How William Weilt's Business Acumen Helped Brevard Grow

Weilt's One Price Cash Store was located between the Aethelwold and Crary
Hotels on East Main.  This cropped photo is from a larger photograph of a
celebration in honor of soldiers returning from the Great War, July 16, 1919.

William and Sarah Weilt moved their family to Brevard from Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1901. Weilt was a merchant who dealt mainly in clothing.  His business also carried home goods and even groceries for short time.  His main store was in a two-story wood frame building across from the courthouse on East Main Street, known as Weilt’s One Price Cash Store. 

Weilt’s business model of a consistent price for all customers and only dealing in cash was novel at the time.  He believed in providing the lowest price possible to all, with no haggling.  He also only sold for cash.  At the time most merchants took trade, such as farm produce, for goods.

In partnership with J.W. McMinn and Thomas Shipman, Weilt constructed the three story Auditorium Building on West Main Street in 1911.  This building is the home of Highland Books and Mayberry’s today.  The three also collaborated in building several cottages on West Main Street. 

In 1914 Weilt opened a second clothing store in a two story brick building he had constructed on West Main directly across from the Auditorium Building.  His Gent’s Furnishing Store continued to operate in the original location across from the courthouse and was managed by his son, Walter.  Weilt managed the new Ladies’ Furnishing Store on West Main Street.

Other business ventures included a brief partnership with W.P. Williams in a furniture store located in the Fraternity Building on South Broad Street and a long-time partnership with J.W. McMinn and J.M. Allison in the Farmers Supply Company.

In addition, Weilt served as a town alderman from 1905-1907.  He was also on the Board of Directors for People’s Bank and Brevard Banking.

The Weilt family lived in this home on Oaklawn Avenue.  Located near the
intersection of Oaklawn, Carver and Morgan streets, the house was torn down
about 10 years ago.

William Weilt suffered a stroke on January 27, 1920 and died on February 7, 1920.  He is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Brevard.  The Weilt family sold all business holdings within a few months of William Weilt’s death.

The original store on East Main was torn down in 1924 and replaced by a brick building that was the long-time home to Whitey York’s A&P.  Platt Architecture is on the second floor of his West Main Street building that continued to be referred to as the Weilt Building for many years.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.

Victorian Designed Homes Built in Brevard

Waightstill Avery Gash was a son of Leander and Margaret Gash, making him a great-great grandson of Waightstill Avery.  Avery had been a lawyer and an officer in the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution. 

Waightstill Gash was well educated, studied law under Col. W.W. Jones and was admitted to the bar in 1881.  He was a prominent attorney and businessman in Brevard for many years.

On June 16, 1897 Gash married Elise Walker, a widow from Georgetown, South Carolina.  The couple built a home on Gaston Street in Brevard where they lived with Mrs. Gash’s two daughters.

The W.A. and Eliza Gash House once stood on S. Gaston St. across from
the Library amphitheater.

The late Victorian style home was distinctive with a tall side gable roof and a recessed Gothic arch surrounding the upper half-story northeast window.  A polygonal tower with pyramidal roof and a wrap porch with chamfered posts and delicate sawn brackets adorned the front.

Waightstill and Eliza Gash died within four months of each other in 1906.  Mrs. Gash’s daughters owned the home until 1920 when they sold it to the editor of the Brevard News.  It was later owned by the Wauchope family for many years.

The house was located next door to Brevard’s upper grades elementary school which opened in 1948.  That building is today the Community Services building which serves numerous county offices, including Cooperative Extension, the Health Department, Building and Permitting and the Planning Department.

There were a handful of houses, similar in style and size built along South Gaston Street from Jordan to Maple between 1900 and 1940.   The Waters House, located across from the Baptist church, was also late Victorian with some Queen Anne style details.  Another large two-story home, on the corner of Gaston and Jordan, served as the Moore Funeral Home from the 1938 until 1978.

The only one of these houses that remains is a bungalow, built in the late 1930s, on the corner of Gaston and Maple.  It currently serves as the Transylvania County Family Resource Center.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.

History and Architecture of J.R. Zachary House

As the population of Brevard grew in the early 1900s the town expanded beyond the original 50 acres bordered by Probart, Morgan, Rice and England streets.  A 1910 survey by A.L. Hardin shows the town limits as a circle one half mile from the courthouse. 

Newspapers articles in the Sylvan Valley News tell of numerous new streets being laid out and the expansion of town water lines.  Several accounts mention the home of J.R. Zachary on Maple Street.  In early 1908 new streets were built through Zachary’s property.  One running from Broad to Maple was named Zachary Avenue.  This appears to be present day Miner Street.

John Zachary was a descendant of the large Zachary family that had settled in the Cashier’s area of Jackson County.  Numerous members of the family would move to Transylvania County and Brevard over the years.  John was a lumber and wood dealer.  He and his wife, Ophelia built a two-story frame house with elements of late Victorian, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Craftsman style architecture.  The exterior featured multiple gables with many decorative details.  The interior of the ten-room home contained detailed woodwork including an open-string stair with turned balusters, a molded handrail and ornately carved square newel with an urn finial.

After John Zachary’s death in 1921, his brother Ralph purchased the home.  Ralph and Carrie Zachary made many improvements to the house and surrounding property.  The old porch was removed and a wide, wraparound porch and extending porte cochere was added. 

This 1990 photograph of the Zachary House from the Transylvania County
architectural survey shows the once majestic home in its declining years.

Ralph Zachary was active in business and politics.  He served in the State Legislature and later on the Board of Alderman for the Town of Brevard.  He died in 1928. 

Mrs. Zachary rented rooms to summer visitors and later divided the home into apartments.  She sold the home to her son John in 1940 but continued to live there until her death in 1949.  John Zachary sold the property to Frank and Claire Bridges in 1956.

The house, which was located at the intersection of present day Maple and Turnpike, had not been lived in for several decades before it was pulled down a few years ago.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.

Brevard Artist Home on Probart St. Built in 1910

It has been nearly 30 years since an architectural survey of Transylvania County was conducted.  Structures had to retain their architectural and historical integrity and have been constructed prior to 1941 to qualify for inclusion in the survey.

Almost all of the 250 plus homes within the City of Brevard that were surveyed for the project were built after 1900, with the majority being constructed prior to the economic collapse of the late 1920s and the Great Depression that followed. 

Stories of some Brevard’s once stately homes will be featured in occasional upcoming “Picturing the Past” articles.

Miss Annie Colcock of Yemassee, SC was an author and artist.  She wrote short stories published in magazines and at least one “summer romance” novel.  She studied art under William Chase in the U.S. and abroad.  Her work was exhibited in a number of large galleries.

An addition on the northeast side of the house comprised of  the dining room
on the main level and a bedroom above was constructed within the first
20 years of the house's existence.

After visiting Brevard on several occasion during the early 1900s, Miss Colcock purchased five acres on the west end of Probart St. in 1909.  Her two-story Dutch Colonial style cottage was constructed by Felix Norton.  A large cut granite fireplace had “Gladsheim” etched in the center stone.  Announcements in the Sylvan Valley News refer to Miss Colcock’s home by that name and state that she first moved into the residence for the summer season in 1910.

She also had an art studio on the property, where she taught classes.  In 1919 it was reported that she would exhibit her own paintings in her studio and open it to the public on Wednesday mornings.

Annie Toomis Colcock died in South Carolina on August 3, 1923.  Her only immediate surviving family was her mother.  Mrs. Colcock sold the property to Judson and Dora McCrary in May 1925.  A few days later they resold it to Mildred Austin.

William and Mildred Austin, along with their two small children and Mildred’s father had moved to Brevard to open a photography studio a few months earlier.  Within a few years two more daughters joined the family that would reside in the home for over 90 years until selling it in 2018.  The old home has since been torn down.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs. For more information, comments, or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-1820.