WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION (WPA) PROJECTS

100 W. Rosemary St. / Chapel Hill Town Hall (former)

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

Martindale Field / Chapel Hill Airport / Horace Williams Airport

After US Army service in World War I with Company H, 322nd Infantry Regiment, 81st Infantry Division, Charlie Lee Martindale (b. 6 January 1891, d. 19 March 1964) moved to Chapel Hill, where he worked in the construction industry. In June 1928, Martindale purchased 50.6 acres from UNC Professor Horace Williams (b. 16 August 1858, d. 26 December...

110 E. King St. / 109 Court St.

This property/lot was sold to Orange County by the Webb family in May 1936. It was the former site of a one-and-a-half story building (used as a warehouse and for flour storage) for the adjacent mill building (to the property's south). The original part of the structure was built in 1936-1937 by Orange County and the Works Progress Administration...

201 N. Churton St. / Confederate Memorial Library / Orange County Historical Museum

View north west, 1930s (photo by the Albertype Company, via UNC) The NW corner of Churton and Tryon streets was the location of the 1836 " Session House" for the adjacent Presbyterian Church. In 1934, the Session House building was torn down and a new building was built on the site. It was built as a United States Federal Civil Works Administration...

U.S. Post Office (1917)

Built in 1917, renovated in 1937. It is still in use as a U.S. Post Office (and court rooms, with public space in the basement) 1921 (image via UNC) 1920's postcard 1924 (image via UNC) 1925 Sanborn map excerpt Circa 1930 (image via UNC) 1931 (image via UNC) 1939 (photo by Marion Post Wolcott) 1940's 1950's (at right) October 6, 1958 (photo by...

Old Hillsborough Jail (fifth)

Circa 1900, view south east (jail indicated by red arrow) View south east (photo from History of the Town of Hillsborough 1754-1966) Per History of the Town of Hillsborough: "In a hundred years Orange County had at last five jails. In 1752, a contract was given to build a jail near Piney Ford. The contract was evidently not carried out. In 1755...

Hargraves Community Center / Hargraves Center / Roberson Street Center / Negro Community Center

(Note: Most of the following history of the Hargraves Center was compiled by a Parks & Recreation intern in the late 1980s. The intern interviewed several long-time users of the facility, including Lucille Caldwell who was the first paid director of the Center.) The Hargraves Recreation Center, originally known as the Negro Community Center...

Chapel Hill High School (second Location)

Built in 1936-1937 (finished in March 1937) as a WPA/PWA project. The architect was Atwood & Weeks, with George W. Kane as contractor. It was built on property deeded to Orange County by UNC, with the stipulation that the land will revert back to UNC if the property is no longer used for public school purposes by the county. Under construction...

Other Orange County WPA projects:

Woollen Gymnasium (1938)

"Laying the Cornerstone of Old East" (a mural in the Chapel Hill post office by Dean Cornwell, with the assistance of "a Chapel Hill housepainter" was painted March 13-14, 1941)

List of Orange County ERA projects:

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