . . the one that had been good to them" (from an interview of John Carswell by Wendy Watriss and Lois Gilman, August 1974; Interview 103, tape recording and transcript, Oral History Program, Manuscript Department, Duke University Library).
 
The Colonial was also known locally as the home of the "Big O," a beverage made from fresh-squeezed oranges similar to orangeade. The Colonial Drugstore closed in 1996. It is now the location of the West End Wine Bar.
 
On Feb 28, 2020, the Chapel Hill Nine Marker was erected in front of the former store. The marker was designed by Durham artist Stephen Hayes; it has images of the protests and police officers outside of the drugstore, as well as images of news headlines from the time.

WEWB 2016

2016 (via Google streetview)

 

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Brady's 1959

BRADY'S RESTAURANT

‎1505
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Construction type: 
Type: 
Use: 

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  • Sat, 07/16/2022 - 10:27am by SteveR

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‎1505
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Construction type: 
Type: 
Use: 

 

The original "Brady's," also known as Brady's Service Station and Brady's Tavern, opened in 1934. It was located in an expanded Esso service station structure that was built circa 1930.
 
Brady's facade and interior were drastically remodeled and modernized in late 1956.
 
In February 1964, 26 local Civil Rights demonstrators were arrested while staging a sit-in at Brady’s, as it was a segregated establishment.
 
Brady's closed November 26, 1985, and the building was demolished soon afterwards. The Siena Hotel was constructed in 1987 on the site. 
 
1937 ad (via Daily Tar Heel)
 
1950 ad (via Daily Tar Heel)
 
January 1957 (via Chapel Hill Weekly)
Brady's ad, 1957
 
 
Brady's 1959
Brady's ad, 1959
 
 
 
Protesting segregation at Brady's, 1964 (photo by Jim Wallace)
 
Protesting segregation at Brady's, 1964 (photo by Jim Wallace)
 
 
1965
 
 
October 6, 1965 ad (from the Daily Tar Heel)
 
 
 
Interior and waitstaff, October 29, 1965 (photo by Roland Giduz, via UNC)
 
Interior and waitstaff, October 29, 1965 (photo by Roland Giduz, via UNC)
 
Brady's ad, 1966
 
March 1984 ad/menu (from theDaily Tar Heel)

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THE PINES RESTAURANT

,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Architect/Designers: 

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  • Wed, 07/13/2022 - 10:33am by SteveR

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,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Architect/Designers: 

 

1955 (via CHW)

 

The restaurant was remodeled inside and out in late 1955/early 1956; Archie Royal Davis was the architect for the renovation.

January 1956 ad (via CHW)

1961 (via CHW)

View west, circa 1964

 

The Pines Restaurant was segregated, and thus was the scene of several Civil Rights protests:
 
"[On December 13, 1964] We drove out to the Pines, Chapel Hill's only elegant eatery, and walked in. The hostess dashed over as soon as we got in
the door and asked us to leave. Dunne [the white student] didn't refuse, but he didn't leave. The manager, a Mr. Leroy Merritt, came on the scene. He exploded almost immediately: 'We're segregated! Everybody in Chapel Hill knows we're segregated! You got to leave right now!' Dunne spoke quietly
about how he had made a reservation by phone and hadn't been told Negroes wouldn't be served, and pointing to me, said I was a visiting speaker and he had planned to have me out for dinner at the best place in town, and now he was terribly embarrassed, etc.... All this time the moral elite of Chapel Hill continued to come into the restaurant, walk by, and sit down to their dinners. And all this time Mr. Leroy Merritt got redder in the face and kept yelling, 'You gotta get out of here!' Then he called the police. They arrived almost at once .... The four of us were ushered out and, to our dismay, notified we would be arrested as soon as Mr. Leroy Merritt could get down to the station to sign the warrants. Would we be so kind as to come down to the station at 8 p.m. for arrest, by which time the warrants would be ready? Yes, we would. The arrest did not stop matters; in fact it had the opposite effect. A day or so later, another integrated group arrived at the Pines for dinner and were denied service. When the police arrived, the demonstrators went 'limp,' i.e., they relaxed, fell on the floor, and had to be carried out. Pictures of a policeman dragging a white coed across a rough parking lot, of two policemen more gingerly carrying an eighty-year-old Episcopal minister to a police car, were recruitment fodder to the growing group of demonstrators." (From Legal Problems in Southern Desegregation: The Chapel Hill Story. By Daniel H. Pollitt, June 1, 1965.)
 
"In those days, the basketball team was all white. They had many of their evening meals in a very fine local restaurant called The Pines. The Pines was one of the restaurants that was rigid about not admitting blacks. When the federal government passed a public-accommodations act, Dean Smith was willing to be a party to our congregation's effort to ensure that all the restaurants were complying. Dean and myself and a black student from the University of North Carolina went to The Pines. We asked to be served and with Dean Smith at the door, they could not say no. That was the opening of the door of The Pines restaurant." (from the Seattle Times, Mar 29, 1997.)
 

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Chapel Hill Post Office 1921Chapel Hill Post Office 1920sChapel Hill Post Office 1924

U.S. POST OFFICE (1917)

179
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1917
/ Modified in
1937
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

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  • Sat, 12/05/2020 - 2:17pm by SteveR

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179
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1917
/ Modified in
1937
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

 

Built in 1917, renovated in 1937. It is still in use as a U.S. Post Office (and court rooms, with public space in the basement)

Chapel Hill Post Office 1921

1921 (image via UNC)

Chapel Hill Post Office 1920s

1920s postcard

Chapel Hill Post Office 1924

1924 (image via UNC)

1925 Sanborn map excerpt

Circa 1930 (image via UNC)

Chapel Hill Post Office 1931

1931 (image via UNC)

Chapel Hill Post Office 1939

1939 (photo by Marion Post Wolcott)

Chapel Hill Post Office 1940s

1940s

1950s (at right)

October 6, 1958 (photo by Roland Giduz, via UNC)

CHPO 1963

December 1963 (photo by Jim Wallace)

 

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Watts 1955Watts 1975

3819 S. COLUMBIA ST. / WATTS GRILL / WATTS RESTAURANT & WATTS MOTEL

3819
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
circa 1950
/ Demolished in
circa 2000
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
Type: 
Use: 
,
,

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  • Tue, 09/26/2023 - 4:41pm by SteveR

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3819
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
circa 1950
/ Demolished in
circa 2000
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
Type: 
Use: 
,
,

 

Austin and Jeppie Watts purchased the property (properties, actually) between 1946 and 1951. It was previously known as the S. H. Basnight property. Watts Grill opened in the early 1950s. The motel/motor court was built soon afterwards.

View south east, circa 1960

View south east, 1961

August 1957 (CHW)

 

It was renamed/reopened as Watts Restaurant in August 1957.

Watts was the site of numerous Civil Rights protests in 1963-1964, as it was a public space yet segregated. Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed on July 2, 1964 by Congress, Watts' owners (Austin and Jeppie Watts) refused to integrate (even with violence against protestors) until threatened with a lawsuit. Watts finally relented and desegregated on July 10, 1964. The restaurant was the final anti-desegregation hold out in Chapel Hill.

Watts 1955

Aerial photograph excerpt, 1955 (circled in red)

Watts 1975

Aerial photograph excerpt, showing additions/expansions, 1975 (circled in red)

July 1951 ad; are you trying to tell customers something?

Interior of restaurant, 1958

UNC student Lou Calhoun after being urinated on by Jeppie Watts, January 2, 1964 (photo by Jim Wallace)

 

The Watts family sold the property (and business) in March 1965 to Manning A. Simons. In February 1966 Simons sold a half share of the grill/restaurant business to attorney W. Harold Edwards.

The buildings were demolished circa 2000.

The approximate site today; view west, June 2019 (via Google Streetview)

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ORANGE COUNTY COURTHOUSE (SIXTH - 1954)

106
,
Hillsborough
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1953
Architect/Designers: 
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
,
Local Historic District: 
Type: 
Use: 

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  • Fri, 07/09/2021 - 2:36pm by gary

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106
,
Hillsborough
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1953
Architect/Designers: 
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
,
Local Historic District: 
Type: 
Use: 

 

Rendering of New Courthouse (History of the Town of Hillsborough)

Prior to construction of the courthouse, the Webb Warehouse stood at this location (the northwest corner of S. Churton and E. Margaret.) It served as a storage facility for the nearby Webb Tobacco Co.

The warehouse became generic storage after the Webb Co. left downtown Hillsborough, and, in its final iteration, a garage and repair shop for Orange County.

Old Webb warehouse - back of the building (large gable end) is visible at the center of the picture. (UNC postcard collection)

 

New courthouse under construction, 1953 (History of the Town of Hillsborough)

(Below in italics is from the National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author.)

Architect Archie Royal Davis, AIA, of Chapel Hill and Durham, designed this two-story, side-gabled, Colonial Revival-style building with Beaux Arts detailing. The seven-bay-wide main block has a Flemish-bond brick exterior and parapeted gables with interior end chimneys. A three-bay-wide gable pavilion projects from the center of the façade; its pediment contains a modillion cornice and a shield and swag motif, the swag duplicated in plaques on the façade between the first- and second-floor windows. The recessed central entrance is a double-leaf three-panel door with a leaded-glass transom in an inset, paneled bay. The bay has a classical surround with Corinthian columns supporting an entablature with modillions and a broken swans-neck pediment. It is accessed by an uncovered brick and concrete terrace with a brick knee wall and cast-stone balustrade at the sides. The building has eight-over-twelve wood-sash windows on the first floor, eight-over- eight windows on the second floor, all with flat brick arches, molded surrounds, and wood windowsills. A three-stage cupola with a copper roof is centered on the roofline. One-story, flat-roofed brick wings, each two bays wide, flank the main section and feature brick parapets with stone balustrades at the roofline. A two-story, flat-roofed wing extends from the center of the rear (south) elevation; it is eight bays deep with brick pilasters between the bays and has windows matching those on the main section. A one-story hyphen at the south end of the wing connects to a one-story, parapet-roofed brick section with eight-over-twelve wood- sash windows. A two-story, flat-roofed wing at the left rear (southeast) corner of the building has a parapet roof with a wide brick beltcourse near the parapet, stone detailing, and connects to a one-story, hip-roofed addition just east of the main building. The large, two-story-with-basement, hip-roofed building to the east of the courthouse is five bays wide and seven bays deep with five gabled dormers on the east elevation. The center three bays of the façade (north) and left (east) elevations project slightly with a parapet roof with wide cornice and two cast-stone beltcourses each. Entrances at the basement level of the east elevation are sheltered by a hip-roofed metal porch that extends around the projecting bay and is supported by Tuscan columns on low brick piers. The main building was constructed between 1953 and 1954 just south of the 1845 courthouse. The subsequent additions have overwhelmed the 1950s building, rendering it non-contributing.

07.31.2016 (G. Kueber)

Non-contributing, so we should really just tear down this courthouse, as it has no historical architectural value to downtown Hillsborough? As you can certainly tell in my picture above, the historic building is "overwhelmed to the point of being unrecognizable." I can't even tell it is a building vs. a giant pile of bricks.

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ORANGE COUNTY COURTHOUSE (1845)

104
,
Hillsborough
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1845
Architect/Designers: 
Builders: 
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
,
National Register: 
Type: 
Use: 

The fourth courthouse in this location, built in 1845, with a clock purportedly dating from the 1760s

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  • Thu, 02/10/2022 - 5:39pm by gary

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104
,
Hillsborough
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1845
Architect/Designers: 
Builders: 
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
,
National Register: 
Type: 
Use: 

 

View south east, circa 1910 (Courtesy University of North Carolina postcard collection) 

View south east, circa 1890s

 

View south west, circa 1920

"Very old courthouse in Hillsboro, North Carolina," December 1939 (photo by Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Service Adminstration)

View south east, circa 1940

View south west, 1969

View south west, 1971

Looking southeast, March 1983. (NCSHPO via Tom Campanella / builtbrooklyn.org)

 

 

A new Orange County Courthouse, directly to the south across East Margaret Lane, was built in the 1950s.

07.02.2016 (G. Kueber)

 

From the National Register nomination:

One of the earliest and most architecturally distinguished courthouses in North Carolina, this brick temple-form Greek Revival-style building was designed and built by John Berry, a well-known local architect and builder. The two-story building is three bays wide and five bays deep with a full portico with classical pediment and entablature supported by four fluted Doric columns. Such fine details as the Flemish-bond brick walls, wide cornice, twelve-over-twelve wood-sash windows with flat brick arches, keystones, and stone sills, and the central double-leaf door with fanlight, brick voussoirs, and keystone remain intact. There are four interior brick chimneys and the original two-stage cupola clock tower surmounts the building. The courthouse is at least the fourth on this site. The interior retains most of its original finish, including a pair of open-string Federal-style stairs with foliate brackets, turned balusters and newels and heavy molded handrails, four-panel doors, symmetrically molded frames with cornerblocks, and well-proportioned pilastered mantels. The upstairs courtroom was renovated in the 1880s.

The plaque affixed to the front (north side) of the building in 1964

 

National Registry information:

files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/OR0014.pdf

Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) images and information:

loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/nc0067

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ORANGE COUNTY JAIL / (SIXTH) HILLSBOROUGH JAIL / MAGISTRATE'S OFFICE

125
,
Hillsborough
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1925-1926
/ Modified in
1974
,
1996
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
,
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

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  • Sat, 03/11/2023 - 10:30am by gary

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125
,
Hillsborough
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1925-1926
/ Modified in
1974
,
1996
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
,
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

 

Jail, 1950s (History of the Town of Hillsborough)

Circa 1930 photo, view north across the Eno River. The jail is the two-story building to the right.

 

While a handsome Neoclassical Revival building, previous reports of this building's demise have been greatly exagerated. Stuart Dunaway notes in his "History of Town Lots - Addendum 2015" rather emphatically that "the building shown on the post card does not exist today."

The building was constructed in 1925-26 as a replacement for the old (fifth) jail and Mayor's office (with its jail cells) that stood to the south of the 1845 courthouse on courthouse square. The architect was Milburn, Heister, & Company (of Durham), and the contractor was W. H. & T. H. Lawrence (also of Durham). The plumbing contract was awarded to John L. Foister, the heating to T. C. Miles, and the electrical to the Clinard Electric Company. The jail cells and related security features were constructed by the Pauly Jail Building Company of St. Louis, MO.

From the September 11, 1925 Chapel Hill Weekly:
“This building will embody the most modern ideas in jail construction. It is to stand just to the east of the courthouse and across the street. On the exterior it is of Colonial design, with brick walls and a columned porch, harmonizing with the courthouse. The plans of the architects, Milburn, Heister and Co., show the entrance from the broad front porch to a reception hall. On the left of this is the living room. Back of these two rooms are the jailer’s office and the kitchen. Above, at the front of the building, completing the accommodations for the jailer and his family, are the bedrooms. A brick wall, stretching from the top to the bottom of the building, separates the family quarters from the jail section on both floors. On the upper floor the wall is not broken at all. On the ground floor it is broken by one steel door leading from the jailer’s office to a corridor, and across this corridor is a steel barrier beyond which are the cells. On each floor the cell section is fitted out with ample baths and sanitary facilities, and there are corridors for promenading. In the basement are located the heating plant and a room for confiscated property. Confiscated property, in this section of the country, consists almost entirely of stilling apparatus.”
 
From the February 12, 1926 Chapel Hill Weekly:
“The contractors for the new jail in Hillsboro are expected to turn the completed building over to the Orange county authorities by about the 15th day of March—certainly by the 1st of April. The outside walls, roof, chimneys and cornices are complete, and the carpenters are now engaged upon the inside finishing. All of the steel for the cell blocks is on the ground...and the steel fitters from the Pauly Jail Co., which has the contract, will start upon their part of the job next week. The heating and water system is nearly finished; the heat has been turned on for about two weeks now. Altogether the building has gone ahead smoothly, with few complications or delays."
 
The jail was first occupied in May 1926.
 

1943 Sanborn map, showing the county jail.

The structure was damaged in an explosion/fire on May 3, 1974, when a fuel delivery truck (driven by Johnny Edwards) was filling the jail's 1,000 gallon gasoline tank and the tank leaked and was ignited by a spark. Luckily, nobody was killed or injured. There was approximately ,000 to ,000 worth of damage to the structure.

Looking south, May 3, 1974 (photo taken by Harry Moore of The News of Orange and is via www.orfd.net)

May 3, 1974 (photo taken by Harry Moore of The News of Orange and is via www.orfd.net)

May 1974 (photo taken by Harry Moore of The News of Orange and is via www.orfd.net)

 

From the National Register nomination:

"Constructed as the Orange County Jail, this impressive two-story, Neoclassical-style building faces the Orange County Courthouse to its west, but has been significantly enlarged and altered at the north and east. The building is three bays wide and six bays deep with four brick pilasters supporting a wide entablature and a pedimented gable on the façade. The pediment has a denticulated cornice and bulls-eye window with brick voussoirs and keystones in the gable. Two-bay-wide, pedimented wings project slightly from the right (south) and left (north) elevations and there are two interior brick chimneys. The building has nine-over-nine and six- over-six wood-sash windows with a single eight-over-eight window on the left end of the second-floor façade. The nine-light-over-one-panel door on the right end of the façade has a four-light transom and is sheltered by a full-width, hip-roofed porch supported by square columns with a denticulated cornice at the roofline and a low railing at the second-floor level. A number of windows on the side and rear elevations have been bricked in or boarded over. A one-story, flat-roofed wing on the left elevation connects to a two-story, front-gabled brick wing with a pedimented gable which connects in turn to a two-story, side-gabled wing with an inset entrance on the north elevation and a one-story, flat-roofed addition at its rear (east). The building has also been enlarged in 1996 with a series of one- and two-story, flat-roofed sections at the rear, one of which connects to a large gabled wing with projecting gables along East Margaret Street. The side and rear additions have nine-over-nine windows and there is a metal fire stair at the north end. The east addition has a wide cornice and small six-light windows at the basement level. Historically, the deputy lived in an apartment above the jail.

07.31.2016 (G. Kueber)

The 1925 builder's plaque (photo by S. Rankin, 02.10.2022)

 

SOURCES:
The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 11, 1925.
The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 12, 1926.
Lloyd, Allen A. and Pauline O. History of the Town of Hillsborough 1754-1966. Self-published.
The News of Orange, May 5, 1974
Sandbeck, Peter. A Brief History of the Old Orange County Jail, built 1925-26. OCDEAPR, 2014.

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/sites/default/files/images/Giduz25_May_1963_Clarences.jpg/sites/default/files/images/clarence1957.JPG

401 W. FRANKLIN ST.

401
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
circa 1956
/ Modified in
2019
Local Historic District: 
Type: 
Use: 
,
,

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Last updated

  • Wed, 07/13/2022 - 10:29am by SteveR

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401
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
circa 1956
/ Modified in
2019
Local Historic District: 
Type: 
Use: 
,
,

 

May 25, 1963 (photo by Roland Giduz, via UNC)

1957 ad

This commercial structure was built on the site of a previous residential structure circa 1956 (although the OC GIS states this structure was built in 1942).

Sold by L. J. and Vivian Phipps to Addie Mae Creel in January 1949. Purchased by Clarence and Sallie Gray in January 1956.

Was the West Franklin Street Luncheonette in the 1950s, owned/operated by Clarence Gray. It was renamed Clarence's Bar & Grill by 1962, and still owned/operated by Clarence Gray.

As with most of the other Chapel Hill businesses, Clarence's was segregated and thus the site of several Civil Rights protests in 1963 and 1964. In opposition to the protestors, Clarence Gray hung numerous "rebel flags" throughout his restaurant and hosed protestors down with water, and he and bar patrons were known to throw urine and feces out the door at protestors. In June 1964, after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by Congress, local African-American students attempted to eat at Clarence's but were (illegally, now) refused service.

Circa 1974, the business (but not the building) was sold and became the Cockney Pride Tavern. By 1988 it was Roman Wings Tavern. The building was sold by the Gray family in 1993 and became the New Orleans Cookery. A few years later it was the Italian restaurant Trilussa la Trattoria.

1982 ad (via the DTH)

2008 (by William J. via Yelp)

2016 (Google streetview)

2019 (Google streetview)

The building is now home to Perennial, a restaurant. The facade has been "modernized" by the removal of its original Colonial Revival elements.

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THE ROCK WALL

street: ,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Neighborhood: 
The rock wall is at the intersection of McDade and Cotton streets, and is an important landscape feature associated with the local Civil Rights movement

 

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  • Sat, 11/07/2020 - 9:41am by SteveR

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street: ,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Object Type: 
Neighborhood: 

 

The "Rock Wall," located on the north east corner at the intersection of McDade and Cotton streets and not far from the OCTS site, was where the "Chapel Hill Nine" (nine students of Lincoln High School and residents of Northside) gathered every weekend to talk about politics and local events, as they didn’t want their families to know what we were doing (yet). These talks evolved into the local Civil Rights sit-ins and protests that the "Chapel Hill Nine," along with other Lincoln High School students, started in February 1960.
 
"As more houses were built in Northside in the 1940s, Fannie Bradshaw saw an opportunity to keep neighborhood children from cutting through her yard at the corner of McDade and Cotton Streets. Her new neighbor, Atlas Cotton, needed to blast rock in order to construct his house. Bradshaw asked for the blasted away chunks of fieldstone in order to construct a rock wall, a request to which Cotton obliged. However, the rock wall did not have the effects she intended. Children began to use the rock as a gathering place. In the 1960s, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the same children began to use the rock wall as a meeting spot to plan protests and organize for sit-ins." (How Deep the Roots Are: Cultural and Historic Preservation of Northside, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. By Victoria G. Hensley as a thesis submitted for partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of masters of arts in history, Middle Tennessee State University, May 2018.)
 
June 2019, view east (via Google Streetview)
 
View north 11-3-2020 (by S. Rankin)
 
View south 11-3-2020 (by S. Rankin)
 
Another rock "wall" near the intersection of Lindsay Street and Mitchell Lane, behind the Hargraves Community Center.
 
View west, 2018 (photo by Victoria G. Hensley)
 
View south, 2018 (photo by Victoria G. Hensley)
 
 
 
 

 

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100 W. ROSEMARY ST. / CHAPEL HILL TOWN HALL (FORMER)

100
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1938
/ Modified in
1963
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
National Register: 
Type: 

Built 1938-1939 for use as the town hall and etc., has been leased by the IFC for decades.

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  • Thu, 11/26/2020 - 9:05am by SteveR

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100
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1938
/ Modified in
1963
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
National Register: 
Type: 

 

View north east, November 1981 (photo by Al Steele, via The Daily Tar Heel)

 

Built 1938-1939 for use as the town hall, police department, jail (which was segregated, BTW), courthouse, fire department, and etc. (Carrboro also utilized this jail until January 1955). The Works Progress Administration (WPA) fronted most of the money via a ,550 grant, with the Town financing the balance via local referendum. Thomas C. Atwood (of the architectural firm Atwood & Weeks) was the architect, J. A. Page was the supervising engineer. 

This was also the site of the previous town hall, which was "auctioned off and removed" prior to the construction of the present building. The building is depicted as a store on the June 1925 Sanborn map of Chapel Hill but as the town hall on a 1934 map of Chapel Hill. It is not shown on the December 1915 Sanborn map of Chapel Hill.

June 1925 Sanborn map of Chapel Hill excerpt

1934 Chapel Hill map excerpt

 

The Chapel Hill Fire Department moved out of the building in late 1959. The building (mainly the interior) was remodelled by the Town in 1963. Most of the other town offices (including the police department) moved out in 1971 when the new municipal building was constructed on North Columbia Street.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The building and property is still owned by the Town, but is currently occupied by the Inter-Faith Council for Social Services (IFC) Community Kitchen. The Town will likely be converting the building into a visitor’s center and museum within a few years.

From the blueprints (via CHHS)

From the blueprints (via CHHS)

From the blueprints (via CHHS)

View west, August 4, 1952 (photo by Roland Giduz)

View south, September 17, 1953 (photo by Roland Giduz)

View north west, 1989 (photo by Mary L. Reeb)

View north west, August 2019 (via Google Streetview)

 

For more information:

 

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115 E. FRANKLIN ST. / COLLEGE CAFE

115
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
circa 1936
/ Modified in
circa 1950, circa 1980
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

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Last updated

  • Tue, 04/11/2023 - 5:53pm by SteveR

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115
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
circa 1936
/ Modified in
circa 1950, circa 1980
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

 

Circa 1947 (photo by Bayard Wootten, via UNC)

Interior, 1950 (photo via UNC's Yackety Yack)

"UNC representative of the Student Peace Union [Patrick Cusick] pickets the segregated College Cafe," April 1963 (photo by Jim Wallace)

1977 (photo via Chapel Hill Historical Society)
 
Circa 1977 (photo by Steve Stolpen)
 
1942 ad (via The Cloudbuster)
 
Circa 1949 photo (via UNC)
 
 
The building was built circa 1936. The Marathon Sandwich Shop, owned and operated by Efthimios "Tommy" Mariakakis (and his uncle), was the first occupant of this space.
 
In late July 1954 the College Cafe, owned and operated by Max and Julia Yarbrough, moved from across Franklin Street to here. By the late 1950s the facade was "modernized" with square stone affixed to it to it.
 
On May 25, 1963, there was a Civil Rights march from St. Joseph's Church to the College Cafe, where "350 citizens of the town, about half of them white and half of them colored, began what was perhaps the first fully integrated public march in support of integration that the South had seen" (From John Ehle's The Free Men). After the protest, the restaurant is said to have desegregated.
 
Circa 1980, the College Cafe went out of business and was replaced by the next door business (at #117), the Continental Travel Agency and the facade was renovated. Was Huddleston Travel Agency by 1993, then Travel Associates by 1998. It's now The Hemp Store (2019).
 
 

View north east, May 25, 1963 (photo by Jim Wallace)

 

1983 (photo via Chapel Hill Historical Society)

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1501 E. FRANKLIN ST. / THE ROCK PILE

1501
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Construction type: 
,
Type: 

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  • Sun, 12/27/2020 - 2:46pm by SteveR

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1501
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Construction type: 
,
Type: 

 

View north west, January 1, 1964 (photo by Jim Wallace)

When The Rock Pile almost became a rock pile, view north east, September 6, 1963 (via the CHW)

September 1963 ad (via the CHW)

 

Owner and operator of The Rock Pile (with the building/property itself leased from a D. B. McLennan), Carlton Howard Mize (b. 29 Aug 1914 - d. 12 Feb 1999), was a fervent racist and had a "white only" policy at his store (i.e. nobody but white people were allowed to shop there; this was the only business in Chapel Hill that wouldn't serve black customers whatsoever, and he had it prominently painted on the front door). Mize started this business sometime prior to 1954; it was called Carlton's Gulf Service Station.

There were several Civil Rights protests at The Rock Pile; one on December 17, 1963, and others in January (1, 4, 5, 11, and 18), 1964; there may have been others. The December protest is where NAACP youth leader/member Quinton Baker (and the other protestors) were doused with ammonia and bleach, causing first-degree burns which required them going to the hospital.

In June 1967, the property was sold to the Union Oil Company (by which time Mize had likely not had his lease of the property renewed).  The Union Oil Company sold it in March 1980 to Silas and Patsy Talbert. They sold the property in October 1981 to the Stallings Oil and Coal Company. In the 1980s the original building was replaced with a more modern filling station structure. 

The property is now the location of a Kangaroo gas station/Circle K convenience store.

View north east, June 2019 (via Google Streetview)

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414 W. FRANKLIN ST.

414
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
1958-1961
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
National Register: 
Type: 

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Last updated

  • Sat, 07/16/2022 - 10:22am by SteveR

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414
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
1958-1961
Architectural style: 
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
National Register: 
Type: 

 

This structure was built between 1958 and 1961. It was first the Orange County Building & Loan Association and in 1963 was the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Merchants Association. (a.k.a. the Chamber of Commerce).

Civil Rights protest, July 19, 1963 (photo by Jim Wallace)

Civil Rights protest, July 19, 1963 (photo by Jim Wallace)

Civil Rights protest, interior, July 19, 1963 (photo by Jim Wallace)

 

The Merchants' Association was the setting for several Civil Rights protests, as the protestors were trying to get the Merchants' Association to convince local business to desegregate/integrate. On July 19, 1963 a demonstration at the Merchants Association resulted in 21 arrests for trespassing.

In January 1965 the Merchants' Association was robbed.

By 1968 it was the Bentwood Delicatessen; from 1969-1970 or 1971 it was the Ship Ahoy Fish House; from 1971 into the 1980s it was Flowers by Hackney. Etc.

Because of various businesses utilizing more than one storefront over time, the address has changed over the years. It was originally 414, then 412. It is now part of 410, and is the left section of the Mediterranean Deli.

View north west, November 2021 (via Google Streetview)

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423 W. FRANKLIN ST.

423
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1925-1930
Construction type: 
Type: 

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Last updated

  • Tue, 04/25/2023 - 10:37am by SteveR

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423
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Cross street: 
Built in
1925-1930
Construction type: 
Type: 

 

This brick structure was built circa 1928 on the site of an earlier wood structure. The first known occupant was Betty Williams' Grocery Store, from circa 1929 to circa 1941.
 
From circa 1942 to circa 1949 it was Bright's Grocery (operated by Mont J. Bright); From circa 1949 to circa 1958 it was the Anderson Restaurant; From circa 1958 to circa 1961 it was the Andrews Restaurant, operated by Lambros and Anastasia Andrews.
 
From circa 1961 to 1997 it was Leo's Restaurant. Owner/operator Elias "Leo" Eliadis was the former operator of the grill at the bus station but closed it so as to not be forced to integrate it, as he would then be in violation of the federal Interstate Commerce Act. Leo's Restaurant was the scene of Civil Rights protests in 1963. Leo's was also the source of food used to feed Civil Rights protestors arrested and kept at the jail -- although they refused to eat it due to Leo's being segregated. 
 
In 1998 it became Darbar Indian Restaurant. The Lantern Restaurant opened in January 2002 and still occupies the structure, expanding into #421 circa 2019.
 
View south east, 1963 (Photo by Don Irish)
 
Building at right of photo, 1963 (photo by Richard A. Lamanna via UNC)
 
Circa 1960 aerial photo excerpt (via UNC)
 
June 1925 Sanborn map excerpt, showing earlier building (at #333)
 
1947 ad
 
1961 ad
 

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