Selected Milestones in Cumberland County's History:
1754 - 2004
|
|
Selected Milestones in Cumberland County's History: 1754 - 2004 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
1955 |
||||||
| Eutaw Shopping Center opens in October. | ||||||
| Lyons Memorial Methodist Church is founded on November 20th. | ||||||
| James Walker Hood Branch Library relocates to its new quarters at 328 Gillespie Street and is renamed the Gillespie Street Library. | ||||||
| The Town of Spring Lake is incorporated. | ||||||
|
1956 |
||||||
| Cape Fear Valley Hospital is built. | ||||||
| Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra is founded. | ||||||
|
1957 |
||||||
| The Stedman Branch Library opens on October 1st. | ||||||
|
1958 |
||||||
| The Spring Lake Branch Library opens in November. | ||||||
| Cape Fear Industries, Inc. organized to acquire sites and buildings for prospective industries. | ||||||
|
1960 |
||||||
| Cumberland County’s population 1960 is 148,418. | ||||||
| Methodist College opens. | ||||||
| Hope Mills Branch library opens with federal Library Services Act funding. | ||||||
|
Students from Fayetteville State Teacher’s College challenge the laws and customs of racial segregation on February 10, 1960 by sitting at the lunch counters at Woolworth and McCrory’s stores. |
||||||
|
1961 |
||||||
| Terry Sanford, local attorney and state legislator is elected Governor. | ||||||
| In February 1961, Fayetteville City Council approves the creation of Cumberland County’s first voting precinct composed almost entirely of Negro citizens. | ||||||
| Fayetteville Area Industrial Education Center opens. Name changed to Fayetteville Technical Institute in 1963. | ||||||
| Delta Sigma Theta Sorority sponsors basic education classes at the Gillespie Street Library for illiterate adults. | ||||||
|
1962 |
||||||
| Fayetteville Little Theatre organized. | ||||||
| Bordeaux Shopping Center opens. | ||||||
|
1963 |
||||||
| Luther Oliver and John Graves are the first Negroes hired by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department. | ||||||
| Thirty-one Negroes are admitted to local white schools. | ||||||
|
1964 |
||||||
| Saint Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church is built on Oakridge Avenue in Haymount. | ||||||
|
1965 |
||||||
| City of Fayetteville and Cumberland County designated as Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. | ||||||
| Reverend Doctor C.R. Edwards is the first black person nominated to the Fayetteville City Board of Education. | ||||||
| Monroe Evans is first citizen of Jewish faith ever to be elected Mayor of the City of Fayetteville. | ||||||
|
Old post office building at 301 Hay Street is donated for public library use. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
1966 |
||||||
| Federal Building containing the Main Post Office completed. | ||||||
|
1967 |
||||||
| Charles W. Chesnutt Library dedicated at Fayetteville State College. | ||||||
| Rohm & Haas polyester resin plant and Black & Decker power tool plant open. | ||||||
|
1968 |
||||||
|
Purolator filters plant opens. |
||||||
| Cumberland County Memorial Auditorium and Arena dedicated. | ||||||
|
1969 |
||||||
| Kelly-Springfield tire plant opens. | ||||||
| The Airport Terminal is dedicated. | ||||||
| The Eutaw Branch Library opens on October 18th. | ||||||
| Attorney Marion George is elected to the Fayetteville City Council and serves five consecutive terms. | ||||||
|
1970 |
||||||
| Cumberland County population is 212,042. | ||||||
|
Dupont plastics plant opens. |
||||||
| Hay Street Library is renamed for Frances Brooks Stein. | ||||||
|
1971 |
||||||
| Fayetteville Museum of Art is chartered. | ||||||
|
1972 |
||||||
| Fayetteville State University becomes a “constituent institution” of the University of North Carolina. | ||||||
|
1973 |
||||||
| Fayetteville Times begins publication. | ||||||
| The Wachovia Building opens. | ||||||
| Fayetteville Area Health Education Center organized. | ||||||
| Western Publishing Company plant opens. | ||||||
| East Fayetteville Branch library opens. | ||||||
|
1974 |
||||||
| Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County founded. | ||||||
| Westwood Shopping Center opens. | ||||||
| Bordeaux Branch library opens. The Law Library is placed under the Public Library | ||||||
| The Cumberland County Association of Indian People is founded. | ||||||
|
1975 |
||||||
| Cross Creek Mall opens. | ||||||
| New Hope Mills branch library opens in part of the Town Hall. | ||||||
| Stedman Branch library is relocated to restored railroad depot. | ||||||
|
1976 |
||||||
| Ruby Murchison, an African American teacher with the Fayetteville City School System is chosen National Teacher of the Year. | ||||||
| Beth Finch, Fayetteville’s first woman mayor takes office in December. | ||||||
| Fayetteville /Cumberland County hold the Bicentennial Celebration. | ||||||
| Marvin Lucas, an African American educator is elected to the Spring Lake Board of Aldermen. | ||||||
|
1978 |
||||||
| County courts move into new courthouse. | ||||||
|
|
||||||
| Fayetteville Publishing Company, publisher of the Fayetteville Observer and the Fayetteville Times moves to its new building in Massey Hill. | ||||||
|
1980 |
||||||
| Cumberland County population is 247,160. | ||||||
| Jerry A. Thrasher is appointed Library Director. | ||||||
|
Interstate 95 Bypass opens, routing traffic away from motels, restaurants, service stations, and other businesses along U.S. Highway 301. |
||||||
| Cumberland Community Foundation established by Dr. Lucille Hutaff and family. | ||||||
| Westinghouse motor controls plant opens. | ||||||
|
1981 |
||||||
| John “Bill” Hurley is elected Mayor. | ||||||
| Virginia Thompson is appointed chairman of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. She is the first woman to hold the position and the first woman elected as commissioner here. | ||||||
|
1982 |
||||||
| Bond issue for new Central Library defeated. | ||||||
|
1983 |
||||||
| The Cumberland Community Foundation pledges $250,000 for the new central library project. | ||||||
| The Junior League of Fayetteville pledges $30,000. for the new central library. | ||||||
|
1984 |
||||||
| City Councilman Aaron Johnson is appointed Secretary of the Department of Correction. | ||||||
| Patricia Ann Timmons is the first black woman to serve as a judge in the newly created 12th Judicial District for Cumberland and Hoke Counties. | ||||||
|
1985 |
||||||
| Cumberland County Schools and Fayetteville City Schools systems merge. | ||||||
| In March, Fayetteville is named All American City. | ||||||
|
1986 |
||||||
| The new Bordeaux Branch Library is dedicated on January 5th. | ||||||
| The new Headquarters Library located at 300 Maiden Lane opens on June 1. | ||||||
| Terry Sanford, a former Fayetteville attorney and Governor of North Carolina (1961 -1965) is sworn in as a U.S. Senator. | ||||||
| Fayetteville City Council has three black members, Ida Ross, Thelbert Torrey, and Joseph Pillow. | ||||||
|
1987 |
||||||
| J.L. Dawkins elected Mayor of Fayetteville. | ||||||
| In December, Mary McAllister is named chairman of the Cumberland County Board of Commis-sioners, the first black woman to serve in that post. | ||||||
|
1989 |
||||||
| Opened Gates Book Club, a discussion group dedicated to reading the works of African Americans is organized at the Headquarters Library. | ||||||
| The General Assembly and other state officials gather at the Market House for the 200th birthday celebration of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. | ||||||
|
1990 |
||||||
| Billy King, Juanita Gonzalez and Thomas Bacote are new members of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. | ||||||
| The Cumberland County Veterans Monument is dedicated in Freedom Park, located on Morganton Road in the Cross Creek Mall area on April 13th. | ||||||
| The Capital Department Store closes after operating for 77 years. | ||||||
|
1991 |
||||||
| The Town of Hope Mills celebrates its year long centennial celebration. | ||||||
| Cliffdale Branch Library is dedicated on March 16th. | ||||||
|
1992 |
||||||
| New (11,200 square feet) Hope Mills Branch Library located on Golfview Drive opens on June 6. | ||||||
| Fayetteville City Council votes to spend $5 million to improve parks and $4 million to build a new police station on Hay Street. | ||||||
|
1993 |
||||||
|
John Griffin becomes Cumberland County’s first African American Superintendent of Schools. |
||||||
| Cumberland County Commissioners approve a 1% meal tax to pay for the new arena. | ||||||
|
1994 |
||||||
| The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners agrees to pay $2.5 million to purchase 15 -20 acres of land for the new coliseum. | ||||||
| In June, the Fayetteville City Council agrees to make offer to buy Rick’s Lounge and other buildings in the 400 block of Hay Street to make way for the new police station. | ||||||
|
1995 |
||||||
| Don Clayton, founder of Putt-Putt Golf Courses retires from the $100 million business. | ||||||
| Fort Bragg sniper (Sgt. William Kreutzer) kills one and injures 18 soldiers as they prepare for a four-mile run. | ||||||
|
1997 |
||||||
| On July 27th, City leaders (black and white) cut a ribbon to officially rename the city’s Central Business District Loop for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | ||||||
| Fayetteville City Council fires city manager, John Smith. | ||||||
| Two lawmen (Highway Patrol Sgt. Ed Lowery and Cpl. David Hathcock of the County’s Sheriff Department) are slain on Interstate 95. | ||||||
| Crown Coliseum opens on October 23. | ||||||
| Cumberland County voters approve a $98 million bond issue for public school construction. | ||||||
|
1998 |
||||||
| The new North Regional Branch Library opens on February 21st. | ||||||
| Douglas Byrd High School is named the Governor’s Entrepreneurial School. | ||||||
| Talmage Baggett and Breeden Blackwell are elected to the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. | ||||||
| The groundbreaking for the $16 million Airborne & Special Operations Museum is held in June. | ||||||
|
1999 |
||||||
| The new East Regional Branch Library opens on February 13th, replacing the East Fayetteville and Stedman branches. | ||||||
| The new Spring Lake Branch Library opens on June 19th. | ||||||
|
2000 |
||||||
| Mayor J.L. Dawkins dies on May 30, 2000. | ||||||
| The Airborne & Special Operations Museum opens. | ||||||
| Library director, Jerry Thrasher, receives the Library Journal’s “Librarian of the Year – 1999” Award. | ||||||
| Search Page |
2001 |
|||||
| Marshall Pitts, a local attorney, is elected as Fayetteville’s first African American mayor. | ||||||
| In June, Fayetteville is one of ten American cities named an ALL -AMERICAN CITY. | ||||||
| Karen Musgrave McDonald is hired as the City Attorney. She is the first African American to hold a top city position. | ||||||
| Fire destroys the USO building on Ray Avenue. The building, which opened in 1942, was used for dances and dinners during World War II. | ||||||
|
|
||||||
|
2003 |
||||||
| From May 16-25th, the city celebrates the Festival of Flight, a celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of aviation history that followed the Wright Brother’s flight. | ||||||
|
2004 |
||||||
| Jeanette Council becomes the Chair of Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. | ||||||
| In March, Cumberland County celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding. | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
