Buncombe Construction Co Inc history

Recognizing the importance of access, in 1819 North Carolina created a Board of Internal Improvements responsible for infrastructure throughout the state.

Primarily concerned with transportation, the Board incorporated The Buncombe County Turnpike Company in 1824.

The Buncombe Turnpike was completed in 1827 connecting Tennessee and Kentucky to South Carolina.

Under the direction of several prominent Buncombe citizens, the Turnpike was completed in 1828.

1848 — Slave sales were recorded in the Buncombe County Court House as property deeds.

1860 — The decennial census called the “slave schedules” puts Buncombe County’s African American population at 1,103 as “Slave Inhabitants.”

Buncombe County schools educated even more prominent African American scholars at eleven historically black colleges and universities, including the oldest in the South, Shaw University, founded in 1865 at the end of the Civil War.

Economic salvation for Buncombe County arrived on October 3, 1880 when the first train pulled into Asheville.

Buncombe County eventually purchased the bridge and replaced it with one made if iron in 1881.

1884 — Calvary Parochial School was established in Asheville, by Rev.

According to lore, the lack of educational facilities for Negroes “became a burden on the hearts of the Peases,” and at their expense, the school opened October 31, 1887, with an enrollment of three people.

1888 — Asheville’s Colored Enterprise newspaper was founded by Thomas Leatherwood.

In 1889, Vanderbilt bought the city of Best near Asheville, renamed it Biltmore Village, and began plans to build a southern country home on the 125,000-acre property.

By 1890, the climate and countryside of Ashville attracted 30,000 seasonal residents every year, so several resorts and therapeutic lodges were built across the region.

E. W. Pearson was a Buffalo Soldier until 1893.

Several world-renowned architects such as Richard M. Hunt and Frederick L. Olmstead were hired to plan the house blueprints and surrounding landscape, and the family celebrated their move-in of the 255-room house on Christmas Eve 1895.

On that site in 1897, Francis Louise Goodrich established a craft cooperative that took the name of the drover’s inn.

In February 1906 the Buncombe County School board purchased a one-acre lot near the Shiloh Church; it then bought a nearby schoolhouse and moved it to the new Shiloh community near Biltmore.

1910 — Doctor William Green Torrence opened the first black hospital.

In 1913 E.W. Pearson establishes the Burton Street Community in West Asheville.

In return for her loyalty and service to his family, Nicholas Woodfin gave Tempe several lots in Montford, which she passed on to her descendants when she died in 1917.

By 1920, Buncombe County was firmly established as a transportation, manufacturing, forestry, agricultural, educational, medical and tourist center.

1921 — Phyllis Wheatley YWCA opened for African American women on College Street.

After school attendance continually decreased because of the uninhabitable conditions of the school, the board agreed in 1927-28 to build a replacement school using Rosewald Funds.

1931 — Lee Otus Miller, MD, an African American physician in Asheville, developed a method for treating high blood pressure.

On September 28, 1936, the Franciscan Sisters of St Francis of Allegany opened the doors of St Anthony of Padua School in Asheville.

1937 — Asheland Avenue School was opened for black students.

Doctor Mary Francis Shuford then established a clinic for African-Americans that, in 1943, grew into the Asheville Colored Hospital.

By 1950, the school grew to 21,121 square feet, educating more than 871 students from Shiloh and area communities.

1978 — Otis B. Michael, MD, born in Asheville, NC, was elected to Asheville City Council.

The Mace family of western North Carolina became famous for their comfortable chairs, called “settin’ cheers.” Beginning after the Civil War, several generations of Maces […]Asheville Citizen-Times Publishing Co., 1981 Recipient of the Mountain Heritage Award 1981.

29/1988 Western Carolina University presented its 1988 Mountain Heritage Award to Mars Hill College for the […]

“State Road SC-Buncombe Turnpike NC and the Henderson County old US 25 link” byArthur Hale; Scott Withrow; and Garland Goodwin, 2003.

In November 2005, Bellamy became the youngest mayor in North Carolina at the age of 33, and the first African-American mayor of Asheville.

Mountain Heritage Awards presented to master fiddler Arvil Freeman and, the Cherokee dance group “The Warrorios of Ani-Kituhwa” 10/1/2007 Western Carolina University presented its […]

“Asheville History.” Explore Asheville Website. http://www.exploreasheville.com/local-info/history/index.aspx, (accessed July 28, 2011).