The N.C. Rehabilitation Center for the Blind evolved from one of the many rehabilitation centers created by the federal government after World War II to treat wounded veterans. One such facility, located in Greenville to care for blinded vets, was moved to Butner a few years later. In 1984 -- after the facility's scope had been expanded to include civilians in need of rehab -- it was moved to a building on the campus of the Governor Morehead School for the blind.

The essential missions of the two facilities are similar, but the choice of the Morehead campus as the location for the rehab center was rooted in simple convenience, rather than like-mindedness. When federal law in the 1970s required that handicapped students be "mainstreamed" -- which is to say, educated at local schools rather than shipped to special facilities -- attendance at the Morehead school fell dramatically. One of its idle buildings was subsequently turned into the rehab center's new home.

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