In 1957 the General Assembly passed legislation to establish Vocational Training Schools throughout North Carolina. The Guilford County facility at Jamestown was one of the first of its kind in the state. It occupied the buildings and site of what was the Guilford County Tuberculosis Sanatorium, which closed in 1955. The abandoned Sanatorium facility was converted and renovated to accommodate classrooms, equipment and machinery for the new vocational center.
Bruce B. Roberts, former Supervisor of Industrial Education for High Point City Schools, was named director of the Vocational Training Center. Guilford Industrial Education Center opened in September 1958 offering classes in knitting machine fixing and upholstery.
Fixer class at GIEC
