The Glen Lennox Area of Chapel Hill

by Mary Frances Vogler

Introduction

The designation “Glen Lennox Area” was adopted by the Town Council on April 28, 2008, to refer to the neighborhoods bordered by Highway 54 (Raleigh Road) to the south, Cleland Road to the north, the 15-501 Bypass to the west and Rogerson Drive to the east. Until that point, the Rogerson and Oakwood residents had maintained an alliance called the Little Creek Neighborhood Association, so named because of the proximity to Little Creek which flows near Cleland and is presumably responsible, in part, for the flood plain classification.

Since 1999 the Little Creek Association waged wars with OWASA to reduce negative effects on Rogerson during the installation of new pipes to the nearby pumping station and to have some small voice when the utility easement behind portions of Oakwood and Rogerson was cleared for sewer work. Perhaps the group’s most successful efforts were the traffic-calming measures to which the town agreed and the dedication of the lands in the flood plane along Cleland as a city park.

In recent months ties among Rogerson and Oakwood Drives, the Glen Lennox apartments and the single family dwellings on Hayes and Flemington Roads have strengthened as the proposed redevelopment of the Glen Lennox tract -- the unit with which we and many others in Chapel Hill have strong bonds -- threatens our neighborhood and community. This area’s history brackets World War II, and it is the unfolding of this history that we wish to begin to explore.

Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and resident of Chapel Hill when I first arrived on the scene, wrote a delightful article for Holiday Magazine in the late 60’s about Chapel Hill in which she described the town as occupying a rocky promontory overlooking the Triassic basin. The Glen Lennox Area is the wading pool of this basin, and we live atop its sediment of thick, slimy clay. Sherry Graham of 56 Oakwood traced her property back to Lord Granville’s grant to Capt. Mark Morgan (Feb. 22, 1759) of “640 acres in Orange Co. in the Parish of St. Matthew on New Hope and (on) both sides of Morgans Creek, joining both sides of the Bents of New Hope.” (Patent Bk. 12, 2035, p. 10) Sherry feels this grant description needs verification but is inclined to believe that it includes the Glen Lennox Area. The name Strowd appears in Sherry’s research in 1785 and remains for many years. In April, 1925, Robert Strowd (1864-1934) sold 1100 acres inherited from his father to the Chapel Hill Insurance and Realty Co. which in turn sold a 43.675-acre strip of Strowd’s property to D. D. Carroll on Oct. 20, 1926, for $5,187.30. This tract, as noted on deeds, was bordered by the property of A. W. Hobbs (later Glen Lennox) on the west and E. E. Peacock (subsequently the Rogerson Drive Development) to the east. (Chapel Hill Insurance and Realty went bankrupt during the subsequent stock market crash.)

Oakwood Chronology

The first development in the Glen Lennox Area occurred on Oakwood and was called on the initial 1940 plat the “Oakwood Development.” In 1940 D. D. Carroll and his wife sold the tract that they had purchased in 1926 to Service Employees Corporation, trustees of which included Grey Culbreth, D. W. Horner, and C. E. Vashaw. The first stage of the development began at the Raleigh Road (Hwy. 54) and included lots 1 through 24 at which point the road ended in a traffic circle. Not only were lots 15, 17, 18 and 20 reserved for parks and playgrounds, as they still are today, but lots on either side of the entry onto Oakwood from Hwy. 54 were also designated as parks. The larger of these pieces of land -- the portion adjacent to #2 (SE corner of Oakwood / Raleigh Rd. intersection) -- was larger than any of the surveyed lots and had paths and plantings sketched on the plat. These amenities must have sunk into oblivion as the widening of the highway eroded the property. A 15-foot utility easement stretched from Hwy. 54 north behind the houses on the east side of Oakwood Dr. (This easement was extended north as the street was extended and is still in use for sewer, telephone, and electricity.)

As of July 1941 the following houses existed on Oakwood. (This information comes from a plat of the proposed Rogerson Drive Development on which owners of houses on the adjacent street were indicated.)

#2 W. G. Kilpatrick
#6 W. W. Jarvis
# 8 L. L. Sparrow
# 10 M. F. Fore
# 12 Sam Paulsen\
# 14 C. E. Vashaw
# 24 W. M. Slack

By Sept. 1953 Oakwood had been extended to meet Cleland Road, fulfilling the “to be developed” notation on the original plat. A 1953 plat shows that vacant lots still existed at #25, #26, # 37, #38, #42, #44, #48, #54, and all other incremental addresses with the exception of # 60. (It should be noted that #16 has always been vacant.) Oakwood, in this respect, lagged behind its immediate neighbor Rogerson in building whose second phase of development had exploded after WW II.

Rogerson Drive Chronology

On July 24, 1941, E. E. Peacock, who owned the strip of land between the new Oakwood Development and the vast estate of D. St. Pierre Du Bose (now the Chapel Hill Country Club, the Oaks, and Meadowmont), sold this property to L. B. Rogerson who platted the development in May 1941 and revised it in time for the July 24 sale. The plat comprised a narrow drive with 20 lots overlooking the Du Bose land (PB 3, p. 53). Included in this was a utility easement behind the houses as well as what has come to be known as the “spite strip” across the road from the lots and abutting Du Bose land.

One thing that can be agreed upon is that there was bad blood between Mr. Rogerson and Mr. Du Bose. At least two accounts attempt to explain why the lots 1 through 20, properties in the first Rogerson Drive plat, extend east, under and across the street to the former Du Bose property line. The version most often anecdotally cited is that Mr. Rogerson did not want to build a road to which Mr. Du Bose would have free access. In a Chapel Hill Newspaper article on the restoration by Adam Jones of #3, however, the reason reported was that Mr. Du Bose did not want a road on his property line. Whatever the cause, the fact remains that lots 1 through 20 extend across Rogerson to what is now the Country Club’s golf course. Providing insight into Mr. Rogerson’s resolve is this first covenant in the July 1941 deed for the tract he planned to develop:

“All persons who own property in this development are hereby obligated (and their acceptance of title indicates their assumption to the obligation) to cultivate, plant, beautify and maintain that portion of their property which lies between the east boundary of Rogerson Drive and the west boundary of the property of St. Pierre Du Bose. No structures are to be placed on this portion of the property. Its uses shall be for the beautification of the development.”

Postwar years saw the extension of Rogerson Drive northward toward what is now Cleland Road, although at that time Cleland and Rogerson did not meet and Rogerson was a dead-end. On Aug. 30, 1946, plat labeled Rogerson Drive Development (PB 3, p. 174) was submitted by Hill Homes, Inc., and consisted of smaller lots numbered from 21 to 50, with the extended 10-foot utility easement behind. In actuality only lots 21 - 46 were used, due surely to tendency of land at the end of Rogerson and Oakwood to flood routinely. The so-called “spite strip” was not continued for these lots, but the rear utility easement remained.

The houses on Lots 21 through 45 were constructed rapidly to accommodate returning GI’s and without exception bear common features. There appears to be one basic footprint: a one-story structure on supports that was roughly 30’ wide and 28’ deep or 840 square feet. Some houses had a small, bumped-out kitchen on one side that afforded a bit more room inside. There were two bedrooms, one of which quite small, a bath, a small hall, and, depending on the kitchen option, perhaps a dining space. All floors were hardwood. Houses with the small side kitchen often had an arched door between the living room and the dining area.

On the exterior there were two basic plans. One had a central front door, a window on either side, and a pitched roof. For this version there tended to be two entrance formulas: a small stoop (portico) or an extension of the eaves over the front door. The other design used a hipped roof on the same footprint / floor plan. Houses of the latter variation often used wide (“picture”) windows on at least one side of the front door. A few houses intermingled architectural features. Houses shared common dimensions. These cottages did not have the “spite strip,” but the 10‘ rear utility easement remained.

Flemington - Hayes - Hamilton Chronology

The original houses on Flemington and Hayes Roads were among the few single-family houses built and sold in the second phase of the Glen Lennox Apartment Complex construction. They were built by Muirhead, the developer of Glen Lennox Apartments as part of the second phase of development begun in 1953. It has been reported that Mr. Muirhead offered perhaps four plans to new and potential owners. A Jan. 1953 plat (PB4, p. 211) shows a total of 21 lots in the subdivision. A second plat from Nov. of the same year (PB 4, p. 241) shows houses at 2, 4, and 5 Hayes and at 1, 2, 3, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Flemington. As of today all 21 lots in this part of the Glen Lennox Area have houses on them.

An Evolving Neighborhood

The often simple houses built before and after World War II in the Glen Lennox Area have undergone transformations over the years. Many might wonder if the original occupants would recognize their properties today. Oakwood Dr. has produced major and minor surprises, from the tear-down at #41 or the upward and outward expansion at #59 to the gentle and substantial modifications and improvements which most houses have undergone. The street offers the amenities of the Oaks or Meadowmont on a more intimate scale.

Rogerson Dr. saw devolopment in the 1980’s when lots 11 - 14 were purchased and subdivided into five properties, one of which was slipped in as a duplex in spite of zoning. Most houses on the original 20 lots have been restored or transformed in some way. The charming cottages 21 - 46 too have been altered over the years, and many have been significantly improved. The small size of these places belies the abundant hospitality offered by residents to their neighbors. These are delightful gathering places for hot political debate, neighborhood activism, basketball viewing, gardening, cookouts and fellowship.

The properties adjacent to the Church of the Holy Family have also seen significant transformations. A number of houses that were originally similar in shape, size, and detail have been radically and imaginatively remodeled by owners who take great pride in their improvements.