The consolidation of the communities of Leaksville, Spray and Draper, although officially sealed in 1967, actually began in 1952 with the opening of Tri-City High School to bring together the two existing high schools of the time, Leaksville High School and Draper High School. The high school continued as Tri-City High School until renamed John Motley Morehead Senior High School in1958 to honor local philanthropist and industrialist, John Motley Morehead III.  He was working with the calcium carbide after his father and Canadian Thomas Willson discovered its commercial usages. Students in grades 10-12 from the former historically black high school, Douglass High School, were integrated into Morehead High in the fall of 1966.  

Since the school's construction was completed and the doors opened to the students of the three local communities, other buildings have been added in an ever increasing desire to improve the level of instruction for the students of Eden.  These additions include a classroom building and auditorium (1960-61), Hough Library-Learning Center (1968), Newlin Gymnasium and Physical Education Center (1981) and the Cafeteria Complex and Science Building (1991). An Industrial Education Center, housed on campus from 1958 until 1966, was a countywide site for vocational training that was removed from Morehead High School and re-established at Rockingham Community College in Wentworth.

Morehead High School serves students from the Central, Douglass, Draper, and Leakesville-Spray zone communities offering a wide range of educational, social and athletic programs that over the years have seen Morehead High School students win statewide acclaim in educational and athletic endeavors that certainly make John Motley Morehead Senior High School one of the great high schools in the state of North Carolina.