History of Morganton North Carolina
Originally named Morgansborough, the towns name was changed to Morgantown and then later shortened to Morganton. The wilderness that surrounds the town served as a hunting ground for the Catawba and Cherokee tribes well into the middle of the eighteenth century. The town of Morganton was established in 1777 and incorporated in 1784 after a petition was given to the North Carolina Assembly for the formation of a new county.
Though there was never a ‘real’ slave market in Morganton, William Walton, Jr., a merchant living in Charleston, sent recently arrived slaves to his Burke County plantation along the Johns River. There they were taught to speak English and to farm using American methods. After acquiring these skills they were sold off to plantation owners.
Two of the state’s largest institutions, Broughton Hospital for the mentally ill and the NC School for the Dear were located in this city in the late nineteenth century. A fire destroyed much of the wooden commercial structures that had been built in downtown Morganton in 1893. Many of the stores were rebuilt and remain the same today.
Morganton was one of the first municipalities in the state that provided its own electric system. The town was also the first city to adopt the City Manager form of government.