Last passenger train
It was Dec. 5, 1968, when the last passenger train, the Carolina Special, left the depots in Hendersonville and Henderson County.
After 1968, only freight trains traveled the railroad tracks in Henderson County. Sometimes six to seven freight trains daily traveled the tracks until 2002. In 2002, Norfolk Southern began re-routing the freight trains and bypassed Henderson County. Today, there are only sporadic local deliveries to area industries in the county via the railroad.
For more information and photos visit https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19681205&id=jsQmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=biQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6215,5403259&hl=en and http://www.avmrc.com/Depot_History.html and http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20071003/NEWS/710040338
Interstate through county
In 1966, the first section of Interstate 26 within Henderson County opened from Fletcher near the Asheville Airport to the U.S. 25 connector in East Flat Rock.
In 1969, I-26 was extended north to I-40 in Asheville and the South Carolina segment was completed to N.C. 108 near Columbus in Polk County.
Persons traveling the interstate had to travel U.S. 176 from East Flat Rock to the Lynn community in Polk County, and then return to the interstate.
With the construction of the interstate, the trucking industry in the county continued to grow. Youngblood Truck Lines in Fletcher employed about 170 truck drivers by 1968.
There was still the Union Bus Terminal on North Main Street, and the Hendersonville City Bus Company continued in operation.
New radio station
Henderson County got a second radio station in the 1960s when WHVL 1600 AM hit the airwaves. Construction on the new radio station began in 1963 at the site on the Greenville Highway (old U.S. 25) in Hendersonville.
In 1964, the remnants of Hurricane Hilda flooded Henderson County, and WHKP was off the air due to flood waters from Oct. 4 to Oct. 7.
The new radio station got permission to broadcast with a whip antenna on the roof of the building and hit the airwaves a month earlier that was scheduled in 1964.
In 1986, the radio station changed its letters to WTZQ. It is now located on Duncan Road in the Tracy Grove community.