Saturday, October 29, 2011

USS North Carolina: A Big Thanks to James S. Craig and Hugh Morton-- Part 2

Continued from my Oct. 14th post.

Hugh Morton also helped start the North Carolina Azalea Festival in 1948. This project started as a way to help restore public morale in Wilmington after the "boomtown" years of World War II, when the population ballooned to over 100,000 because of war industry.

Then, in 1960, the city's biggest employer, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad moved its headquarters from the city to Jacksonville, Florida, taking hundreds of jobs.

Wilmington decided the time had come to develop a tourist industry and the USS North Carolina was to be a keystone of the effort.

In 1948, the state of Texas had acquired the USS Texas with similar intentions. Morton's group contacted Cyril Adams, a Houston-based marine engineer who had handled the problems of relocating the Texas.

Four possible state sites for the USS North Carolina: Morehead City, Swansboro, Southport and Carlina Beach (the last two by Wilmington). Swansboro and Carolina Beach quickly fell out of the running.

More to Come. --Cooter

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