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      Figure 6. University of North Carolina and Chapel Hill circa 1817. Many of the lots adjacent to the campus on the south side of Franklin Street have subsequently been bought by the university and incorporated into the campus. Most of the remaining thousand-acre campus has now been developed (courtesy of the North Carolina Collection of the University of North Chapel at Chapel Hill libraries).

      Almost immediately, the construction of the first university building got under way. The building, now called Old East, was originally designed as part of a larger three-building complex and was patterned after dormitories at Yale.⁴⁷ It was a two-story 3,380-square-foot brick building, designed to serve as both a dormitory and classroom building. On October 12, 1793, a group of dignitaries met on the campus to lay the cornerstone for this building. William Richardson Davie, who had played such a central role in marshalling support for the creation of the university, presided over the ceremonies.

      Upon completing the cornerstone-laying ceremonies, some of those present adjourned to witness or participate in an auction of the village lots. Many of the very people who had donated the land to create the university bought these lots at the auction.⁴⁸ Over the ensuing decades, buildings constructed on those lots were almost entirely in support of the university's faculty and students, including blacksmith shops, inns, and the homes of university professors. The town of Chapel Hill was the quintessential college town: it did not exist prior to the university, and it was created for the sole purpose of supporting the university. Over the decades, the town's fortunes have thus risen or fallen with the university's.

      THE TRIANGLE AREA IN THE EARLY 1800S

      The early 1800s were tough economic times for the state and the region. As farmland became less fertile, many North Carolina residents moved farther west. Between 1815 and 1850 a full one-third of North Carolina's residents, including many from the Piedmont, moved out of the state.⁴⁹ State officials were also reluctant to invest in public infrastructure. David R. Goldfield notes that “while other states expanded boundaries, built roads and canals and made other internal improvements, as well as boosted their educational systems, North Carolina stood still.”⁵⁰ The state developed a reputation as the “Rip Van Winkle state,” which began to change only in the 1840s and 1850s, when state government began investing in railroads, to connect farmers and small manufacturers to larger markets beyond state borders.

      During this period Raleigh, as the state's capital city, grew more rapidly than Hillsborough and Chapel Hill. In 1810 the General Assembly passed legislation creating the State Bank of North Carolina, stipulating that it be located in Raleigh. The business of the legislature and executive agencies also created demand for services such as those of lawyers and hostelries. A major threat to Raleigh's very existence came in 1831 when the State House burned to the ground. Community leaders in Fayetteville, still aggrieved at being passed over the first time, saw an opportunity to have the capital moved there. Raleigh's community leaders, however, were able to fend them off. The 1856 opening of the North Carolina Railroad provided another boost to Raleigh's economy, but it still lagged well behind other North Carolina cities.

      The towns of Hillsborough and Chapel Hill grew very slowly during this period. Hillsborough's fortunes were further undermined by the continual shrinkage of Orange County. By 1800 Orange County was less than half its original geographic size, as several new counties were created to provide more convenient access to services. Several small cotton mills were built on the rivers and streams in the town's vicinity, but its claim to fame then was the establishment of several preparatory schools, including the Nash Kollock School for women and the Hillsborough Military Academy for boys. Hillsborough developed a reputation as a cultured place, such that “early recruits for the faculty of the University of North Carolina who complained about Chapel Hill's lack of social amenities were advised to travel to Hillsborough.”⁵¹

      Chapel Hill's fortunes were directly tied to those of the University of North Carolina, which struggled mightily during this period. The university suffered from political backlash and a chronic lack of funding. In 1800, a scant five years after the auspicious opening ceremony, the Federalists who championed the university's creation lost power to the Democratic Republicans, who promptly cut all state support. Even as that funding was partially restored over the next decade, President Joseph Caldwell struggled to keep the university open. By 1835, when Caldwell died in office, there were still a modest eighty-nine students, five faculty members, and four completed buildings. The town also grew very slowly during this time. In 1818, Chapel Hill had thirteen homes, two hotels, four stores, and a blacksmith shop.⁵² The university and town fortunes improved greatly in the 1840s and 1850s as Whig Party reforms were favorable to both. By 1851 Chapel Hill had grown large enough to be considered a “town” under state statutes, and by 1860 the university's enrollment had increased to 425 students.

      ENTREPRENEURIAL DURHAM

      While the towns of Hillsborough, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill were largely founded by governmental actions, Durham was the result of raw entrepreneurship. Its early reputation was one of a bawdy, rough-and-tumble place, where all varieties of “diversions” could be found. In

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