Asheville, North Carolina

===1880s===
[[File:View of Buck Hotel Asheville North Carolina 1888.jpg|thumb|Downtown Asheville, 1888]]
On October 3, 1880,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wnchistory.org/october-3-1880-first-passenger-train-to-asheville/#:~:text=On%20this%20day%20in%20WNC,moving%20people%2C%20goods%20and%20supplies |title=October 3, 1880: First Passenger Train to Asheville &#124; Asheville Museum of History |access-date=October 3, 2023 |archive-date=October 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016033155/https://wnchistory.org/october-3-1880-first-passenger-train-to-asheville/#:~:text=On%20this%20day%20in%20WNC,moving%20people%2C%20goods%20and%20supplies |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Western North Carolina Railroad]] completed its line from [[Salisbury, North Carolina|Salisbury]] to Asheville, the first rail line to reach the city. Almost immediately it was sold and resold to the [[Richmond and Danville Railroad|Richmond and Danville Railroad Company]], becoming part of the [[Southern Railway (US)|Southern Railway]] in 1894.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historync.org/railroad-WNCRR.htm |title=NC Business History - Railroad - Western North Carolina Railroad history & officers |publisher=Historync.org |access-date=June 29, 2013 |archive-date=October 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030140855/http://www.historync.org/railroad-WNCRR.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> With the completion of the first railway, Asheville developed with steady growth as industrial plants increased in number and size, and new residents built homes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2019/09/22/visiting-our-past-birth-asheville-tourism-before-railroad/2362010001/ |title=Visiting Our Past: Asheville promotions gained steam before the railroad |last=NEUFELD |first=ROB |date=September 22, 2019 |website=Citizen Times |language=en |access-date=2019-09-23 |archive-date=November 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120164814/https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2019/09/22/visiting-our-past-birth-asheville-tourism-before-railroad/2362010001/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Textile mill]]s were built to process cotton from the region, and other plants were set up to manufacture wood and [[mica]] products, foodstuffs, and other commodities.<ref>The [[Federal Writers' Project]] of the Federal Works Agency, [[Works Projects Administration]] for the State of North Carolina, ''North Carolina: A Guide to the Old North State'', The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1939, page 139.</ref>

The {{convert|21|mile|km|adj=mid}} distance between Hendersonville and Asheville of the former Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad was completed in 1886.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0Acnj3ga88C&q=%22Spartanburg+and+Asheville+Railroad%22%2F&pg=RA1-PA212 |title=Thomas Lanier Clingman |isbn=9780820320236 |last1=Jeffrey |first1=Thomas E. |year=1998 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |access-date=October 15, 2020 |archive-date=November 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120164825/https://books.google.com/books?id=C0Acnj3ga88C&q=%22Spartanburg+and+Asheville+Railroad%22%2F&pg=RA1-PA212 |url-status=live}}</ref> By that point, the line was operated as part of the [[Richmond and Danville Railroad]] until 1894 and controlled by the [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]] afterward.<ref name="vtechspeccoll">{{cite web |url=http://spec.lib.vt.edu/appal/apunindx-1.htm |title=Appalachian History: Manuscript Resources in Special Collections |at=Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad Company |access-date=January 6, 2015 |website=Special Collections |publisher=University Libraries, [[Virginia Tech]] |date=May 2, 2005<!--based on last modified--> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106212846/http://spec.lib.vt.edu/appal/apunindx-1.htm |archive-date=January 6, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Asheville had the first electric street railway lines in the state of North Carolina, the first of which opened in 1889. These were replaced by buses in 1934.<ref>The Federal Writers' Project of the Federal Works Agency, Works Projects Administration for the State of North Carolina, "[https://books.google/books?id=xDFfVQzRHosC ''North Carolina: A Guide to the Old North State'']{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}", {{ISBN|0403021820}}; The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1939, pages 69, 139.</ref>

[[File:Asheville City Hall, Asheville, NC (46691736032).jpg|thumb|Asheville City Hall, designed by [[Douglas Ellington]], in the [[Art Deco]] style of the 1920s]]