As late as 1980, only 250 residents called the town home. Today, more than 18,500 people, many from other states and countries, live in Morrisville.

But many non-natives don't know about the town's Civil War skirmish, the railroad or the knitting mill.

Town leaders, hoping to connect newcomers to the place they live, held a grand opening of the Morrisville History Center on Friday. Videos and exhibits now enjoy a permanent home in the lobby of Town Hall.

Just across the street in the historic Page House, one of three historic structures in town, lives Mary Jo Lumley. She remembers a Morrisville that many people today would not recognize. She was born in Durham in 1943 and her family moved to Morrisville in 1946 to live in the home where her mother grew up, the Page House. She has never moved away. Lumley's memories include unpaved roads, a grocery and general store a short walk away and movies on the lawn.

Q: Where was the local store? And how did it affect small town life in Morrisville?

A: The Jones & Sears red and white store was located right where Ben's Bargain Barn stands now. One side was a grocery store, where Mr. Sears had a fresh meat market, and the other side was a general store, which Mr. and Mrs. Jones ran. The men would sit on the nail kegs, big barrel-like wooden kegs and socialize. The nails used to come in the kegs, and if you wanted a half-pound of nails, Mr. Jones would weigh them out.

We would walk up to the store to get groceries. The first grocery store I remember in Cary after that was the Piggly Wiggly.

Q: What was Morrisville like in your earliest memories?

A: When I first moved here, there were probably less than 100 people in Morrisville proper. Most of the streets were unpaved. The kids would play in each other's yards or around the railroad tracks. The boys would play in Crabtree Creek. Once they paved Page Street, mostly the boys and a few girls would roller skate on it.

Q: Where did you go to school?

A: When my mother was a girl, Morrisville had a school. But by the time I was a child, we went to school at what is now Cary Elementary. Then when they built the high school on Walnut Street, I was part of the second class to graduate from it.

Q: Tell me about the history of the Page House. Isn't it being considered for the National Register and as a Wake County Historic Landmark?

A: Yes. It might have been built as early as the early 1800s, and then remodeled in the late 1800s. There are different-sized doors throughout. Our house served as a stagecoach stop during the Civil War. My mother said the soldiers tried to steal her mother's horse saddle. And our family hid the silverware in hollow trees so the soldiers wouldn't steal it.

Also, when Morrisville had its own school, the teachers would stay here sometimes.

Q: How do you feel about all the growth in Morrisville?

A: It's just one of those things that was going to happen. Because I worked for 47 years and endured many changes at my company, I was accustomed to change. The main thing that is a negative is the traffic. But that's true of most areas, not just here.