| Some Towns in Orange County, NC |
| Hillsborough The town of Hillsborough, North Carolina is the county seat of Orange County. It was originally established in 1759 as Childsburg; it was renamed Hillsborough in 1766. As of the 2000 census, the town had a population of 5,466. |
| Chapel Hill The town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina is the home of the University of North Carolina, the oldest state university in the United States. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 48,715. It is located in the southeast corner of Orange County. Chapel Hill is coterminous to the west with the town of Carrboro and to the east with the city of Durham. Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh make up the three corners of the Research Triangle, so named in 1959, with the creation of the Research Triangle Park, a research park between Durham and Raleigh. Chapel Hill, or the town center, sits atop a hill, originally called New Hope Chapel Hill after the chapel once located there. The Carolina Inn now occupies the site of the original chapel. The town was founded to serve the University of North Carolina and grew up around it. The Morehead Planetarium was, when it opened in 1949, one of only a handful of planetariums in the nation, and it has remained an important town landmark. During the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, astronauts were trained there. |
| Carrboro The town of Carrboro is located adjacent to Chapel Hill. It began in 1882 as a train stop, just west of Chapel Hill on the Durham-Greensboro Southern Railway. The stop was located about a mile from the University of North Carolina campus, in order not to disturb the population and to make it more difficult for students to leave the university by train. As of the census of 2000, the population of Carrboro was 16,782. Originally known as West End, Carrboro was later renamed Venable, after Francis P. Venable, UNC president. Settlement began slowly but began to grow after Tom Lloyd built a cotton mill nearby in 1898. The train station also served the local lumber industry and Carrboro became a major hub in the hardwood cross-tie market. The family of Julian Carr purchased Lloyd's cotton mill in 1909 and in 1914, the town's name was changed to Carrboro. The original mill changed hands a number of times and the Carrboro Board of Aldermen was to have it demolished in 1975, until a community petition and fundraising provided for its restoration as Carr Mill Mall. |
| Mebane Excerpted from "Orange County, 1752-1952" Published 1953 The village of Mebane is partly in Orange County and partly in Alamance. Most of its industry is on the Alamance side of town, but it draws its employees in considerable numbers from Orange County and thus is a factor in the economy of the county. Mebane came into existence as a cluster of houses along the new North Carolina Railroad in 1854. It was named for the Mebane family, whose members have played prominent roles in public affairs since before the Revolution. With the coming of the railroad, families from the surrounding region began to seek home sites near the tracks, and formed a little settlement called Mebaneville. A large number of these came from the Hawfields section to settle in the new village. Stephen A. White was the first settler, and he was soon followed by Frank Mebane and Thomas B. Thompson. The town grew rapidly and in 1881 was incorporated, and in 1883 the name was shortened to Mebane. Mebane is a thriving town with a half dozen important industries, including both furniture and textile plants. The White Furniture Company, which makes high quality bedroom and living room furniture, is one of the oldest manufacturers of fine furniture in the South. The company was founded in 1818 by two brothers, Will and Dave White. The Whites were descendants of one of the oldest families of the region, their forebears having settled there in 1775. The brothers were related through their mother to the Mebanes. Starting with a few hundred dollars, the two men purchased a carload of lumber and a second-hand planer and set up a plant to manufacture wood products. Within a short time they began to make bedroom furniture, and it was not long before dining room furniture was added. From the very beginning the two brothers endeavored to make good products, and throughout its history the company has adhered steadfastly to this policy. After operating 15 years, Will White became president, Dave White was made general manager and a younger brother, J. Sam White, was brought into the business as secretary and treasurer. After the death of Will White in 1935, J. Sam White became president. Though still active at 74, executive responsibility is now shared with his son, Stephen A. White. It is pertinent to close this sketch with the statement which appears at the beginning of one of the company's recent brochures: "Good furniture was a tradition in the famous little town of Mebane, North Carolina, long before the year 1881, when the first piece of White furniture was made. The White boys, Will and Dave, had watched journeymen craftsmen fashion pieces of rich and lasting beauty. In the homes of the Pages, the Mebanes, and other old Haw River Valley families dating back to Colonial days.....they had lived familiarly with furniture that had enriched, and been enriched by the good life of many generations. On the exact site of the first White Furniture shop......descendants of the founders and the early craftsmen are still building furniture of enduring usefulness and beauty.....until the town that Gen. Alexander Mebane founded.....and became famous as a stronghold of patriotism in Revolutionary days.....has become, in our times, synonymous with the finest in furniture." |
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