HISTORY and HIGHLIGHTS
AS THE NATION’S FIRST STATE UNIVERSITY, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was chartered in 1789 and opened to students in 1795 with two professors and 41 students. Carolina was the only public university to award degrees to students in the 18th century. In 1919, official established the School of Commerce, now the Kenan-Flagler Business School. In 1954 UNC Executive Development delivered their first program.
1793
1753: William Barbee of Middlesex County, Virginia, received the first of two land grants in what is now the Chapel Hill-Durham area of North Carolina. This grant encompassed 585 acres and included the land that now homes the Rizzo Center. 1776: One of William Barbee’s eight children, Christopher, built his home on part of the land and lived there until the age of 90. 1832: Just one year prior to Christopher’s death, he sold his significant landholdings to his son William, including the tract now housing the Rizzo Center. LATE 1800s: The land was passed down through the Barbee family line. Robert W. Hargrave, the last Barbee descendant to own the land, eventually sold it in 1873. For the next 50 years, the property sat unoccupied. 1931: The second and most memorable phase in the life of the property began when Mr. David St. Pierre DuBose, an electrical engineer and 1921 graduate of UNC, and Mrs. DuBose, a descendant of one of the co-founders of the American Tobacco Company, purchased several tracts of land bordering Orange and Durham Counties. They established their own home on the land that once housed the original Christopher Barbee homeplace.
Cornerstone laid for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1795
First state university to open its doors
1919
School of Commerce (Kenan-Flagler Business School) established
1954
UNC Executive Development offered its first program
The DUBOSE HOME at MEADOWMONT
Mr. and Mrs. DuBose, along with their three children, created an extensive working farm. The highlight of the property was the two and a half story Georgian Revival country home that they named “Meadowmont” for its location atop high ground surrounded by meadowland. Aided by drawings from DuBose, Meadowmont was designed by prominent Baltimore architects Herbert G. Crisp and James R. Edmunds, Jr., and it was eventually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The home become the center of a distinguished social scene in North Carolina for more than 60 years. Social gatherings at Meadowmont were special occasions, highlighted by the warmth and generosity of the DuBose family. The grandiose center hall could easily accommodate an orchestra and dance floor for formal occasions.
The interior of the home displays both Georgian architectural details and DuBose’s own stamp of ingenuity and foresight. Realizing that air conditioning would one day be a standard feature in private homes, particularly in the South, DuBose designed an ingenious network of ductwork and vents which were all painstakingly disguised behind intricate and attractive Georgian-style open moldings. Meadowmont is believed to be one of the first private homes in the United States to be equipped for central air conditioning.
More than 200 years later, reminders of the original Barbee homeplace can still be seen across the Meadowmont property. These include a family cemetery and what are believed to be the foundational stones of the original Barbee home. The heart-pine paneling that now graces the library of the DuBose Home came from this property, which was still standing when Meadowmont was constructed in 1933. Today, the home encompasses over 15,800 square feet of space and serves as a dining and social gathering place for the Rizzo Center.
PAUL J. RIZZO CONFERENCE CENTER at MEADOWMONT
THE DUBOSE HOME AND 27 ACRES OF GARDENS WERE BEQUEATHED TO the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the late 1980s. In 1994, UNC Kenan- Flagler Business School took possession of the property and officials made plans to build the Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center (the Rizzo Center) at Meadowmont, an executive education center for working professionals. As an avid gardener, Mrs. DuBose established an endowment that funds the maintenance and upkeep of the grounds in perpetuity. After breaking ground in 1997, the Rizzo Center officially opened in 2000 after a total of $37 million in renovations. In 2015, the university completed a $42 million expansion that included renovations to and creation of more guestrooms and meeting spaces. In addition to the Dubose Home, the Rizzo Center has two main buildings. Loudermilk Hall is a 47,000 square-foot building which features three tiered classrooms, 21 breakout rooms, and an elegant multi-purpose room that can be subdivided into three spaces. McLean Hall is a 96,000 square-foot building that offers residence and conference facilities and includes 183 guest rooms, 22 study rooms, six multi-purpose seminar rooms, and two boardrooms. Every detail was crafted for a seamless participant experience, down to the umbrellas positioned at every entrance in the event of inclement weather. UNC Executive Development has built strong collaborative relationships with businesses, the federal government, and other organizations to create customized executive development programs for over 60 years. As a part of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC Executive Development brings the university’s experience, reputation, and world-class faculty together to deliver programs in a purpose-built learning environment unlike any other in the world.
EXECDEV.UNC.EDU
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