The area, which a century ago was home to the Eno Cotton Mill and Bellevue Manufacturing Company’s textile operations, fell on rough times after those once-bustling businesses declined during the middle part of the 20th century.

West End became a rough-hewn, hardscrabble part of town, the kind of place most folks avoided.

Eventually even the pool hall closed, and the row of former mill buildings sat silent and dark.

Not anymore.

Thanks to a number of enterprising business people, the West End has surged back to life.

The Depot, a general store/cafe/live music venue, is a charming place to meet friends and pass the time. The Hillsborough BBQ company and the Mystery Brewing Company invite you to linger and enjoy that unbeatable combination of, well, barbecue and beer.

The Paws at the Corner pet store and the Health Center at Hillsborough Station offer good things for customers on both two and four legs.

The area, with its century-old architectural foundations, always seemed to have potential. Now, thanks to those new businesses and their customers, that potential is being realized.

Roses to the FARM (the UNC Faculty-Staff Recreation Association), which won the very first Chapel Hill Summer Swim League championship in 1975, and then didn’t win one again – until this year.

The FARM/YMCA squad rolled to a convincing victory in the swim league championship meet last month to break a 37-year drought.

Everybody likes to win, of course, but the main point of the Chapel Hill Summer Swim League is having fun.

Swimming, sharing the activity, cheering on the other swimmers ... that’s what draws the hundreds of local young people and adults to participate every summer.

And in that respect, everybody won.

Raspberries to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board and new superintendent Tom Forcella, who – at least up to this point – have not made a persuasive case for transferring two veteran teachers very much against their will.

The board last week rejected the appeals of Honors English teacher Anne Thompson and AP Biology teacher Bert Wartski, who sought to have their transfers from Chapel Hill High School to East Chapel Hill reversed.

We understand that the board and superintendent are considerably constrained in what they can say in public; confidentiality laws restrict what they can reveal.

But given the two teachers’ long and distinguished careers and their insistence that even in private they haven’t been told what they’ve done to prompt being transferred, it’s difficult to understand why such disruptive action is called for.

That is especially true of Thompson, who recently endured the death of her husband and planned to retire after the coming school year anyway.

We would think simple compassion and respect for her years of dedication would count for enough to let her end her career where she’s served for the past 26 years.