By: Samantha Keenan Brock, Asheville native. Photo credit: Gwen Gentry Keenan
This is a contributor-submitted Voices piece. Want to join the conversation? We invite you to write for us. Learn how to share your voice here.
Last week, when we introduced our new community-publishing platform, Voices, we heard from a reader who thought we might enjoy historic photos of Asheville (she was right).
Thank you, Samantha for sharing these incredible shots with us, which highlight how much Asheville has changed. Because, it’s all about perspective, right?
Here’s what she said – “My mother passed away about a year ago, and I have just now gotten to the files on her computer. She loved history and genealogy. My entire family is native of Asheville, specifically West Asheville.”
Crowd at Pritchard Park in 1969 when Dunhams music house burned.
Lexington Avenue 1938.
West Asheville in the thirties.
I’m guessing this picture is facing west with that Esso Station on the left being right across the street from the Palace Pharmacy, at the intersection of sandhill road. Look at the cars, a priceless picture.
The fire burning sometime in the twenties was the old department store named the Emporium. Look at the streetcar and the old t-model ford.
Asheville was a bustling little town in the twenties. The only town of any size in the western part of the state, it was noted for its nightlife, people come from miles around, maybe the ladies could do the Charleston in their long dresses and stylish hats, my thoughts went back to the price of those T-models and gas during those depression years.
My mother told me of standing on the sidewalk in line at the bank of Asheville right beside the S&W cafeteria, to get her money out of the bank. There was policeman everywhere as people were told by a bank employee the bank was closing, they had no idea when it would reopen.
She never got any of the money which was lost as the banks went broke. She worked at the old cotton mill, that was located at the end of the smith bridge, this is one of the memories of the depression she never forgot.
Haywood Street at Bon Marche in the thirties. Looking up Haywood Street toward where the city auditorium was located. I wonder how many people remember that Sears was located there before it moved to Coxe Avenue. The old Vanderbilt hotel was also located on the right just before the auditorium. These are great pictures and really bring back memories of Asheville during its booming years.
Haywood Street at Bon Marche in the thirties.
Looking up Haywood Street toward where the city auditorium was located.
I wonder how many people remember that Sears was located there before it moved to Coxe Avenue.
The old Vanderbilt hotel was also located on the right just before the auditorium.
These are great pictures and really bring back memories of Asheville during its booming years.
Everyone remembers Ivey’s, a great store for many years.
William Randolph school.
You probably remember the school, chances are you didn’t know this served as a prison in the early twenties.
