Nurse Adelia Compton arrived in Chapel Hill on New Year’s Eve, 1923 at the age of 50. Over the next three decades, she expanded access to healthcare for Black people, forced the local government to make much needed infrastructure improvements in Black neighborhoods, and started social welfare programs designed to improve the health of Black children. While the Black community raised money to pay a portion of Nurse Compton’s salary throughout her tenure, the Town began paying a portion of her salary in 1926, making her the first Black professional employee of the Town of Chapel Hill.