We initially saw Michael Parker West’s Twitter thread on private school enrollment in North Carolina, and asked him to turn it into a blog post. West is an educator, institutional and community organizer, and assistant principal based in Wake County. It’s been reported that North Carolina private school enrollments are growing to levels not seen […]
From the archives
Enacting Main Street: a Partial History of Naming, Making, and Multiplicity
This piece was originally published on the excellent Stand in the Place Where U Live website published by Dr. Sharon Holland’s students in American Studies 701 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is republished with permission of the author, Josh Parshall, who is now the Director of History at the Goldring/Woldenberg […]
The five-year-long struggle to build Elliott Woods
Where we left off: With the election of Howard Lee and two political allies, the Chapel Hill Town Council finally voted to approve the rezoning necessary to build Elliott Woods. Part 6: For more than a year, the Inter-Church Council had patiently waited for the stars to align so they could start building Elliott Woods. […]
The Resurrection of Elliott Woods
Where we left off: After a fierce, months-long debate about building affordable housing adjacent to the large single-family homes in the Coker Hills and Lake Forest neighborhoods, the town council declines to support the Inter-Church Council’s proposal to build the Elliott Woods project. It took an election. In May 1969, Howard Lee, Chapel Hill’s first, […]
This is the 1955 zoning map for Chapel Hill
We were looking through old Chapel Hill Town Council meeting minutes when we came across the 1955 zoning map from the town. Prepared by the Planning Board, the map set up three additional districts in town: RA-20, suburban commercial, and agricultural. What does the map show? It shows Chapel Hill’s eight zoning districts. We can […]
Take a look at this Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation plan from 1976
Wilson Library at UNC is a treasure trove of documents related to the history of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. On one visit, we came across the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Plan from 1976, which we scanned – in full. Written in March of 1976, the document talks about the formation of Estes Drive, Umstead Drive, Piney […]