Asheville, NC History

the twentieth century, Asheville, North Carolina has been thrust into national highlight as the premier tourist destination. It is a city where conservative meets liberal, homosexual meets heterosexual and old-southern values meet progressive new-south principles. Kate Fisher, a Washington, DC “transplant” to Asheville, commented that Asheville is composed of “conservative Appalachian folks mixed with transplants from everywhere to the largest lesbian community per capita in the United States to . . . hippiedom extraordinaire to unbelievable creativity and talent in the arts.” CNN’s Laurel Shannon cites Asheville’s diverse small-business entrepreneurial-oriented climate and thriving arts community in the city being coined the “Paris of the South.” Asheville’s transformation from its fledgling beginnings as the village of Morristown in the eighteenth century to a nationally renowned city embracing post-Reconstruction ideals of the “New South” can be linked to Asheville’s entrepreneurs and the city leaders’ infrastructure improvements and intensive policies promoting the city’s progressive image at the end of the eighteenth century.

The Biltmore estate quickly turned the nation’s eyes to Asheville. Being the largest private residence in the country, the 175,000 square-foot home was built on a 125,000 acre homestead. The estate boasted an elevator, electric lights, private library, and indoor swimming pool. Vanderbilt toured Europe searching for rare art and treasures to display in his new mansion while over one thousand workers were building the château. Locals appreciated that as “the fame of Asheville grows, but much of the widely spread knowledge of the beauties and attractions of the place is due to the interesting work which is now being carried on by Mr. George W. Vanderbilt.” The Asheville News and Hotel Reporter wrote that:

Prior to the arrival of the Salisbury-Best railroad station in October 1880, getting to Asheville was inconvenient at best. The most common means of transportation to the city was by rail to Old Fort (the terminus of the Western North Carolina railroad between 1869 and 1880) and stagecoach up the initial descent into the Blue Ridge and the rest of the way to Asheville.

As 1887 approached, the Asheville Gas and Light Company built a power plant in the city and provided New Yorker E.D. Davidson a means of constructing an electric streetcar line (finished in 1989), the second of its kind in the world. The line ran a five-mile route from the Public Square to the railroad depot. The same year, the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company introduced telephone service to the city. These services, benefiting citizens, also made visiting Asheville seem much more lucrative.

Asheville saw an influx of Jews, lured to western North Carolina by Zebulon Vance’s national reputation for fiercely defending independence and southern rights and the opportunity to financially succeed. Men like Solomon Lipinsky introduced the single-price store to Western North Carolina, and contributed to the city’s educational and cultural development. Civic projects like the Civic Centre, Mission Hospital, Red Cross, and the United Fund were all spearheaded and supported by the city’s Jewish community.

As with any advertisement there is always a degree of dramatization. Local boosters portrayed Asheville as a modern, liberal city where all welcomed tourists. In 1895, a tourist complained to the Asheville News and Hotel Reporter “Asheville people took very little interest in their visitor.” In addition to the air of resentment toward tourists, the city advertised a false universal climate of healthy race relations. In actuality, tourism fueled the fire of poor race relations. The case of Will Harris, who was believed to have killed five white men and was eventually executed by his pursuers in 1906 illustrates the growing racial tensions evident in the 1900’s. Prior to the turn of the century, however, blacks and whites shared water fountains in the city square: proving the moderate race relations in the city. By 1924, when the Ku Klux Klan became active, the city council prohibited the shared water fountains and further exacerb

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