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30 <br />NPS Form 10-900 -0 OMS No. 1024 -0018 <br />(a-so) <br />United States Department of the Interior <br />National Park Service <br />NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES <br />CONTINUATION SHEET <br />Section 8 Page 14 Murphey School <br />name of property <br />Orange County NC <br />county and state <br />totaled $155,454. The cost for the Murphey School addition totaled $16,365 and included in <br />addition to the auditorium: a new water supply, indicating that the construction of the water tank <br />occurred in 1936, the renovation of the Teacherage, and a new sewage system and plumbing. <br />George W. Kane was selected as the general contractor for the project, with plumbing installed by <br />Jobe- Blackley and heating by J. L. Powers. WPA projects, part of the New Deal programs from <br />the Roosevelt administration, provided relief work for the unemployed and funding for the <br />construction of schools and internal improvement projects across North Carolina, and elsewhere, <br />during the 1930s. As a result of the New Deal, the federal government intervened in the lives of <br />many North Carolinians. Author Anthony Badger states of North Carolina during the New Deal <br />era, "in a time of mass unemployment the New Deal provided direct relief to as many as 300,000 <br />clients a month and gave work to over 200,000 of the state's jobless. "20 Murphey School was one <br />of ten school projects in Orange County during 1936 receiving WPA grant money from the federal <br />government. The architect of the auditorium is unknown. On June 1, 1936, the board inspected <br />the new auditorium at Murphey School and approved it with only minor changes. Also in 1936, an <br />electric range was ordered for Murphey School in hopes that a power line would soon be installed <br />by the Durham Public Service Company.21 <br />With many children at Murphey School desiring to attend the Hillsboro school throughout the <br />1930s and 1940s, numbers began to decline.. Frequently throughout this period, parents sought <br />the board's permission for their children in the Murphey School district to attend the Hillsboro <br />elementary school. According to the minutes for November 1, 1948, a parent appeared before the <br />board stating that, "regardless of the teachers employed at Murphey School they would insist on <br />their child attending school at Hillsboro because they believed it to be a better school." The board <br />at many times throughout this period refused to allow children to attend Hillsboro if they lived <br />within the Murphey district, but, after strong persistence from parents, they eventually gave in with <br />the condition that these children who desired to attend school in Hillsboro provide their own <br />transportation. Still, the Orange County board faced a tough battle as students deliberately <br />20 Badger, Anthony. North Carolina and the New Deal. (Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and <br />History, 1981), 41. <br />21 Orange County Board of Education Minutes, 1872 -1962, microrilm (Raleigh: State Archives Research Room, <br />c. 073. 94002), p. 151 -157. 'Orange County's New Schools,' Chapel dill Weekly, May 22; 1936, p.1. "Work on <br />School Building Awaits Melting of Snow,„ Chapel Hill Weekly, January 3,1936, p.1. In March of 1930 the <br />committeemen of Murphey School appeared before the Orange county School Board to solicit their interest in <br />building a new room onto Murphey School. The board approved the application and In June of 1930 elected to <br />provide $300 for the new room. However, this "new room" referred to in orange county School Board minutes <br />is unknown. There is no physical evidence where an addition would have been made; it also could have been <br />an addition that was razed with the construction of the 1936 auditorium. <br />