N.C. State University wins the NCAA men’s basketball championship
N.C. Museum of Art opens its present facility in Raleigh
Haw River is dammed in Chatham County to create Jordan Lake. The resulting reservoir provides drinking water for 100,000 people
1984
U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms defeats Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt, in what was the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history
N.C. unemployment rate rises to 7.3%
First execution in N.C. since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1977
1985
Republican Jim Martin is elected governor
Raleigh beltline is completed; I-40 opens between RTP, Durham and Chapel Hill
N.C. State Centennial Campus expansion begins
1986
Erwin Mills closes in Durham
1987
American Tobacco factory in Durham closes
The KKK marches through Hillsborough and Chapel Hill
Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant begins operating in Wake County
Bull Durham is filmed at the historic Durham Athletic Park
1988
Weaver Street Market opens in Carrboro
1989
The Raleigh Times publishes its last edition
Independent goes from a biweekly to a weekly publication
1990
Erwin Square in Durham rises on the skyline
NEA chief vetoes grants to four performance artists following a campaign by Jesse Helms to eliminate taxpayer funding for supposedly immoral art
After resorting to the infamous “white hands” commercial, Helms beats Democrat Harvey Gantt, an African American and former Charlotte mayor
1991
The Durham Morning Herald and The Durham Sun merge to become The Durham Herald-Sun
Broccoli? Yams? No, says the Indy, the real state vegetable is Gov. Jim Martin
1992
Duke wins the NCAA men’s basketball tournament
Durham’s county and city school systems merge
Whole Foods buys Wellspring
Hillsborough gets its first adult bookstore, Adam & Eve
Indy exposes how developers’ campaign contributions pave the way for new road
1993
UNC Tar Heels win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament
The News & Observer acquires The Chapel Hill News
Democrat Jim Hunt is elected governor after having served two terms in the 1970s and ’80s
Carolina Theatre reopens
1994
Money magazine rates the Triangle the best place to live in the country
UNC women’s basketball team wins national championship. Marion Jones, future disgraced track star, is starting guard on the team
1995
The $16 million Durham Bulls Athletic Park opens downtown
The News & Observer is sold to McClatchy Newspapers of Sacramento, Calif., for $373 million, ending 101 years of Daniels family ownership
Bob Young and Marc Ewing co-found open-source software company Red Hat in Raleigh
Wake County conservatives slash taxes and school funding, launching an era of classroom trailers and fights over year-round schools
1996
Raleigh conservatives bring the law down on cross-dressing performers at Legends. Over at Memorial Auditorium, the N.C. Theater responds by dumping La Cage Aux Folles from its schedule, replacing it with Annie
Jolene Strickland fails to unseat Gov. Jim Hunt. Enthusiasm for Strickland wanes when she’s proven to be the Indy‘s fictional creation
The federal Defense Information Agency and AT&T deactivate Chatham County’s “Big Hole” south of Fearrington Village. The underground communications bunker had been a source of speculation for more than 30 years
1997
The Village Companies (now Vilcom) sells local talk radio station WCHL 1360 AM to the Raleigh-based Curtis Media Group
Raleigh author Charles Frazier wins National Book Award for Cold Mountain
Raleigh and NCSU decide against a downtown location for the new sports arena, and put it on an I-40 exit ramp instead. Walkable? Only to the nearby gas station
Spectator sold to Creative Loafing Inc., a Tampa-based company
1998
Democrat John Edwards beats incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth to become senator
Schizophrenic Wendell Williamson sues his psychiatrist three years after a Franklin Street shooting spree
1999
Mike Nelson elected mayor of Carrboro, the youngest mayor in the town’s history
Groundbreaking on the controversial Meadowmont development
2000
Capitol Broadcasting Company purchases WRAZ-TV, which becomes Fox50
The last cigarette is produced at the Liggett factory in Durham
Coker Towers development in Raleigh is defeated, setting stage for Charles Meeker to be elected mayor
2001
Duke’s Blue Devils win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament
Democrats nominate Erskine Bowles for the U.S. Senate race; he’s thumped by prodigal Republican Liddy Dole
2002
Cary’s population exceeds 100,000
The Streets at Southpoint opens in Durham
Blue Cross/Blue Shield announces it may become a for-profit company
Indy buys the Spectator from Creative Loafing Inc.
Republican-turned-Democrat Bunkey Morgan unseats progressive incumbent Chatham County Commissioner Gary Phillips. Morgan’s election and subsequent growth-friendly majority floods Chatham with residential development, including the 1,600-acre, 2,400-home Brier Chapel project, approved in 2005
2003
Sen. John Edwards announces his campaign for U.S. president
Michael Peterson is convicted for the December 2001 murder of his wife, Kathleen Peterson
2004
Jim Heavner’s Vilcom buys WCHL 1360 AM back from Curtis Media Group, relocates it to Chapel Hill
The renovated American Tobacco Historic District opens in downtown Durham
Fire destroys Durham’s Starlite Drive-In
2005
Paxton Media acquires The Herald-Sun in Durham and lays off dozens of staffers
Gov. Easley signs laws establishing the N.C. Education Lottery
Duke’s Nasher Museum of Art opens
CIAA basketball tournament abandons Raleigh for Charlotte, stripping the Triangle of its signature event for historically black colleges
2006
The Duke lacrosse scandal breaks when dancer Crystal Gail Mangum accuses three team members of raping her at a party. In April 2007, a judge declares the players “innocent”
Raleigh Wide Open draws 70,000 visitors for the reopening of a portion of Fayetteville Street
Samuel Flippen is the last state inmate to be executed before the de facto death penalty moratorium goes into effect
2007
UNC Chancellor James Moeser announces he will leave in 2008
Construction begins at Durham Performing Arts Center
Raleigh’s population hits 370,000, cracking the list of Top 50 cities
2008
Greenfire Development announces further plans to renovate downtown Durham with retail and housing
