The series had its genesis in 1954, when WQED Public television debuted The Children's Corner, a program featuring Rogers as puppeteer and Josie Carey as host, in an unscripted live television program. It was this program where many of the puppets, characters and music used in the later series were developed, such as King Friday XIII, and Curious X the Owl. It was also the time when Rogers began wearing his famous sneakers, as he found them to be quieter than his work shoes while he was moving about behind the set. The show won a Sylvania Award for best children's show, and was briefly broadcast nationally on NBC. Rogers moved to Toronto, Canada, in 1962 to work on a new series based on The Children's Corner, called Misterogers, a 15-minute program on CBC Television.
In 1965, Fred Rogers returned to Pittsburgh and renamed the show Misterogers' Neighborhood, which initially aired regionally through the Eastern Educational Network (now American Public Television). In 1967, The Sears Roebuck Foundation provided funding for the program, which enabled them to be seen nationwide on National Educational Television; taping for the show began in October 1967 for the first national season.
The first national broadcast of Misterogers' Neighborhood appeared on most NET stations on February 19, 1968. In 1970, when PBS replaced NET, it also inherited this program. Around the same time the show had a slight title change, to the more-familiar Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
The show was in production from February 19, 1968 to February 20, 1976, and again from August 27, 1979 to August 31, 2001. The studio in Pittsburgh where the series was taped was later renamed "The Fred Rogers Studio", in honor of Rogers himself.