WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION (WPA) PROJECTS

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

This property/lot was sold to Orange County by the Webb family in May 1936. It was the former site of a one-and-a-half story building (used as a warehouse and for flour storage) for the adjacent mill building (to the property's south).

The original part of the structure was built in the mid-to-late 1930s by Orange County and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for use as the county agricultural extension office.

Circa 1940, view south east (image courtesy of Orange County DEAPR)

Circa 1940, view south west/rear of structure (image courtesy of Orange County DEAPR)

1943 Sanborn map excerpt

View south east, June 2019 (via Google Streetview)

07.02.2016 (G. Kueber)

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

This two-story, parapet-roofed, Colonial Revival-style building is thirteen bays wide with the right four bays recessed slightly from the façade. The building has a brick veneer laid with cast-stone windowsills, a cast- stone cornice, and cast-stone coping at the parapet. It has six-over-six wood-sash windows with flat brick arches. The six-panel door has four-light-over-one-panel sidelights and a classical surround with broken swan’s neck pediment. The right (west) elevation, facing Court Street, is a single story due to the slope of the site. It has a twelve-light-over-one-panel door with four-light-over-one-panel sidelights and is sheltered by a small pedimented, roof. An integrated planter extends across the façade and left (east) elevations. The building appears on the 1943 Sanborn map. According to Bellinger, the left side of the Agricultural Services Building was completed before World War II with the right side completed after the war.

(Note: Bellinger had it backwards: The right side of the structure/the rightmost "four bays" is the oldest section, the left side is the "newer.")

From http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~orangecountync/

The corner of N. Churton and W. Tryon was the location of the "Session House" for the adjacent Presbyterian Church. The Session House was built in 1836 for use as a Sunday school and meeting ("session") room by the Presbyterian congregation, and the property upon which the structure was built was leased to the church by the town for 99 years at .00 a year.

Drawing of the Session House, looking ~north.

1905 Sanborn fire insurance map, showing the Session House on the corner.

In 1910, the structure was loaned to the newly-formed local library association and converted into the town library.

It appears that at some point after 1911, the north tower was removed from the building; a shed porch and door were added to the west side of the building.

In 1934, the building was torn down and a new library building was built on the site as a United States Federal Civil Works Administration (CWA)/Federal Emergency Relief Administration (ERA)/North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration (NCERA) project at a cost of ,466.10. The building was named the Confederate Memorial Library by a "local historical group" [i.e. Daughters of Confederate Veterans and others) who donated money to the library in lieu of erecting a memorial obelisk to the Confederacy in Hillsborough.

1942 Sanborn fire insurance map.

From the National Register Nomination

The design of this WPA project reflects a Colonial Revival dwelling, with a raised basement, side- gable roof with cornice returns, and four gabled dormers on the facade. The building has exterior stone chimneys in the gable ends, a wide denticulated cornice, and wood shingles on the gabled dormers. Eight-light casement windows on the main level and four-light casement windows at the basement level are grouped and have cast-stone headers and windowsills. There are twelve-light windows in the dormers, paired eight-light casement windows with eight-light transoms in the gable ends, and quarter-round multi-light windows flanking the chimneystacks. The replacement front door has an original surround with eight-light-over-one-panel sidelights and three panels separating the door and sidelights from the multi-light arched transom. The entrance is sheltered by a pedimented front-gabled porch supported by grouped Doric columns with a denticulated cornice.

07.02.2016 (G. Kueber)

Until 2015, this building had the words "Confderate Memorial Library" in the gable of the front portico. After the shooting of 10 people in an African-American church in Charleston, SC by a white supremacist on June 17, 2015, Hillsborough was prompted, along with other communities, to re-examine commemorations of the Confederacy. The town council utlimately decided to remove the words, which removal was completed in January of 2016.

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

1920s

1924

1925 Sanborn map excerpt

1931

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)

Circa 1900, view south east (jail indicated by red arrow)

From "History of the Town of Hillsborough 1754-1966," p. 31

Per HotToH:

"In a hundred years Orange County had at last five jails. In 1752, a contract was given to build a jail near Piney Ford. The contract was evidently not carried out. In 1755, Alexander Mebane, Josiah Dixon, and William Churton laid out the first prison in Hillsborough on Lot No. 1. Lot No. 1 was reseved for a market house, courthouse, prison, pillory and stocks.

A second jail was erected about 1765. After the second jail burned, a district jail was built in Hillsborough in 1771. Another district jail was authorized by the legislature in 1798. Building commissioners were appointed for a new prison in 1836, which was to be 45 ft. long, 24 ft. wide, and two stories high. John Berry was awarded the contract for the stone building which was completed in 1837."

The 1798 jail was burned down by a prisoner, Henry Harris, who had been captured without papers (i.e. he likely was a free person of color) some time after possibly taking part in the "Nat Turner Rebellion." He escaped, was recaptured, and was taken to Yanceyville, in nearby Caswell County, and hanged.

According to Federal and State Emergency Relief Administration (ERA) records from 1935, the "old" two-story jail and "town building" (i.e. mayor's office), which was located on the courthouse square (the jail was at the southeast corner of Margaret Lane and Court Street), was "torn down so that a proper setting could be provided for the courthouse. The demolition of the old jail was followed with much interest as it was rumored that the ancient hanging pit would be brought to light--but no trace of it was found. The walls of the old jail, which were thirty-two inches thick, made of flagstone laid in clay, provided the material for all the flagstone sidewalks built on the square."

1888 Sanborn map excerpt

1911 Sanborn map excerpt

Location of the old jail, view west, 07.31.2016 (G. Kueber)

The land for the Center was purchased on September 8, 1939. The land was deeded to the Town of Chapel Hill on July 29, 1940 with the stipulation that it be used as a site for a community center and other recreational activities for African American residents. Most of the actual funding for construction of the Center was provided through the Works Progress Administration. Other assistance, in the form of money, labor, and materials, was contributed by citizens of the community.

 

Construction of the Center began on January 9, 1941 but was interrupted by the onset of World War II. Progress was slow until May 22, 1942, when the building was loaned as housing for the University of North Carolina’s B-1 Navy band. The band agreed to complete construction of the building and provide for upkeep until such time that it was no longer needed by the band.

 

The B-1 Band completed construction of the building and returned the Center to the Town on October 24, 1945. At that time the Town hired Mr. & Mrs. Henry Edwards to reside in the building and serve as custodians. They also offered several recreational programs.

 

The first paid director of the Center, Lucille Caldwell, was hired in February 1951. Ms. Caldwell served for twelve years, resigning in 1963. She was the first African American professional recreation administrator in North Carolina.

 

In 1959, Cornelia S. Love donated ,000 to build a swimming pool at the Center. The pool was completed in 1960 and dedicated to Mr. A. D. Clark.

 

On May 9, 1960, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a talk at the Center while visiting Chapel Hill.

 

May 9, 1960 (photo via UNC's SHC and Chapman Collection)

May 9, 1960 (photo via UNC's SHC and Chapman Collection)

In 1978, the Town acquired a tract of land south of the Center which was used to build three tennis courts. The original Center building was renovated and enlarged in 1980 with the addition of a 1,500 square foot auditorium. The gymnasium was built in 1997-1998, and opened to the public June 15, 1998.

View east, 11-3-2020 (photo by S. Rankin)

View south east, 11-3-2020 (photo by S. Rankin)

View north east, 11-3-2020 (photo by S. Rankin)