Last month, we asked you to send us your best pictures for our #AVLYearbookChallenge. We loved allll of your responses– from views of old Asheville and construction of I-240 to Civil War veterans + more. We then narrowed it down to four finalists + asked you to vote on Instagram.
The Jackson Building. | Photo provided by @theurbangastronome
In first place, by a landslide– this photo of The Jackson Building in the 1920s from reader @theurbangastronome. Construction began in 1924 on this 15-story Neo-Gothic building, which was N.C.’s tallest skyscraper at the time. In this shot, you can see the famous grotesques at the top.
Seely’s Castle | Photo provided by UNC Asheville
UNC Asheville sent in an image of Overlook Castle (also known as Seely’s Castle), the former location of Asheville Biltmore College– now UNC Asheville– from 1949-61. The 20,000-square-foot castle was built in 1919 in the English Gothic style. DYK: The mountaintop location of the castle was why Asheville Biltmore College had the nickname “the College in the Sky.”
Welcome to Asheville sign | Provided by the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce shared an image of a “Welcome to Asheville” sign displayed in 1962 near the Cactus Drive-In Restaurant and Morris Shell Homes. The message is written in five different languages.
Reader + Asheville resident Jim H. shared several images of Asheville’s OG street festival Bele Chere, which began in 1979 and ended in 2013. This shot was taken at Bele Chere in the early 1990s on the deck of the Days Inn (now the Downtown Inn & Suites) at the corner of Patton and Asheland Ave.
