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Life at UNC in the 1930's and 40's
by Charly Mann
In the late 1930's and early 40's UNC students spent many evenings at the castle-crowned height of Battle Seat near Gimghoul Castle that overlooked the coastal plain that stretches to the ocean. Giant oaks and large maple trees shaded the walks and lawns of the UNC campus. Students were a regular site on these paths trudging or pedaling to class, lounging on the benches or entry stairs of buildings, or loafing on the wide lawns. On many Saturdays in the Fall they would march to Kenan Stadium to enjoy a football game.
UNC Coeds in front of the Playmaker's Theater 1941
Every day everyone would pass the Confederate Soldier, who we now refer to as Silent Sam, who never fired a shot as a coed walked by. Most of the buildings on campus were ivory covered, and the sight everyone most remembered was the moon rising over the Bell Tower.
G.B. Lamm (the photographer of all these photos) on left studying in Magnum Dormitory
Students in those days recall their dorm and fraternity rooms being strewn with papers, books, chairs, and bottles and that sleep was an elusive commodity. This was because of campus overcrowding which forced three students to a room.
Attentive UNC students in Geography class
Years after these students left Carolina their most vivid recollections were of "Spring on the Hill," during which time the grass was green and most inviting to be lolled upon. At the same time one would always hear the sound of marching feet as many of the men on campus were in a military training program preparing to go off and fight in World War II. These men would soon be risking their lives to ensure that the peace and beauty of Chapel Hill would not be threatened.
UNC Coeds under Dogwood Spring of 1942
UNC student catching up on sleep in 1941 in Wilson Library
During the war the Navy took over the UNC cafeteria for its students, and everyone else had to stand in long lines at downtown restaurants for meals. Students also could not travel home on weekends or enjoy your their usual evening treks to Durham and Raleigh because buses and trains to and from Chapel Hill were always overcrowded with servicemen.
UNC Coeds in pajamas at Spencer Dorm studying in 1942
One amazing tradition at this time was that male students not enrolled in the military would not date in order to give those in the armed forces a better chance of finding a girl to spend time with.
UNC Male cheerleaders at Fetzer Field 1939
UNC female cheerleaders putting on makeup 1941
All photographs by G.B. Lamm. Please see the following article for more information on this very talented former UNC student:
The Essence of UNC in Photographs
Comments:
Dusty Wilson
10:28 AM Thu 12/10/2009
Nothing could be finer than my weekly visit to Chapel Hill Memories. I am always surprised by your range of articles. Keep up the great work.
Ian Golden
9:16 AM Wed 12/9/2009
What is amazing about these photos and your piece is how social and sophisticated these students seemed to be, yet they were enduring the hardships of the Great Depression and horrors of World War II.
A. Bare
8:20 PM Tue 12/8/2009
This is really an uplifting article and your writing and photos capture a time it was hard for to imagine before this.
Chapel Hill is located on a hill whose only distinguishing feature in the 18th century was a small chapel on top called New Hope Chapel. This church was built in 1752 and is currently the location of The Carolina Inn. The town was founded in 1819, and chartered in 1851.
What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. or the crisp October nights. No, our love for this place is based upon the fact that it is as it was meant to be, The University of the People.
-- Charles Kuralt
Dark Side of the Hill -- Pink Floyd, the creators of the most popular album in history, Dark Side of the Moon, took the second half of their name from Floyd Council, a Chapel Hill native, and great blues singer and guitarist. He once belonged to a group called "The Chapel Hillbillies".
Check out Charly Mann's other website:
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
There would probably be no Chapel Hill if the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in 1793 had not chosen land across from New Hope Chapel for the location of the university. By 1800 there were about 100 people living in thirty houses surrounding the campus.
The University North Carolina's first student was Hinton James, who enrolled in February, 1795. There is now a dormitory on the campus named in his honor.
The University of North Carolina was closed from 1870 to 1875 because of lack of state funding.
William Ackland left his art collection and $1.25 million to Duke University in 1940 on the condition that he would be buried in the art museum that the University was to build with his bequest. Duke rejected this condition even though members of the Duke Family are buried in Duke Chapel. What followed was a long and acrimonious legal battle between Ackland relatives who now wanted the inheritance, Rollins College, and the University of North Carolina, each attempting to receive the funds. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and in 1949 UNC was awarded the money for the museum. Ackland is buried near the museum's entrance. When the museum first opened, in the early sixties, there were rumors that his remains were leaking out of the mausoleum.
The official name of the Arboretum on the University of North Carolina campus is the Coker Arboretum. It is named after Dr. William Cocker, the University's first botany professor. It occupies a little more than five acres. It was founded in 1903.
Chapel Hill's main street has always been called Franklin Street. It was named after Benjamin Franklin in the early 1790s.
Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill Junior High were on Franklin Street in the same location as University Square until the mid 1960s.
The Colonial Drug Store at 450 West Franklin Street was owned and operated by John Carswell. It was famous for a fresh-squeezed carbonated orange beverage called a "Big O". In the early 1970s, I managed the Record and Tape Center next door, and must have had over 100 of those drinks. The Colonial Drug Store closed in 1996.
Sutton's Drugstore, which opened in 1923, has one of the last soda fountains in the South. It is one of the few businesses remaining on Franklin Street that was in operation when I was growing up in the 1950s.
Future President Gerald Ford lived in Chapel Hill twice. First when he was 24, in 1938, he took a law couse in summer school at UNC. He lived in the Carr Building, which was a law school dormitory. At the same time, Richard Nixon, the man he served under as Vice President, was attending law school at Duke. In 1942, Ford returned to Chapel Hill to attend the U.S. Navy's Pre-Flight School training program. He lived in a rental house on Hidden Hills Drive.
This piece and the photographs with it display an innocence and common decency that is rare in today's world.