This year the North Carolina Room is featuring a series of programs on the 1980’s – a time that helped define what Asheville was to become. But, 100 years prior to that, Asheville was in the midst of an earlier Renaissance. The train had arrived in 1880 and Asheville became a true destination and was
ON DISPLAY NOW: Black History Month. The North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Library is exhibiting four special exhibits for the month of February. ASHEVILLE’S EAST END, 1970: Photographs from the Andrea Clark Collection. (Main level library exhibit area) Andrea’s powerful photographs show the story of a community and its collision with urban renewal. *** The
Buncombe County led the state in the early 1920s in fighting adult illiteracy. Its adult literacy program was copied throughout the south and even received national recognition. From 1917 to 1920 Buncombe County adult community schools, often called night schools, taught over 3000 adults to read and write. However, a newspaper article from February 1925
The North Carolina Room recently received a new donation of Montford materials, including photographs, newspaper clippings and early newsletters. In the mid 1970’s Montford and Montford Hill residents rallied together to clean up the neighborhood and to work at renovating houses in need of repair. Work was organized through the Montford Community Club and the Montford Hills Community Club.
It was a momentous day. Tuesday, November 24, 2015 the staff of the North Carolina Room joined with the staff of the Youth Services Department, Pack Memorial Library and invited the third grade class at Isaac Dickson Elementary to visit the North Carolina Room. Our hope was to show the students a little bit about what
“A lovely spot among the hills, A sky of blue above, And trees that bend in graceful form, These make the camp I love.” -Mary Mitchell Westall Camp Dellwood was established in the 1920s to afford girls aged 9-19 a summer filled with outdoor sports, arts and crafts, socializing, and fun. Under the direction of Mr. and Mrs. George Mason
Before there were bridges across the French Broad River, there were ferries. And then there were no bridges across the river, according to F.S. Sondley in A History of Buncombe County North Carolina, when in “1865 the Yankee invasion up the French Broad River burned the bridges at Alexanders and at what is now Craggy.
Isaac and Sarah Malke Michalove immigrated from Lithuania, Russia and came to Asheville in 1890. Isaac, a pioneer Jewish merchant, operated the Michalove Wholesale Grocery company. Isaac and Sarah’s daughter Hattie, born Sept. 20, 1890, married Barney Pearlman and they immigrated in 1901, coming to Asheville in 1908. Barney operated several groceries, and then opened a small store on Patton
A Social for the Friends of the North Carolina Room was held Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 at the Rankin House Inn. The oldest frame house in Asheville, it was built in 1848 by William Dinwiddle (1804-1879) and Elizabeth Lightfoot Roadman (1804-1908) Rankin. It was the perfect place for a gathering of people who love local history. The