haywoodpark
Lying in the pleasant surroundings of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville, N.C., is a southern city full of charm and history.
Like its neighboring city Asheboro, Asheville’s name derives from Samuel Ashe, who was governor of North Carolina in the 1790s. After being founded in 1794 by John Burton, Asheville was known as Morristown and then Buncombe Courthouse until 1797 when it officially became known by its current moniker.
The growth of the North Carolina city was slow until the 19th century when the railroad arrived. By 1882, Asheville was recognized as a city.
In 1898, George Vanderbilt began constructing his mansion--the Biltmore Estate, which is now considered one of Asheville’s greatest landmarks. Biltmore Estate is the largest private residence ever built in the United States.
Vanderbilt’s idea to build his mansion stemmed from wanting to attract more people to Asheville. His project resulted in the construction of some large, elegant hotels in downtown Asheville, N.C. and these downtown Asheville hotels are still thriving from the crowds Biltmore Estate brings.
Asheville’s biggest population boom occurred in the 1920s when the city began to develop more. The Pack Memorial Public Library opened its new building in 1926 and the new Buncombe County Courthouse was built in 1928.
But then the Great Depression struck Asheville and the rest of the country. Like many others at the time, the city quickly found itself in financial hardship. Asheville refused to declare bankruptcy, leaving the local government struggling to pay its debts for decades.
However, in the late 1970s, Asheville’s economy began to rebound. One of the positives to its financial struggles was that while other cities in America underwent urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960s Asheville did not have the funds to do so, leaving its historical charm intact instead of replacing it with modern buildings and skyscrapers.
