Historic Preservation program at Pack Memorial Library, Feb. 26

Press release

Historic Preservation – Going beyond buildings on the Southside of Asheville
Wednesday, February 26 at 6pm
Pack Memorial Library
67 Haywood Street
250-4700

The East Riverside Redevelopment is said to be the largest urban renewal project in the South in the 1960s and 1970s. It sprawled over 425 acres from Hilliard Avenue at the North end to Oakland Road at the South; Biltmore Avenue to the East to Clingman Avenue and the railroad tracks to the West. It affected more than 2,000 households.

Southside Avenue featured a broad spectrum of buildings, from small clapboard shacks to large apartment blocks, hotels and industrial buildings. By 1975 they were all gone, just a few years before historic preservation took hold in Asheville. Can the ethos of historic preservation still play a positive role in restoring the memory of what was there?

The demolition of buildings and relocation of the residents created a huge emotional and psychological wound that has festered to this day, nearly 50 years later. Generations of children have grown up with little understanding of the history shared by their parents and grandparents.

Join us at Pack Library on Wednesday, February 26th at 6pm for a slide presentation about the Southside Neighborhood in Asheville. Rich Mathews, historian and researcher for Mathews Architecture, will present this free program. For more information contact the library at 250-4700.