CityView Magazine

March 31, 1941 - President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt visit Fayetteville. Nov. 28, 1941 – The first government- built USO (United Service Club) opens in Fayetteville. April 1947 – Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie, visit Fayetteville and Fort Bragg. September 1949 - The first flight departs from Fayetteville’s new airport. The fare from Fayetteville to Charlotte was $7.15. Oct. 4, 1949 - President Harry Truman visits Fayetteville and Fort Bragg. October 1955 – Eutaw Village Shopping Center, Cumberland County’s first major suburban shopping center, opens on Bragg Boulevard. June 8, 1956 - Cape Fear Valley hospital is dedicated. Nov. 1, 1956 - Methodist College is chartered. Feb. 10, 1960 – Students from Fayetteville State Teacher’s College (now Fayetteville State University) challenge racial segregation laws by sitting at the lunch counters at Woolworth and McCrory’s stores. Jan. 10, 1966 – The U.S. Post Office and federal courthouse building opens on Green Street. 1967 – Black & Decker opens its Fayetteville plant. At its height, more than 2,000 people worked there. As manufacturing jobs moved overseas, the number dwindled to 700 by the time the plant closed in 2006. 1969 – The Kelly-Springfield Tire Co., announces plans to build a plant in Fayetteville. At the time it would be the largest tire plant in the world. Today the plant is owned by Goodyear Tire & Rubber. 1970 – The Market House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Feb. 26, 1975 – Cross Creek Mall opens. 1960 – Lawyer Terry Sanford becomes the first elected governor from Fayetteville. Oct. 12, 1961 – President John F. Kennedy reviews troops at Fort Bragg. 1961 – Fayetteville Area Industrial Education Center opens. The school changes its name to Fayetteville Technical Institute in 1963. Today, the school is Fayetteville Technical Community College. August 1976 – Singer Elvis Presley performs to a sold-out crowd at the Cumberland County Arena. 1978 – Fayetteville’s International Folk Festival is founded. Sept. 15, 1978 – The All-American Freeway officially opens. Dec. 15, 1980 – After a long fight against the route of Interstate 95, the new 17-mile Fayetteville bypass section of I-95 officially opens. May 2003 – The city celebrates the Festival of Flight, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ flight. 2005 – The Base Realignment and Closure and (BRAC) law includes major changes at Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base by 2011. 2007 – The long-awaited Festival Park opens to the public, just in time for the annual Fayetteville Dogwood Festival. CityViewNC.com | 49 1982 - The Fayetteville Dogwood Festival is founded. 1991 – Hay Street is reopened to traffic after the idea of a pedestrian mall failed. The plan was designed to invigorate downtown redevelopment but the city center actually surged after Hay was improved, landscaped and reopened to cars. Oct. 23, 1997 – The Crown Coliseum opens. August 2000 – The Airborne & Special Operations Museum opens on the corner of Hay Street and Bragg Boulevard, signaling a rebirth for downtown Fayetteville. The same year, the Robert C. Williams Business Center opened along with new downtown shops such as Rude Awakening. 2001 – Fayetteville is named an All- America City. That same year, the National Civic League designated Fayetteville as a winning community alongside cities such as Santa Clara, Calif., and South Miami, Fla.

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