10 significant “happenings” of 1963, as reported in the Sunday Telegram on Jan. 5, 1964: 1—In the field of human relations, Rocky Mount avoided racial friction suffered by many communities as it quietly admitted 21 Negro students to three previously all-white schools, and adopted a Blueprint for Progress. The Blueprint was prepared by Mayor W. B. Harrisons Good Neighbor Committee and this fall was presented before the citizens. The report recognized poverty and lack of opportunity in the community and expressed intent by community leaders to overcome this problem. White and Negro citizens, working together on the Good Neighbor Committee, reached agreement on racial problems and steps to be taken in an attempt to solve them. Jobs were opened up for Negroes in many areas where there previously had been none. 2--- Frustration and indecision have been the only results so far from the years-old controversy over air service for Eastern North Carolina. On one side of the coin, the Bureau of Economic Regulation of the Civil Aeronautics Board earlier in the year gave an opinion favoring a regional airport at Toddy, and on the other side, a CAB examiner on Oct. 1 gave an opinion favoring smaller area airports at Rocky Mount, Goldsboro and Kinston. Proponents of a proposed Rocky Mount-Wilson Area Airport were feeling more confident after the examiners report, only to have the CAB grant Greenville and its allies favoring the regional airport a rehearing in the case. Now, indecision will linger for some more months before the case comes out of dormancy. 3—The City announced in December a hike in gas rates after having suffered three years of deficits in operations of the city gas system. It was a relatively small increase, needed to offset three increases in rates to the citys gas supplier in recent years, according to city officials. The city also sold $600,000 in gas system bonds, approved in1959 by city voters to improve the gas system. In announcing the rate increase, the city also approved a continuing gas sales promotion program to help lagging gas sales. 4--- Tarrytown Center, a regional shopping center at the crossroads of two major highways came into existence in the year and still is building. A major department store, a large drug store and a modern supermarket join a service station to give a boost to the area economy. More stores are under construction or planned for the large shopping center at the intersection of U.S. 64 and U.S. 301. The new shops complement downtown retail businesses and make Rocky Mount the retail shopping capital 5—Rocky Mount got a jump in population of some 500 citizens when Hillsdale and Lancaster Park were annexed in the spring. The Negro residential area was lacking many of the improvements offered by the city just across the city limit line. Already, utility lines are being extended and the residents are getting city police and fire protection and other services. Most of the residents of the area favored the move and many signed a petition asking for annexation. 6—Ricks Hotel, an outstanding Rocky Mount landmark, marked a page in a closing era in December as it locked its doors after slow economic attrition in recent years. The hotel during its 54-year history has been the site of many a social event and once was the citys most-used hostelry. The equipment will be auctioned this month. From its ashes is expected to rise a motel, symbol of the succeeding automobile age. 7—A surge of street improvements, mostly with impetus from the State Highway Commission, has given the city a new look in places and has helped alleviate some of its traffic problems. The Arlington Street-Atlantic Avenue thoroughfare through the city and across Tar River and the US 301 bypass dual lane were completed last month. Work on the Sunset Avenue thoroughfare was completed early in the year. These three, wide thoroughfares channel traffic through previous bottlenecks. While the U.S. 301 bypass has not been completed, it is being used to alleviate congestion on a major north-south tourist route, and hopefully will end accidents on what had become known as Ambulance Alley. The downtown thoroughfare will carry N.C. 97 traffic on a direct through street and will eliminate the twisting, halting route it once took to get through Rocky Mount. The four-lane Sunset Avenue west of Tar River channels the to-and-from work traffic between residential areas and downtown. In addition, the city adopted a Major Thoroughfare Plan in November, which, if followed, will guide the city in solution of traffic problems for the next 20 years. 8—Two major power failures in the year, one in the spring and one in the fall, interrupted the local economy for short periods and highlighted the citys inadequate electric distribution system. Already, the first $600,000 phase of a $1.5 million improvement program is underway. The need for a large-scale and costly improvement of the city- owned electric system became apparent some years ago and money had been budgeted for the work in 1963. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed before the air conditioning systems next summer put the next heavy burden on the electric distribution system. When completed, four power sub-stations will serve an interdependent system of electric lines to customers, making citywide power failures highly unlikely, according to city officials. 9—Rocky Mount will have an efficient and attractive new headquarters fire station when the contemporary building is completed at the intersection of Cokey Road and George Street. The building has been under construction since spring and was slated for completion in October. Its completion date was moved back to Dec. 1 but still was not met. Firemen, meanwhile, are maintaining their vigil at the old station, a landmark on N. E. Main Street, which will be torn down for a parking lot. 10 — The General Assembly and Gov. Terry Sanford came to Rocky Mount in the spring for a night of social activity at Benvenue Country Club as guests of the Northside Club, which identified itself as an organization devoted to fun and fellowship with no political motives. It was a successful outing with practically all the political talents of the state present. This was one of several junkets, however, which later brought criticism of the Legislature when work at the capital appeared to many to be slowing down.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 18:12:53 +0000