1 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Contents A few words of introduction 3 A founding father 5 Saving the mill 6 A brief history of Carrboro mayors 8 The trail that Ellie blazed 10 Becoming a leader 13 The romance of poverty 14 Foushee takes a seat 15 A few moments with Beulah 16 Hello Summer, Goodbye Cold. Come Join us with Friends, Family and Tales of Old 18 Educating Carrboro 20 Carrboro Economics 101 22 A shared history 24 A Carrboro institution 26 1/4th The forming of OWASA 27 Riding into retirement 28 PTA thrift Latinos in Carrboro 29 The Carrboro scene 31 A farmers’ market history 32 After all these years, still in great shape 34 Strayhorn family legacy remembered 35 A do-it-yourself way 38 Farewell to a steady hand 41 Laughing along with Ruby 42 Coming of age 44

This commemorative volume was produced in celebration of the Carrboro Centennial by The Carrboro Citizen:

Robert Dickson, Publisher Taylor Sisk, Editor Liz Holm, Art Director Maxine Mills, Design Director A part Marty Cassady, Advertising Director Margot Carmichael Lester, Production Manager of your community

Contributors: since 1952 Daphne Athas Josie Hollingsworth Ashley Atkins Margot Carmichael Lester Sarah Blacklin David Otto in Chapel Hill Kelly Clark Catherine Rierson Village Plaza S/C, Elliott Road Susan Dickson Kirk Ross 919-942-6101 Vicky Dickson Valarie Schwartz Alvis Dunn Taylor Sisk Mon-Sat 8:30am - 6 pm • Sun 1 - 6 pm Jackie Helvey in Carrboro The Citizen would like to extend a special thank-you to Richard Ellington and 103 Jones Ferry Road David Otto, co-authors of Images of America: Carrboro, without whose help this project would not have been possible. 919-967-1272 Mon-Sat 8:30 am - 6 pm All Watts Collection photos courtesy of Richard Ellington. Executive Office – 919-942-6565 On the cover. [email protected] Carrboro, 1953: The central downtown looking westward down Main Street. Photo by Mack Watts, courtesy of the Watts Collection ptathriftshop.org 2 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A Few Words of Introduction

icky and I were after this centennial commemorative, it’s the cast overalls when we walked of volunteers who’ve compiled it who deserve into Andrews-Riggsbee the credit. These folks have done just about Hardware on South anything they were asked. The creation of V Greensboro that day back this volume is, in many ways, indicative of in 1972. She wanted the bib-type, hogwash- our history: It’s a collective project that rep- ers they were called, and I was looking for resents the efforts of many of our citizens. mechanics-type coveralls, ’cause I was the Lots of us who call Carrboro home start- proud owner of a Beetle and an old motor- ed out some place else, but we’re in Carrboro cycle, both messy vehicles on which to work. now because, well, we like it here. Carrboro Andrews-Riggsbee was then located is a good town, with good people doing the where you’ll now find the Open Eye Café, best they can to make an honest living. That’s and was one of those places where you could the way it’s been for the first 100 years, and find darn near anything. That store, gone for how it continues today. years now, certainly claimed its spot in the This is our town and our history. Read, rich history of Carrboro’s first 100 years. and enjoy. This volume you now hold in your hands aims to give you a good feel for the warp and woof of that history. Our families, our homes, our triumphs and defeats are all woven together into this tapestry we call Carrboro. Robert Dickson While The Citizen is proud to bring you Carrboro Mills, circa 1940 Photo courtesy Weaver Street Market Publisher, The Carrboro Citizen

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3 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Reason #14 to love living in Orange County

Another great reason to live in and visit Orange County… Carrboro The little mill town that somebody once called “Paris of the Piedmont” celebrates its hundredth anniversary this year. Many of its downtown buildings have stood for half that century or more, yet are home to a vibrant and diverse community. The local grocery co-op and café Weaver Street Market, and historic Carr Mill Mall with its shops and restaurants, mark the heart of town. Along Main Street visitors flock to the nationally renowned music club Cat’s Cradle, the ArtsCenter, the popular Carrboro Farmers’ Market, and an array of top- notch restaurants, coffee shops, local retailers and gathering spots. Each year tens of thousands of tourists head to the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival at DSI Comedy Theater, the Carrboro Music Festival, the You can watch a live performanceCarrboro Film Festival, the Second Friday Art Walk and numerous other festivals. If you’re hosting friends and every single night. family from out of town this year, log on to www.visitcarrboro.org or call the Orange County Visitors Bureau at 919-968-2064.

Music. It’s not just for weekends anymore. There are almost 100 musical venues located in Orange County, and many of these joints are jumping every night of the week. From the occasional World Music performance at Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill to the almost continuous Cat’s Cradle concerts in Carrboro, Orange County has it all.

Want to know who/what’s playing where tonight? Then visit www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the- guide-to-the-weeks-concerts. You can also find updated listings of bands playing in Orange visitcarrboro.org County (and beyond) at www.trianglerock.com. And remember, Squirrel Nut Zippers, James Taylor, Southern Culture on the Skids, Superchunk and Ben Folds Five are just a few of the This ad sponsored by the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau notable musical acts whose careers began right here.

Learn more about4 thecarrboro wonderful placecentennial we live. Visit commemorativewww.co.orange.nc.us. april 2011 A Founding Father Julian Shakespeare Carr By David Otto

he story of Julian Shake- The present generation … scarcely takes speare Carr and how the note of what the Confederate soldier town came to be named meant to the welfare of the Anglo Saxon after him is intriguing, if race during the four years immediately T not troubling. He was the succeeding the war. … Their courage son of Eliza Bullock and John Wesley Carr, and their steadfastness saved the very a prominent Chapel Hill merchant who life of the Anglo Saxon race in the South operated a general store on Franklin Street. … As a consequence, the purest strain of When he was 18 years old, Carr dropped the Anglo Saxon is to be found in the 13 out of UNC and enlisted in the Confederate Southern states – Praise God. Army. He fought in the Battle of Appomattox and was passionate about his service to the One hundred yards from where we Confederacy. Carr did not believe that the stand less than ninety days perhaps after

South lost the war and continued to defend Colle ct ion t h Carolina my return from Appomattox, I horse- the “noble cause” for the remainder of his life. whipped a negro wench until her skirts However, his devotion to the Confederacy is but hung in shreds, because upon the streets one facet of an extraordinary life. of this quiet village she had publicly When the United Confederate Veterans of insulted and maligned a Southern Lady, and then rushed for protection to these

America was formed in 1889, Carr joined The N or T E S Y enthusiastically. In addition to honoring the University buildings where was stationed dead, the aim of the organization was to care a garrison of 100 Federal soldiers. I per- for the poor and disabled, to preserve records formed the pleasing duty in the immedi- O C OUR and to document the history of the war from T ate presence of the entire garrison, and the perspective of the South. Carr became the for thirty nights afterwards slept with a leader of the North Carolina chapter and P HO double-barrel shot gun under my head.” zealously dedicated his life to fulfilling the had built in 1898, located in what is now Carr of Carrboro appears in the writings of Julian (Excerpted from Julian Carr’s address mission of the group. In response to his Mill Mall, and the two were consolidated. Carr Sr. and neither Julian junior or senior “Unveiling of Confederate Monument at be­­­nevolence, Carr was given the honorary In January 1910, Carr resigned as president ever lived in Carrboro. Mena Webb, author of University” on June 2, 1913.) title of “General Jule,” and he would often of the textile company, turning over opera- Jule Carr: General without an Army,” implies give speeches dressed in the uniform of a tions to his sons. Julian Carr Jr. was eager to that Julian Jr. may have negotiated the name We have come a long way since the Confederate general. justify the trust of his father and strenuously change to please his father: “The fact that a desegregation of the South, but it is painful With a loan from his father in 1870, Carr devoted himself to improving and expanding mill town called Duke had existed in Harnett to reflect on race relations in Chapel Hill- became a partner in W.T. Blackwell’s tobacco the textile company. New roads and houses County since 1903 probably made the prospect Carrboro a century ago when Carrboro was business in Durham and aggressively market- for mill workers were constructed in the of a similar memorial to the Carr family dou- incorporated. And it is painful to reflect on ed Bull Durham smoking tobacco in North communities where the mills were located. bly pleasing to the head of the clan.” these samples of the beliefs and behavior of America, Europe and Asia, and North Caro- Julian Jr. was progressive and conceived of a While amassing a fortune as a business the man for whom Carrboro is named. lina gained renown as the tobacco capital of “Cooperative Profit-Sharing Plan with the entrepreneur, Carr also established himself as But this is not the legacy of Julian Carr. the world. Within 20 years, Carr became a Employees.” The partnership plan between the premier philanthropist in North Caroli- He was a consummate businessman and millionaire and began to diversify in textiles, labor and management, which came to be na. He helped to establish the Durham Public philanthropist, donating generously to banking, railroads and public utilities. known as “industrial democracy,” was introduced Library, the first public library in the South. several colleges and universities and to many In 1895, Carr formed the Durham Golden in the five textile plants in 1912. It included a When Trinity College threatened closure promising young men, including blacks. Belt Hosiery Company, his first venture in senate, house of representatives and cabinet. due to financial difficulties after the Civil UNC awarded him an honorary doctor of the textile industry. In 1898, he bought the Critics claimed that the purpose was to War, Carr helped to raise funds to move the law degree in 1923. Durham Hosiery Mill from a competitor and prevent unionization, but Julian Jr. insisted college from Randolph County to Durham. When Carr died in 1924, the city of Dur- consolidated equipment from the two mills, that it was to decrease waste, increase produc- Trinity College later became Duke University. ham paid tribute to their beloved son with retaining the “Durham Hosiery Mill” name. tion and raise salaries. Performance over the However, Confederate veteran causes were the most lavish funeral ever held in the city. In 1902, he opened a new state-of-the-art next few years confirmed his expectations. his favorite benevolence. The Southern Railway Company halted all mill. Meanwhile, two sons, Julian Carr Jr. and Meanwhile, the West End community was When the Daughters of the Confederacy trains for an hour to ensure that the funeral Marvin, were being groomed to run the mills incorporated in 1911 as Venable, named for erected a monument in 1913 to students and cortege reached Maplewood Cemetery with- and to carry on the Carr textile dynasty. the then-president of the university. Two alumni from the university who died in the out interruption. Moreover, the mourners In 1909, he purchased two more mills lo- years later, the town was renamed “Carrboro,” Civil War, Carr was asked to give an address. included many blacks, who expressed their cated nearby in a community then known as ostensibly in exchange for the offer of electric Carr’s effusive tribute to the slain soldiers, gratitude “for the kindness and help that the West End (of Chapel Hill). One was small, power from the mills. What is puzzling is that their widows and daughters was widely ac- have come to us through the life of General the Blanche Hosiery Mill, and the second was no photographs of Julian Carr (junior or claimed at the time, but contained passages Julian S. Carr,” a poignant end of the long the Alberta Cotton Mill, which Thomas Lloyd senior) in Carrboro can be found, no mention that are highly offensive today: journey from Appomattox.

5 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Saving the Mill How Carr Mill Mall was Born By Margot Carmichael Lester

he Old Alberta/Durham all industrial textile mills built at the turn of Hosiery Mill complex in the century,” the letter read. the center of downtown In June, the locals began circulating a Carrboro has always been petition: T the heart of the town. For “THE OLD MILL is Carrboro’s major a long time, it was the town. So when plans historic property. We, the undersigned, to demolish the “old mill” surfaced in 1975, registered voters recommend that the Board locals sprang to action. of Aldermen reconsider the decision to allow In 1899, Thomas Lloyd built it to house the demolition of the Mill and reopen the a cotton mill. Lloyd sold the mill in 1909 to discussion about its adaptive reuse. We want Julian S. Carr, for whom the town was later to preserve the identity of our own, and named. Carr expanded in 1912, adding the the identity of Carrboro is tied to the OLD wing that parallels Weaver Street. The mill MILL. We request a public hearing on this operated under different owners until the important issue.” mid-1950s. It was a warehouse for the BVD “Word got around that there was a peti- Company until the early 1960s. At that time, tion going on and it was — I don’t know,” it was sold to local industrialist Duncan Shetley muses. “The board changed their Yaggy, owner of EDY Corp. minds before we could turn it in.” On May 19, 1975, Yaggy led locals, includ- By September, Kaiser-Aetna had decided ing Frances Lloyd Shetley, on a flashlight tour not to renew its option to develop the of the mill, which had been abandoned for 8.8-acre property. Undeterred, Yaggy some time. continued to look for a solution that would “We went in around where Fleet Feet is keep the mill standing. In December 1975, now,” she recalls. “There was no power. It was he presented a new plan to the aldermen dirty – oh, and dark! You’d shine the flash- to renovate the mill for shops and offices light and see spider webs, loose boards, peel- and add a new building and more parking ing paint and things in disrepair.” But Shetley behind it. The plan also ensured the Today’s Carr Mill began its life as a textile mill. Carrboro had at least one active mill and others felt that despite its condition, the preservation of the lawn and as many through the mid-1950s. Courtesy North Carolina Collection mill should be saved. large oaks as possible. Like many in town, Shetley had a connec- Bryan. “The windows were broken, but I saw build a $2 million modern shopping center The plan was approved on May 18, 1977, tion to the mill. the beauty of it even so.” on the mill property. and the renovated mall opened for business “My mother worked there when she was a A group of locals, including Shetley and The president of the Chapel Hill Preser- with tenants that included Harris-Teeter and young woman. You don’t destroy something Ruth West, lobbied to preserve the mill. The vation Society, Nancy Preston, wrote a letter Head Over Heels, both of which still operate that is good,” she says. “That’s one of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen didn’t agree, to Kaiser-Aetna’s president asking him to at the mill. things you need to think about.” however, and in June of 1975 it decided not consider letting the mill stand. “Carr Mill Mall serves as a business and “It was deserted and there was a huge to designate the old mill as a historic structure. “The architectural merit of the structure social anchor for downtown Carrboro with boiler or two outside the building,” says Yaggy continued to negotiate with Kaiser- is based on the face fact that this building was the specialty shops, office spaces for various longtime resident and town Poet Laureate Jay Aetna Corporation, a national developer, to constructed by local craftsmen and typifies agencies and of course the lawn, which is ..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... 1911 March 1911 Fall 1911 1913 May 1916

Carrboro Baptist Church is The N.C. General Assembly ap- “Pioneer and Builder” Thomas In honor of Julian Carr, The state appropriates the annual founded. proves the charters for several Lloyd, the civic leader who built Venable changes its name to Car- sum of 40 cents per mile for main- new towns, including Venable, for- up the mills and shaped the town’s rboro. tenance of a road from Carrboro merly known as West End. economy, dies. to Alamance through White Cross.

6 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 a great social and business meeting place,” ‘This mill, which was abandoned, could come says James Harris, a Carrboro native and the to life again.’ It shows that we can reutilize Happy Anniversary, town’s former economic-development direc- buildings and the way they appear to create a Carrboro! tor. “People just love the activity associated visual landscape that matters.” with the place.” Adds Bryan, “It took a lot of vision to say, carrboro characters

Thomas Lloyd: an industrial genius who recognized the commercial value of the railroad spur, built a steam-powered grist mill and cotton gin by the railhead, then the first cotton mill in 1898. Lloyd was the primary catalyst in the formation of the town of Carrboro. He never learned to read or write.

A Bit of history

John Lawson, who were Siouan. The Sissipa- Great Trading Path, which explored the Piedmont in haw were farmers, while stretched from Virginia to 1701, found a land rich in the Occoneechee and Eno the Charlotte area. When wildlife and populated by were traders. According European settlers arrived five small tribes of Native to Ruth Blackwelder in in the mid-1700s, there Americans. Three were in The Age of Orange, “Oc- were no Native Americans the vicinity of present- coneechee was the usual living in the area. Many had day Carrboro – the trading language used by succumbed to epidemics Occoneechee near most Indians and by their of smallpox, which spread Hillsborough, the Sis- medicine men for sacred from European settle- sipahaw along the Haw ceremonies.” Villages of ments on the Carolina River and the Eno near the Eno and Occoneechee coast in the late 1600s. We like Carrboro so much we took its name! Durham. The first two were located on the 711 W Rosemary St, Carrboro | carrburritos.com | 933.8226

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7 carrboro centennial weaverstreetmarket.coop commemorative facebook.com/weaverstreet twitter.com/weaverstreetapril 2011 A Brief History of Carrboro Mayors 1911-2011 by David otto on t e s y o & o s c our t Pho d Ott Davi R i c har d E llin gt Thomas Mann hughes Lloyd isaac F. Hardee isaac A. West Robert Drakeford he Town of Venable was building, which is the Spotted Dog Restau- Clifton C. Head (1933-1935)—employed as Isaac F. “Dawson” Hardee (1949-1951)— incorporated with a charter rant today. The population of Carrboro when a watchman in the Durham Hosiery Mills. worked at the University Laundry and as a enacted by the General he was elected mayor was 1,129. His daughter Frances edited the Carrboro mailman during WWII. He was active in the Assembly of North Caro­lina Courier, a short-lived newspaper in the 1930s. Carrboro Baptist Church, a temperate man Braxton “Brack” B. Lloyd (1918-1919)—was in 1911, amended to who neither smoked nor drank. T a legendary country doctor in Carrboro Roy Riggsbee (1935-1937)—worked for the re- name the town Carrboro in 1913, and during the first three decades of the 20th cen- Brown and Ferrell Furniture Company in J. Sullivan “Hoot” Gibson (1951-1955)— again in 1915 to reset boundaries. The tury. He was the Carrboro health officer for Durham for many years and then became was an aloof man who was a professor of original charter specified that the officers of decades and served as the munitions plant a partner in the Riggsbee-Hinson Furniture geology at the UNC. the town should consist of a mayor, four physician during World War II. Company, a landmark on Main Street in commissioners, a clerk and treasurer and as Robert. B. Todd (1955-1960)—was manager Carrboro for many years. Riggsbee was many policemen as necessary to maintain Hyde Bryan Durham (1919-1923)—worked of the Longmeadow Dairy on Franklin Street characterized as short, chunky, jovial and peace and order. in the Durham Hosiery Mill. An important in Chapel Hill. He was an outgoing person well-liked in the community. initiative of his first term was the electrifica- that everyone liked. William H. Parker (1911-1917) – operated tion of the town. In 1922, the town approved William H. Parker (1937-1941)—see above a store located in the small triangle near the Charles Taylor Ellington (1960-1966)—was the widening of Main Street and construc- Carrboro Graded School (now Carrboro Robert B. Studebaker (1941-1943)—worked employed as operations yard manager at tion of a sidewalk to relieve congestion and Town Hall). He is remembered as a popular as a railway agent in Carrboro. He was a Fitch Lumber. He was infamous for dismissing ensure the “safety and welfare of citizens.” and respected merchant. popular mayor with a reputation of being traffic tickets in the Mayor’s Court. Seaton E. Lloyd (May-Oct 1923)—resigned very honest. Thomas “Newt” Mann (1917-1918) – moved H. Bryant Hackney (1966-1967)—ran a after six months because he moved out of to Carrboro to manage the Alamance Isaac A. West (1943-1949)—was a foreman floor-finishing business. He was also a mag- town and was no longer eligible to be mayor. Lumber Company, which was located near at the Durham Hosiery Mills. When the mills istrate at the Chapel Hill Police Station and the railway depot. Mann also served as the Thomas N. Mann (Oct 1923-1927)—see above closed, he found employment at the UNC was known as a good man who loved to talk. postmaster of Carrboro for many years when Medical School. He was a congenial, hard- H. Bryan Durham (1927-1933)—see above T. Hughes Lloyd (1967-1971)—was a super- the post office was located in the flatiron working and highly respected member of the visor in the sewer and water division at UNC community.

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8 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 and OWASA. Lloyd had limited education, rboro’s first black mayor. He was a reformer tion and neighborhood restoration. She is but common sense to do what was right. He during a period of transition when the old proud of passing the strictest watershed- A Bit of was kind, helpful, outgoing, hard working guard was replaced by young activists from protection ordinances in the state, starting a and had a wonderful sense of humor. the Carrboro Coalition. Drakeford was a library at McDougle School, building a na- history graduate of the department of city and re- tionally recognized farmers’ market, restoring Robert J. Wells (1971-1975)—managed the gional planning at UNC. He hired the town’s endangered neighborhoods and turning Early settlers purchased land from John Berkshire Manor apartments and served on first professional planner. Carrboro into the “Paris of the Piedmont.” Carteret, Earl of Granville, who was a many local boards and commissions. During Lord Proprietor. Land grants were sold his tenure, extensive paving of streets, instal- James Porto (1983-1987)—presided over the Mike Nelson (1995-2005)—was Carrboro’s in 600-acre (approximately one square lation of water and sewer lines, improvement fastest expansion in the town’s history. The youngest, longest-serving and first openly gay mile) parcels, the minimum amount of police and fire protection and moderniza- town set up a revolving loan fund for small mayor. He later served on the Orange County of land considered necessary for a tion of town government were undertaken. businesses, which spawned the Weaver Street Board of Commissioners. farmer to be self-sufficient. The names Market and Balloons and Tunes. The most Ruth West (1975-1977)—was instrumental Mark Chilton (2005-present)—is an at- of Granville County and Granville Tow- progressive land-use plan in the state and in saving the old mill. Other achievements torney, broker for Community Realty and an ers in Chapel Hill commemorate John a comprehensive transportation plan were included expanding bus service in Carrboro, old mill buff. He served on the Chapel Hill Carteret and the role he played in the approved. clean-up projects and senior citizen programs. Town Council (1991-1997), where he was Colonial history of North Carolina. Ellie Kinnaird (1987-1995)—championed the youngest and first to serve while a UNC Robert Drakeford (1977-1983)—was Car- the environment, arts, downtown revitaliza- undergraduate Flexible Membership Options to Fit Your Budget!

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Carrboro Graded School, now After completing her courses in Fitch Lumber – the Fitch- Carrboro Baptist Church holds After public protest, the Carrboro Town Hall, is built. cosmetology, Mrs. W. H. Parker Riggs – opens a lumberyard and the official dedication of its new Board of Aldermen refuses to en- opens Carrboro’s first beauty store near the train tracks in Car- building on Main Street. The act a set of blue laws proposed by parlor. rboro. building costs about $45,000 and local clergy that would have pro- features 13 Sunday school rooms hibited citizens from patronizing for about 200 students. the swimming pool, soda fountains and garages on Sunday.

9 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 The Trail that Ellie Blazed Ellie Kinnaird’s Carrboro By KIRK ROSS

s Carrboro turns 100, life, Kinnaird has changed a lot of things the azaleas are in bloom about Carrboro. She was drawn into electoral in the Westwood Cem- office after participating with a group that etery. included future Carrboro Board of Alder- A When she looks men members Jay Bryan and Frances Shetley back at her life in Carrboro, state Sen. Ellie in a long fight against development in the Kinnaird mentions those azaleas and the University Lake watershed. After the town trees and plantings in the cemetery with a bit board approved the development, Bryan and of pride. Shetley decided to run for the board. But It was the lack of landscaping at West- they needed someone to run for mayor. wood that drew her to Carrboro Town Hall the first time. As a new neighbor of West- State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird guides her bike wood, she wanted to join the town’s cemetery toward the ribbon as part of the opening committee to advocate for some landscaping. ceremonies for the Roberson Place bike path. When she found out that they had a commit- The path runs from Wesley and Eugene Street tee, but that it didn’t meet, she changed that. to Purple Leaf Place. photo courtesy Throughout her participation in civic of Mariana Fiorentino Cliff’s Meat Market As long as there’s been a town of Carrboro, we’ve been here to serve you. Serving Carrboro for 37 years! Fitch Lumber – since 1907  Meats cut to order Fitch Lumber  Produce, groceries and beverages 309 N. Greensboro St., Carrboro 919-943-3153 Mon-Fri: 8am-5pm • Sat: 9am-Noon 100 West Main st., carrboro 919-942-2196 H Mon-sat 9am-6pm fitchlumber.com ..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... April 1925 October 1926 November 1926 March 1927 August 1928

The town draws up a plan to After deciding to build its own The State Highway Commission A massive snowstorm, said to be A family disagreement breaks into spend $25,000 building a water water system, work begins on new authorizes the extension through the worst since 1898, shuts down the open when 13 nieces and pipe to town from Morgan Creek. lines connecting the university’s Carrboro of the new concrete the town. nephews of Caroline Lloyd, widow water system with Carrboro. road from Raleigh to Chapel Hill. of Thomas Lloyd, file a lawsuit against another cousin contesting her will and the distribution of her estate.

10 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Kinnaird said that during a meeting of From there, she knows her next desti- the group, everyone listed their reasons for nation and speaks candidly about it. She’s not running. got her place picked out in the old town “I didn’t have as good an excuse as anyone cemetery near the railroad tracks and the else,” she said. “So I said, ‘OK.’” bike path. She won, and served four straight terms There’s no hurry, of course. Her focus as mayor, from 1987 to 1995, with a board is the present, particularly one of the most that eventually passed the most stringent difficult legislative sessions she’s had to face watershed protections in the state. and protecting what she has championed As mayor, Kinnaird blazed a trail for during her career in Raleigh. She’s also anyone interested in revitalizing a downtown keeping open the idea of running for actively recruiting businesses and improving reelection, a decision that will likely be amenities like the farmers’ market and add- influenced by this year’s redistricting. ing public spaces. The improvements to Kinnaird said that despite her accom- Carr Court and taking on the state Depart- plishments, she never really won over “Old ment of Transportation to lay the ground- Carrboro” – the families with longtime ties work for the town’s bicycle infrastructure to the place, who grew up in a much different are among her points of pride. In her years place than the Carrboro that evolved with the as mayor, you could often see her riding her booming Triangle. bicycle through town with a violin stowed in “They saw their town changing before the back basket. their eyes,” she said. “Old Carrboro didn’t She moved up to the state legislature like me.” in 1996 and started a long-term effort to But after one meeting, Herman Wilson, improve the state’s juvenile-justice system. the man for whom Wilson Park is named, Naturally, she has been a champion for took her aside. “He said, ‘I may not agree environmental causes, and in 2003 led a suc- with most of what you stand for, but you’re Renaissance Rumford Fireplace cessful fight in the senate for a bill calling for the best thing that ever happened to this www.renaissancefireplaces.com a moratorium on the death penalty. town.’ It was the best praise I could have Kinnaird no longer resides in Carrboro. Her ever had.” son has taken over at the little place on West Poplar that she called home for so many years. She moved to Carol Woods in Chapel Hill ■ 919.968.8101 ■ www.fireplaceeditions.com■ 311 East Main St, Carrboro after marrying her sweetheart, Daniel Pollitt, who passed away last year. ■ Open: Tues-Fri 11-5:30, Sat 9-2, and by appointment

Congratulations to the citizens of Carrboro past and present!

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THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL Happy 100th Birthday Carrboro!

VASQUE • THE NORTH FACE • PATAGONIA • KEEN • PRANA • TEVA • BIRKENSTOCK • CARHARTT • CHACO • S M A R

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Around the world O O L

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for your next adventure! A R N

23 years in Carrboro! T O

Carr Mill between Fleet Feet and Weaver Street Market U 919-933-9712 • Mon-Fri 10-7, Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5 G H WOOLRICH • STONEWEAR • GRAMICCI • KELTY • MARMOT • DANSKO • ROYAL ROBBINS • MERRELL • TOMS • scrapbook

The lawn in front of Weaver Street Market at Carr Mill Mall serves as a de facto town square. The historic oaks draw locals and tourists alike in all seasons. PHOTOS BY ALEX MANESS.

Caption PHOTO BY.

12 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Becoming a Leader Mike Nelson, and a Town, Come of Age By Jackie Helvey and Margot Carmichael Lester

lected to the Carrboro large development. Members claimed the Board of Aldermen in development, as initially proposed, was not 1993, Mike Nelson was a good fit for Carrboro. This act helped only 29 at the time. In change the conversation between the town E 1995, Mike was elected government and developers, setting better the first gay mayor in North Carolina history. expectations of what was appropriate for Folks in Carrboro were a lot more concerned Carrboro. Eventually, Lake Hogan Farms about the fact that he was only 31 than the was approved, but with the recommenda- fact that he was gay. tions set forth. “Carrboro became a leader instead of Another landmark decision for Carrboro waiting for somebody else to do it,” recalls was the purchase of the Carrboro Baptist the former mayor, who moved to Carrboro Church building in 1997. The renovated in 1987. Changes that had been in the mak- property, located in the middle of down- ing since the 1970s and ’80s in Carrboro town between North Greensboro, Main and gelled in the 1990’s. “After years of laying the Weaver streets, made a major impact. Now groundwork, everything came together. The known as the Century Center, it houses the local government became progressive. The Carrboro Recreation & Parks Department, face of Carrboro was changing. the Carrboro Police Department, the Cybrary “That board, the folks who served with (Carrboro’s downtown library), meeting me starting in 1993, was never afraid to show rooms and a huge hall upstairs for dances, leadership and do things, no matter how classes, film screenings and other special hard it was, no matter what the repercussions HELVEY BY JACKIE PHOTO events. That purchase is Nelson’s proudest were,” Nelson says. also took an important step in its progressive crimination against some types of families,” accomplishment. “They had a clear vision for what the shift by offering domestic partners registra- Nelson says. “Carrboro desperately needed a down- town could be and should be. We understood tion, the first municipality of any size to do In his first year as mayor, the board of town library, a community space for perfor- what was happening in Carrboro and how so in North Carolina. alderman voted down Lake Hogan Farms — mances, dances, meetings and community rare it is to have a town that’s that engaged “We needed to do our part to end dis- the first time the board turned down a and other social events,” he explains. He says and that cool with change,” he continues. the library access issue is one of the most im- “These were people who weren’t afraid to do portant facing Carrboro’s current leadership. what needed to be done in the best interest of carrboro “One would think this would be an easy our town, even if it was hard and even if we characters is­sue to address. Everyone likes libraries, got beat up a little bit.” Hilliard Caldwell: a prominent black community leader for many years. He organized right?” During Nelson’s terms as a board member sit-ins to oppose segregation and served as a member of the Carrboro Board of Nelson served five consecutive terms and mayor, Carrboro’s food and arts scenes Aldermen from 1981 to 1997. When black students rebelled against callous treatment as mayor, overseeing a decade of positive were nurtured. Nelson was an original mem- at Chapel Hill High School during integration, Caldwell was hired as liaison between change for the Paris of the Piedmont. ber of both the Carrboro Arts Committee students and administration. His skillful leadership is credited with calming racial “From my perspective, the 1990s was the and the Carrboro Music Festival Committee tension during this difficult period. most important decade in Carrboro’s his- (originally Fête de la Musique). Carrboro tory,” he says...... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... November 1928 January 1929 July 1929 May 1930 October 1931

Like the rest of Orange County, A major flu epidemic hits Chapel Carrboro principal C.A. Hoyle Mill officials announce that the No. Clearing and site work begin on a Carrboro supports Herbert Hill and Carrboro. UNC closes, re- is named supervisor of both the 4 spinning room will close down as new university reservoir, including Hoover over Al Smith in the sulting in losses to local businesses. Chapel Hill and Carrboro schools, soon as it depletes its stock, with construction of a 380-foot-long presidential election. Hoover takes with both schools covering his the No. 4 knitting room to follow. dam on Morgan Creek. 367 votes to Smith’s 99. Brownie salary. In a further indication of About 175 workers lose their jobs Ray of Carrboro wins a close race consolidation, Carrboro children for Orange County commissioner are allowed to attend the Chapel for the GOP. Hill high school tuition-free.

13 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 THE ROMANCE OF POVERTY Carrboro Kids by Daphne Athas

was petrified of Carrboro kids tinues, disturbing our inscribed American when I moved to Chapel Hill,” equality. a Chapel Hill High School One hot night in 1941, past 2 a.m., alumnus of the 1940s genera- when Wayne and I were returning from the I tion told me at a recent reading library, we felt the powdered dust of unpaved where I’d described Carrboro as a “mill town, Weaver Street seep through the holes of our with dirt roads stinking of dust and dogs and sneakers like hot silk. The shadows of oaks in with rednecks and redbugs living under hot streetlights swayed on the dirt in the breeze, tin roofs.” and the town was asleep. The dogs were too. He went on: “I’d never met lower-class We were lone witnesses. The trees soughed, people before, mill people, truck kids – I the powerful shadows loomed and bent, and don’t know what I expected … but when massive, disembodied giants from the spirit I got used to them and saw they were just world cast a message on earth. people like me, I felt shame.” An unrecognized melding of influences Maybe it was the word “shame.” I caught proceeded from that ’40s generation. Chapel the old stigma of Carrboro again and Hill rubbed off on Carrboro, and Carrboro blushed. on Chapel Hill. Jacques Menache was the My first boyfriend, Wayne Williams, was a son-in-law of Milton A. Abernethy, the first boy from Carrboro mesmerized by the books Daphne Athas. PHOTO BY Daniel Wallace owner of the Intimate Bookshop, a disgraced in our shack, our piano, oriental rug, a communist. Menache started The ArtSchool carpetbag and the bohemian relics of our Williams, who was brought up dirt poor in How to explain disconnect? Marie Antoi- in Carrboro. Wallace Kuralt, brother of cultured former life on the Atlantic Ocean in Reconstruction, became a professor, made nette, who built and played at peasantry in Charles, took over the Intimate but moved to Massachusetts before1929 and the 10-year money and bought Carrboro mill houses her Petit Trianon, milking cows, raising veg- Carrboro. Depression. Our social demotion was radical, dirt cheap when the mill closed? He’d be a etables with ladies-in-waiting, asked, when Weaver Street got paved, Weaver Street ending up in a shack up on Merritt Mill Road slumlord today. the revolution came, why people marched. Market became the Carrboro center. Devel- in a university town because our father Wayne hated ignorance – his father went Told they had no bread, her puzzled sugges- opers chose millhouses as Carrboro’s cutting- wanted us to get an education. All I did was to the fourth grade, his mother to the eighth. tion was: “Let ’em eat cake.” edge dream style, and when Carrboro’s thank my lucky stars to be inside the Chapel Yet he defended Carrboro people, because How come the trendy suburban white taxes exceeded Chapel Hill’s and music Hill town limits, even though it was the black they’d moved from dirt-poor farms to mills boys of the ’60s and ’70s grooved on the groups made the big-time, it became cooler section. for work and exemplified the stubborn, yeo- subversive rage of inner-city blacks and made than Seattle. Wayne and I dissected hidden motives man streak of North Carolinians in America. the music industry rich? I believed on the night of giants that I was behind altruism and egotism. Altruists were Carrboro people never wanted to be part of If we’re the underdog, our myths trend learning the meaning of the world, because 85 percent patronizing because they could af- Chapel Hill. toward the powerful. If we’re the privileged, I was learning Carrboro. Now that I cannot ford to be; they’d never been poor and didn’t He’d trained himself to remove the taint they bend toward the disenfranchised. Weak feel shame, I ponder anew. know any better. Underdogs were forced to and learned to be objective. I recognized mortals glory when automobiles leap from become egotistical SOBs because they saw the bootstrap-pioneer spirit of America for the top of a mountain in TV ads to the fruit- through hypocrisy like slaves had always seen the first time, yet secretly, hypocritically still ful plain below. Our clashing of wampum, through masters. And how about Horace thanked god I’d escaped the label. culture, competition and education con- ..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... 1933 February 1934 1937 February 1940 JUne 1940

Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7 on Mary Lloyd Head debuts The Car- The passenger train to Greens- When the two Durham Hosiery According to the 1940 census, Roberson Street closes down. rboro Courier, a local newspaper. boro and Durham makes its last Mills close during the Great De- the population of Carrboro is run. Along the way, the passengers, pression, the university hires many 1,455; Chapel Hill, 3,653; and mostly townspeople, saying fare- former mill workers in the dining Hillsborough, 1,317. The popula- well, stop for a picnic lunch. halls as building maintenance staff. tion of Carrboro had decreased Others find jobs in mills located during the 1930s when both mills in Durham, Burlington, Saxapahaw closed. and Swepsonville.

14 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Foushee Takes a Seat A Chat with Braxton Foushee By Taylor Sisk

Reprinted From The Carrboro Citizen, May 17, 2007

nce – when there was no allowed in but you couldn’t sit down – you tered office, many of the streets in the black Caribou Café, nothing in had to get your stuff and go.” communities in Carrboro were still unpaved. the way of a sandwich that Of the changes that were then demanded “We made some inroads in getting those wraps and certainly no and ultimately earned, Foushee says, “[A] streets paved, [getting] some reparations O luxury boutique hotel – t that time, the majority of our parents were started. And I reckon the next proudest thing Braxton Foushee sat down at Colonial Drug working for the university or doing domestic was that we hired a black town manager,” to be served. work. And here come a bunch of young black Richard Wright. Chapel Hill was even then a bit more kids … and we could shape the town. When Meanwhile, Foushee raised his family progressive than the majority of the South, you look back on it, that’s what happened – here. He has four children – two sons: one and a young black man’s money was readily we shaped the whole scope of the town and works for the Durham public schools, the accepted in a Franklin Street business such as the university. Because now they had to deal other is a warehouse manager for Harris-Tee- Colonial. But that young man’s subsequent with us, [we] who had no connections to ter; and two daughters: one with the Durham presence certainly was not. Order to go and them and didn’t give a damn.” Housing Authority, the other a chemist. be gone – that was the nature of it when Foushee’s days in organized politics began From where he sits today, he believes Car- Foushee and others instead sat to be served. doing leg work for legendary local activist rboro’s growth has largely been for the better. It was February 1960. For nearly a half cen- Rebecca Clark: “I think one of our biggest accomplish- tury, Foushee has continued to live a life in “Rebecca Clark, bless her sweet heart. I ments was saving this building right here,” he service to his community. did voter registration with Rebecca Clark … says of Carr Mill. “Because [prior to that], we Foushee sat on the Carrboro Board of Al- that’s how I got involved in politics. couldn’t get people downtown; downtown dermen from 1969 to ‘81 and on the OWASA “And then I got into my middle 20s and was dying. board of directors from ’86 to ‘88. He’s now [a friend] kept saying, ‘Why don’t you run for “I think we’ve done a good job of manag- returned to the OWASA board. the Carrboro board?’ And I said, ‘No, you’re ing growth – and if you don’t do a good job Though he doesn’t often speak of his role crazy; I wouldn’t stand a chance.’ of managing growth, it gets away from you. in helping to integrate local businesses and “We mulled over that for about a year, That’s what happened to a lot of small towns schools, Foushee remembers well this segre- two years. And then we did what we normally around Research Triangle Park. Actually, we gated Southern Part of Heaven. did – we started counting. We looked back were prepared for the growth. I just think we “After Sunday school we would go across on the historical records, the voting schemes knew what we wanted to see Carrboro look [to Colonial], because that was the custom at in Carrboro, and we decided that we might like in 10 to 15 years, with the basic concept the time – you’d go across the street and get have a shot. So I went in and I put my name of bringing people downtown.” your hot dog or hamburger or either a soda in.” He won. “I think it’s a great area to raise a family.” pop, ice cream, candy or whatever, and you’d As Carrboro’s first black alderman, get that from Colonial Drug or from Long Foushee remembers quite a number of 6-1

ss o by kirk ro Meadow Dairy. votes. His proudest achievement while serv- t “We went to either one of those places for ing on the board, he says, was bringing bus

p ho little refreshments after church, and we were lines to Carrboro. He recalls that when he en-

Felicitaciones a Carrboro! Félicitations à Carrboro! Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Carrboro!

CHICLE Language Institute 101 East Weaver St., 3rd Floor Carrboro (919) 933-0398 www.chi-cle.com | [email protected]

15 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A Few Moments with Beulah Beulah Hackney Reflects on a Life Well Spent By Taylor Sisk

Reprinted From The Carrboro Citizen, March 27, 2008

eulah Hobby eloped. says. But not for long. “He stayed one week, You see, she’d been busy and he came home, and he didn’t tell me why all summer and hadn’t he came home. yet told her mother “But my son asked him one day, years Babout that boy, Bryant later. David was real curious and wanted to Hackney. She’d forever kept busy; so busy, in know why he didn’t stay and finish school. fact, through high school – what with being And he told him, ‘Well, there was a little captain of the basketball team and all – that blonde that lived up in Chatham County …’ she’d had no time to take notice of the boy “He couldn’t stay away.” himself till that May – May of ’35. And they married. “I didn’t date him till we finished high She laughs now good, at that memory, school in May,” Beulah Hackney recalls today, back on that ride from Halifax. sitting in the living room of her Oak Street They kept the marriage secret for a time; home, three days shy of her 90th birthday. returned home like nothing had happened. She grew up on Andrews Store Road, seven “When you’re that young. I don’t know or eight miles south of town; he grew up why.” outside of Pittsboro. “We graduated in the same class. But I Whatever the notion never dated him or had anything to do with Beulah Hackney lives in the moment. She’s a him until right after we graduated. Oh, I morning person. Her day begins with “what- knew him. But I was doing other things, I ever I take a notion to do. had no time for him.” “I do a lot of crafts. That’s one thing I

We’re looking at a photo of the Class ss BY K i r k Ro TO enjoy doing; and that’s one thing that keeps of ’35. She’s middle left; almost smiling; me busy. cherubic. PHO “But I don’t plan days unless I have a doc- “Do I look the same?” she asks, and she tor’s appointment or hair appointment, or if does. “So that’s the first time I’d ever dated him. were as yet unaware of the courtship that had I do something for one of the children. But He’s seated front, arms crossed; certain of But after I dated him – that was it. We started blossomed that summer. just kind of do what I feel like doing. his future – but little did he know. dating in May and got married in September. At the end of the summer, Bryant “I like to read; I read right much.” “My friend invited me to go to White We ran away and got married.” Hackney went off to Louisburg College on a “There aren’t enough hours in the day for Lake with her, and he was in the group To Halifax, Virginia, and back. Back to baseball scholarship. Mom,” says her daughter Jean Ward. “She’s that went. the homes of their respective parents, who “He was a baseball pitcher,” Ms. Hackney 90, and she’s till maintaining her home, lives

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16 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 alone, gets in her car and goes where she her family’s view of her eloping. “Of course, Her husband died in January 1990. satisfied with it. But you still think about the wants.” you know, they didn’t like it. Because my “He worked in the floor-sanding busi- small town, and how you knew most of the “I just don’t like to depend on other mother wanted me to go to nursing school. ness until his health got real bad. He had a people.” people to do everything for me,” Ms. Hack- But, course, she couldn’t send me because she heart attack, and he couldn’t lift the heavy But that was then – and it ain’t so bad ney says, “and I hope to be like that as long didn’t have the money.” machines. And so he started working with now. The Century Center is “a nice place as I live.” Bryant Hackney stuck though; was the court system. now to have a party” – it hosted her 90th, She makes jewelry, paints, has weaved deemed a fine choice: “My mother thought a “He retired from that job in November, and quite a crowd came. And on a slow day countless baskets and is now into wood lot of him, always. the last part of November, and he died Janu- there, she can sometimes scare up a game of carving. “But, anyway, we had a good life. And had ary the 20th. So we didn’t get to do any of the dominoes. “I started carving before my husband five children, and kept him busy working and things that he planned to do after he retired. But sometimes, says her daughter Jean, died, so that’s been 17 years. I don’t sell them. kept me busy working too.” I’ve lived here alone ever since.” she prefers being with younger folks, away I just do them for myself or leave them for The Hackney’s moved to Carrboro in 1941. She’s seen the town change quite a bit, from the potential for talk of aches and pains my family.” Their first home was at the corner of and considers it in sum a mixed blessing. She and adjustments in medication. Weaver and Center streets, and they moved expects to see quite a bit more. “She enjoys continuing the learning pro- Making a home several times before settling in the house on “It seems that a lot of people that are cess,” Jean says. There just aren’t enough “There was not too much they could do or Oak Street, which Mr. Hackney built mostly coming here enjoy this small town … and I hours in the day.. say about it,” Beulah Hackney says, about himself. try and go along with the changing and be

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A Thomas Lloyd marker on The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. The Munitions Corporation A Civil Defense Blackout Plan is Employees of the munitions plant Weaver Street in front of the Armed guards are posted 24 hours purchases Durham Hosiery Mill put in effect. When the fire siren are awarded the Army-Navy “E” mill is unveiled to honor the a day at the University Lake dam No. 7 and converts it to a sounds, everyone is required to for excellent performance, the industrial genius responsible for and power plant. Local citizens are Munitions Plant to assemble anti- turn out their lights. If driving a highest award for civilians. Brief the emergence of the town of recruited to help. aircraft shells. The purpose of the vehicle, you must go to the side of speeches are given by James For- Carrboro. Speakers include Gov. plant is kept secret for decades. The the road, turn out your lights and restal, undersecretary of the Navy, J.M. Broughton, Rep. Archibald plant operates around the clock seek shelter. The penalty for failing Gov. J.M. Broughton, Frank Porter Henderson, Mayor Studebaker and provides much-needed employ- to do so is a $10 fine. Graham, the Hon. Josephus Dan- and Frank Porter Graham, ment for hundreds of Carrboro iels and Rep. Carl Durham. president of the university. residents, primarily women.

17 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Hello‘‘ summer, goodbye cold. Come join us with friends, family and tales of old. The Return of Sparrow’s Pool By Susan Dickson

Reprinted from The Carrboro Citizen, July 16, 2010

A postcard from the Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards shows a photo of Sparrow’s Pool, with the caption, “The Sparrow Pool. A clean, beautiful pool — with filtered water from theU niversity Reservoir. Use the Chapel Hill-Carrboro bus.” Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archive 18 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 ucked away in the hills off We now get filtered water from the Univer- occasion to reunite the pool’s former regu- “If some of the women were to come South Greensboro Street, sity, and it is changed frequently lars, though the pool remains empty. down here on Sunday afternoon and swim in down a dirt path and We have a new spring board, a new diving “It just meant a lot to the community,” Sparrow’s pool, they wouldn’t let them go to across a wooden bridge stand, and a new cement walk around the pool. Jane Kendall said. church the next Sunday,” Lloyd said. over a creek, sits an old She tracked down Lawrence McAdams, T There are two shower baths for men and one empty swimming pool. Dappling sunlight whose mother was best friends with Bob The future of the pool comes through the thick canopy of trees, and for women. Sparrow and who spent countless hours in Because the pool is far from meeting today’s the echo of the chatter of Carrboro youth of We promise our patrons a clean place and the the swimming pool. McAdams helped her standards and regulations, the Kendalls aren’t years past is almost audible. best of service.” locate other Sparrow Pool regulars, includ- sure whether they’ll be able to restore it for The property at 116 Old Pittsboro Road ing Glenn Michael “Micky” Sparrow, Joseph swimming. Regardless, they want to restore The flier also notes that wool bathing suits – the house atop the hill keeping watch, a Sparrow’s grandson. the property in some way, and possibly use could be rented for 25 cents, cotton for 15 cents. meandering stonewall and the old Sparrow Thomas “Bo” Taylor, a longtime lifeguard it as an educational space for kids to learn The pool remained open until 1958, when Pool – is magical. The shadows cast on the at the pool, said he spent all his summer days about the environment or other topics. it became too much for Mattie Sparrow to old cement-sloped swimming pool suggest and evenings there, “from the time I was a “We ultimately want to put a conserva- manage after her husband died in 1955. In ghosts of those who once bathed here. little boy until I joined the Army.” tion easement on this property,” Logan Ken- 1961, she moved to Pine Street and sold the A couple of weeks ago, a group of old Taylor and his brother Hubert were in dall said. “It really was a ruin that we thought house to the Bost family, who used the pool friends and former neighbors, some of whom charge of mowing the grass, watching over really needed to be preserved.” just for family and friends. had not seen one another for years, got the pool and keeping everyone in line. Some Despite the obstacles, Jane Kendall said The property changed hands several more together at their old gathering place. They evenings, the parking area would get so full she hopes she’ll be able to use the pool for times over the years. Before the Kendalls caught up with each other, shared old stories that Taylor had to go up the hill to move cars swimming, and wants the party to become an bought it, it was rented to the Carrboro and wandered around the place where they around to allow people to get in and out. annual event. Greenspace Collective, which showed movies used to spend so many lazy summer days. The “This brings back some good memories,” “You never know,” Jane Kendall said. in the pool and housed members in the old nostalgia in their voices was evident as they said Sandy Lloyd, who spent many happy Sparrow home. “Next time, you may really need a suit.” recalled their adventures at Sparrow’s Pool. days around the old property. Lloyd lived up Jane and Logan Kendall bought the A reunion the hill from the pool in his youth and still 10.5-acre property about a year and a half lives in Carrboro. After renovating their new home, the Kend- Sparrow’s Pool was a hotspot for ago. They have since lovingly restored the old “Well, this was the only place that you had to alls wanted to hold an event that would serve Carrboro youth during the summer months. house and now are digging pieces of history go,” he said. not only as a housewarming party but as an Courtesy the Watts Collection from the land surrounding it. They spent months tracking down those who used to swim in the pool and pass Saturday nights in the dance hall, then sent out an invitation – using a 90-year-old advertisement announcing the pool’s opening – to a party. “Hello summer, goodbye cold. Come join us with friends, family, and tales of old,” the invitation read. The pool Joseph Sparrow and his wife, Mattie Sparrow, known to the community as “Mrs. Bob,” built the pool down the hill from their Carrboro home at the end of World War I. They opened it to the public and charged admission, and it quickly became a popular hangout for those hoping to escape the summer heat. An ad in a 1923 copy of the Chapel Hill Weekly announcing the reopening of the pool reads: “The swimming pool in Carrboro will open day after tomorrow, Saturday, May 5. On that day all who bring their own bathing suits may use the pool without charge...... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... March 1943 April 1945 August 1945 August 1945 April 1947

The Farmers Mutual Exchange The first bolt of woolen military According to the Chapel Hill The Carrboro Munitions Plant An ordinance is passed prohibiting (predecessor of Southern States) cloth, made on contract for Weekly, “When the news of the closes abruptly at the end of roller-skating on the streets and opens a Carrboro branch to the government, comes off Japanese surrender came over the the war, throwing hundreds out sidewalks of Carrboro. The penalty provide marketing and purchasing the looms in the modernized Car- radio … the college bells began a of work. for violating the ordinance is $2. services to local farmers. rboro Woolen Mills, which now joyful pealing and a moment later has air conditioning and the air was rent by blasts from the fluorescent lighting. fire alarm siren in the Town Hall.” The siren and church bells were also sounded in Carrboro.

19 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Educating Carrboro A School System Coalesces by Susan Dickson

hartered in 1909 as the Cha- The school burned down in 1942, and Cha- pel Hill Graded-School Dis- pel Hill High School used makeshift facilities trict, Chapel Hill-Carrboro until 1947, when a new high school was built City Schools has certainly to the west of the elementary school on West C seen its share of growth and Franklin Street. change over the century. Though Carrboro Meanwhile, Orange County Training hasn’t always been part of the district – voters School for black students opened on the west didn’t choose to join Chapel Hill schools side of Merritt Mill Road in 1916, serving all until 1959 – the rich history of CHCCS is grades until it burned down in 1922. The sec- integral to that of Carrboro. ond OCTS opened in 1924 on donated land The district’s early history is somewhat adjacent to the Northside neighborhood. fragmented, with all Carrboro schools and The early black schools joined the district the black schools in Carrboro and Chapel in 1930 after the black community voted in Hill under the auspices of Orange County favor of the special district tax and a longer Schools. school year. In 1948, the school was renamed Chapel Hill Public School, which opened on West Franklin Street in 1916 where Uni- R.D. and Euzelle Smith are the longtime versity Square stands today, stopped serving local educators for whom Smith Middle high school students in 1936, when a new School was named. Photo by Maciek high school was built on Columbia Street. Krzysztoforski Happy Anniversary Carrboro Wake up with Ron!

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20 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Lincoln High School, and in 1951 the new Lincoln High School on Merritt Mill Road carrboro began serving black students in grades seven characters through 12. Northside Elementary School served grades one through six in the former William Peerman: a popular football Lincoln High location. coach at Lincoln High School from Carrboro didn’t join the district until 1962-66. His 1964 team won the N.C. 1959, when Carrboro residents voted to leave Class 2A championship, going undefeat- Orange County Schools. Carrboro Elementary ed, untied, with no points scored against School, which opened at its Shelton Street them. When the schools were inte- location in 1957, had previously been housed grated, Peerman was demoted to in what is now Carrboro Town Hall. assistant coach at Chapel Hill High The newly formed Chapel Hill-Carrboro School. City Schools faced early struggles, however, as integration began sweeping the nation fol­­low­ing the 1954 Brown v. Board of Charles McDougle: the principal of Educa­tion decision. The school board made Orange County Training School, the first move toward desegregation in 1960, renamed Lincoln High School, from when Estes Hills Elementary School became 1946-66, when the Chapel Hill-Carr- the district’s first school to serve both white boro Schools were integrated. He Diane Koistinen: Carrboro’s known for its large number of locally owned businesses and its and black students. As more steps were made demanded strict discipline of students music scene. Diane Koistinen is the embodiment of both. Koistinen owns the Beehive salon toward integration, Carrboro residents and faculty, but was widely respected as in the heart of downtown Carrboro, which offers a full range of salon services, regularly lodged protests, but by 1963 students were fair and caring. McDougle Elementary exhibits local artists’ work and holds annual fundraisers for various local charities. When she’s being assigned to schools based on where and Middle schools are named after him. not “doing hair, ” Koistinen fronts New Town Drunks, a popular local band that plays “smoky they lived rather than the color of their skin, and folky” original tunes, with her husband, Robert Cofresí. PHOTO BY AEX MANESS with the school board setting an example for others across the state who continued to make assignments based on race. scrapbook In 1966, Chapel Hill High School opened where it stands today on High School Road, serving all black and white students in the district. The years that followed were shaped by enormous growth and the opening of new schools. The nationally recognized school district, which has grown to 17 schools, now includes Carrboro’s very own Carrboro High School, which opened in 2007.

Special thanks to Mia Burroughs, who compiled a district timeline outlining the CHCCS history.

The Carrboro High School band prepares to lead thousands of walkers down Frank- lin Street at the Walk for Education. The annual event is a fundraiser for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation. PHOTOS BY MACIEK KRZYSZTOFORSKI Students from Carrboro Elementary School walk in the Walk for Education.

..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... December 1947 September 1950 JUne 1951 September 1952 January 1954

Carrboro firemen are guests of The first live football game avail- A cow-milking contest between Merritt Mill Road, from the west Carrboro gets its first real snow honor at a jolly party given by J.B. able to local viewers is broadcast, Chapel Hill and Carrboro is end of Cameron Avenue to the in 6 years­—a half-inch of sleet and Goldston. Much of the conversa- from WFMY in Greensboro, with held before a baseball game at new Lincoln High School, is paved. 4 inches of snow. The Chapel Hill tion has to do with the past and UNC taking on Notre Dame. Carrboro Athletic Park. Both The school board had pushed for Weekly reports that “taxicab men, present of the Carrboro Volunteer Broadcast power is soon upped teams are headed up by the better access to the school. with the help of chains on their Fire Department. Since it was from 500 watts to 5,000 watts, and mayors of their respective towns. wheels, did their best to answer organized 20 years ago, it has been the World Series is later shown as the fury of calls.” By midweek, distinguished by its keen public well. There are some 150 TV sets temperatures are up to 60. spirit and high morale. in the Carrboro-Chapel Hill area.

21 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Marilyn Chaplin, a proud member of Generation Obama, takes a call at the Midway Barber Shop. She’s making plans to head up to Washington D.C. for the inauguration. Photo by Kirk Ross

Carrboro Economics 101 The Evolution of a Mill Town By Margot Carmichael Lester

efore Carrboro estab- ies began popping up around town, and The lished itself as a haven ArtsCenter expanded to offer more exhibi- for the arts – culinary, tion and classroom space. musical and otherwise The music business came into its own in B – it was an industrial the 1990s, when, in 1993, Cat’s Cradle moved town serving local farmers, the growing town to Main Street. At least two record labels of Chapel Hill and the burgeoning University called the town home, including Mammoth of North Carolina. Records, which was later bought by Disney. By the time the settlement was incorpo- In 1997, the Carrboro Music Festival began, rated as Venable in 1911, its cotton gin and attracting bands and audiences from around grist and flour mills had been operating for the state. almost two decades, a business district had sprung up along the rail line and Fitch Lumber Increasing affluence Co. was four years old. In 1913, the Southern Beginning in the late 1970s, affluent people Railroad built a depot on Main Street. The were drawn to Carrboro, thanks to its afford- economy was driven by these industrial ability (compared to Chapel Hill), access to pursuits, which Chapel Hill eschewed. quality schools and the allure of its small- town atmosphere. This supported the build- The industrial age ing and architecture sectors, driving develop- Four textile mills, employing about 300 ment west, south and north of downtown. people, both black and white, hummed Back in the early days, Carrboro had its own local bank. Courtesy Richard Ellington Over time, property taxes rose sharply along until The Great Depression. By1939, to support the town’s burgeoning infra- Julian Carr’s Durham Hosiery Mills were structure. In 2009, the property-tax burden sold at auction. In 1942, one dormant mill thanks in part to the nation’s growing obses- apartment complexes sprang up along became too much for many people affected was brought back to life when the National sion with automobiles, which dampened “the bypass” (N.C. 54) when the university by the 2007 financial crisis. A “tax revolt” Munitions Corporation used it to assemble railroad growth. decided to allow students to live off campus. ensued, but was unsuccessful. anti-aircraft weapons, putting 1,600 people In 1976, a major restoration of the Alberta/ back to work. In 1945, Pacific Mills bought Growth of trades and services Durham Hosiery Mill No. 4 (see “Saving the The culinary economy the largest mill (now Carr Mill Mall) for After World War II, the university grew, Mill” chapter) began, revitalizing the local The increasing affluence of Carrboro resi- Carrboro Woolen Mills, employing about requiring skilled labor to care for its existing service and retail sectors. dents also sowed the seeds of the culinary 525 people. It ran until the mid-1950s, after infrastructure and new facilities. This was economy. The Orient Express brought fine which it served as a warehouse. good news for Carrboro’s trade- and crafts- The creative class dining and desserts to locals, while Mamma In the 1920s, Carrboro was one of the people, who found work on campus instead A creative class began to take hold in the Martini’s featured authentic Italian fare and largest cross-tie markets in the South. Local of in the mills. Thus began Carrboro’s transi- 1960s and ’70s as artists were drawn by the local ingredients. Two major developments farmers harvested the rich oak forests for tion from an industrial hub. affordable rents of old mill houses. The strengthened the local farming community: the Southern Railroad to mill into ties that The building and design sectors grew ArtSchool (now The ArtsCenter) opened in The Farmers’ Market opened in 1979 and sold for about 50 cents apiece. By the end of considerably in the 1960s and ’70s through 1975, creating a home (and work opportuni- the Weaver Street Market co-op opened in the 1930s, however, this business dried up, new construction and adaptive reuse. Large ties) for local artists. By the 1980s, art galler- 1988, increasing the availability of high-

A Bit of history

Colonial settlement in the to the Carolinas. The popu- included Thomas Lloyd and Matt Neal of vicinity of Carrboro began lation rapidly increased John Hogan (1750s), Gil- Neal’s Deli on S. in the 1740s with the to about 4,500 by 1752, bert Strayhorn (1769) and Greensboro Street. migration of Scotch-Irish when Orange County was Thomas Weaver (1811). Photo by ALEX from Pennsylvania. The lure established. The county These families have been MANNESS of cheap land encour- was named for William prominent in the history of aged second-generation of Orange, who was the Orange County since the colonists to follow the King of England from 1689 beginning. Great Trading Path south to 1702. Early settlers

22 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A Bit of history

Trucks wait to load locally harvested pulp wood at the depot in the 1950s. Courtesy the Watts Collection

Robert Hoke, a plummeted and the mine provided transportation self-effacing and largely was closed. from the train depot to unknown Confederate campus. Hack drivers general, owned an iron Beginning in the late 1800s, would race back and forth mine located on the Whooper, an old engine to the depot to see who border of present-day with a wood-fired boiler, could get passengers to Carrboro and Chapel Hill. provided regular pas- their destination fastest. A rail spur to the main senger and freight service Construction of a new line near Hillsborough was between University Station road between Chapel Hill needed to transport iron near Hillsborough and and Durham in the early ore to market. Although the West End of Cha- 1930s provided faster bus funds were scarce after pel Hill. The train made service to the university the war, Hoke had many several runs each day. and the Whooper ceased friends in Raleigh and lob- Horse-drawn hackneys passenger runs in 1935. bied hard to win support Marilyn Chaplin, a stylist, discusses Obama’s victory with a customer on Nov. 5, 2008. for the rail spur. Kemp Stephen Edwards opened the Midway Barbershop on Rosemary Street in 1947. Run today Plummer Battle, president by Stephen’s son Step Edwards, Midway Barbershop is the oldest black-owned business in Carrboro. of the university, was also Photo by Kirk Ross keen on the rail spur to quality organic and locally produced items. locally owned businesses, including home- provide transportation In the 1990s, the Spanish-speaking popu- based enterprises. It is working toward for students and faculty lation grew dramatically, giving rise to eater- building a sustainable local living economy to and from the university. ies and mercados offering regional fare and through town-sponsored programs like the Battle and Hoke convinced increasing the diversity of dining options. revolving loan fund and business-led initia- legislators to fund the rail The Acme Food & Beverage Co. opened to tives like LocalMotive and Walk Carrboro, spur, which was completed national acclaim. which aim to create a stronger commercial in 1882. By that time, Today, Carrboro thrives due to many base for the town. the price of iron ore had ..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... July 1955 July 1955 June 1956 JUne 1957 January 1958

A gas war ensues in Carrboro. The county commissioners address UNC student George Hamilton The Carrboro School Advisory Carrboro begins home delivery of Three Esso stations drop prices federal school integration require- IV and his Country Gentlemen Committee holds a special public mail. Postage rates for first-class to 29.9 cents from the previous ments, while discussions on headline the Folk Festival at Lions meeting to discuss the Carrboro mail for delivery is 3 cents an price of around 32 cents. The construction of a “gymtorium” at Athletic Park, a fundraiser for the School District joining the Chapel ounce, as opposed to 2 cents for town’s “cut-rate” stations, Caro- Lincoln High School continue. Some Carrboro Cubs baseball team. Hill district or staying on its own. picked-up mail. lina Motors’ Amoco and Charlie question any construction for the Also performing is Haywood Pen- Chair Carl Ellington says, It’s not Johnston’s Hi-Way Service Stations time being. “We may have an exodus dergrass, who imitates the sound that we distrust Chapel Hill School remain at 29.9 and 28.9, respec- of students out of the public schools of a Model T Ford trying to cross a Board members, it’s just that we tively. Chapel Hill stations are due to integration,” says school railroad track on the harmonica. want to run our own affairs.” holding the line at around 32 cents. board chair Carl Smith.

23 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A Shared History Reminiscing about Days Gone By by valarie schwartz

Reprinted from The Carrboro Citizen, July 29, 2010

ichard Ellington Burnett, a retired medical technician h Carolina Colle ct ion t h Carolina learned Saturday that at UNC Hospitals, knew what he meant. his experience growing “I thought we were poor, but you know up white in downtown what? I found out that riches are not money. Carrboro was not all Everybody was on one accord, it was good. t e s y N or R that different from that of black children We were a community and everybody looked growing up a few miles outside of town, out for each other. We worked the tobacco

Cour where they attended school at Hickory Grove together and cooked the food together.” School off N.C. 54. Farrington echoed her sentiments, saying Ellington has learned a good deal about that his father worked at the UNC Laundry his hometown over the past two years, as he for 32 years but, “he always kept a garden and and Dave Otto have researched the book of chickens …” contributed images they are compiling in “Don’t forget the pig,” Burnett said, with time for Carrboro’s centennial celebration in Farrington confirming. “And there was mo- 2011. lasses from the sugar cane and jelly from the At 3 p.m. on a scorcher of a day, four for- orchards. Oh, we were just rich!” mer attendees of the school sat around tables And while they recounted their riches, now used by pottery students at Hickory Ellington echoed that, “Even in downtown Grove Center, owned since 1998 by Gary and Carrboro, in the back of the narrow lots, Natalie Boorman. The building quit serving people kept chickens and gardens.” as a school following integration; it had The talk about gardens led to the question been a nightclub, day-care center and, for 22 of grocery stores, and quick as the question years, a private home. With the exception of was asked, Ellington took us on a mental trip a deck that facilitates a handicap ramp, the up and down East Main Street. “We were welcome in all the grocery on Boormans have restored the exterior to its Local author and photographer Richard Ellington, left, and former Hickory Grove school roots. School kids George Bynum, “L.C.” Edwards, “Skinny” Farrington and Vivian Burnett. stores,” Bynum offered. But he added that Natalie Boorman hosted the gather- PHOTO BY VALARIE SCHWARTZ there was a Rexall Drugs where the Orange ing, attended by Vivian Burnett, her cousin County Social Club is today. “Blacks could George Bynum, their niece Emily Rogers works in information technology at UNC, an old Southern mill town with mill town buy ice cream but we couldn’t eat it there.” (whose mother, the late Dorothy Farrington, began the discussion by asking the Orange attitudes and racial tensions.” “I was the first black counter girl at Sut- attended school there), William “Skinny” County natives if they remembered Dr. Yet, as he had looked through the census ton’s Drugs,” said Burnett. She was hired in Farrington and his cousin Louis C. “L.C.” Lloyd. information, it showed how mixed the races 1957 and worked there four years. “I could Edwards. Oh, yes, they did. “He was the doctor!” were. “I grew up in one of the most inte- serve blacks, but they couldn’t sit there.” t e s y R i c har d E llin gt After Otto explained why they were all Burnett said. grated towns around, and everyone was in Their school was two rooms with a parti- there – to help the two men capture the black “Dr. Lloyd delivered me at home,” El- the same condition. It was nothin’ but poor tion in the middle to separate grades 1-3

Cour experience of Carrboro – Ellington, who lington continued. “Carrboro was very much workin’ people.” from 4-6, a coatroom on each end and a door ..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... February 1959 december 1959 May 1960 september 1960 july 1961

Orange County votes to allow the A long-sought northern bypass While census figures show Orange Chapel Hill Schools (later Chapel Chapel Hill becomes the first state to go into the business of around Carrboro and Chapel Hill County has grown by 8,499 people Hill-Carrboro City Schools) be- school district in the South to selling liquor, and ABC stores will is approved by the state. The plan in the past decade, Carrboro has come the eighth school district in voluntarily approve a plan for as- soon open. Carrboro votes against is for the road to begin around the gained only 203, up from 1,795 to North Carolina to host the early signing black students to schools it though, 349-289. B.B. Sparrow, new Eastgate Shopping Center and 1,998. Chapel Hill has grown from stages of school integration, when based on geography rather than co-chair of an anti-ABC coalition extend for five miles into N.C. 54 9,177 to 12,623. three black first-graders enroll at race. However, in response to pro- says, “No government has the right west of Carrboro. Estes Hills Elementary School. test by Carrboro parents, a mo- to participate in the sale of a prod- tion is passed that “the Carrboro uct that destroys it citizens.” School get the smallest possible number of Negro students.”

24 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 to the outside privy. Coal-burning pot-belly stoves on each side kept them warm and there was electricity, but no running water. “We had to cross 54 and go to the third house on the right and take water from Miss Gates’ well – until the water got wiggle worms,” said Edwards, who spent his career in public transportation after working with Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee to bring it here. Apparently, a parasite was detected in the water and a new neighbor had to supply for the school, but the memory of the wiggle worms tickled everyone. Burnett later told me that she had lived in the same house, up the next hill from the school all her life. “Out there in the country we were very integrated.” She had not been surprised that their experience was so similar to Ellington’s – a white boy growing up in town. “We knew this. We knew this!”

Lt. Rodney Taylor Sr. shares Lily Brown’s Playthings by Angela Johnson to first-graders in Suzanne Hamrick’s class at McDougle Elementary School. PHoto AVA BARLOW

carrboro characters

Morris Hogan: Born a slave in 1853, he learned to read but not write. After the Civil War, he became a successful farmer, operating two farms near Old N.C. 86 and Eubanks Road. In 1880, Morris and his wife opened a school for black children on Eubanks Road. The new Morris Grove Elementary School, located near the old school, is named in honor of Morris Hogan. Luther Hargraves: built affordable housing for blacks in the early 20th century, including Tin Top in Carrboro, when banks would not lend to them. During the depression, Har- graves allowed tenants to continue living in homes when they could no longer pay rent. He lost everything when the banks foreclosed. FEEDING CARRBORO breakfast • lunch • catering Braxton Lloyd: a legendary country doctor who delivered most babies at home in Car- rboro from the mid-1920s to the ’40s. He enjoyed card-playing and raising hogs and Mon-Sat 7:30 am–4 pm would just as soon take a jug of whiskey in payment for his services. When he delivered 100-C East Main Street a baby late at night, he was known to ask the new mom to move over so that he could 967.2185 • nealsdeli.com get some rest.

..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... May 1962 April 1963 November 1963 February 1964 April 1965

A Chapel Hill School District tax Mrs. Ben H. Williams is believed More than 160 charter members Seventy-five students walk out of A petition to allow an ABC store increase from 20 to 33 cents on to be the first woman to file for attend a kick-off meeting of the Lincoln High School in protest. to be located in Carrboro is $100 of property evaluation is a seat on the Carrboro Board of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber Among their grievances are that circulated. Twice before, Carrboro defeated, 2,534-2,283. Carrboro Aldermen. “I’m a housewife,” she of Commerce. Chamber officers no activities have been planned residents have voted against state- voters make the difference, voting says. “That’s about all there is to and board members are originally at the school for National Negro operated whiskey stores. against it by 836-170. it.” When Mrs. Williams asks for comprised of 14 men, but a mo- History Week and that “Lincoln her husband’s thoughts on her tion is made to include women, remains as a separate, inferior, running, he replies, “Go ahead, I and two are added. unequal school” as compared with wish you would.” She loses. Chapel Hill High.

25 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A Carrboro Institution Meeting Cliff Collins By Josie Hollingsworth

efore you can under- When Collins was little, Carrboro had a stand Clifton Collins’ mischievous reputation: “Carrboro used to background, you must, be the area to go if you wanted to get into a according to Collins, scuffle.” B learn the history of his During a busy time of day in his shop, family in North Carolina. customers line the counter and wait to On one side are the Riggsbees, whose purchase specific cuts of meat. Collins waves ancestors first came to what is now Chatham to every other person and has a different County in 1674. On the other side is Col- relationship with each one. lins’ uncle, a Georgia farmer who moved to “Meeting the people and talking to them, Hillsborough when “he got tired of farming.” getting to know their cousins and their That prompted Roscoe Luther Collins, Col- enemies, that’s the most satisfying part of my lins’ father, to move to what is now Carrboro job,” said Collins. in 1928. Collins’ father was illiterate and One man, Logan Carter, a real-estate remained so until he died. He always told agent from the area, stops and shares about his eight children (five daughters and three his life growing up in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. sons) that an education is the most impor- “My parents were buying meat from [Col- tant thing in life. Collins is an avid supporter lins] since I was a kid,” says Carter. “I come of the schools, buying ads from Carrboro here to buy meat as much as a I can.” High School’s student newspaper and athletic Carrboro has changed in the 38 years of booster club. Collins’ meat market. A rising property tax When he was young, Collins worked and the growth of a vegetarian population in construction and other odd jobs while have been challenges to Collins’ business. attending Pittsboro High School. With the But an influx of Latino residents makes for a money he earned, and by selling his tractor diverse clientele. and beloved motorcycle, Collins bought land “We see everyone from street people to in Chatham County that he still owns and on Bill Friday in the shop,” said Collins. Along which he lives. with the usual items for sale, the market After a year in college, Collins returned sells corn masa to make tamales as well as on, Sr. on, to Carrboro and worked cutting meat in t high-end products to local restaurants such Andrews and Riggsbee Grocery, where Neal’s as Provence. Deli and The Speakeasy now stand. Five and “I hope that my shop is a big part of Car- a half years later, Collins bought Hardy’s g e Skel rboro and all facets of Carrboro,” butcher store across the street and still owns Collins says. 100 Main, but has expanded into the space next door. . Pa o by H . t Pho ..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... july 1967 october 1968 june 1970 november 1970 January 1971

Carrboro aldermen approve a A new postal building opens The university proposes a rate The town board moves that a An Appearance Commission is record budget of $257,025. on South Greensboro Street to increase on water. “If the increase letter be written to the state created following “a period of The two largest appropriations mixed reviews. Some comment is made, it will be about $147 supporting the idea of the newly rapid growth and development are for the police and fire depart- on its “ultra modern ... crummy per year that a normal user will proposed I-40 coming off of I-85 that has resulted in fundamental ments, at $29,000 each. The tax design,” others call it “a more have to pay for water.” The town at Graham onto N.C. 54, leading changes in the very character of rate is set at 88 cents per $100 comfortable place.” discusses getting federal money to to Carrboro. the community.” The board of of property value. obtain its own water system and aldermen appoints eight people, decides not to pay the increased six of them women, all identified amount, resulting in a lawsuit. by their husbands’ names, including Mrs. Tom Shetley (Frances).

26 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 The forming of OWASA A Joint Effort by valarie schwartz

ntil the mid-1970s, the OWASA board would be organized with anyone in Carrboro a membership ratio of 5-2-2 — that is, five and Chapel Hill with a from Chapel Hill and two each from Car- water, electric or phone rboro and Orange County. When Bill Staton U bill owed money to the was asked why that ratio, he answered that he University of North Carolina. had asked the same question and been told As early as 1968, concerns over increased “that this is the way the trustees want it.” rates started local individuals and town Carrboro’s share of that ratio may have boards calling for reorganization of the water become more palatable when the board of system. The Town of Carrboro had created aldermen learned of the debts OWASA had some hot water for itself by refusing to pay a incurred along with the water. Chapel Hill late 1970 water-rate increase, stating that no had agreed to pay $20,000, while Carrboro reason had been cited. The town paid its bills and Orange County were asked to pay $8,000 at the old rate until the university answered each, proportionate to their representation. with a lawsuit, followed by an increase in Still, the sour grapes were in evidence as the electricity rates. board of aldermen questioned the viability “It is the feeling that the university of OWASA. should be in the business of education and The minutes of July 7, 1976 show that not in the utility business,” state Sen. William Drakeford asked, “What will happen if Staton told the Carrboro Board of Aldermen half way through the negotiations the five in June of ’71, according to town meeting members of the authority from Chapel Hill minutes. Staton served as Carrboro’s town do something that displeases the board from University Lake supplies the town’s water. PHOTO BY KIRK ROSS attorney. “Nothing can be done until a Chapel Hill and they are replaced with mem- committee is appointed and approved at represented on the OWASA board proved a “that it was unacceptable for Chapel Hill to bers that want to make Carrboro [into] West the 1973 General Assembly.” The Church tremendous challenge. have all the power over the utilities. There is Chapel Hill?” Commission was established by the With Carrboro’s first resolution on no reason for Carrboro to accept less than On July 27, 1976, Everette Billingsley, General Assembly of North Carolina to the subject, dated May 13, 1975, the town Chapel Hill.” OWASA’s executive director, attended a Car- make recommendations on whether UNC declared that there would be nine board The minutes state that board member rboro Board of Aldermen meeting, “stating should retain or sell its utility systems. members, three each representing Carrboro, Nancy White “commented that Mayor Wal- that he was glad that the Town of Carrboro When the decision was made to sell the Chapel Hill and Orange County. Almost a lace thinks that Chapel Hill and Carrboro saw fit to become a part of the OWASA as utilities, Carrboro and Chapel Hill decided year later, on April 23, 1976, at a town board should be joined under his leadership and this was the best route to take in the utility to buy them, and, on Feb. 20, 1973, approved meeting, emotions ran high among board that Mayor Wallace does not think that we matter.” articles of incorporation for a nonprofit, and members in response to Chapel Hill officials in Carrboro have sufficient intelligence or Since its formation, OWASA has had two the Orange Water and Sewer Authority was calling for Chapel Hill to have the major- education to guide our own destiny.” directors: Billingsley, who served for 21 years, formed. ity of board members. Robert Drakeford, The final decision—made by the univer- and Ed Kerwin, who has continued since. Tension was nothing new between the who would soon become Carrboro’s first sity’s board of trustees and announced at a OWASA is the second-largest employer in two towns, and deciding how they would be black mayor, said, according to the minutes, town meeting on June 22, 1976 – was that Carrboro, after the town, with 125 employees.

..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... may 1971 JUne 1971 JUly 1971 August 1971 November 1971

In a special election, residents The South Orange Rescue Squad Ed Yaggy, owner of Carrboro Mills, Parking is no longer allowed on The board of aldermen votes to vote on whether to establish a begins operation with a 1955 meets with the board of aldermen the north side of East Main Street allow the sale of beer and wine on public transportation system to Cadillac ambulance and a squad to discuss the mill property. He from Rosemary Street to the Sundays. Board member Braxton be funded by an annual tax not to of about 50 members. By year’s says that the power plant needed intersection of East Main Street Foushee argues that people will go exceed 8 cents on each $100 of end, two Ford vans are also in to be destroyed and the mill build- and West Main Street. The board to Chapel Hill to buy it, and that assessed property value. It’s voted operation. ing needed new lighting, new air approves a request to be made to Carrboro not providing it would down, 530-196. conditioning and new windows, the State Highway Commission to just be “hurting ourselves.” but was worth saving. The matter pave East Main Street where the was given to the planning board street had been widened. for study and recommendation.

27 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Riding into Retirement Officer Bob Takes Off His Badge By Taylor Sisk

Reprinted from The Carrboro Citizen, June 14, 2007

hile Officer Bob But there is, he explains “always Plan B.” knocked my hat off, thinking it was me. I A process, gradual Murdaugh says Which essentially boils down to this: “Dazzle swear it wasn’t.” “This has been a very gradual process over he’s the only them with b.s. till the cavalry arrives. Long story short, the woman pointed Bob the years – relationships that I’ve developed person of his ac- He allows as how, “I got bruised or scuffed out to her boyfriend, words were had. with the good, the bad and the ugly…. I took W quaintance who’s a time or two – very rarely though, really.” Enter the bouncer, “and I figure here a lot of pride in being able to walk into an ever been bounced from the Boot Hill Saloon The last time, he was in a scuffle with a felon comes justice,” he remembers. “I found out anxious situation and have it immediately during Daytona Beach’s annual Bike Week, at Food Lion who was, in classic Bob-speak, what bouncing is all about. I got wrapped calm down. I very much preferred that it calm certainly it must have happened to many “rather desperate not to be apprehended at up and bounced out the door” – Bob here down.” hundreds of others. Regardless, the image that particular point in time.” pantomimes traveling bouncy, bouncy, across He’s done it in Spanish as well – though of Officer Bob being bounced, in Daytona the bouncer’s hip and forthwith out the door he admits that despite several Spanish I Beach or otherwise, is entirely discordant Facts, fables and philosophy – ejected. classes in high school and college, he’s far with the image of Officer Bob that’s been Over the years, the off-duty Officer Bob has The epilogue is that Bob slides back into from fluent. But: “I couldn’t imagine being forged in the minds of so many Carrboro seemed to find himself in at least as many the bar through a side door, and resumes his a police officer [in this community] and not residents in the course of his some 32 years hairy situations as his on-duty counterpart. evening unchallenged. speaking any Spanish. It was a big help. Even of service, and is no way to begin to tell his if I couldn’t do it all myself, I could usually story. ask, in Spanish, ‘Do you know someone who Murdaugh recently retired from the speaks Spanish and English?’ It seemed that Carrboro Police Department. Since, he’s the members of the Hispanic community, been spending a lot of time aboard his trusty when I did speak some Spanish, became less BMW, and, already well out of regs, is eight fearful of the police.” days into a burgeoning white beard. So here’s the deal, as Officer Bob sees it: Back to the bouncing later. “Carrboro really is a friendly town, and it seems to welcome everybody. It’s amazing The making of Officer Bob how many different kinds of people we have It’s been remarked more than once over the that seem to get along together – and I’ve years that Officer Bob Murdaugh seemed seen this remarked about by visitors to the to go about his business as if he understood area.” himself to be a peace officer employed in the As a peace officer for the town of Car- field of law enforcement. rboro, Murdaugh says he learned “that there “Uniforms were not well thought of or was some good in everybody. I met very few welcomed on university campuses in the people who were truly all bad. If you could early ’70s; the Viet Nam War was still going appeal to the good in somebody, and ask on. I was offended. I thought wearing the them to bring it out, let it out, and to do the uniform should indicate that I was a good right thing – and [convey to them] that you guy, and that it was a perfect excuse to crank expected them to do better, that you knew up a conversation about nothing in particu- that they could – oftentimes they would.” lar without creating concerns. Bob on Weaver Street, preparing for a ride to the mountains. PHOTO BY KIRK ROSS “I set about to do that,” and in the wake of such conversations, he says, “I could see a There’s the story that involves a chain- kind of look in their eyes as I walked away, saw in a well-established Chapel Hill bar. scrapbook like, ‘Well, that wasn’t particularly unpleas- (Bob’s pretty sure that firing up a chainsaw ant. What just happened there?’ in a public place can be “construed as going Somewhere along the way, he was dubbed, armed to the terror of the people.”) There Carrboro’s first fire depart- by a Breadmen’s waitress, “Officer Bob.” are stories from the Sturgis rally in South ment was established in “At first I was kind of resistant to the Dakota and another in Flagstaff. In each case, the 1920s. The volunteer ‘Officer Bob’ … but it seemed to work pretty Bob traverses unharmed – and, in most cases, squad numbered 22. Today, well.” moderates. the town is protected by 37 Negotiation has always been Officer Bob’s Except for the Boot Hill incident. professional firefighters. preferred modus operandi. His voice – a dis- Here’s how it went down: PHOTO BY ALEX MANESS tinctive baritone, pitched to the particulars “Apparently as I was making my way of the moment, obliquely authoritative and through the crowded bar, this woman – well, somewhat soothing – certainly must have somebody pinched her on the butt just as I helped. was passing by, and she turned around and

28 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Latinos in Carrboro A Burgeoning Community By Alvis Dunn

n 1987, I ran off to Latin America to meet Latin Ameri- cans. If I had just had a bit more patience and perhaps I even been a bit more percep- tive, I would have sat still in Carrboro. Clues to the migration were all around, especially in my workday world of tending bar, waiting tables and cooking at Tijuana Fats’ restaurant on Rosemary Street. I was also tuned in by way of my studies at UNC. I was pursuing my doctorate in Latin American History. Civil Wars in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala and the spillover violence into Honduras had pushed many northward. A faltering economy in Mexico kept them, as well as Mexicans, mov- ing farther along that pathway. Of course, these push/pull elements were deeply inter- twined. War and instability begot economic hardship and the neocolonial relationship between the United States and these nations, each unique to be sure, meant that jobs might be found in El Norte. In the late 1980s, I knew a lot of locals who were deeply invested in battling the war machine as it pressed down on Central America. During those times, a great deal of good work was done in that region through organizations based here as well as by individuals operating completely on their own. There were Latin Americans in town for other reasons as well, such as students and professors affiliated with the university. I knew many of them through my studies. But there were also men and a few women working in the kitchens of Latino restaurants. Thus I knew Carrboro is home to a large Spanish-speaking population that supports a thriving Latino-owned business community. Tiendas serve up authentic Latinos by way of both of my workplaces. dishes for diners from any culture. PHOTO BY ALEX MANESS Spanish was not nearly as prevalently spo- ken in those days in town. With my meager It turned out to be the resurgence of a feud trade, slowly but surely making their way out with the opening of the Latino Credit Union, learner’s level of language, I was often called that had begun a generation before back in of the kitchen and into the front of the house also at Carrboro Plaza. upon to explain wages, raises and safety poli- Guanajuanto. as attitudes altered and language barriers fell. Granted, it’s clear there is a ways to go in cies to friends and managers in places where I also watched as upper-class Latin The nearby Food Lion began stocking a employment opportunities and equality. But I didn’t even work. I watched as the mix of American students worked to mend historic wide array of products for the growing com- Carrboro-Chapel Hill, with a traditional locals and students working in those eateries divisions with working-class Latin American munity. And a Latino business sector sprang population historically in tune to the complexity began to pick up Spanish words and phrases. semi-refugees. Here in Orange County, that up. Some owned their own enterprises, while of civil rights and foreign-policy issues, an All was not rosy. I witnessed class divi- class struggle played out with a new set of others were employed by them – or by non- abundance of restaurant jobs, a student sions among the immigrants, and, at times, rules, and the former, while still imbued with Spanish-speaking contractors. Day laborers population that had for decades fostered animosities from the old countries made the the upper hand, was most often no longer in- began congregating by the Fast Fare and cheap housing and fluid leasing arrange- trip and caused conflict here. I remember clined to take advantage of it. But suspicions outside the Duron paint store at Carrboro ments, was and is a unique and attractive well one evening in La Terraza music hall lingered, nevertheless. Plaza, seeking additional work. home for anyone building a new life, and so when a rumble broke out as a mariachi band Of course, by the mid-1990s, the new By 2010, according to census figures, it has been for a good many Latin Americans. played to a crowd that was part hipster, part population had taken over former student people of Latino and Hispanic descent made working-class Mexican immigrant. People housing like Carrboro’s Old Well Apartments up 13.8 percent of the Carrboro populace. Alvis Dunn is an assistant professor and chairman said it seemingly started “out of nowhere.” and were well ensconced in the restaurant Their economic power was strengthened of the history department at Guilford College.

29 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 According to a 2006 report from Regional Technology Strategies, Inc., “In many ways Carrboro has come to epitomize the kind of community that attracts individuals who depend on creativity for their work, a place with numerous cultural activities, entertain- ment venues, green space, and an openness to diversity.” PHOTOS BY Alex Maness and Beth Mechum

..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... April 1972 January 1974 septembe 1974 January 1975 August 1976

Yaggy returns to the board with The newly created Parks & Victor Schonebach speaks to the An ordinance is filed granting the The State of North Carolina, a proposal to build a medical Recreation Commission is autho- board of aldermen regarding the Town of Chapel Hill a non-exclu- acting on a request from UNC, clinic, which would employ 50 to rized by Mayor Robert Wells. Carrboro Cyclists, requesting sive franchise to operate transpor- enters into an agreement with 60 people. He comes back to the the board work with his group in tation service on certain streets OWASA. board a year later, requesting a providing well-maintained sewer within the Town of Carrboro. zoning change from industrial to grades, road sweeping on a regular central business. His new plan is to basis and lanes for bicyclists. Board have small shops and office space member Fred Chamblee says that on the first floor and apartments bicycle paths should be considered. on the second.

30 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 THE CARRBORO SCENE Building a Reputation in the Arts by JAckie Helvey

n 1989, Merge Records was In its 14th year, in 2011, the Carrboro founded by Laura Balance and Music Festival continues to thrive, filling the Mac McCaughan, members streets of Carrboro with music and merri- of the band Superchunk. The ment on Sept. 25. I label allowed the band to get “The Carrboro Music Festival does two their music out there, at first on cassettes things,” said former Mayor Mike Nelson. “It and 7-inch records. With their first full- supports our economic development while length CD released on April 1, 1992, the label showcasing and supporting musicians here, opened its offices in Carrboro. that segment of Carrboro; but it’s also a Also in 1989, Mammoth Records was community-building thing. It’s part of our launched by Jay Faires, quickly becoming a community identity now, that music festival. rising star in the music scene. They too had Creating things like that during the ’90s offices in Carrboro. changed this town for the better.” It was in 1993, when Cat’s Cradle moved to town, at its fifth and current location, that .The arts are born things really started rocking in Carrboro. Art exhibits made their way into Carrboro With The ArtsCenter opening in 1996 at its Town Hall out of necessity because there was current location at the opposite end of the no art on the walls. Town Hall art displays same building, Carrboro quickly became were initially confined to the mayor’s office; known as a place with venues for all types but as they grew, they expanded throughout of music. the building. Gerry Williams opened Roots CD & Vinyl Thus were art shows at Town Hall, and on Main Street in Carrboro in 1995. He ran later, the Carrboro Century Center, born. the store until 2000, when he closed its doors Seeing the economic impact the arts were and went to work booking music at The having on the town prompted the Carrboro ArtsCenter. Board of Aldermen to support, grow and “Carrboro always struck me as a great nurture them. music town,” Williams says. “I mean, I knew The Carrboro Music Festival was started about it before I moved here from D.C.” in 1998 as part of the French celebration known as Fête de la Musique, celebrated in Fête de la Musique more than 100 countries worldwide on the Fête de la Musique, now known as The Car- summer solstice. The date was moved to rboro Music Festival, was started in 1998, September in 2002. with Elizabeth Boisson at the helm, with There were those who tried to dissuade assistance from her husband, Cyril. The the committee that first year, warning of the scrapbook festival started out as part of a free festival of perils of a project of this proportion. They music celebrated worldwide on the summer were undeterred. solstice. From 1998 till 2001, Carrboro was Through the generosity of countless Carrboro loves its art, and many installa- one of only a few U.S. Fête de la Musique musicians, the support and encouragement tions like this one dot the local landscape. venues officially recognized by the Ministry of the local government, a small amount PHOTO BY ALEX MANESS, of France, receiving posters each year as a of funding from the town and numerous goodwill gesture. donations from Carrboro businesses and in- The Carrboro Music Festival was run by a dividuals, Carrboro’s music festival was born. handful of dedicated volunteers who insisted The Fête brought together musicians they could pull off a music festival with of every persuasion who played for free at no money and not much more than great stages from one end of town to the other. In expectations. They had a lot of confidence in Carrboro, Fête de la Musique was moved to the giving nature of the local music com- the Sunday closest to June 21, thereby also munity. Original committee members were serving as a celebration of Father’s Day. Elizabeth Boisson, Janet Callahan, Berkeley In 2001, the 20th anniversary of the inter- Grimball, Catherine DeVine, James Harris, national Fête de la Musique was celebrated in Jackie Helvey, Mike Nelson, Janet Place, Joy more than 100 countries all over the world, Preslar, Samia Serageldin, Richard Taylor and with Carrboro as an official venue for and Gerry Williams. Williams has been the the final time. A cooler date was chosen – the festival coordinator since 2002. last Sunday in September.

31 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A Farmers’ Market History Simply the Best by Sarah Blacklin and Kelly Clarke

rea farmers have always necessary site improvements to house the brought the fruits (and market at the Carrboro Town Commons. vegetables) of their The new site opened for business in 1996. A labors to Carrboro. seasonal Wednesday market was added the A At first, it was at following year with 13 farmers; it currently “truck markets,” where producers would pull has 30 members. into town and sell right off the tailgates of their trucks. But it wasn’t until 1979 that Reaping the harvest the Carrboro Farmers’ Market, one of the Now entering its 33rd season, the Carrboro town’s biggest assets, came into being. Farmers’ Market is a leader in the nation’s Since then, more than 100 vendors have farmers’ market movement, garnering rec- sold their wares. ognition through its innovative growers and producers. Planting the seeds Market member Laurie Heise, owner The market as we know it is the result of of Wiseacre Farm in Pittsboro, knows that a graduate-student project based on an first-hand. initiative in Tennessee and Alabama called “I have grown and sold produce at farm- the Agriculture Marketing Project. The goal ers’ markets in Nashville and the Washington, was to bring together local farmers on a D.C., area, as well as at the Carrboro Market,” regular basis at “Food Fairs” to sell their she says. “And I like selling here the best, produce and give townspeople better ac- because there are so many diverse vendors cess to local, high-quality fresh food. The and because the Carrboro customers are so program helped the farmers formalize an enthusiastic, appreciative, loyal and ready to organizational structure, establishing rules take a chance on new varieties and ‘exotic’ and bylaws, most of which remain in effect vegetables.” to this day. Today the market continues to grow In 1978, the Town of Carrboro success- within the community. It partners with fully approached the N.C. General Assembly multiple organizations that serve the lo- for funds to build a market structure on cal population, including food-assistance Roberson Street on property leased by Carr programs such as FMNP WIC and Senior Mill Mall. The next year, the Chapel Hill- Coupons and EBT benefits (formerly known Carrboro Farmers’ Market sprouted. as food stamps). Carrboro’s market is frequently featured Tending the crops in national food and travel magazines and Under the watchful eyes of farmers them- serves as a major draw for out-of-towners. selves, the market grew slowly but steadily. The market and its farmers are proud to In the first few seasons, there were about 20 serve such a supportive and growing com- farmers each week; after a decade, it reached munity with the freshest local products, its current size of 90 members. The farm- grown within 50 miles, and sold direct by the ers hired Karl Schaefer as full-time manager growers themselves. in 1995 to handle the administrative duties “I love the personalities at the Carrboro required to run the busy market. market, vendors and customers both,” says “That was a seminal moment,” recalls Don member Mary Ann Pagano of Three Waters Graham, a member since 1983. “The market Farm. “Every vendor has a different way with [started] watching out for opportunists who what they sell and how they sell it. It’s called don’t care deeply and was strengthened by ‘the spice of life.’ That’s why people come – having people who are dependent on it for to buy the highest-quality things they can their living.” and be connected to and pleased with their In 1993, with strong support from state Area farmers have been peddling their produce and other wares at the local market since 1979. community” Sen. Ellie Kinnaird and others, the General PHOTO BY Alex Maness Assembly approved a grant to complete the

32 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A Bit of history

One of Carrboro’s Johnny’s is a popular early businesses, this gathering spot on dry goods store was West Main. A variety run by Jim and Mag- of food trucks out gie Neal. Cour- front, including this tesy the Watts crepe truck, are steady Collection draws. photo by alex maness

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..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... november 1976 December 1977 February 1978 January 1979 august 1979

A conditional-use permit is issued Robert Drakeford, the first black Carrboro receives a $25,000 grant PTA Thrift Shop opens at 103 A quarry reservoir east of Bethel for the Carr Mill with completion mayor of Carrboro, is sworn in. He from the N.C. General Assembly Jones Ferry Road. The shop’s Hickory Grove Church Road is of retail construction scheduled serves until 1983. to construct and operate a farm mission is to distribute profits to acquired by OWASA. for Oct. 1, 1977, with plans very and craft market. The town obtains support the Chapel Hill-Carrboro much in line with what Carr Mill a 25-year lease from Carr Mill City Schools PTAs. Mall is today. to use, initially just on Saturdays, the parking lot next to the South Orange Rescue Squad on Roberson Street.

33 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 After All These Years, Still in Great Shape Four Generations at Fitch Lumber by ASHLEY AtKINS

Reprinted from The Carrboro Free Press, November 14, 2007

owntown Carrboro has murals around Carrboro and Chapel Hill for been a good location,” 20 years. David Fitch says. “Like “If I want to know the dirt, I come here,” Cliff’s, we’ve been here a he says. “I buy a lot of paint and equipment D long time. We’re one of here.” In addition to murals, Brown also the last few surviving original businesses.” paints on large canvases. “I might spend a David is a fourth-generation Fitch. Son of month in the studio,” he says, “and the only Mac. Grandson of Miles senior. Great-grand- people I’ll see in the course of the day are the son of founder, Mr. A. B. Fitch. (Everyone people behind the counter here.” refers to him as “Mr. A. B. Fitch”. Everyone.) “Fitch is in great shape,” assets Marc David graduated from Appalachian State Atkins, a 17-year employee who started as a University and has been back home and driver and now works the counter. “With the working full-time at Fitch since 2001. David’s younger generation of Fitches, they could go younger brother, Brad, has also joined the another 100 years if the market allows and family business. homes keep being built.” “I’ve been working here since I was 6,” Thirty-one-year employee Mike Greenhill David says. “As a kid, I put up lumber. I showed a real feeling of pride when discuss- Mac Fitch and accounts payable manager Linda Trout look over an invoice under the watchful still do that. I’m trying to carry on a tradi- ing Fitch’s Centennial. “One hundred years,” eyes of founder A.B. Fitch (center) and Bernice Fitch (left) and Miles Fitch (right). tion.” he says in amazement. “Whew! In an age The legacy doesn’t just belong to the Fitch grown up and had a lot of ties here. Most of them. I was tickled to death. Fitch is the best when most small businesses and families sell family, as Carol Fitch Walker is quick to point the second-generation employees came in at employer I ever had. I hope it’s the last I ever out and leave, this business has enjoyed its out. the same time as me.” have. They’re the greatest folks to work with. connections with the community and has “Peggy Hearn, who did the books until Residential contractor James Arndt has And I enjoy the customers.” wanted to grow with the community. It’s an recently retiring, took over the job from her been doing business with the Fitches for 25 People come looking for ideas as well as accomplishment.” mother-in-law,” she says. “Bobby Squires just years. “It’s amazing,” he says, “the loyalty products. “They know what they want to Carol agrees. “It’s pretty remarkable,” she retired from working the counter. His father, Fitch generates with their employees and have happen at the end but don’t know how says. “I can walk in downtown Chapel Hill Ping, worked here. And Billy Alford works in builders. It speaks volumes about the place.” to get there,” Murdaugh says. “They don’t and point and say, ‘that used to be Foister’s the shop. His dad, Tommy, was 12 when he Marshall Murdaugh has been at Fitch know the questions to ask, but they can paint Camera Supply. That used to be Roses 5 & started working for Fitch.” for 17 years. “I sought them out specifi- a picture of what they want. There’s a lot of 10. That used to be the Carolina Theater.’ In 1975, Mac was curious about the aver- cally,” he explains. “When I came, they were good help from the guys in hardware and in But people can’t say, ‘That used to be Fitch age length of time employees had been at rearranging the store, and I moved inven- the shop.” Lumber.’” Fitch. “The average employee had been here tory for about six months. Then they had an Folks also come in for the latest news. Excerpted from Ashley Atkins’ “A Carrboro 19 years,” he recalls. “The younger ones had opening at the counter and asked me to join Artist Michael Brown has been painting Century: Fitch Lumber Turns 100.” ..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... september 1980 september 1986 june 1987 october 1987 december 1987

Wendy’s opens after a court order Jacques Menache, executive direc- A resolution is accepted to adopt The town manager is authorized “I, Eleanor Kinnaird, do hereby sol- kept the town from blocking it. tor of The ArtSchool, requests that El Menshia, Egypt, as a sister city. to develop the former ball-field emnly swear that I will … faithfully the town issue plumbing, electrical, “The Town of Carrboro recog- area behind the Town Hall into perform the duties of the Office sprinkler and HVAC permits prior nizes that the Village of El Menshia, an “urban-type” park. Relocation of Mayor of the Town of Carrboro, to obtaining a general building per- Egypt faces municipal issues similar of the Farmers’ Market is to be on which I am about to enter ...” mit for the building located at 300 to Carrboro … and desires to investigated as well; $1,200 for Thus begins a storied political E. Main St. The name is changed to broaden its view of municipal architectural services is approved. career. Kinnaird serves as mayor The ArtsCenter in 1987. experiences from the experiences until 1995 and is now in her eighth of El Menshia.” term as state senator.

34 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Strayhorn Family Legacy Remembered The History of a Home by Catherine Rierson

Reprinted from The Carrboro Citizen, July 1, 2010

ith her close- “This mulberry tree is as old as this Clark’s home is the longstanding, physical at age 7 after she was sold on the Hillsbor- cropped hair and house,” Clark said, patting its swollen, leaning proof of her family’s legacy. Unlike that of ough auction block—belonged to the Stray- almond skin shin- trunk. “I promised my mother I’d never cut it most slave families who lacked the resources horns of University Station. ing under a thin down, and no matter how sick it looks, it just to document their history, the Strayhorn’s “We lived in a log house down in a field,” W film of perspira- keeps growin’.” rich heritage was written down. Nellie said in the interview. “Mother would tion in the sun, Dolores Clark mapped the Clark bakes in the kitchen where her In 1950, 95-year-old Nellie Strayhorn was get up early in the morning and go to the memory of her family’s farm. The multiple great-grandmother baked over a century ago interviewed about life before emancipation. house to build a fire and get breakfast. I was barns that peppered the land where houses and her grandchildren now play in the same Until she was 14, Nellie was the property of the oldest, so I got the other children up and now sit, a hen house, a springhouse and a yard she did as a little girl. Her two-story Wesley Atwater and his wife, Miss Julie, who to the kitchen. cow pasture whose floral fingers stretched white house – originally a one-bedroom log lived about six miles from Chapel Hill on “I used to plough with a mule named past what’s now Laurel Avenue. cabin – was built by former slaves Tony and Hillsborough Road. Nellie’s future husband, Duck, side by side with Mr. Wilson Strowd. Some things remain. Nellie Strayhorn, Clark’s great-grandparents. Tony—who was separated from his mother He owned my Daddy. And bind wheat – I can

Dolores Clark in front of her home. Clark’s grandfather, a freed slave, built the house. Photo by Ava Barlow

The Strayhorn family in front of their home, which still stands on Jones Ferry Road. This photo depicts the family in the 1930s. Toney Strayhorn was a master bricklayer, and the chimneys and their freestanding corbelled stacks showcase his expertise. Courtesy Dolores Clark 35 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 do everything in the field except split rails for Thrift Shop, and began constructing the a fence.” home that has since been witness to the carrboro Nellie and her sisters worked on Atwa- progress of civil rights in Orange County. characters ter’s orchard during the warmer months. Freedom brought the family a prosperity They were prohibited from eating any of the very remote from the slaves’ reality. Though The Weaver House, located on Watters Street, is considered to be the oldest residential picked fruit, but, if given permission, could living in a racially volatile society, the Stray- structure in Carrboro. A log cabin section of the house is thought to have been built in the eat what was on the ground. horns flourished. The family succeeded in mid-18th century as a homestead and tavern on the Old Hillsborough Road. Hardy Morgan While Atwater was away fighting in the achieving one stamp of the American Dream: sold 450 acres, including the house, to William Partin in1782, the first known record of the Civil War, Nellie and her mother and siblings citizenship. Though appearing nowhere in property. Thomas Weaver purchased the house and land in 1811. The property remained in the stayed with Miss Julie and prepared barrels of the 1860 N.C. census, this listing appears 10 Weaver family for more than a century, which is why it is called the Weaver House. food to send to the Confederate soldiers. years later: “Strayhorn, Tony; farmworker, “When the Yankees come the first time, illiterate.” By 1880, Tony was learning brick all the hands was in the field, just like master masonry, had taught himself to read and was there,” she said. “They asked Mother if write and had helped found the First Baptist she knew we was free. She said ‘No sir,’ and I Church of Chapel Hill. was standin’ beside her when she said it. ‘We In the late 1880s, the one-bedroom cabin fought to free you,’ they told her. They was expanded to two stories to accommodate the nice but we was afraid, ’cause we weren’t used growing Strayhorn family. Tony and Nellie’s to those blue suits and shiny buttons, and the bedroom and living room remain intact guns at their sides.” today. The nucleus of the past and present After gaining her freedom in 1865, Nellie structure, the parlor room, with its bloated found work in a law office for $5 a month. wooden floor and bowing ceiling, also attest Shortly thereafter, she married Tony and to the family’s past. began assembling the family that slavery had “My children and grandchildren under- precluded. stand the importance of this house and the memories that linger here,” Clark said, facing The family flourishes the ancient house from the road. “But I told In the mid-1870s, Nellie and Tony purchased my Mama I’d stay here until the end of my a small plot of land on what is now Jones days, and I just hope I can.” Ferry Road, two doors down from the PTA A Bit of history

“According to J.F. Sturdivant, who wrote a master’s thesis in 1924 on the Carrboro mill village, all of the houses were painted and in fair repair, 65 percent were

equipped with electric lights and tts 34 percent had refrigerators at the time of her writing. Exact figures are not available, but one tts Colle ct ion resident recalls that in the 1930s,

a four-room house with electric t e s y he Wa lights and running water rented for $1.37 per week.” —Excerpted Cour Colle ct ion

t e s y he Wa from Carrboro, N.C.: An Architec- tural and Historical Inventory, by Claudia Roberts Brown, Burgesss Cour McSwain & John Florin for the Carrboror Appearance Commis- sion (1983) ..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... June 1988 June 1988 october 1988 october 1988 September 1989

Weaver Street Market opens. The Carol Drinkard, chair of the A motion is made by board of Blair Pollock, solid waste planner A portion of the Westwood member-owned business is funded Downtown Development Com- aldermen member Frances Shetley for Orange County, announces Cemetery is suggested as the with a loan from the Self-Help mission, appears before the board and seconded by Randy Marshall that curbside recycling for Chapel site for a new post office. A Ventures Fund, a Community De- of aldermen requesting they seek a to adopt a policy asking the public Hill and Carrboro will begin Nov. resolution is read stating that the velopment Block Grant from the means to support The ArtsCenter. not to smoke in Town Hall except 9 or 10. board of aldermen will support Town of Carrboro and individual Drinkard says the commission in designated smoking areas. the post office should its officials community supporters. believes The ArtsCenter is a key decide to move forward with element in downtown revitaliza- acquiring a portion of the cem- tion because it provides a major etery land. Mayor Ellie Kinnaird anchor of activity. alone votes no.

36 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 In Carrboro’s next 100 years, let’s strive for a waste free future! My home We can do even better and you can help: is in Carrboro. l Recycle ALL cans, bottles and papers - at the curb, apartments, or your nearest drop-off site. 20% of Carrboro’s waste going to the landfill is still cans, bottles and paper! l Recover all the electronics you can - computers, TV’s, cell phones and anything that transmits voice or data, motorized toys, plus old media such as floppy disks and videocassettes. Bring them to Solid Waste Convenience Centers or to the Orange County Landfill on Eubanks Road. It will be illegal in North Carolina to throw away TVs, computers or peripherals after June 30, 2011! l Take hazardous household waste, such as paint, chemicals, solvents, pesticides, fluorescent bulbs, etc. to the County’s Hazardous Household Waste collection station at the landfill: Monday-Friday 10am - 6pm, Saturday 7:30am - noon. (Batteries motor oil, oil filters, and Helen A. Figueroa, Realtor antifreeze are accepted at Solid Waste Convenience Centers.) Welcome to the l Eschew disposables! Bring your own reusable bag, mug, take-out container and chopsticks. Carrboro/Chapel Hill Community l Recycle plastic bags, shrink wrap, dry cleaning bags, or toilet paper overwrap at the nearest major grocery store. Never ever put them in your apartment or curbside recycling bin! Plastic from a Carrboro citizen and neighbor. bags and plastic film represent almost 9% of Carrboro’s waste. Finding your home is my greatest l Remember that rigid non-bottle plastics #2, #4 and #5 are recyclable only in the purple opportunity to serve you. dumpsters at drop-off locations. Don’t put them in your curbside bin! Regards, Helen Orange County Solid Waste 919.960.6411 | [email protected] Want more information? www.co.orange.nc.us/recycling/ call (919) 968-2788 or email [email protected]

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..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... october 1994 june 1995 june 1995 November 1995 February 1996

The Town of Carrboro implements The board of aldermen adopts an A historical marker recognizing Mike Nelson, 31, is elected the The Town of Carrboro signs a a domestic partnership ordinance, open-space ordinance, requiring a the contribution of blacks to the first gay mayor in North Carolina contract with the Carrboro the first town in the South to 40 percent green space set aside building of the Carrboro commu- history. Nelson had served on the Farmers’ Market for it to move provide health insurance benefits in new developments. The idea is nity is placed in the slave graveyard board of aldermen for two years. to the Carrboro Town Commons. for domestic partners of town to avoid suburban sprawl and give on West Main Street. A few years later, a bandstand is employees. The Town also sets up people an open, green space in added to the commons, where a registry for citizens to register their own neighborhoods. concerts and other special events their relationships. and activities are held.

37 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A Do-it-yourself way How Frances Shetley Gets it Done by Susan Dickson

Reprinted from The Carrboro Citizen, Feb.17, 2011

here are few residents that hold strong nearly 20 years later. consisted of men, old-timers. with roots as deep in this How she came to sit on that board is “One of them said, ‘Aw, let’s let the town as Frances Lloyd indicative of Shetley’s do-it-yourself way of women have some bushes,’” she recalled, and Shetley. approaching things. the appearance commission was born. These T Though she grew up in In the 1970s, “I had something that I days, the commission is about far more Calvander, Shetley has lived on Hillsborough wanted to ask the town about,” Shetley than bushes, making recommendations to Road in Carrboro for 50 years. Her family recalls. She went to speak with the town the board of aldermen regarding proposed has been in the area since the mid-1700s, manager, who told her he was too busy to developments and other projects. when Thomas Lloyd – of whom Carr Mill’s deal with her question. Shetley was also instrumental in saving original owner Thomas Lloyd is a descendant “That should not happen,” she said. So Carr Mill, which was set to be destroyed – purchased land near Calvander. Shetley decided she would take matters into and replaced with a shopping center in the Shetley went to school in the same build- her own hands, becoming a part of the infra- mid-1970s. ing where Town Hall is now located and structure of the town. Her first involvement “The community got together and said, attended first grade in the same room where, in town government was as one of the found- this is something that’s got to be saved,” she 60 years later, she served as a member of the ers of the Carrboro Appearance Commission. said. Without it, “I think the town would be Carrboro Board of Aldermen for eight years, “Two or three of us got together and entirely different.” taking a stand on controversial town policies went before the town board,” she said. “They She also served on the Board of Ad-

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38 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 justment and chaired the Transportation “Why have a public hearing if you’re not have supported such a measure, she said. mediation, and Lake Hogan Farms was built. Advisory Board, but eventually she grew tired going to listen to people?” Shetley said. “It was just the right thing to do, that’s When Shetley left the board in 1995, of simply advising the aldermen on how they She has notebooks filled with newspaper all,” she said. “It was not political.” she found herself with some free time on should act and decided to run for a seat on clippings, letters and photographs from her Shetley was also part of heated develop- her hands, but she “filled it up real quick,” the board. time on the board and days gone by. Flipping ment discussions, as she was on the board continuing her involvement with the town “If I got on the board, then maybe I could through one, she came across a letter she when the Hogan family was trying to sell for and other organizations. She stays involved have a vote,” she said. received in 1994, when the board was consid- development the land where their dairy farm with the Carrboro Community Garden Club, Elected to the board in 1987, Shetley im- ering extending benefits to domestic partners was located. Residents came out in opposi- of which she is a founding member. She also mediately discovered the intensity of the job. of town employees and providing a town tion of the development. finds herself spending more time at the Sey- registry for same-sex domestic partners. “People wanted to keep [the land] and “You really have to do your homework,” mour Center and the N.C. Botanical Garden. she said, remembering the stacks of agenda “I can’t talk about this,” she said. “This enjoy it,” Shetley said. But the Hogans’ dairy “There are always some classes to take,” materials she used to go through on week- makes me so mad. … People were terribly farm was no longer profitable. she said, “things to learn.” ends. upset, and they talked so ugly about it. “They had been in the dairy business … a But while she’s glad she served on the During her years on the board, she took “That’s one time that I knew the public long, long time,” she said. “What do you want board, Shetley is happy not to be in the thick on issues like connector roads, development hearing wasn’t going to change my mind,” them to do?” of it anymore. and transportation, almost always determin- she said. “I voted in favor of it.” The board initially voted down the de- “I must have liked it,” she said, laughing. ing not to make a decision on issues until People were surprised by her vote, be- velopment, 4-3, with Shetley siding with the “Looking back on it, I’m not sure why.” after the public hearing. cause she came from a family that might not developers, but an agreement was reached in

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The board of aldermen approves An extensive Salvador Dali art show The first Carrboro Day is sched- Art on Weaver, a local sculpture The Town agrees to purchase the 1997 N.C. Pride Parade and is held at Carrboro Town Hall, uled, rained out, then rescheduled. show curated by James Morgan, the old Carrboro Baptist Church March to held in downtown Car- displaying the collection of Cyril The event features storytelling, Alison Weiner and Catherine property and convert it into the rboro on June 8, 1997. On May 20, and Elizabeth Boisson, who had community art, a photo exhibit of and Gina DeVine, is held, featuring Carrboro Century Center, which 1997, the board authorizes display- moved to Carrboro from France. the town through the years, old- 15 local and regional sculptors opens in 2001. ing “Rainbow” flags in downtown For one weekend, Town Hall be- timey children’s games, a pot-luck and drawing thousands of viewers Carrboro from June 6-8, 1997, in comes a Dali museum, with 120 supper and music and dancing, all to a permanent outdoor sculpture conjunction with the parade. pieces on the walls. People came capped off with the new fire truck gallery. from all over the state, with the showering the crowd. exhibit garnering national attention.

39 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 carrboro characters

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..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... september 1997 june 1998 november 1998 june 2000 march 2001

The Squirrel Nut Zippers, at the Carrboro is one of only three of- Carolyn Hutchison is appointed “King” Nyle Frank makes his re- The Carrboro Century Center peak of their fame, play a free ficial venues in the U.S. recognized the first gay female police chief in turn to Carrboro to take the stage opens with a weeklong celebra- concert at Carrboro Town by the French Ministry of Culture the state of North Carolina. as king of the Fête de la Musique. tion of activities. The Recreation Commons. More than 10,000 for Fête de la Musique, celebrated In 1970, Frank had crowned him- & Parks Department and the folks show up, proving the town on the summer solstice in more self dictator of the Invisible Uni- Carrboro Police Department also can handle, and maybe should than 100 countries worldwide. versity of North Carolina, parading move to what had been Carrboro encourage, such events. around campus in a robe, tooting Baptist Church. his trumpet. Frank subsequently moved his university to Carrboro.

40 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Farewell to a steady hand‘ Sarah Williamson Retires By Taylor Sisk

Reprinted from The Carrboro Citizen, June 24, 2010 obert Wells was mayor the first day Sarah Wil- liamson came to work. That was July 5, 1972, R and Williamson was fresh out of Durham Tech and a day shy of 20. She’ll be retiring as Carrboro town clerk at the end of this month. Williamson – who grew up in Chapel Hill, out by University Lake, and graduated from Chapel Hill High School – arrived at Carrboro Town Hall to cover for Vergie Ar- rington, who handled a variety of responsi- bilities and was going out on maternity leave. “They were looking for someone to fill in and do some of her work while she was out,” Williamson said recently, seated in her Town Hall office, one of several she’s occupied in the building across her 38 years of service to the town. (“I’ve been all over this building.”) “When Vergie came back, I continued with the town clerk work and she went full- time to finance.” Ruth West succeeded Wells as mayor in 1975. Robert Drakeford followed in 1977. “The town was a whole lot smaller then,” Williamson said of her early Town Hall days. “Back in those days, we had water and sewer and bills and taxes and everything in here, so more people came into Town Hall. The po- lice department was here then; the recreation department was downstairs. “Of course, we didn’t have a computer then. We used mimeograph machines to print the agendas, getting black ink every- Gist, “Sarah embodies what’s really good about I’m going to really miss her steady hand,” where. Carrboro. She’s dedicated to her family and Stewart said. “I wish her all the best in her Another beautiful century “Carbon paper. We used carbon paper. to her neighbors. She’s very, very professional retirement. But she’ll be really missed by all in Carrboro! There weren’t even any copy machines. I had and comes to her work with a sense of pride.” of us at Town Hall.” to go downstairs to do that.” “She’s magnificent,” said Kinnaird. “She In fact, Williamson isn’t retiring, per se, James Porto was elected mayor in 1983 was just the most professional person in right away. It’s hard to walk out that door. and Ellie Kinnaird in 1987, and Carrboro was carrying out her duties. There would be Starting Aug. 4, she’ll work part-time for growing apace. arguments going on all around her, and she the town, probably through November, till “The town has grown a lot,” Williamson would just be going about her business, do- someone is hired and trained. She’s not sure said. “I think for the better. I like change.” ing her job in the most competent way. what’ll then come next. And she’s certainly kept up. “She knew how things were supposed to “I’m going to miss the people,” she said. “She knows this town inside out,” said be, so you could always count on her.” “I’ve known some of these people for a long, Town Manager Steve Stewart.” Sarah is just Mike Nelson took office in 1995 and long time. an incredibly important person to the town Mark Chilton in ’05 – seven administrations “But I’ll tell you what I’m not going to of Carrboro, and just a really great person.” for Williamson. miss: I’m sure not going to miss those board Dr. Chas Gaertner, DC To board of aldermen member Jacquie “I tried to talk her out of retiring, because meetings.” ncchiropractic.net • 929-3552

41 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Laughing Along with ruby 100 Years of Good Livin’ by Susan Dickson

Reprinted from The Carrboro Citizen, May 23, 2008

uby Merritt got 16 “I moved here in order to be close to my telephone calls on daughters, and to aggravate them,” she said Saturday. with a smile. “That’s why the Lord has let me With 39 family live so long.” R members already in town to celebrate her 100th birthday, that’s 100 years young quite a few, she said. Merritt attributes her longevity to laughter, Merritt is the matriarch of a large family, family and clean living. with four children, seven grandchildren and “I enjoy laughing,” she said. “It says in five great-grandchildren. On Sunday, her family proverbs, laughter does good like medicine, threw her 100th birthday party at Captain and I firmly believe that.” John’s Dockside Restaurant, and family Merritt has a photo of her two daughters members came from as far away as Califor- and herself at the beach in Cherry Grove, nia, Pennsylvania and Germany to celebrate. S.C. in t-shirts screen-printed with women’s Thirty of them came to church with her bodies clad in tiny bikinis. at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church on Sunday. “You see, we’re a fun group,” she said. “If they don’t love me, they’re hypocrites,” Merritt said she also believes her involve- she said. “They sure act like they love me.” ment in her church has kept her going. They held the party at Captain John’s At Mt. Carmel, Merritt taught Sunday

because Merritt celebrated her 95th birth- o ss school for more than 50 years and played the day there, and the owner of the restaurant piano for more than 70. promised if she lived to be 100 he’d bake her “I had to stop a few months for four Caption. PHOTO BY a cake, which he did. babies,” she said, adding that she would bring Born in Chatham County, Merritt has her babies with her to church and lay them o by K irk R

lived in Carrboro for more than 25 years. She t on pillows on the bench. lived in Chapel Hill before that, helping her When asked what the most difficult chal- husband, Eben Merritt, with Merritt’s Store, Pho lenge in life is, Merritt doesn’t miss a beat. which he ran for nearly 50 years. Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, where she’s been from how she remembers it from when she “Rearing children properly,” she said. “I Merritt met her husband in Chapel Hill a member for more than 80 years. was growing up. think that’s the biggest problem that people o ss through his sister, who attended Chapel Hill Merritt recalls downtown Chapel Hill “I remember that it was a mill town,” she have today.” High School with her. After graduating from differently from how it stands today, though said. “I didn’t come enough to even remember.” “Teachers cannot do it all,” she continued, Chapel Hill High in 1925, Merritt went to she says she doesn’t go downtown much Her husband died of a heart attack in adding that three of her four children were UNC for one year. anymore. 1981. The two had been married for 55 years. teachers. “I went to UNC one year and got my “At least we didn’t have any bars,” she said. “I wish it had been longer,” she said. Merritt’s mother was also a teacher and o by K irk R t “Mrs.” degree,” Merritt said, laughing. “Sutton’s [Drug Store] was a gathering place.” When Merritt’s husband died, she moved her father built a one-room schoolhouse that The two were married in June of 1926 at Carrboro, she added, is “so different” to Carrboro. still stands in Chatham County. Pho ..... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... september 2001 october 2001 july 2002 march 2003 June 2004

The Downtown Visioning Char- Years after the original plans were Kate Lovelady becomes The board of aldermen unani- After several years of paperwork rette brainstorming sessions completed and fundraising for the Carrboro’s first poet laureate. mously votes to designate April and planning, WCOM 103.5 FM, begin at Century Hall. Attendees project began, the Carrboro Band- She reads her “Report from the “French Trade Month” in Car- Carrboro’s all-volunteer radio break into groups and “redesign” stand is dedicated, with a concert Curb” at Carrboro’s Independence rboro. The action inspires an epi- station, goes on the air, transmit- downtown Carrboro. Suggestions by the Village Band. Day celebration. sode of The Daily Show with John ting an information loop that on include burying power lines, more Stewart: “The French Persistence,” Sept. 29, 2004 was replaced with green space, swimming pools, featuring board member Mark live broadcasting from the corner performing-arts spaces and round- Dorosin and airing on Comedy of North Greensboro and Weaver abouts for smoother traffic flow. Central on April 22, 2003. streets in downtown Carrboro.

42 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 In particular, Merritt has always loved music, which led her to become the first woman to drive in Chatham County. When she was 12, she took music lessons. Her father ran a sawmill, and driving her the five miles to her lessons would have meant & shutting it down to leave. So, much to the chagrin of her mother, her father taught her to drive on the old country roads near their home. “My mother had a fit,” she said. But Mer- ritt drove herself to her lessons, and because there were only two other cars in the county at that time, everyone knew who she was when they saw her coming. When people approached her on horses or in buggies, they would slow down to give 12-year-old Ruby a PREMIUM PRODUCTS & HOMEGROWN ADVICE wide berth on the narrow dirt roads. Merritt continued to drive until she was 93. HYDROPONICS Lighting, Hydroponic Systems, Nutrients and More for Indoor Growing Family time For nearly 50 years, Merritt’s family has trav- BEER & WINE MAKING SUPPLIES eled to Cherry Grove for a family week at the Starter Kits for Making Beer and Wine. Grains, Hops beach, and Merritt looks forward to another and All Supplies for More Experienced Homebrewers trip this summer. ORGANIC GARDENING “We have such a good time,” she said. “It’s Organic Seeds And Plant Starts, Organic Soils, Fertilizers and Pest Control just so much pleasure.” at the After 100 years, Merritt said she thinks ~ ~ FOR THE HOME & GARDEN her family is part of what’s kept her going. beehive Ceramic Pots, Heirloom Quality Tools, Eco Home & Urban DIY Products “To me, the most important thing on this earth is a functional family,” she said. “Maybe WHOLESALE 102 EAST WEAVER STREET Organic Soils And Fertilizers In Bulk For Local Farms that’s why I’ve lived so long, because it’s a HISTORIC DOWNTOWN CARRBORO loving family.” 106 S. Greensboro St. 932.7600 At her birthday party on Sunday, Merritt TUES THRU SAT - 932-HIVE quoted Minnie Pearl: “I’m just so proud to WWW.THEBEEHIVE-SALON.COM CARRBORO www.fifthseasongardening.com be here.”

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43 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Coming of Age Carrboro of the ’70s and ’80s by valarie schwartz

ne of the most transitional attitudes began to infiltrate. Bus service periods for the town of began in 1975, and in 1978 the Carrboro Co- Carrboro occurred during alition held the majority voice on the board the 1970s and ‘80s. Follow- of aldermen, led by Mayor Robert Drakeford, O ing the country’s turbulent who was black. Their mettle was tested in 1960s, the “Age of Aquarius” brought with it 1980 during the building of Wendy’s on what a youth movement that forced the old guard was the busiest corner in town. to look at things differently. The lot at the southwest corner of West In Carrboro, town leadership rarely had Main and South Greensboro streets, which reason to lift its head from its labors through had been vacant for years and served as three decades with little population growth. an impromptu parking lot, was optioned The 1940 census shows a 1,455 population for purchase (for $107,000) in November with growth of about 200 a year until 1970, 1979 by the Wenco Management Company, when it jumped to 5,058. Between 1968 and which then owned 20 restaurants in North 1973, the population growth resulted in Carolina and some in Alabama. The build- new housing, mostly in the form of apart- ing of Wendy’s presented a challenge that ment complexes. Minutes from the Carrboro brought differing tastes and personalities Board of Aldermen meetings are filled with head to head, beginning in March 1980, over appearances before the board of contractors proposed traffic patterns in and out of the wishing to build apartments and new hous- parking lot and the drive-through. ing developments, and of residents of older The board of aldermen decided they neighborhoods feeling the sewer strain from didn’t want a drive-through restaurant in streets expanding with new houses. town. They came up against the board of Before the staid working-class citizenry adjustment, the planning board and most of Carrboro knew it, the counterculture had downtown business people. Three lawsuits invaded, bringing with it uninhibited and and one appeal later, Wendy’s Old Fashioned outspoken young people who enjoyed life, Hamburger Restaurant opened in September and what an advancing Carrboro could offer 1980—with its drive-through, but without – if the “old” population would allow it. yucca plants—landscaping having proven to The May 4, 1971 special election for pub- be another bone of contention. lic transportation that would mean higher The seeds for the Carrboro Farmers’ Market were sown in 1978. PHOTO BY Alex Maness Young people kept coming to Carrboro. taxes for homeowners paints the picture With the 1980 census, the town’s population pretty well. Of 726 voters, a resounding 530 The young people did not go away. teacher’s assistant, coronated himself King of of 7,336 was one of the youngest in North voted against it, with possibly only the stu- In 1970, one (literally) made a name the Invisible Kingdom. The university fired Carolina, with three times as many residents dent/young-adult population voting in favor. for himself—“King” Nyle Frank—and gave him and, as the story goes, he was exiled to in their 20s and early 30s as many towns. They were the ones living in the apartment Carrboro an alias that has stuck: “Paris of Carrboro, where, during a newspaper inter- And they weren’t all students – including buildings, mostly out on the bypass – the the Piedmont.” Frank, a political science view, he coined its nickname. in their ranks professionals, artisans and ones who needed public transportation – but graduate student from California doing his In the mid-’70s, the Carrboro Commu- people working in the service industry in did not pay town taxes. dissertation on communes and working as a nity Coalition was formed and their liberal Chapel Hill...... timeline carrboro 1911-2011 timeline ..... august 2004 march 2007 august 2007 may 2008 August 2008

The Cybrary opens in the Car- The Carrboro Citizen, a free weekly The doors open at Carrboro’s first A Friday afternoon rock show Morris Grove Elementary School rboro Century Center. The room newspaper, is launched. The paper’s high school. School officials had with Superchunk and Arcade Fire opens on the corner of Eubanks helps meet the need for more circulation is 5,000 initially, but initially predicted 563 Carrboro draws thousands to an early-vote and Dromoland roads. The school library services in Carrboro. gradually rises. Papers are soon High School students, but 608 are rally for Barack Obama. is named for the Old Morris also distributed in Chapel Hill, signed up on opening day. Grove School, founded by freed Hillsborough and Pittsboro. slave Morris Hogan for black students in the 1880s, near the site of the new Morris Grove.

44 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A Bit of history

There were plenty of officials and dignitaries on hand, but school board Chair Jamezetta Bedford got the hon- ors at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Carrboro High School-. PHOTO BY JOCK LAUTERER

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The board of aldermen approves Carrboro-based design and Carrboro LocalMotive, a new Carrboro High School’s football Carrboro rings in its 100th birthday. the 300 East Main development, printing company The Merch organization promoting the local season comes to an end in the On March 3, the Carrboro Century a 507,500-square-foot project announces it has received the economy, launches a Carrboro Buy third round of the 2A state play- Center bell is rung 100 times by that includes a 150-room hotel, a necessary licenses and agreements Local Week offs after a hard-fought loss to East (almost) as many residents at a five-story parking deck, a central to manufacture wrestling masks Bladen, 56-48. The Jaguars finish celebration that includes a surprise pedestrian plaza, three large com- bearing the UNC and other ACC the season with a 10-4 record and performance of “I Wonder if the mercial buildings and extensive school logos. the distinction of being the best Lighthouse Will Shine on Me” by changes for Cat’s Cradle and The football team to ever represent the Triangle Gay Men’s Chorus and ArtsCenter. Carrboro High. a poem from Carrboro Poet Laureate Jay Bryan, titled We’ve Got Attitude.

45 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 A movement was afoot at the time to absorb Carrboro into Chapel Hill. The two towns hired UNC’s Institute of Government LOCAL to study a merger, and the 1987 report states in part: Ken Moore “The threat to community identity from merger is to Carrboro. Carrboro is an old town and community, originally centered Val Schwartz around the railroad and the mill. Its down- town area has undergone a renaissance, and the commercial district downtown is not Opinion only thriving but distinctive. … “At present the Carrboro community, at the Music part that is centered around the downtown area, is distinct. Because of its downtown area, Carrboro has more small town, down- Sports to-earth character than Chapel Hill.” Eddy Landreth

Schools Same as it ever was. Photos by Phil Blank Alex Maness Food Jock Lauterer Water Watch House Calls

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46 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 Congratulations, Carrboro! on your 100th anniversary from your friends at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce 104 South Estes Dr # 102 Chapel Hill, NC 27514-2866 (919) 967-7075 www.carolinachamber.org

47 carrboro centennial commemorative april 2011 The Heart of Carrboro Since 1977

Carr Mill Mall Ali Cat DSI Comedy Theater Mulberry Silks Anna’s Tailor & Alterations Elmo’s Diner The Painted Bird The Bead Store Fedora Panzanella Carolina Core Pilates Fleet Feet Rita’s Italian Ices Carrboro Yoga Co. Harris Teeter Sofia’s CHICLE Language Institute Head Over Heels Townsend, Bertram & Co. Creativity Matters Jewelworks Weaver Street Market CVS Miel Bon Bon & Café

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