Franklin Street has existed since the University first opened and has expanded from just a few houses, stores and a post office in the 1790s to a 3-mile-long stretch filled with restaurants, businesses and office spaces.
Named after Benjamin Franklin, the iconic Chapel Hill street had no brick buildings until 1916 and was not paved until the 1920s. According to an 1896 Chapel Hill ordinance, bike riding was once forbidden on Franklin Street.
The oldest eating establishment in Chapel Hill is the Carolina Coffee Shop, opened in 1922, and still situated at its 138 E. Franklin St. location.
The coffee shop has passed through different ownership over the years, but the restaurant has remained. The four-unit building in which it's located was donated to UNC by John Sprunt Hill with the specification that the rental profits be used to benefit the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library.
Jeremy Ferry, the current general manager of Carolina Coffee Shop, said the coffee shop has recently passed under new ownership, and they're in the process of updating the building while still retaining its original atmosphere.
“With so much change and so many modern restaurants, we’ve always sustained the same type of menu and ambiance that people have loved and been able to come back to time and time again even after they graduate,” Ferry said. “We get people that come back 40 years after they graduate, and say, ‘Hey, this is where I met my wife,’ and those types of things you don’t find anywhere else.”
‘It’s pretty hard not to notice’
Even within the past few decades, restaurant owners have taken note of visible changes along the street.
“I’ve been here since 1995 — everything has changed,” Ferry said. “Not only have several of the businesses changed, but a lot of new construction has happened.”
