With the number of visitors expected to reach new highs, residents and local officials worried about housing issues for Asheville’s 1920 summer tourists.
Author: Thomas Calder
Showing 1-21 of 1732 results
Asheville Archives: Women’s professional attire, 1911
In honor of our annual Women in Business issue, we explore professional women’s attire in the early 1910s.
Asheville Archives: Local resident reflects on Cherokee history, 1903
“Too little has been written about the early Indians who peopled North Carolina,” The Asheville Citizen declared on July 19, 1903. Fortunately for the paper’s readers, a June 1903 booklet — North Carolina Cherokee Indians — offered a detailed account on the very topic.
Drug trafficking and racial tension converge in Wiley Cash’s latest novel
The New York Times bestselling author and UNC Asheville Writer-in-Residence Wiley Cash discusses his latest novel, When Ghosts Come Home.
Asheville Archives: The city celebrates Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt’s birth
On Aug. 22, 1900, Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt was born. The Asheville Citizen and other papers reported on the arrival of the newborn at the Biltmore Estate.
Asheville Archives: Residents protest new construction on public land, 1891
Local resident E.J. Armstrong began work on constructing a pavilion on Court Square (today’s Pack Square) in 1891. The initial project was met without resistance; but as the size of the structure became apparent, citizens called for its removal.
Asheville Archives: Literary expectations hound Thomas Wolfe, 1931
Despite public outcries over his 1929 debut novel, Look Homeward, Angel, local residents were still eager to know what Thomas Wolfe had planned next. As pressure mounted to deliver his next book, Wolfe begged his mother to not leak any information to the Asheville press.
Asheville Archives: 1891 resident shares his vision of the city’s future
In an 1891 article, published by The Asheville Daily Citizen, an unnamed writer shared his visions from a recent dream wherein he time-traveled to 1950.
New book explores 1936 slaying at the Battery Park Hotel
After nearly a decade’s worth of research, local author Anne Chesky Smith celebrates the publication of her new book, Murder at Asheville’s Battery Park Hotel: The Search for Helen Clevenger’s Killer.
Asheville Archives: The city hires its first Black police officers, 1946
In 1946, at the urging of local residents, the city of Asheville hired its first two Black officers.
Asheville Archives: WNC dairy farming pushed as an economic booster in the early 1930s
As Americans battled the early days of the Great Depression, Asheville residents were urged to take up dairy farming as a way to combat the country’s ongoing economic woes.
Author Terry Roberts blurs genres in his latest novel
In his latest book, local author Terry Roberts takes readers out of the South and onto Ellis Island for a murder mystery set in 1920.
Asheville Archives: Imaginary melee at the Biltmore Estate makes front-page news, 1891
On Sept. 14, 1891, the Asheville Daily Citizen falsely reported that roughly 600 Black workers nearly broke out into a riot at the Biltmore Estate. Subsequent letters to the editor refuted the paper’s unfounded claims.
Asheville Archives: Workers go on strike at American Enka, 1941
Demanding higher wages, better working conditions and paid time off, workers at American Enka went on strike in late March 1941.
Asheville Archives: The influence of white supremacy in the women’s suffrage movement
In the summer of 1920, local residents disputed the merits and perceived risks associated with the passage of the 19th Amendment. Racism, rather than sexism, was a key factor on both sides of the argument.
Local author examines his life growing up in the Jim Crow South
Local writer Robert “Zack” Zachary discusses his debut essay collection, Forgotten Stories Remembered.
Asheville Archives: City residents bemoan increasing traffic, 1925
In 1925, as more motorists flooded the roads, local residents sought solutions to the city’s growing traffic problems.
Asheville Archives: Army plane makes emergency landing in West Asheville, 1949
In 1949, a military plane made an emergency landing in West Asheville. The craft remained grounded for five weeks before the Army produced the necessary resources for a successful takeoff.
Asheville Archives: Herbert Hoover Jr. convalesces in Asheville, 1930-31
For six months, Herbert Hoover Jr. lived in Asheville. During his stay, residents and reporters alike eagerly awaited a visit from his father, the president of the United States of America.
Asheville Archives: The three burials of Zebulon Vance
Zebulon Vance died on April 14, 1894. For a brief six weeks, his remains lay peacefully inside Riverside Cemetery. But by early June, a dispute among surviving family resulted in his remains being exhumed and relocated before eventually being returned to his original resting place.
Asheville Middle School tackles the past
Over the course of the 2020-2021 school year, seventh graders at Asheville Middle School have worked to uncover the past as a way to better understand the present day and change the future of Western North Carolina.