The 1960s brought major chances to Morganton and Burke County.                          

• Interstate 40 opened in 1961 changing the traffic patterns and the accessibility of the community.
• Western Carolina Center opened in 1963 providing care and education fro severely mentally handicapped children.
• Until 1963 it was long distance to call Valdese from Morganton.
• In 1964, the property adjoining NCSD was still a rolling hillside and Grace Hospital stood where CoMMA is now.
• The Morganton City School system included four elementary schools, one junior high and two high schools -
     - one for white students and one for black students.
• More than 570 students attended the North Carolina School for the Deaf.
• Western Piedmont Community College opened in Fall of 1966. 

                                                                               Taken from the City of Morganton Citizen's Newsletter "City Pride," November 2004                                                                                 

        We were Freshman's at Good Old GAHS

       "Comments from 1957"                                          

       Here are some more interesting bits of history with comments made in the year 1957.

1. I’ll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it’s going to be im­possible to buy a week’s groceries for $20.

2. If cigarettes keep going up in price, I’m going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.

3. Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?

4. If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.

5. When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon.
          Guess we’d be better off leav­ing the car in the garage.

6. Kids today are impossible. Those ducktail haircuts make it impossible to stay groomed.
          Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls.

7. I read the other day where some scientist thinks it is possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century.
          They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.

8. Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball?
          It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the president.

9. I never thought I’d see the day that all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.

10: It’s too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.

11. It won’t be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.

12. Marriage doesn’t mean a thing any more; those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat.

13. I’m just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.

14. Thank goodness I won’t live to see the day when the government takes half of our income in taxes.
             I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people in congress.

15. The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.

16. There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $15 a night to stay in a hotel.

17. No one can afford to be sick any more; $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood.

18. If they think I’ll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it.

                                     — by Skip Westphal from Church of God News, March 2005, No. 22

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