CIVIL RIGHTS TOUR

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].

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

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.

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)

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)

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)

Ad in the Chapel Hill Weekly, 1963

1964 (photo by Jim Wallace, via UNC)

1964 (photo by Jim Wallace, via UNC)

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

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)

2016 (via Google streetview)

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

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)

1921 (image via UNC)

1920s postcard

1924 (image via UNC)

1925 Sanborn map excerpt

Circa 1930 (image via UNC)

1931 (image via UNC)

1939 (photo by Marion Post Wolcott)

1940s

1950s (at right)

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

December 1963 (photo by Jim Wallace)

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.

Aerial photograph excerpt, 1955 (circled in red)

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)

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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:

files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/OR0327.pdf

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)

 

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

1983 (photo via Chapel Hill Historical Society)

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)

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)