Editing Carrboro, North Carolina (section)

==History==
Before European settlement, the [[Occaneechi]] Indians lived in the area of what is now [[Hillsborough, North Carolina|Hillsborough]], north of Carrboro.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Occaneechi Indians |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/occaneechi-indians |access-date=April 3, 2025|website=NCpedia}}</ref> As part of North Carolina's [[piedmont]] region, European settlement in the area likely did not begin until at least the 1730s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Settlement of the Piedmont, 1730-1775|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/history/colonial/piedmont |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=NCpedia}}</ref>

The history of Carrboro is similar to the history of many mill towns in North Carolina and largely parallels the histories of the [[State University Railroad]] and the [[Alberta Cotton Mill]]. Located just west of Chapel Hill, Carrboro was originally known as '''West End'''. It was settled in 1882 near the terminus "in a vacant field" of the {{convert|10.2|mi}} [[State University Railroad]] spur from University Station in [[University, Orange County, North Carolina|Glenn, North Carolina]].<ref name="carrboro history">{{Cite web |last=Helvey |first=Jackie |title=Carrboro's History |url=http://carrboro.com/carrhistory.html |access-date=January 30, 2014 |publisher=UniqueOrn Enterprises |archive-date=August 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806215512/http://www.carrboro.com/carrhistory.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=December 2018}} (State law required that the railway be at least {{convert|1|mi}} from the university campus "to guard against possible damage to student morals and habits of study,"<ref>{{Cite news |last=McLaurin |first=Tim |date=April 22, 1982 |title=Carrboro Residents Reminisce |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/67954075/?terms=%22julian%2Bs.%2Bcarr%22 |newspaper=[[The Daily Tar Heel]] |page=6 |access-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-date=July 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727080054/https://www.newspapers.com/image/67954075/?terms=%22julian+s.+carr%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> or as it was more cynically put, "to discourage students from leaving on the weekends and spending their money elsewhere.<ref name="Carrboro Inventory">{{Cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Claudia Roberts |url=http://ci.carrboro.nc.us/PZI/PDFs/ARCHITECTURALHISTORICALINV.pdf |title=Carrboro, N.C. An Architectural and Historical Inventory |last2=McSwain |first2=Burgess |last3=Florin |first3=John |publisher=Carrboro Appearance Commission, Town of Carrboro |year=1983 |location=Carrboro, N.C. |access-date=February 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220112133/http://ci.carrboro.nc.us/PZI/PDFs/ARCHITECTURALHISTORICALINV.pdf |archive-date=February 20, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|10}}) Settlement in West End increased after 1898 when [[Thomas F. Lloyd]] of Chapel Hill built a steam-powered grist mill near the depot. This would become the [[Alberta Cotton Mill]],<ref name="carrboro commons">{{Cite web |last=Pope |first=Kristen |date=January 24, 2007 |title=From Mill to Mall |url=http://blogs.web.jomc.unc.edu/carrborocommons/?p=143 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108164028/http://blogs.web.jomc.unc.edu/carrborocommons/?p=143 |archive-date=January 8, 2014 |publisher=UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication}}</ref> and in 1900 the town briefly called itself '''Lloydville''' in his honor.<ref name="carrboro book">{{Cite book |last1=Otto |first1=David |title=Carrboro |last2=Ellington |first2=Richard |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7385-8727-1 |location=[[Charleston, South Carolina]] |page=40}}</ref>

Durham businessman [[Julian S. Carr]] bought the mill and other nearby buildings in 1909, adding them to the chain of mills that became Durham Hosiery Mills. In 1911, West End was incorporated and named '''Venable''' in honor of chemistry professor and University of North Carolina president [[Francis Preston Venable]], but only two years later was renamed '''Carrboro''', after Carr provided electric power for the community and expanded the mill.<ref name="carrboro commons" /> In addition to the university and the textile mills, the railroad depot in Carrboro also served the local lumber industry, and in the 1920s and 1930s Carrboro became a major hub in the [[hardwood]] cross-tie market.<ref name="carrboro book" />

A 1920s building boom in Carrboro sparked by a fire in the downtown business district ended as business at the Durham Hosiery Mills declined towards the end of the decade. The [[Great Depression]] also took an economic toll and in 1930 the company closed Mill No. 4, the original Alberta Cotton Mill. Passenger service on the train line ended in 1936. In 1938 Durham Hosiery Mills closed Mill No. 7, across Main Street from Mill No. 4, and ceased operations altogether.

[[File:WSM Carrboro exterior.jpg|thumb|left|Weaver Street market]]
"Robert 'Bob' Drakeford, the town's first black mayor, elected in 1977, recalled when Carrboro was a [[sundown town]], where people of color knew not to be out after dark."<ref name="Name">{{Cite news |last=Grubb |first=Tammy |date=October 16, 2018 |title=Can Carrboro Keep Its Name Without Honoring a White Supremacist? |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article220065525.html |work=[[News & Observer]] |access-date=November 14, 2018 |archive-date=December 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227181827/https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article220065525.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

During World War II, Mill No. 7 became the site of a munitions factory. After the war, Pacific Mills bought both Mills No. 4 and 7 and operated them as Carrboro Woolen Mills. When Pacific Mills closed in the mid-1960s - the final activity at the mill was sorting and shipping [[BVD]] underwear<ref>{{Cite web |year=1979 |title=Carr Mill, Carrboro, North Carolina: A Rehabilitation Project under the Tax Reform Act of 1976 |url=https://archive.org/stream/carrmillcarrboro00thom/carrmillcarrboro00thom_djvu.txt |access-date=April 15, 2015}}</ref> - Carrboro was no longer able to depend upon the textile industry to sustain itself. The University of North Carolina and other businesses in the area were growing rapidly and provided work in a wide range of occupations and locations.

The mill remained abandoned for nearly a decade and changed hands several times. In 1975 the owner, with the assent of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, intended to have it demolished. A community petition and fund-raising effort provided for its restoration as [[Carr Mill Mall]]. It has since grown into a bustling hub of activity, hosting many businesses such as Weaver Street Market.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Weaver Street Market Carrboro &#124; Natural Foods & Organic Grocery Store Carrboro NC |url=http://www.weaverstreetmarket.coop/location/carrboro/ |access-date=April 21, 2017 |archive-date=April 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422033600/http://www.weaverstreetmarket.coop/location/carrboro/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In addition to the Alberta Mill Complex, the [[Carrboro Commercial Historic District]], [[Thomas and Mary Hogan House]], and [[Thomas F. Lloyd Historic District]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
Carrboro's origin story is closely tied to its historic railroad station, which was built in 1913. Initially known as "West Of" due to its proximity to Chapel Hill, the area around the station developed into a thriving settlement, eventually becoming the town of Carrboro.

===Name===
Carrboro was named for [[Julian S. Carr]], a UNC alumnus, trustee, honorary degree recipient, industrialist, and philanthropist whose company brought electric power to the town. Carr was also a [[white supremacist]] who opposed black suffrage, defended the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and [[lynching in the United States|lynching]]s, and endorsed the [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy|"Lost Cause"]] interpretation of the Civil War, during which he served as a private in the [[Confederate States Army]]. A 2011 letter to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student newspaper, ''[[The Daily Tar Heel]]'', called attention to Carr's remarks at the 1913 dedication of the ''[[Silent Sam]]'' monument on the University of North Carolina campus.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Domby |first=Adam |date=January 20, 2011 |title=Why Silent Sam Was Built: A Historian's Perspective |url=http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2011/01/why_silent_sam_was_built_a_historians_perspective |newspaper=[[The Daily Tar Heel]] |access-date=September 18, 2018 |archive-date=August 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824002255/http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2011/01/why_silent_sam_was_built_a_historians_perspective |url-status=live }}</ref> The following passage, quoted in the letter, has become locally famous:

{{Blockquote|One hundred yards from where we stand, less than ninety days perhaps after my return from [[Old Appomattox Court House|Appomattox]], I horse whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds because she had maligned and insulted a Southern lady, and then rushed for protection to these University buildings where was stationed a garrison of 100 Federal soldiers. I performed the pleasing duty in the immediate presence of the entire garrison.<ref name="brundage">{{Cite web |last=Brundage |first=W. Fitzhugh |date=August 18, 2017 |title=I've Studied the History of Confederate Memorials. Here's What to Do About Them |url=http://www.vox.com/platform/amp/the-big-idea/2017/8/18/16165160/confederate-monuments-history-charlottesville-white-supremacy |access-date=August 21, 2018 |website=[[Vox (web site)|Vox]] |archive-date=August 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821124728/https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/the-big-idea/2017/8/18/16165160/confederate-monuments-history-charlottesville-white-supremacy |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

As a result of this publication, a petition to change the town's name arose,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Christensen |first=Rob |date=September 1, 2018 |title=Duke History Professors Ignore School's Past As They Push to Remove Julian Carr's Name |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article217706210.html |work=[[News & Observer]] |access-date=September 18, 2018 |archive-date=September 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912235447/https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article217706210.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Coclanis |first=Peter A. |date=September 26, 2017 |title=Julian Carr Did Wrong, but Also a Good Deal Right |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article175617056.html |work=[[News & Observer]] |access-date=September 18, 2018 |archive-date=December 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205112746/https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article175617056.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and former mayor Jim Porto in 2016 asked the Board of Aldermen to rename the town.<ref name=Name/> According to Alderwoman Jacquie Gist, "Changing Carrboro's name is not a realistic option". A name change would require legislative approval, and according to former mayor Mark Chilton, "You change it to something besides Carrboro, you're really asking to be interfered with by the state legislature, and it won't be for the best."<ref name=Name/> In 2019, Carrboro erected  a truth plaque, distancing the town from the values and actions of Julian Carr.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Antrim |first=Aislinn |date=April 17, 2019 |title=Carrboro Recognizes Town's History with New Truth Plaque About Namesake Julian Carr |url=https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2019/04/carrboro-truth-plaque-ceremony-0417 |newspaper=[[The Daily Tar Heel]] |access-date=October 3, 2019 |archive-date=October 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002011534/https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2019/04/carrboro-truth-plaque-ceremony-0417 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Joe |date=May 10, 2018 |title=What's in a Name? A Lot for Carrboro When It Comes to Namesake Julian Carr |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article210894174.html |work=[[News & Observer]] |access-date=September 18, 2018 |archive-date=August 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829212418/https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article210894174.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Joe |date=September 12, 2018 |title=Can Carrboro Square Its Link to Julian Carr? A Group Will Try with a 'Truth Plaque.' |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article217904745.html |work=[[News & Observer]]}}</ref>

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen passed a resolution in 2017 calling for the removal of ''Silent Sam''.<ref name="Grubb">{{Cite news |last1=Grubb |first1=Tammy |last2=Stancill |first2=Jane |last3=Brosseau |first3=Carli |date=August 21, 2018 |title=Hands Off? Police Response to Two Silent Sam Protests Were Far Different |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article217065760.html |work=[[News & Observer]] |access-date=September 18, 2018 |archive-date=September 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918194235/https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article217065760.html |url-status=live }}</ref>