Franklin boasts colorful history

A short walk through the woods from where William Richardson Davie laid the cornerstone for Old East — and on the same day — Franklin Street was born.

The mile-long thoroughfare has since evolved from a narrow, rutted dirt road to Chapel Hill’s main street, and along the way, has grown and changed with UNC.

“The University and the town have a long history together,” said Aaron Nelson, executive director of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce.

“Franklin Street is the University’s front porch.”

That history began on Oct. 12, 1793, when town officials held a public auction for lots that would comprise the Village of Chapel Hill. Lots along Franklin Street were about two acres in size, and typically sold for winning bids of $110 to $280.

“It developed slowly as a village,” said Paul Kapp, campus historic preservation manager. “It was a very simple town.”

Kapp said the 24 lots became shops or residences that housed University students and faculty.

Catherine Frank, executive director of the Chapel Hill preservation society, said Franklin Street’s founders sought to serve the “necessaries and conveniences” of the academic community.

“The town was in service to the community,” she said. “But what was necessary and convenient in 1800 was very different than today.”

For instance, in the early 1800s, a sawmill stood where the Carolina Coffee Shop building stands today, she said.

There might have been a lumberyard next door, and a series of general stores existed at one time or another along Franklin Street.

As the University grew in size and prominence, its main street followed — though an account from former Chancellor Robert B. House described the Franklin Street of 1912 as, still, a “dusty red avenue cut through a forest,” with buildings obscured by tall, leafy trees.

In recent years, Franklin Street has shifted from a service-based town center to an entertainment-based one. Until the 1970s, plumbing, auto supply, clothing and cleaning businesses lined the street.

“The market dictates what will go there,” said Frank, who has lived in Chapel Hill since she was a student in the ’70s. “The students are still the main consumers, so the businesses that are there will serve them.”

Provost Robert Shelton said Chapel Hill’s downtown always has been important to students. “Franklin Street plays a critical role in the life of the University,” he said.

“It’s a meeting place, and I’m told that even Duke (University) students prefer Franklin Street over anything they have in Durham.”

But Frank said she would like it if Franklin Street served more “necessaries and conveniences.”

“It would be nice to have grocery stores and hardware stores,” she said. “I live in walking distance to Franklin Street, and I used to be able to exist without a car.”

The shift to an entertainment-driven Franklin Street coincided with a shift in power from the University to the town.

Until 1979, UNC owned and operated the town’s phone lines, power and water, Nelson said. In addition, the Chapel Hill Town Council once consisted solely of University faculty.

“The economy’s gotten more diverse,” he said. “Over time, the town has become more than just the University.”

And the downtown is more than just Franklin Street, said Nick Didow, interim executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Economic Development Corporation, a body that includes both town and University representatives.

“Rosemary Street, historically, has been secondary to Franklin Street, but it’s been around for years and years and years,” he said.

Didow said the whole area is closely tied to the University.

“There is a symbiotic, mutual relationship (between the town and University),” he said. “The University benefits from its well-being and vitality.”

That vitality comes from a variety of shoppers. “Historically, the main customers were faculty, students and staff,” Nelson said.

Didow said that today, downtown’s customers fit into four categories: students, permanent residents (some faculty, but many who are not associated with UNC), retirees and visitors.

“We have an amazing diversity of target markets who live, work and play downtown,” he said.

And despite talk of a crumbling downtown business sector and an increasing number of empty storefronts, town and University officials expect Franklin Street to thrive.

“These are relatively hard times,” Shelton said. “But they’re not terrible. The town is committed to Franklin Street, and the town and the University have a great opportunity to work together and end up with something they’re both proud of.”

Frank said Franklin Street could get more business if it became the “Streets at SouthPoint 2” — but that’s not something she’d ever want to see happen.

“I really hope that we don’t get so big and controlled that we lose the simplicity that’s always been great about Chapel Hill,” she said.

Didow said downtown is moving in the right direction. “The future is bright — yet at the same time, all of this has to be carefully nurtured and shepherded to build on the strengths the community has enjoyed for 200 years.”

Perhaps the most important of those strengths is the unique experience Franklin Street offers.

“Other campuses don’t engage their town,” Kapp said.

“Chapel Hill and Franklin Street is one of the United States’ best college experiences.”

It seems like that distinction is exactly what Davie and Chapel Hill’s other founders had in mind.

Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.