This Day in North Carolina History

President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks at the dedication of the Smoky Mountain National Park in September 1940. Image held by the State Archives

On May 22, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge signed the bill that established the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The process had been difficult, taking many years and much negotiation before the park became one of the 59 parks in the national system.

The idea to create a park in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee started in the late 1890s.  Initially there was a debate over whether to make the public land preserve in this area a national park or a national forest. The main difference is that in a national forest, timbering of the land is permissible, while in a national park, scenery and resources are protected.

A 1948 souvenir postcard packet Great Smoky Mountains National Park now held by the State Archives

Once Coolidge signed the bill establishing the park, supporters had to find the funds to purchase an initial 150,000 acres before the Department of the Interior would assume responsibility. By 1928, $10 million had been raised by individuals, the North Carolina and Tennessee state legislatures, private groups and a campaign by school children. Thousands of small farms and homesteads as well as large timber corporations had to be bought out. The park was dedicated in 1940 and today it is the nation’s most visited park.

You can also check out the 1927 North Carolina law that authorized the purchase of land for the park online in the digital collections of the State Archives and State Library.

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day subscribe by email using the box on the right and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

William H. Holden

On May 21, 1870, J. W. Stephens, a state senator and Freedman’s Bureau agent, was murdered by Ku Klux Klansmen in the basement of the Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville. On that Saturday there was a political rally near the courthouse. One of the people in attendance was J.W. ‘Chicken’ Stephens, despised by the local Ku Klux Klan chapter for his progressive attitudes towards blacks. Governor William W. Holden had tasked Stephens with investigating suspected Klan members, the same Klan members who had marked Stephens for death. Lured into the basement of the courthouse, Stephens was ambushed and stabbed; his body was left on a woodpile.

The murder, along with that of black town commissioner Wyatt Outlaw in Graham earlier that year, led Gov. Holden to declare martial law in Alamance and Caswell Counties. Holden, believing the area to be in a state of insurrection, called up the militia to occupy the area and settle the racial violence. The episode, which has become known as the Kirk-Holden War, led to Holden’s impeachment and removal from office in 1871.

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day subscribe by email using the box on the right and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

A 1935 Highway Patrol vehicle that is now part of the collection at the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer

On May 20, 1929, the first candidates for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol reported to Camp Glenn in Morehead City. Charles D. Farmer, superintendent of equipment for the State Highway Commission, was selected to serve as captain and commanding officer. Nine lieutenants, one for each of the state’s Highway Division Districts, were appointed to assist in the administration of the patrol. The plan was to hire 27 patrolmen, three for each district. A total of 67 applicants were selected to attend the first highway patrol training school.

The courses for the first class of cadets included Motor Laws, Pistol Marksmanship and Geography of North Carolina. After six weeks, the students with the best records were appointed to the Highway Patrol. The novice patrolmen were issued uniforms and motorcycles. The nine lieutenants received Ford coupes, and Charles Farmer was given a Buick. The entire group embarked on a statewide tour in order to engender support for and confidence in the new program. The 1,028-mile tour took the men from Beaufort to Asheville and back to Raleigh, with many stops along the way. Concluding at the State Capitol, all 37 members of the force took their oaths of office and reported for duty.

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day subscribe by email using the box on the right and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Elvis taking a break from his 1955 tour

On May 19, 1955, Hank Snow’s All Star Jamboree tour, featuring a new young talent named Elvis Presley, ended at Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh. It marked the beginning of the end of the touring relationship between the headliner, Faron Young, and featured player Presley. Young later recounted that each night of the tour Elvis got bigger and wilder crowds. Before intermission, each show included a new talent portion in which Presley took the stage, with the headliners performing after intermission.

As the tour progressed, fans began to shout for more Elvis during the other performances, and he was called back for encore after encore. In the early days of the tour Colonel Tom Parker, as booking agent, actually paid teenagers $5 apiece to scream for Presley. He used the publicity photographs to send to the newspapers in the next cities on the tour. Other performers on the tour recalled how much they discounted Presley and his odd onstage behavior. Most country singers thought that he was a fad who would quickly fade, but Presley soon found himself the headliner, and few established stars would agree to perform with him on a tour.

Other related resources:

• Music on NCpedia
• Resources on North Carolina Arts and Craft from the State Library
• The North Carolina Arts Council

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day subscribe by email using the box on the right and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

A pit crew working during a 1954 stock car race

On May 18, 1947, the North Wilkesboro Speedway opened its doors to a crowd of more than 10,000 spectators who watched Fonty Flock win the first official race held there. The 5/8-mile oval dirt track was well-known for challenging the best of drivers.

Stock car racing fans and scholars have long acknowledged that the roots of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) are closely tied to the tradition of illegal moonshine production. Races between “runners” evolved into spectator events. The North Wilkesboro Speedway was among the first tracks recognized by NASCAR during its inaugural year of 1949. NASCAR’s first finale took place there, with the crowning of the first points champion, Robert “Red” Byron, in October 1949.

The speedway often has been called to as “The House that Junior Built,” a reference to racing legend Junior Johnson who began his career there at age 16. Johnson earned four of his 50 career NASCAR victories there, and continued his success on the track as a team owner.

The last NASCAR race at North Wilkesboro, won by Jeff Gordon, was held on September 29, 1996, with more than 60,000 fans in attendance.

Other related resources:

• Auto racing and NASCAR on NCpedia
• The holdings of the Department of Cultural Resources related to NASCAR
• The N.C. Sports Hall of Fame, at the N.C. Museum of History, of which Johnson is a member

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day subscribe by email using the box on the right and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Stuart Cramerton

On May 17, 1906, North Carolinian Stuart Cramer coined the term “air conditioning.” Though not particularly skilled as a textile executive, Cramer contributed significantly to the cotton mill industry by using his engineering and invention skills. In 1895, he established his textile business and, over the next 10 years, designed and equipped more than 150 (or roughly a third of all) cotton mills in the South. Cramer invested his profits back into his own mills, especially those in the community that came to bear his name, Cramerton.

A 1941 air conditioning manual in the collection of the N.C. Historic Sites

Though he got his start in cotton, Cramer is best known for the role he played in the development of air conditioning. The holder of more than 60 patents, he pioneered humidity control and ventilating equipment for cotton mills and installed scores of such systems in plants across the South. In a paper read before an American Cotton Manufacturers Association convention, Cramer was the first to use the term “air conditioning.” Though credit for the invention of air conditioning does not belong to one person, the biographer of industry giant W. H. Carrier attributes 11 technological advances and “outstanding work which later had a large part in the air conditioning industry” to Cramer.

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day, make sure you subscribe by email using the box on the right, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

On May 16, 1771, the Battle of Alamance was fought. The two opposing forces were colonial militia, under the command of Governor William Tryon, and a band of frontier citizens known as Regulators, who raised arms against corrupt practices in local government. Tryon’s force of 1,100 men marched into Regulator country to subdue the uprisings. About 2,000 Regulators, armed with old muskets and makeshift weapons, organized near Tryon’s camp. Messages were exchanged, with the governor demanding immediate and complete surrender of the Regulators and the Regulators petitioning the Governor for reforms.

Nothing came of the negotiations and, on the morning of May 16, Tryon ordered his forces to march. Tryon sent messages offering surrender terms while his militia marched slowly forward, but the Regulators rejected them all. The governor’s artillery began the engagement, followed by concentrated musket fire from the militia. The Regulators prevailed for a while before retreating into the woods. Eventually Tryon ordered a charge, which drove the Regulators from their positions.

Nine Regulators were killed, more than 200 were wounded and between 20 and 30 were taken prisoner. Nine of Tryon’s men were killed and another 61 were wounded. Though the Battle of Alamance quieted the Regulators, the effects of their calls for reform eventually reverberated.

Other related resources:

• Events at Alamance Battleground
• Alamance Battleground State Historic Site
• Farming Dissenters: The Regulator Movement in Piedmont North Carolina from N.C. Historical Publications

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day, make sure you subscribe by email using the box on the right, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

On May 15, 1918, Henry Beard Delany became the first black Episcopal bishop in North Carolina and only the second in the United States. A native Georgian who grew up in Florida, Delany came to North Carolina in 1881 when he enrolled at St. Augustine’s Normal School (now St. Augustine’s College). He remained at the school teaching courses, overseeing facility construction, serving as vice principal and, after he was ordained an Episcopal priest, as the school chaplain.

Delany was elected bishop “in charge of Negro work” and served in that capacity broadly across North and South Carolina. His work is credited with the improvement of the quality of life among African Americans in the South. At his death, he was memorialized as having risen “to a position of eminence in which he had won not only the esteem of his white colleagues throughout the country but also their love.”

Two of Delany’s daughters became famous in the 1990s for their book Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years. The book was later adapted into a play and film.

Other related resources:

• Celebrate Black History! from the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources
• A History of African Americans in North Carolina from N.C. Historical Publications
• Resources related to black history from the State Library

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day, make sure you subscribe by email using the box on the right, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Page two of the concert’s program

On May 14, 1932, the North Carolina Symphony played its first concert at Hill Hall on the campus of UNC- The concert included music by Wagner, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and others, and featured 48 musicians from around the state under the direction of conductor Lamar Stringfield. The symphony had its origins earlier that year as a work relief project of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and became the first symphony orchestra to receive state aid with the passage of what became known as the “Horn Tootin’ Bill” in 1943.

Today, the North Carolina Symphony is a first-class, professional orchestra with 65 members led by Music Director Grant Llewellyn, based out of Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh. In addition to classical series in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington, it also features a Pops Series, Young People’s Concerts and the annual Summerfest outdoor concert series at Cary’s Booth Amphitheatre.

Always the “people’s orchestra,” the symphony has an especially strong legacy of music education, with more than 3 million school children reached since it began its children’s concerts series in 1945. Each year the symphony puts on more than 50 educational programs in nearly as many communities across the state.

Other related resources:

• The North Carolina Symphony
• Symphony Stories, the digitized programs of the N.C. Symphony’s education concerts

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day, make sure you subscribe by email using the box on the right, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

On May 13, 1830, Zebulon Baird Vance was born in the Reems Creek area of Buncombe County. Raised in Asheville, Vance studied at the University of North Carolina. After setting up a law practice in Asheville, he launched his political career.  Known for his personality and oratorical skills, Vance served as a state senator, U.S. congressman and governor.

Initially an opponent of secession, Vance cast his lot with his state and region after President Abraham Lincoln’s call to arms. Vance raised his own company and was later elected colonel of the Twenty-Sixth Regiment.

Though the war raged on, politics was never far from Vance’s mind. The Conservative Party selected the popular colonel as its candidate for governor in 1862. The election resulted in an overwhelming victory for Vance, who, at 32, became the youngest chief executive in state history.

On his birthday in 1865, Vance was arrested in Statesville by federal cavalry as he attempted to flee the approaching Union army. He was imprisoned in Washington, D.C., for two months. No charges were ever brought and he was eventually released.

On May 13, 1961, Vance’s 131st birthday, the Gov. Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace State Historic Site in Weaverville was dedicated and opened to the public.

Other related resources:

• Examining Letters of Zebulon B. Vance, North Carolina’s Civil War Governor, a lesson guide from North Carolina Historic Sites
• Historical images of governors from the State Archives
• Biographies of North Carolina’s governors on NCpedia
• Governors of North Carolina from N.C. Historical Publications

On May 12, 1876, North Carolina’s first Jewish synagogue, the Temple of Israel, was dedicated in Wilmington. The Jews of Wilmington were part of the second wave of immigrants who arrived in the United States from Germany, and they worked primarily as artisans, merchants, and storekeepers. In 1855, Jews set aside a Hebrew section of Oakdale Cemetery in the city. As the community grew in the mid-1800s, the Jews in the area began to need a house of worship.

The initial plans for a synagogue were interrupted by the Civil War. About 40 families came together in 1872 to set plans for the church. Soon after they affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. A local chapter of B’nai B’rith, a Jewish service organization, was founded in 1874. Samuel Sloan of Philadelphia was retained as the architect and plans were developed for a distinctive building in the Moorish Revival style. Construction began in 1875 and was completed the next year.

Rabbi Samuel Mendelsohn presided over the dedication in 1876. He went on to lead the Temple of Israel congregation until 1922. Eric Meyers, director of Duke University’s Center for Judaic Studies, said of the synagogue, “It represents one of the high points of Southern Jewish culture.”

A photograph of Bagley held by the N.C. Museum of History

On May 11, 1898, in battle at Cárdenas, Cuba, Ensign Worth Bagley of Raleigh became the first naval officer and first North Carolinian killed in the Spanish-American War. The sinking of the USS Maine on February 15, 1898, led to a declaration of war on Spain by the United States. North Carolina met President William McKinley’s call for troops by establishing three regiments.

Born in Raleigh in April 1874, Worth Bagley graduated at the United States Naval Academy in 1895. He achieved the rank of ensign in July 1897, and, in November, was appointed inspector of the new torpedo boat Winslow. When she went into commission the next month, Bagley became her executive officer. In April 1898, the Winslow was mobilized, with the fleet, for operations in Cuban waters.

A circa 1907-1914 postcard of the State Captiol with the Bagley monument in the foreground

On the morning of May 11, the ship went with two others to force open the entrance to the harbor of Cárdenas. The Winslow was fired upon by a Spanish gunboat and a battle ensued. The ship was disabled and was hauled out of range of the Spanish guns. Just as the engagement ended, Bagley and four sailors were killed by a shell.

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day, make sure you subscribe by email using the box on the right, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Astronaut Scott Carpenter prepares for his Project Mercury flight in 1962 as fellow Astronaut Walter Schirra and Planetarium instructor Dr. James Batten look on. Photo from the Morehead Planetarium

On May 10, 1949, the Morehead Planetarium opened on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. It was first planetarium in the South, the first planetarium on a university campus and the sixth planetarium to be built nationwide.

The planetarium was primarily a gift of John Motley Morehead III, an 1891 graduate and founder of Union Carbide Corporation. Construction took 17 months and cost $3 million, making the building the most expensive in the state at the time. It was supervised by Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapely and designed by the architects who worked on the Jefferson Memorial.

From the late 1950s to the late 1970s, the planetarium became a hub of NASA’s astronaut training program. The facility was used primarily to help astronauts learn to navigate by the stars in case computerized navigation systems failed. The program ended largely because of advances in the technology of those navigation systems.

In 1973, the planetarium added an observatory with a telescope managed by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, and, in 1984, it became one of the first planetariums in the nation to use computer animation in its shows.

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts and culture, visit Cultural Resources online. To receive these updates automatically each day, subscribe by email using the box on the right and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

An internment camp in Hot Springs built like a German village

On May 9, 1942, the U.S. Coast Guard sank German U-boat 352 off the Outer Banks. Thirteen German sailors died and 33 were plucked from the water. They were taken to Fort Bragg and confined as prisoners of war. During the course of the war thousands of POWs—mostly German and Italians—were captured and sent to camps in North Carolina.

POWs captured from the sinking on U-352

Most POWs were brought to North Carolina from abroad. Fritz Teichmann was a member of the German Luftwaffe (the air corps) and was captured in Sicily in July 1943. He was held as a POW at Camp Butner in Granville County. Giuseppe Pagliarulo, a soldier in Benito Mussolini’s Italian army, was captured in Tunisia in North Africa in May 1943 and held at Camp Sutton in Monroe.

So many POWs were brought to the state that men were sent from larger military bases to smaller branch camps. These smaller camps housed up to 500 men each and were located in 16 communities around the Tar Heel state, including Whiteville, Roanoke Rapids, Williamston and Hendersonville. From there, they were placed on compulsory work details and sent out to cut pulpwood, dig ditches, wash dishes and pick apples. Their employers—farmers, loggers and restaurant owners—knew of the camps but otherwise their presence was relatively secret.