The photographer only had about 30 days to get the above interesting picture. This is what’s missing. The building above as it appeared in 1909 as the Asheville Library building at 4 Pack Square South. It was for many years before that known of as the First National Bank Building. In 1889 the bank purchased two small brick buildings that predated
If you are familiar with early postcards of Western North Carolina, you’ve probably seen this image before. But which one did you see? There were numerous variations. The photograph is titled “Above the Clouds” (title slightly visible at left lower corner in box) published by Lindsey & Brown, Land of the Sky, Views of WNC,
But first some history. E. W. Grove built the new Bon Marche department store for Solomon Lipinsky; architect/designer was W. L. Stoddart, an architect from New York City. Lipinsky had founded the store in Asheville in 1889. The Bon Marche later moved into a new building across the street at 33 Haywood in 1936 (now the
On Sunday morning July 16, 1916 Edith Vanderbilt was notified of the rising water and the dangerous conditions at Biltmore Village. “Without warning at 4:00 the Swannanoa River overflowed the village. Men plunged into the stream carrying their wives and children. Horses turned loose plunged madly through the flooded streets in the darkness. In an
Real photo postcard of the blizzard of March 17, 1936 showing cars and snow along intersection of College and Patton. Sign for Brown Book Co. on right and the Palmer-Lipe Paint Company on left in clear view. Here’s an image for everybody who’s snowed in this weekend. One of the worst snowstorms of the century swept
Everyone certainly remembers Helen—Miss Troy—winner of the first beauty pageant. Beauty pageants are not the popular, newsworthy events that they once were. Can you name Miss Asheville, Miss North Carolina, or Miss America 2015? I’ll wager you can’t (I couldn’t), so the answers will appear at the end of this post. Let’s take a look
The North Carolina Room, Pack Memorial Library currently has on exhibit through September, four exhibit cases highlighting Asheville and Western North Carolina Tourism Souvenirs. Of course, the exhibit set us on a research binge, trying to find out all that we could about the local souvenir trade and how it developed. This is the sixth of
The North Carolina Room, Pack Memorial Library currently has on exhibit through September, four exhibit cases highlighting Asheville Tourism Souvenirs. Of course, the exhibit set us on a research binge, trying to find out all that we could about the local souvenir trade. This is the second of an ongoing series, sharing some of the