Rotary Created Brevard Version of Monopoly

The popular board game Monopoly dates back to the early 1900s.  The main objective of the game is to purchase property and become rich, ultimately bankrupting other players.   The game board is made up of nine spaces on each side, plus the four corner spaces.  The spaces represent properties that players can purchase as well as spaces offering advantages and disadvantages.  The game, which is known world-wide, has hundreds of different editions and spin-offs.

Brevardopoly board, 1985

Opoly fundraisers offer a way to design and customize the board to individual towns, universities, groups, and organizations.  In the town-opoly versions funds are raised through selling board properties to local businesses or organizations for advertisement and by selling the game itself.

In 1985 the Rotary Club developed a Brevardopoly version of the game.  Properties were owned by local stores, real estate companies, restaurants, and other businesses and organizations. While many of them are no longer in business, there are several including Harris Ace Hardware, Eldridge Motors, Smith Systems, and Love’s Jewelry & Gifts that are still operating more than 30 years later.  Belk had the honored space of Boardwalk and the Olin Corp. was on GO where players collect $200 each time they pass.

Examples of Chance and Brevard Chamber of Commerce
cards from the game.

Spaces traditionally used by railroads were sponsored by local banks—First State Savings & Loan, Brevard Federal Savings & Loan, First Citizens Bank, and First Union National Bank.

The game also includes the traditional Chance and Community Chest cards that offer players bonuses such as Bank Pays You Dividend of $50 or $75 from the Chamber of Commerce.  Other cards demand payment of $15 to Brevard for Poor Tax or $100 to the Hospital.  And of course, there are the traditional “Go Directly to Brevard Jail” and “Get Out of Jail Free” cards.  The Brevardopoly version refers to the Community Chest cards as Brevard Chamber of Commerce cards.

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.

Weather Records Reveal Number of Snowy Christmases

The State Climate Office of North Carolina has operated through the University of North Carolina system for over 40 years.  Since 1980 it has been under the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at NC State University. 

Digging out near the Clayton Hotel on Main and Caldwell streets, late 1920s.

Their website, climate.ncsu.edu, offers a wide range of information related to our weather.  Many of the records date back to 1870, although for Transylvania County record keeping begin in 1902. 

The Weather Extreme database is searchable by location and date.  It includes high and low temperatures, temperature changes, and warmest and coldest weather station.  It also identifies highest precipitation amounts within a day, a 24-hour period, and within a calendar year, along with wettest and driest weather stations.

Snowy scene from the past on West Main Street, early 1920s.

Lake Towaway is the wettest weather station across the state with 91.72 inches of precipitation annually.  Rosman ranks third with 79.06.  Highlands in Macon is second.  The state record for highest amount of precipitation in one calendar year is held by Rosman with 129.60 inches in 1964.

The recent unexpected snowfall was recorded as 8.5 inches in Pisgah Forest on December 9th which ranked 4th on the state-wide greatest amount of snowfall for that day over all years.  It should be noted that information for 2017 was only available through December 9 at the time this article was written.

The top five one-day snowfall events for Transylvania County since 1902 are 17 inches in Brevard on December 3, 1971; 16 inches in Rosman on March 3, 1942; 15 inches at Lake Toxaway on December 4, 1971; 14.7 inches at Lake Toxaway on January 22, 2016; and 14 inches in Rosman on January 8, 1988.

The website also contains a White Christmas section that shows the probability of snow on Christmas Day by weather station.  Over 104 years of records Brevard has had a snowy Christmas just 7 times, Rosman recorded 6 snowy Christmases in 80 years, and Lake Toxaway 5 in 61 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.

Library Has Christmas Card Collection

The first Christmas card was created by Sir Henry Cole in England in 1843.  Cole was looking for an efficient way to respond to hundreds of Christmas letters.  He asked artist John Horsley to design a card containing three panels and a simple message. The outer panels pictured people caring for the poor, while the center panel showed a family Christmas celebration.  He had a thousand copies printed.

Cole’s peers liked the idea and soon began having their own Christmas cards designed and printed.  The idea spread and anyone with the funds could purchase a Christmas card for a shilling each.   

Christmas cards were first sold in the United States in 1875 by lithographer Louis Prang.  Prang used chromolithography—color printing.  The cards featured animals and nature scenes and a simple message.  Within a few years Prang was selling 5 million cards a year. 

The popularity of Christmas card brought about competition in the industry.  Cash prizes were offered for the best design.  In the late 1800s elaborate Victorian style cards with snow-scenes were the most desired.  Around 1900 holiday postcards, which were less expensive to produce and mail, came into style. 

This Christmas postcard was sent to Miss Hattie Aiken
in Mt. Airy, NC on December 24, 1931.

The Transylvania County Library has a number of holiday postcards.  Most of these came from the collection of Hattie Aiken.  Born in 1886, Hattie Aiken grew up in the East Main St. home of her parents William and Mary Lankford Aiken.  After teaching at Brevard Institute for a few years, she taught at schools in Wilkes and Surry counties for 29 years.  Upon retirement Miss Hattie returned to the family home in Brevard and operated it as a boarding house for many years.  Legible postmarks on the cards dated them from 1908-1935.  Miss Hattie passed away at the age of 96 on Christmas Day, 1982. 

A cousin from Candler, NC mailed this Christmas postcard
to Miss Jerdie Pressley on December 23, 1910.

There are also a small number of Christmas postcards sent to Miss Jerdie Pressley of Glenville, NC in Jackson County.  Jerdie Pressley was born in 1898 and married H. Jasper Wilson on August 19, 1917.  The postcards are all addressed to Jerdie Pressley, with the earliest postmarked 1910.

The library's postcard collection is available for browsing in the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room on the second floor.

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 828-884-3151 X242.

Growing, Decorating Christmas Trees Provided Cash, Fun

Checking the tree crop on a Balsam Grove farm in 1961.

The modern Christmas tree, which found its way to the United States with German immigrants in the early 1800s, dates from 16^th century Germany. 

By 1900, one in five American families decorated trees during Christmas.  An article on the front page of the December 1, 1905 Sylvan Valley News advises setting the tree in place the day before it is to be used.  Strings of popcorn and popcorn balls should also be prepared a day ahead as well.  On the day of the Christmas party everyone joined in to put on decorations including tiny twinkling bells, golden stars, shiny tinsel, and gleaming candles. 

Beginning in 1906 Joseph and Elizabeth Silversteen held an annual Open House at their Rosman house for the community.  A description on the 1908 event states, “The tree was beautifully trimmed and the yard under the tree was larger than ever before, and contained tiny toy fowls and animals which greatly pleased the children.  The little green and red picket fence surrounding it, gave a touch of completeness to the whole.  All the children and old people received oranges and Christmas stockings filled with candy and Mr. Aiken very kindly entertained the callers with his excellent phonograph.”

This undated photo shows children at a Baptist church Christmas program.
Contact the Local History Room staff at the Library if you can identify
any of the children.

The first mention of a community Christmas tree in Brevard was for the evening of December 24, 1907 at the court house. 

Many of the local churches and schools also had a Christmas tree and entertainment for children and the communities they served.  The presentations typically included readings, songs, plays, and a visit from Santa Claus who brought children a small treat bag, as well. 

Brevard High School Christmas Pageant, 1955.

C.M. Siniard was one of the first to make a profit from the growing popularity of Christmas trees.  In 1912 he advertised, “Holly Christmas trees and trimmings delivered to any part of town.  Rates reasonable.” 

The Christmas tree industry grew quickly until nearly every family had one by 1930.  By the mid-1900s Christmas trees had become a cash crop in the mountains of Western North Carolina. 

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.

Christmas parades are Local Traditions

Santa arrives downtown at 6:30 pm on Friday, December 1, 1950
on a Brevard fire truck.

Community-wide holiday festivities have long been an important part of small town traditions.  In Transylvania County both Brevard and Rosman light up their main streets and hold an annual parade with floats, marching bands, and the arrival of Santa Claus.

In Brevard Christmas parades became a part of the holiday season following WWII.  In 1947 the Ecusta Band escorted Santa as he rode in on the new fire truck to open the festivities.  He greeted children, receive their wish lists, and gave out candy.   Christmas carols were enjoyed and stores stayed open late for shoppers.  This was the practice for the next four years.  

Floats were added to create a full-scale Christmas parade in 1952.  The first floats were on large flat-bed trailers that were elaborately decorated.  

With the addition of floats in 1952 Santa's reindeer and sleigh
made their debut in the Brevard Christmas parade.

The Community Development Clubs from eight Community Centers in the county constructed this float for the 1962 parade.  Riding on it were young ladies from each community including Mary Owen--Balsam Grove,
Evelyn Barton--Cathey's Creek, Barbara Jane Foote--Cedar Mountain, Gaye Whitmire--Dunn's Rock,
Virginia Powell--Eastatoe, Martha Sue Mackey--Little River, Paulette Farmer--Pisgah Forest, and Sandra Smith--Sapphire.

Following a short gap when it appears there was not a Christmas parade in Brevard the current run of annual Christmas parades sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, local merchants, and later the Heart of Brevard, began in 1971.

The first Twilight Tour featuring carolers, musicians, carriage rides, a visit from Santa, and special sales at downtown stores was organized in 1987.  Twilight Tour grew quickly and in 1990 the annual Christmas Parade and Twilight Tour were combined.

Rosman’s annual Christmas parade dates back to at least the mid-1960s.

This 1970 Cathey's Creek Community Center float was in the Rosman parade.

If you have photographs from past parades in Brevard or Rosman, particularly of floats, that you would be willing to share please contact the Local History Room at the Library.  We can scan your photos and return them to you. 

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 828-884-3151 X242.

Receipts Reveal Some Basic Costs From Years Ago

This Brevard Institute receipt shows a breakdown of
possible expenses.

This week Picturing the Past continues to feature items from a collection of County Commissioners documents of the early 1900s by looking at the contents of a few specific items.

A Brevard Institute tuition receipt dated February 28, 1910 shows fees of $30.25 paid in full for a twelve week term for Donnie Mae Wilson.  Brevard Institute offered four years of standard high school work in home economics, agriculture, business, music, college preparatory, and normal education in preparing teachers from about 1900 through 1933.  There is no indication who paid the fees or why this item would be in with Commissioners papers. 

Chain gangs were used for road construction in the early 1900s. 
Presumably the dynamite was used to break up rock
for clearing the roadway.

A March 1, 1915 Brevard Hardware receipt showed that L. Ashworth purchased 100 sticks of dynamite for the county chain gang.  The Annual Statement of Expenditures for Transylvania County in the Sylvan Valley News on December 17, 1915 shows total expenses of $2,572.82 for Chain Gang Claims during the fiscal year ending November 30, 1915 for items such as clothing, equipment, food, camp supplies, animal feed, and a guard. 

On January 4, 1928 F.F. Bagwell received $20.30 for groceries
purchased for the County Home.

There are a number of Brevard Banking vouchers for expenses paid by the county beginning in 1927.  Included are many for supplies for the County Home and assistance to those in need who did not live at the County Home.  The State Board of Public Welfare mandated that “county commissioners have the duty of providing for the poor, either in county homes or in such way, as they deem best.”  Generally this population was made up of the elderly without family support or those with disabilities.

These items offer a look at county government services at different times.

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.

Documents Add to a Family's Story for Genealogists

The Local History Room at the Transylvania County Library has a rather random collection of County Commissioner documents from 1899-1940 that include a variety of papers.  There are bills, certifications, invoices, notices, petitions, receipts, reports, and numerous miscellaneous items.

In 1910 J.J. Miner was the manager of the
"only newspaper in Transylvania County", the Sylvan Valley News.

Most of the information is handwritten on plain writing paper.  However numerous documents are on printed letterhead, stationary, or forms.  These offer information about the agency, business or company.  For example Transylvania County Register of Deeds stationary from 1899 includes the name of W.M. Henry as the Register, a receipt from 1910 W.E. Bishop lists his services as plumbing, sewer building, tin and sheet iron work, products include hardware, stoves, etc. 

A 1910 statement from Dr. A.E. Lyday contains a printed address of Broad Valley, NC but it has been marked out and changed to Penrose. The Broad Valley post office only operated for one year between June 1902 and June 1903 so that indicates he had the statements printed during that time.

Another 1910 invoice for “services as night watchman” has the name of Coleman Galloway and the year of 1906 printed on it.  However the name and date are crossed out.  A.M. Paxton is written above Galloway’s name.  The date range penciled in is February 2, 1910 to March 3, 1910.  Paxton’s fee was $1.00 for the entire month.

The Miller Supply Company had one of the fancier receipt
forms.  It was printed in color and advertised that they
carried The Tubular Cream Separators.

There are numerous receipts from Miller-DeVane Supply.  A search of the Sylvan Valley News indicates J.A. Miller and Frank DeVane were in business by March 1906.  They had a warehouse on N. Caldwell St. and sold everything from metal roofing to lace curtains.  Advertisements list items including barb wire, blankets, and buggy whips.  A Certificate of Dissolution was taken out by Miller in January 1910.  Apparently DeVane was ill and unable to continue in the business.  Miller Supply continued to operate for several more years.

While these items often seem insignificant they can offer an interesting addition to a family’s story for genealogists.

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.

West Main Was Always Prominent

This photograph was likely taken in the mid-1890s.
Alexander England (right) died on March 6, 1896.

The early photograph of Main Street in Brevard looking west toward Bracken Mountain shows wooden storefronts along a wide dirt street.  The three men in the photograph are identified as Jim Paxton, Wait Gash, and Alex England. 

England, L.S. Gash (father of Wait Gash), and B.C. Lankford sold 50 acres to Transylvania County for $1.00 to establish the county seat of Brevard on June 8, 1861.  Because of the Civil War and its aftermath the town was not incorporated until July 1868.  Over the next 20-30 years it grew slowly with the stores and businesses being built near the new brick court house and westward along Main Street.

The large house on the north side of the street, located where the Proper Pot is today, was originally the home of Nathan and Lizzie McMinn.  It also served as one of the early boarding houses in Brevard.   After Nathan McMinn’s death in 1902 his son, Nat owned the property but leased it to various proprietors.  A 1904 notification for a new manager described the house as having 11 bedrooms, bathrooms on both floors, a parlor, an office, and two large sample rooms.  A sample room was a place for traveling salesmen to display their merchandise for local storeowners who may be interested in selling it in their stores.

In 1907 Nat McMinn sold the house to his brother, John who also owned the Aethelwold Hotel just down the street.  Advertisements for the McMinn House and announcements of guest staying there are plentiful through 1910.  In early December 1910 several different groups held oyster or chicken suppers at the McMinn House.

However, a November 10, 1910 announcement in the Sylvan Valley News stated that J.M. Kilpatrick would soon tear down the old McMinn House.  By late December all that remained was the lumber which the Shipman, McMinn, Weilt Company used to build three cottages.  The group built a new three-story brick building on the site of the former McMinn House.

Don Voltz's photograph shows West Main Street with its
early 20th century brick buildings as it looks today.

Downtown Brevard was booming and large brick structures were replacing the smaller wooden storefronts and old homes along Main Street.

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.

Booming Rosman Required New High School

During the first two decades of the 20th century the community of Rosman experienced rapid development with the extension of the railroad from Brevard and the growth of Silversteen’s tanning and logging industries.  Other businesses in the town included a bank; a hotel; a movie house; general, grocery, drug, furniture, and feed stores; and a couple of barber shops.

Rosman's first brick school house (right) was built as a high school in 1921.
It served as the grade school after the new high school (left)
was built a few years later.

This resulted in a population boom in Rosman and the surrounding area.  Although a multi-room school had been built in 1908 and the tenth grade was added in 1913 there was a growing need for separate high school in the community as enrollment hit record numbers.   Still it was not until 1921 that the Board of Education ran a notice to contractors “for the construction of a two-story brick schoolhouse with all modern conveniences in Rosman.” 

On March 15, 1921 the people of Rosman overwhelming voted in favor of a $15,000 bond to supplement $10,000 already voted for to build and equip a new high school.  J.M. Kilpatrick was awarded the contract and construction was to be completed by December 31.  Insurance documents describe the building as a 4300 square foot, two-story brick building with a basement.

The first day of school in the new building was January 30, 1922.  A February 17, 1922 Brevard News article announced, “The new building is comfortable and surroundings pleasant, but every room is filled almost to capacity on the first day.”

Spike Dumville's photograph shows Rosman High & Middle Schools
at the same location today.

Just four years later, Hendersonville architect Erle Stillwell was commissioned to design a new high school for the town.  The building was a typical symmetrical two-story brick building with a one-story auditorium centered on the back side.  Six wooden pilasters gave the front a classical appearance.  It was 13,000 square feet and served as Rosman’s high school through May 1975.

The earlier high school became the elementary school in 1927.  In 1948 Stillwell designed alterations and an addition to the building.  It was used as the elementary school through May 1975 and then for an additional year as the high school while the current high school was constructed.

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.

Pisgah Fish Camp Approaching 50 Years

For nearly 50 years Pisgah Fish Camp has served residents and visitors alike.  In 1968 Dan Hawkins opened the Brevard Fish Camp in the former Club House of the Brevard Country Club on Country Club Rd.  While fish camp restaurants were plentiful throughout the coastal and Piedmont areas of North Carolina Hawkins’ restaurant was the first of this type in the mountains.

Fish camp restaurants were designed to serve fish and seafood at reasonable prices.  The Brevard Fish Camp offered catfish, flounder, ocean perch, shrimp, oysters, and crab; plus hamburgers, hamburger steak, and fried chicken.  The most expensive meals on the menu were either a seafood platter of oysters, flounder, and shrimp or a dozen fried oysters for $3.25.  Both were served with sides of coleslaw, french fries, and hushpuppies.  The only other side available was onion rings for fifty cents.

The Yesterday photo of the former Pisgah Fish Camp
was provided by Dana Hawkins.

Within a year Hawkins decided to relocate the restaurant.  He leased a building at the intersection of highways 64, 276, and 280 near the entrance to the Pisgah National Forest.  At the time there was very little that far out of town.  Renamed the Pisgah Fish Camp, the restaurant offered inexpensive food that wasn’t available elsewhere in a relaxed family-friendly atmosphere where the customers and staff knew each other well.  Locals were more than willing to drive the short distance from town and folks regularly came from surrounding counties.  The restaurant also delivered to workers at Ecusta.

On August 7, 1977 a middle of the night fire did extensive damage to the interior of the restaurant.  The structure remained intact though and with the help of the community and friends the Pisgah Fish Camp was able to reopen in less than two weeks. 

The mountain in the background of Don Voltz's (above)
and Chuck Gilmore's (below) photographs line up with the mountain
in the early photo to show the location as Pizza Hut today.

Over the years Hawkins owned a total of six different restaurants from Buncombe County to Greenville, SC.  It was a family run business.  Dan’s wife, Fran and their children all worked at the restaurants as well.  After the fire in 1977 Dana Hawkins took over as manager of the Pisgah Forest location.

In 1991 Hawkins bought property a few hundred yard to the east along Hwy. 64, remodeled an old auto repair shop, and moved to the Pisgah Fish Camp’s present location.   On November 16, 1991 the Brevard Fire Department conducted practice burn on the former building and other nearby stores in advance of construction for Forest Gate Shopping 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.

Franklin Park Was Once a Lake By a Hotel

The Franklin Hotel, built by J. Frances Hays around 1900 on East Main St., was surrounded by an expansive lawn, acres of trees, and a small lake.  In 1909 Hays sold the hotel and 80 acres to the Franklin Park Improvement Company for $35,000.

This early photograph of Franklin Lake way
likely taken while Hay still owned the
Franklin Hotel, circa 1900-1909.

A survey prepared by A. L. Harden and R. C. Bailey at the time shows details of the proposed neighborhood from E. Main Street to King Creek and Rice Street to Park Street.  Included within the area are Lakeview Ave., Hilt St., Robinson Ave., and Cascade Ave., which is East French Broad Street today.  At its center is a four acre park with a two acre lake.  The dam for the lake runs across the east end of the park.  There are 89 lots of varying sizes identified on the survey. 

However the project did not appear to be very successful as only a few homes were built at the time.  A comment in the May 24, 1912 Sylvan Valley News stated, “The bed of what used to be the Franklin lake is now a blot on a bit of landscape otherwise very attractive.  The ground is seamed and cracked in an unsightly way, and near the broken dam a good deal of water has accumulated to stagnate, have a bad appearance, and more unsanitary than the lake itself.”  Over the next several years sale notices for the property regularly ran in the newspaper.

In April 1922 it was announced that C. C. Yongue would purchase the property and restore the lake.  By the end of June work was completed.  Yongue advertised, “Spend the Fourth at Franklin Lake and Park.”  It offered picnic tables and benches, private dressing rooms and lockers, a new confectionary store and rest room, and ample parking.  The two-acre lake was up to 20 feet deep, featured a 100 foot long sandy beach and a 100 square foot enclosed space for small children.

The venture again ran into trouble, taxes went unpaid, and by the Great Depression the lake was gone.  In late 1933 Brevard Building and Loan in conjunction with the town and county undertook creating a park with a swimming pool, tennis courts, and playground facilities.  Funding originally came through the Civil Works Administration with R.P. Kilpatrick as the construction manager.  Later it was transferred to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and a new construction manager, Ernest Miller, was named. 

The pool was 45 feet wide and 105 feet long with a depth ranging from three-and-one-half feet to nine-and-one-half feet.  The Town of Brevard hired Coach Ernest Tilson to operate the pool which opened on June 28, 1934.  Over the next several weeks the bath house was completed, lights were added, and work continued on the surrounding park.

Sadly on July 18 before the entire project was completed, 39-year-old construction manager Ernest Miller collapsed and died of an apparent stroke while on the job.

Chuck Gilmore's Today photograph was taken
looking across the pool nearly straight toward
where the dam was located.

Don Voltz took his Today photograph beyond the pool
and included the Girl Scout House on the right.

Today Franklin Park covers 4.4 acres at the location of the former park and lake.  Participants in the “Yesterday’s Places Today” contest took their photographs from several different locations and angles on the property.  All entries will be on display on the 2^nd floor at the Library throughout the week.

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.

Taking a look at "Yesterday's Places Today"

This early photograph of the Clayton Hotel was use for the
"Yesterday's Places Today" photography contest.

Over the course of the next five weeks Picturing the Past will feature the five photographs used in the “Yesterday’s Places Today” photography contest sponsored by the Local History Room at the Transylvania County Library and the Land of Waterfalls Camera Club.  Each week will focus on one of the original photographs including some background information and share one or more of the entries of the location as it looks today.

Shortly after marrying Belle Wood in 1894, Joe Clayton built the Clayton House Hotel on the corner of Main and Caldwell streets.  At that time Caldwell Street was the main north-south route through Brevard.  Clayton had a general mercantile on the first floor and rooms to rent on the second floor.  He also operated a livery which delivered businessmen and tourists arriving at the nearby depot right to his doorstep.

Belle Clayton and later the Clayton’s eldest daughter, Jackie, ran the hotel/boarding house. The lobby and dining room for guests, as well as the kitchen were located on the first floor on the west side of the building, opening on to a spacious lawn and garden.  Originally the building had a second floor porch across the front and down both long sides, allowing the Clayton family and their guests a place to enjoy the cool summer evenings.  The third floor, with the mansard roof, was added in the spring of 1906.

Josephine Clayton recalled that the family had rooms on the second floor, including a parlor and four bedrooms.  Josephine, born in 1910, was the ninth of eleven children, eight of which survived to adulthood.  More stories about the close knit Clayton family can be found in “Clayton Family Memories” by Josephine Clayton, Jocelyn Clayton, Rob Tolleson, and Jocelyn Clayton Tolleson.

Photographer Ken Williams' view of the corner where the Clayton Hotel
stood for about 50 years was selected as the best overall "Today"
shot of the site.

In later years a millinery shop and feed store replaced Joe Clayton’s general store.   Later still a jewelry and watch repair shop, part of Wheeler’s Hosiery operation, and Carl McCrary’s auto parts shop were located in the space.  Tankersley’s Floral Shop also got its start in the old Clayton Hotel.

An article in the November 3, 1949 Transylvania Times stated that the Clayton Hotel was being razed and a modern two-story building was planned in the future.  That building was never constructed.  For many years the Brevard Monument Company was located on the corner though.

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.

Directories Provided a Wealth of Information

Old business and city directories provide a wealth of material for historical researchers and genealogists.  They offer a snapshot of neighborhoods and the larger community as a whole.

In the mid-to-late 1800s Levi Branson compiled and published Branson’s North Carolina Business Directory.  Each volume contains facts, figures, names, and locations of businesses throughout the state.  There are illustrated advertisements from many of the more prominent businesses of the period. In addition they contain an array of statistical information.

For family and local researchers the value is in the details provided at the county level.  Included are county and city officials; colleges and schools; churches, pastors, and ministers; hotels and boarding houses with proprietors; farmers, lawyers, merchants, mechanics, physicians, and teachers; manufacturers, mills, and mines with owners; newspapers; and post offices with post masters. 

Branson’s 1867 directory lists four Transylvania County physicians—Brooks, Harris, Jones, and Lyday and two lawyers—Duckworth and Whitmore.  The 1890 directory lists the three largest communities by population in the county as Brevard (350), Calhoun (215), and Cherryfield (129).

Hill's Brevard City Directory, 1962.

City directories offer similar details for citizens.  They contain names listed alphabetically, as well as by street address.  Generally the head of household, address, occupation, the wife’s name, name of the deceased husband if widowed, and business partners’ names are stated.  City directories typically include government officials at all levels, information on schools, societies, churches, post offices, and various other data of local interest.

Only one city directory for the Town of Brevard was ever compiled.  Published in 1962, it includes the areas of Forest Hills, Fortune Cove, North Brevard, and Pisgah Forest but does not cover the entire county.  It is made up of five parts—advertisements, a business directory, an alphabetical listing of citizens and businesses, followed by the same listed by street address, and a telephone directory in numerical order. 

This Know Your Directory tip explains, "The wife is listed with her husband,
and also is listed separately if steadily employed."

There are also four pages of statistical and historical information with facts such as, “Total street mileage 15, with 12 miles paved and .5 miles under construction.  Miles of sewers (storm and sanitary) 15.  Number of water meters 1,450.”

While content varies in both business and city directories depending on the time and place covered, both can provide the next step in leading genealogists and researchers to more of the story.  Many historical directories are available online through DigitalNC, the Digital Public Library of America, and Ancestry.

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.

Stillwell Designed Several County Schools

Architect Erle Stillwell designed his first school while he was partners with Hans C. Meyer.  The drawings for the classroom building at Blue Ridge School for Boys in Hendersonville are dated February 1914.  After Meyer left Henderson County Stillwell continued to do work for that school and others.  He designed all of the Henderson County public schools from the 1920s through 1950s. 

When Henderson County built several schools in the 1960s they were designed by Six Associates, the Asheville architectural firm of which Stillwell was a founding partner.  In addition Stillwell designed buildings for several private schools in Henderson and Buncombe counties.  Stillwell himself, and later Six Associates, also did a large amount of work for Western Carolina Teacher's College.

Six wooden pilasters gave the front of Rosman High School a classical appearance.

The first Transylvania County school Stillwell designed was Rosman High School in 1926.  The design was for a typical symmetrical two-story brick classroom building with a one-story auditorium at the back.  The building was used until the mid-1970s.  When the current elementary school opened in 1975 the high school moved into the former elementary building while the present day high school was being constructed on the site of the 1926 building.

In 1940 Stillwell designed the Pisgah Forest Elementary School, today the Davidson River School.  Although the school is very traditional in style it does have a unique feature in the Aztec-Deco entrance.  The exterior of the building is uncoursed cut-stone. 

Pisgah Forest Elementary School (top), December 1940 and
Rosenwald School (bottom), August 1946 used the same basic drawings.
However Rosenwald School, today the Morris Education Center, has
a traditional entrance.

During WWII Stillwell and five others joined together to create the Six Associates architectural firm in order to compete for government defense contracts.  They went on to be one of the most successful architectural agencies in North Carolina.

As a Six Associates partner, Stillwell designed Rosman Elementary School in April 1948 and North Brevard and Lake Toxaway elementary schools in December 1950.  North Brevard, later named Straus Elementary, is today part of Blue Ridge Community College.  Lake Toxaway Elementary was named for longtime educator and school superintendent, T.C. Henderson.  The two original schools were identical.

Erle Stillwell had a long and productive career in private practice and in partnership with Six Associates.  Several of the buildings he designed remain a piece of Transylvania County's architectural history today.

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.

Erle Stillwell Designed Local Movie Theaters

Erle Stillwell built a successful architectural design agency in the early 1900s.  However, like the businessmen he designed homes and businesses for Stillwell struggled to stay in business following the stock market crash and throughout the Great Depression.

These two similar shots show the Clemson and Co-Ed theaters 50 years apart.
Top photo--1941.  Bottom photo--1991

Stillwell had designed Hendersonville’s Rex Theater in 1924 and he did the redesign work when it burned in 1932.  Through this work he met Robert Wilby and Mike Kincey who managed most of Paramount’s southeastern movie theaters.   This relationship would lead to work for additional theaters in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.  Most of his theater designs featured Art Deco facades, a few were Streamline Moderne, but all were uniquely Stillwell’s.

Although designs for Brevard’s Co-Ed Theater are not included in the Henderson County Library collection an article in the December 8, 1938 Transylvania Times identifies Stillwell as the architect.  The theater design featured 500 seats, plus a semi-balcony for groups or private parties.  In addition there was a “cry room” where mothers could take disruptive children and continue to watch the movie.  The Co-Ed featured an Art Deco sunburst front.

Undated drawings by Henry Gaines, one of Stillwell’s partners with Six Associates, in the Pack Library collection in Asheville appear to be for renovations to Brevard’s Clemson Theater.  A June 29, 1939 Transylvania Times article covers the opening of the new Co-Ed and improvements to the Clemson.

A few years later, after new owners took over the Brevard theaters, Stillwell was hired to redesign the Clemson and Co-Ed into one large theater.  A picture of his drawing for the building’s exterior was found in the August 22, 1946 Transylvania Times.  This work was never undertaken though.

Stillwell was able to keep and expand his business during and after the Depression by designing over 50 theaters in the 1930s and 1940s.  He also got work through Roosevelt’s New Deal projects for government buildings and schools.  Next week's Picturing the Past will take a final look at Stillwell’s work through the local schools he designed.

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.

Stillwell Designed Large Commercial Buildings

Last week Picturing the Past featured the Brevard homes designed by Hendersonville architect Erle Stillwell in the early and mid-1900s.  Stillwell also designed a large number of commercial buildings in Western North Carolina.  In Transylvania County this included Brevard Banking, Emma Bagwell's Store, the Silversteen-Ashworth Building, and the Misses Shipman's Inn.

On March 16, 1925 Brevard Banking opened in their new building on the corner of Main and Caldwell streets where Miss Emma Bagwell had previously had a grocery and general merchandise store.  William Mitchell's description in Buildings as History:  The Architecture of Erle Stillwell states, "It is built of brick with some fine neoclassical stonework, making its simple facade one the Stillwell's most elegant."  Stillwell's drawings, preserved at the Henderson County Library, include 24 sheets of working drawings, 3 blueprints and a section of specifications for fixtures and furnishings.

A July 4, 1924 Brevard News article stated that work had begun on Miss Emma Bagwell's store on Caldwell Street directly behind Brevard Banking.  Stillwell also design this building.

Brevard Banking and Bagwell's Store were Transylvania Trust and Peoples Market in the 1940s.

Another set of Stillwell preliminary and working drawings are for the Silversteen and Ashworth Building on the "corner of Main and Depot Streets" in Brevard.  These two Brevard streets do not intersect, however research in the Brevard News indicates that Silversteen and Ashworth owned two lots on the northeast corner of Main and Caldwell streets.  They intended to build there but never did.  Presumably these drawings were for that building.  By 1927 they had sold the property where Rice Furniture is located today.

A set of 13 drawings dated August 1930 show a large brick Colonial Revival house with oversized common rooms and 16 bedrooms.  Annie and Rose Shipman, sisters of Thomas Shipman, intended to operate it as a boarding house.  They never built the inn but operated the Walnut Inn and later the Franklin Hotel for many years.

Thomas Shipman and Randall Everett, who both lived in Stillwell designed homes, as well as Joseph Silversteen and W.S. Ashworth were members of the Board of Directors for Brevard Banking.  At one time Annie Shipman also worked as a cashier for the bank.

During the 1920s this group of Brevard businessmen and women provided Stillwell with a large amount of business.  Although the stock market crash and Great Depression were difficult for Stillwell it also led to a new opportunities.  During the next two weeks Transylvania County buildings designed by Stillwell and his associates will be featured.

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.

Stillwell Designed Many Older Homes

Erle Stillwell moved to Hendersonville as a young man in the early 1900s.  In January 1904 he invested in property near Laurel Park.  Over the next few years he studied architecture at Cornell University and travelled throughout Europe.  By 1913 Stillwell had returned to Hendersonville and begun his long career in architecture.

Stillwell went on to design many large fashionable homes in Henderson, Buncombe, Polk, and Transylvania counties.   He built his reputation on adapting the Tudor, Colonial, Georgian, and Neoclassical revival styles popular in the early 20^th century.  Stillwell was known for high quality work in both design and building construction.

Thomas Shipman's house was located
where Shepard Square condominiums are today.

A number of Stillwell’s architectural drawings from 1913 through the mid-1950s are preserved at the Henderson County Library.  William Mitchell’s book, “Building as History:  The Architecture of Erle Stillwell” is a catalogue of those drawings.  It includes the Brevard homes of Thomas Shipman, Randall Everett, and Don Jenkins.

Thomas Shipman got his start as a teacher and was a manager with the Toxaway Company but was best known as a banker.  He worked his way from cashier to president of Brevard Banking.  Mitchell identifies the Shipman House drawings as among Stillwell’s earliest work.  A Sylvan Valley News real estate advertisement from March 1912 identifies it on S. Broad St. (now Country Club Rd.) and lists Shipman’s Main St. home for sale.

The home of Randall Everett was located on the northwest corner of
S. Broad and Morgan streets where First Citizen's Bank is today.

The drawings and blueprints for Randall Everett’s home are dated July 1924.  Mitchell states the “floor plan was typically symmetrical, with a central stair hall, living room on one side, and dining room and kitchen on the other.”  Everett was a businessman, who also owned and operated Everett Farm from 1917-1930.  He served as director of Brevard Banking and later the Federal Savings and Loan.

The eight working drawings of Don Jenkins’ home on Maple St. were probably drawn by William O’Cain who worked for Stillwell.  The exterior of Jenkins’ home is typical brick ranch style but Mitchell describes the interior as “stunning finish is work—paneling of vertical maple board with over-scaled maple crown moldings.”  The drawings are dated January 1949.  It is the only of one of these homes that is still standing.

In addition to houses, Stillwell designed many commercial buildings during this time.  Drawings for two downtown Brevard businesses are included in the collection.  Next week’s Picturing the Past will continue with Stillwell’s story by featuring these buildings.

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