The Creation of a Public School System for the City of Asheville, 1887-1888 Looking down on Asheville with a distant view of the first Battery Park Hotel built in 1886. Eagle Street is in the center of the photo curving around a stand of trees. L473-8 Setting Up the System and Hiring the Teachers Asheville … Continue reading ASHEVILLE’S FIRST CITY SCHOOLS FOR BLACK STUDENTS, Part Three: Builders of Black Schools
Uncommon and unusual objects sing an irresistible siren's song to me (much to my bank account's dismay). I just can't stop myself when I find a listing for an Asheville object such as the item pictured below. This diminutive metal bank measures 3.25 x 2 x 1.5 inches. It rests neatly in the palm of … Continue reading “A Dollar in the Bank is Worth Two in the Pocket” (so they say……)
JUST A LITTLE FRIENDLY REMINDER: Monumental Decisions: The Legacy and Future of Civil War Markers in Our Public Spaces Monumental Decisions: The Legacy and Future of Civil War Markers in Our Public Spaces Date: Saturday February 3rd Time: 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm Where: Pack Memorial Library, Lord Auditorium, lower level. This event is free … Continue reading
Do you prefer to live in a segregated city? What could you do to change that? Would you seek out some people of the opposite race to go to dinner with--an idea, I believe, from Date My City? If enough of us did that, would it change what is happening in our city? If we … Continue reading How Black and White is Asheville?
Monumental Decisions: The Legacy and Future of Civil War Markers in Our Public Spaces Date: Saturday February 3rd Time: 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm Where: Pack Memorial Library, Lord Auditorium, lower level. This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Friends of the North Carolina Room Like any local history room, … Continue reading Event. Monumental Decisions: The Legacy and Future of Civil War Markers in Our Public Spaces
The North Carolina Room is currently exhibiting photographs from the Richard Hansley Photograph Collection. Mr. Hansley is the author of Asheville's Historic Architecture, 2011. In 2014 Richard donated his entire photograph collection to the North Carolina Room. His love and enthusiasm of architecture shows in every photograph. We decided to use Mr. Hansley's photos of details … Continue reading How Well Do You Know Asheville’s Buildings? A Quiz With Up To $30 worth of prizes!
An eight-story, skeletal form of poured concrete reinforced with steel (upper right) stood on the corner of North Main and College Street for about 6 years as infighting among the Smith Estate's heirs halted construction. An original drawing of the hotel (RSS0709) is dated January 1906. This was quite an embarrassment to the architectural firm of Smith & … Continue reading Standing on One Corner in Asheville, Part Two
Standing on one corner of Asheville is an excellent place to learn about the ever-changing face of our town. Do you recognize this corner and are you familiar with its curious history? James McConnell Smith was born in 1787. According to historical accounts he was the first white child born west of the Blue Ridge. … Continue reading Standing On One Corner in Asheville, Part One
The North Carolina Room received a call from someone--with both musical and local history interests--asking if there really was a collapse of the Swannanoa Tunnel, as the song, "Swannanoa Tunnel" relates? I said I would send him an article about it, thinking in a free moment I would just slap the article on the scanner and have it off to him. … Continue reading Black Lives Built Western North Carolina Railroad
