As July 4, 1919, neared, patriotic fervor lost its unifying grip, as Asheville residents split over the controversial topic of a public street dance.
Asheville Archives: Schools of dead fish float down the French Broad River, 1951
On Sept. 6, 1951, thousands of dead fish floated down the highly polluted French Broad River.
New documentary explores our troubled waterways
In the Center for Cultural Preservation’s latest documentary, Guardians of Our Troubled Waters: River Heroes of the South, filmmaker David Weintraub investigates the history of figures such as French Broad crusader Wilma Dykeman and the roles they played in fostering environmental change.
Asheville Archives: Father’s Day launches in WNC, 1912
On June 16, 1912, the city celebrated its first Father’s Day. Shortly thereafter, another day of observance was proposed: Mother-in-Law Day.
On the trail of Thomas Wolfe and the Fitzgeralds
Part biography, part travel guide, Bruce Johnson’s latest book highlights key landmarks and locations the three literary icons visited or frequented during their respective stays in Asheville in the 1930s.
Asheville Archives: Ida Jolly Crawley launches her magical museum, 1919
Pottery from Pompeii, solidified lava, Native American relics, “trophies of the seas,” and “the carnivorous lilies of North Carolina lowlands,” were among the items on display inside Ida Jolly Crawley’s House of Pan: Museum of Art and Archaeology.
News briefs: Health care vigil, honoring an Asheville pioneer
This week in brief: health care coverage vigils, a move to honor Asheville’s first African American police lieutenant, summer hours at the Asheville Radio Museum and an end-of-life planning seminar held on the campus of UNC Asheville.
Asheville Archives: Thomas Wolfe befriends F. Scott Fitzgerald
Shortly after the 1929 publication of Look Homeward, Angel, author Thomas Wolfe met fellow writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. The two did not always see eye-to-eye.
The legacy of Asheville’s racial real estate covenants
No one knows how many Asheville neighborhoods or properties were once subject to racial covenants but, says Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger, “These things are buried all over the place.”
Asheville Archives: Beer makes its triumphant return to the mountains, 1933
On May 1, 1933, beer was once again legal in Asheville.
Bold Solutions to Local Problems
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
Inn Trouble
ASHEVILLE, N.C.
Asheville Archives: Kiwanis Club forms in Asheville, 1919
“Nearly thirty live wire, young business and professional men have already come into the local Kiwanis camp,” reported The Asheville Citizen on July 9, 1919.
Lacking Council support, developer pulls Flatiron hotel proposal
Around 100 people attended Asheville City Council’s nearly five-hour meeting on March 14, during which 27 speakers declared both resistance and support for the conversion of the Flatiron Building into a hotel.
Asheville Archives: Mother’s Day arrives in the mountains, 1909
On May 3, 1909, The Asheville Citizen informed readers that local religious organizations planned “to observe the second Sunday in this month as Mother’s day.”
Asheville Archives: Black Mountain Highway opens, 1921
In 1919, construction began on the Asheville-Black Mountain Highway. Several setbacks, including a construction fire and a labor shortage, delayed the project’s eventual completion.
Asheville Archives: Bingham Military School relocates to Asheville, 1891
In 1891, local ambivalence marked the initial plans for Bingham Military School’s relocation to Asheville.
Asheville Archives: Babe Ruth’s short-lived death in Asheville, 1925
In 1925, Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees were scheduled to play an exhibition game in Asheville. A bellyache and subsequent collapse would put a stop to Ruth’s play that day.
Flatiron hotel project seeks final zoning approval from Council
Asheville City Council will decide the fate of the historic Flatiron Building during the April 23 meeting.
Asheville Archives: The rapid growth of Swannanoa
On Feb. 15, 1925, The Asheville Citizen proclaimed that Swannanoa had entered “the first stages of a boom.”
Swannanoa Valley Museum honors Beacon blankets
“Beacon was Swannanoa,” says Anne Chesky Smith, director of Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center. “Everything that was in Swannanoa was entangled in Beacon,
