Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Office of the Director of Utilities of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records #40105, University Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Periodic transfer from the offices that create these records.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• North Carolina. Regional Solid Waste Task Force.
• Public utilities--North Carolina--Chapel Hill--History--20th century.
• Recycling (Waste, etc.)--North Carolina--Orange County
• Refuse and refuse disposal--North Carolina--Orange County.
• Universities and colleges--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Office of the Superintendent of Utilities.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Office of the Director of Utilities.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Office of the Superintendent of Utilities.

• Office of the Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance Records (#40095)
• Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Business Records (#40096)
• University of North Carolina Utilities Study Commission Records (#40201)
• Office of Chancellor: Nelson Ferebee Taylor Records (#40023)

The university's system of utilities developed not from any grand design, but from the specific needs of the faculty and students at a time when the town of Chapel Hill could not provide adequate utilities. The first utility was a water plant, built between 1892 and 1894, to pump and filter the water from the university's two wells. Electricity followed in 1895 after the Visiting Committee of the Board of Trustees expressed concern for the safety of the students in unlit dormitories. A committee headed by Professor Joshua Walker Gore, head of the Department of Physics, planned and built an electric power plant, which was operating by the opening of the fall 1895 term. The university added a telephone system in 1925, when the privately owned Chapel Hill Telephone Company announced that its switchboard was irreparably broken and that it had no funds to replace it. To keep the university in touch with the outside world, Business Manager Charles T. Woollen arranged for the university to purchase the company and had an exchange building constructed with a new switchboard.

The university thus became the sole operator of electric, light, and water and sewer utilities in Chapel Hill. Rather than compete with the university, the town granted it a franchise for electric and water lines in 1908. In 1932 University Lake was established as the water source for both the university and the town of Chapel Hill, and in 1938 the university obtained the power and water franchise for the town of Carrboro as well. By 1970, however, many residents of the community had begun to question whether the university ought to be in the utilities business at all. Governor Bob Scott appointed the University of North Carolina Utilities Study Commission in November 1971. The following year the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina System accepted the commission's recommendation to sell the university's utilities. The electric utility was sold to Duke Power in December 1976, the telephone to Southern Bell in January 1977, and the water and sewer to the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) in March 1977.

The position of Superintendent of Utilities was created in the 1920s. The first superintendent was probably J. S. Bennett, who in 1926 held the title of Superintendent of University Consolidated Service Plants, Electric and Water Division. By 1937 H. E. Thompson had the title Superintendent of Utilities, which he held until 1946. He was followed by Grey Culbreth, whose title was changed to Director of Utilities in 1965 and who remained in charge of the university's utilities until their sale.

After the sale, the university's Utilities Division remained responsible for the maintenance of the utilities infrastructure on campus as well as the distribution of campus utilities. This included the operation of the University Power Plant, subsequently known as the cogeneration facility. Robert S. Peake succeeded Grey Culbreth as Director of Utilities. The Utilities Division later became administratively part of the university's Physical Plant. Eventually the telephone utility became a separate department, Telecommunications Operations; and the electric and water utilities became Utilities Operations.

Records include the files of the University of North Carolina's Superintendent of Utilities, later Director of Utilities, relating to the operation of the university's electric, telephone, and water and sewer utilities. Files consist largely of reports on the status and operation of the utilities. Also included are materials relating to the Regional Solid Waste Task Force, which investigated refuse disposal and recycling in the 1980s.