I was looking through a stack of photographs in the collection we received from the Patton/Parker family after the death of Mary Parker. This photograph intrigued me. The writing on the back of the photo upped my intrigue. I wasn’t familiar with any of the names. The Ravenel family lived at 2 Short Street in Biltmore. Short Street became Kitchen Place
Early one Monday morning in September, 1910, news reached Asheville that Mr. Herbert B. Race and his “mechanician” J. E. McCants had arrived safely in Greenville, South Carolina, and were expected to reach downtown Asheville by noon that day. The two had departed from Jacksonville, Florida, at the crack of dawn on Saturday, attempting a
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
What do these have in common: The Asheville City Parks & Recreation Department, Quality Forward, Community Arts Council and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, along with thousands and thousands of volunteers? FESTIVALS! They all worked together in the 1970s and 1980s to create a broad range of festivals that were created in part to bring people
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,
A packed house in Lord Auditorium was the scene for the fourth program in the library’s series on Asheville in the 1980s. Sponsored by the Friends of the North Carolina Room, the July 27 event was a lively retrospective on the vibrant art world in 1980s Asheville. Phyllis Lang, former editor of The Arts Journal,
The Asheville Mall opened in 1972 pulling the large department stores with it. When the mall was in the works, the mall developer wrote letters to all of the merchants in Asheville inviting them to consider locating in the new mall. Sears opened first in 1972, with other stores following in late 1973-74: Belk’s, Ivey’s,
As the North Carolina Room looks at what things were happening in Asheville through local business, citizen and government involvement in the 1980s, friends and family have been working to celebrate the life and work of Asheville philanthropist, benefactor and liberal community activist Julian Price. Julian moved to Asheville in 1989 because of its architecture and a feeling. “The
Early Businesses Paved the Way Interesting things were going on in downtown Asheville in the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s. Lower rents and sagging property values lured entrepreneurial/creative small businesses and restaurants to join long-standing small businesses to make downtown the vibrant and viable place we now see around us. O.Henry’s Restaurant opened at