Asheville, North Carolina

===1900s===
In 1900, Asheville was the third-largest city in the state, behind [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]] and [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historync.org/NCCityPopulations1800s.htm |title=North Carolina Cities Population Changes in the 1800s |publisher=North Carolina Business History |access-date=July 5, 2017 |archive-date=June 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630054701/http://historync.org/NCCityPopulations1800s.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Asheville prospered in the decades of the 1910s and 1920s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-01 |title=Asheville, N.C. now and in the 1920s |url=https://avltoday.6amcity.com/asheville-nc-2020-vision |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=AVLtoday |language=en |archive-date=November 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106155501/https://avltoday.6amcity.com/asheville-nc-2020-vision |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Asheville School |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/asheville-school |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=NCpedia |archive-date=August 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807110016/https://www.ncpedia.org/asheville-school |url-status=live }}</ref> During these years, [[Rutherford P. Hayes]], son of [[President of the United States|President]] [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], bought land, and worked with the prominent African-American businessman [[Edward W. Pearson Sr.]] to develop his land for residential housing known as the [[African-American]] Burton Street Community.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/02/22/black-history-month-edward-r-pearson/80772350/ |title=Black History Month: Edward R. Pearson |website=Citizen Times |language=en |access-date=2019-03-06}}</ref> Hayes also worked to establish a sanitary district in West Asheville, which became an [[Local government in the United States|incorporated]] town in 1913, and merged with Asheville in 1917.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2017/07/02/visiting-our-past-presidents-son-helped-create-west-asheville/440462001/ |title=Visiting Our Past: President's son helped create West Asheville |last=Neufeld |first=Rob |work=Asheville Citizen-Times |date=July 2, 2017 |access-date=July 4, 2017 |archive-date=November 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120164818/https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2017/07/02/visiting-our-past-presidents-son-helped-create-west-asheville/440462001/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Asheville Masonic Temple]] was constructed in 1913, under the direction of famed architect [[Richard Sharp Smith]], a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]]. It was the meeting place for local Masons through much of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mountainx.com/news/passage-to-the-past-inside-the-bowels-of-the-asheville-masonic-temple/ |title=Passage to the past: Inside the bowels of the Asheville Masonic Temple |last=Hunt |first=Max |website=Mountain Xpress |date=October 31, 2017 |language=en-US |access-date=2019-07-10 |archive-date=July 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710183911/https://mountainx.com/news/passage-to-the-past-inside-the-bowels-of-the-asheville-masonic-temple/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

On July 15–16, 1916, the Asheville area was subject to severe flooding from the remnants of a [[tropical storm]] which caused more than $3 million in damage. Areas flooded included part of the Biltmore Estate, and the company that ran it sold some of the property to lower their maintenance costs. This area was later developed as an independent jurisdiction known as [[Biltmore Forest]], which is now one of the wealthiest in the country.

The [[Great Depression]] hit Asheville quite hard. On November 20, 1930, eight local banks failed.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/11/21/archives/8-carolina-banks-fail-as-boom-ends-closings-at-asheville-and.html |work=The New York Times |title=8 CAROLINA BANKS FAIL AS BOOM ENDS |date=November 21, 1930 |access-date=April 25, 2010 |archive-date=February 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226002331/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/11/21/archives/8-carolina-banks-fail-as-boom-ends-closings-at-asheville-and.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Only [[Wachovia]] remained open with infusions of cash from [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina|Winston-Salem]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Neufeld |first=Rob |title=Portrait of the Past: Wachovia Bank at Pritchard Park, early 1970s |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2018/10/23/portrait-past-wachovia-bank-pritchard-park-early-1970-s/1698936002/ |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=The Asheville Citizen Times |language=en-US |archive-date=January 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102050033/https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2018/10/23/portrait-past-wachovia-bank-pritchard-park-early-1970-s/1698936002/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Because of the explosive growth of the previous decades, the per capita [[debt]] owed by the city (through [[municipal bond]]s) was the highest in the nation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/asheville/preservation.htm |title=Preservation-Asheville, North Carolina: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary |publisher=Nps.gov |access-date=June 29, 2013 |archive-date=November 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105153820/http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/asheville/preservation.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> By 1929, both the city and Buncombe County had incurred over $56 million in bonded debt to pay for a wide range of municipal and infrastructure improvements, including City Hall, the water system, Beaucatcher Tunnel, and [[Asheville High School]]. Rather than default, the city paid those debts over a period of fifty years.<ref>{{cite news |title=Did Asheville pay off its Depression-era debt? |last=Boyle |first=John |work=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]] |date=February 6, 2015 |page=A2}}</ref>

From the start of the depression through the 1980s, economic growth in Asheville was slow. During this time of financial stagnation, most of the buildings in the downtown district remained unaltered. As a result, Asheville has one of the most impressive, comprehensive collections of [[Art Deco]] architecture in the United States.<ref name="uncramseyabout">{{cite web |url=http://toto.lib.unca.edu/collaborative_projects/about.htm |title=ABOUT |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 16, 2008 |website=D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections |publisher=[[University of North Carolina at Asheville]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516202813/http://toto.lib.unca.edu/collaborative_projects/about.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/asheville/preservation.htm |title=Preservation--Asheville, North Carolina: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary |website=www.nps.gov |access-date=November 28, 2016 |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202084714/https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/asheville/preservation.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Asheville Masonic Temple Scottish Rite Cathedral, Asheville, NC (39780442823).jpg|thumb|Asheville Masonic Temple Scottish Rite Cathedral]]

In 1959, the City Council would purchase property partially located in neighboring Henderson County for the development of [[Asheville Regional Airport]]. The North Carolina General Assembly would pass a bill that would to redesign the boundaries of Buncombe and Henderson to include the proposed airport property entirely in Buncombe, allowing Asheville to [[Municipal annexation in the United States|annex]] the complete site.<ref name="hb1283">{{cite web |title=HOUSE BILL 1283 |url=https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/PDF/1959-1960/SL1959-1145.pdf#:~:text=AN%20ACT%20TO%20ANNEX%20TO%20BUNCOMBE%20COUNTY%20THAT,to%20serve%20all%20of%20Western%20North%20Carolina%3B%20and |website=[[North Carolina General Assembly]] |access-date=June 12, 2021 |date=June 18, 1959 |archive-date=April 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405045600/https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/PDF/1959-1960/SL1959-1145.pdf#:~:text=AN%20ACT%20TO%20ANNEX%20TO%20BUNCOMBE%20COUNTY%20THAT,to%20serve%20all%20of%20Western%20North%20Carolina%3B%20and |url-status=live }}</ref>

The last passenger train to serve Asheville, a coach-only remnant of the Southern Railway's ''[[Carolina Special]]'', made its last run on December 5, 1968.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, [[urban renewal]] displaced much of Asheville's African-American population.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ashevilleblade.com/?p=241 |title=Red lines &#124; |access-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-date=July 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716074840/https://ashevilleblade.com/?p=241 |url-status=live}}</ref> Asheville's neighborhoods of Montford and Kenilworth, now mostly white, used to have a majority of black home owners.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/03/11/hood-tours-revisit-ashevilles-black-landmarks/81473386/ |title=Hood tours revisit Asheville's black landmarks |first=Dale |last=Neal |website=The Asheville Citizen Times |access-date=March 23, 2020 |archive-date=November 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120164826/https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/03/11/hood-tours-revisit-ashevilles-black-landmarks/81473386/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since the late 20th century, there has been an effort to maintain and preserve the South Asheville Cemetery, in the Kenilworth neighborhood. It is the largest public black cemetery in the state, holding about 2000 burials, dating from the early 1800s and slavery years, to 1943. Fewer than 100 of the graves are marked by tombstones.