The Buncombe Turnpike, a trade route connecting eastern Tennessee and the upstate of South Carolina, transformed Asheville into a vital market for area farmers. The city"tms economy became focused on corn, livestock, and services for traders on the Turnpike.
Prior to the arrival of the Salisbury-Best railroad station in October 1880, getting to Asheville was inconvenient at best. The most common means of transportation to the city was by rail to Old Fort (the terminus of the Western North Carolina railroad between 1869 and 1880) and stagecoach up the initial descent into the Blue Ridge and the rest of the way to Asheville.
Ready notes that the city was so slow to "recover from the Civil War that by 1868 it had only six stores, a post office, four taverns, and less than 1,200 inhabitants." The city"tms population more than doubled by 1880, touting 2,610 residents. With the coming of the railroad, Asheville grew to 10,235 residents by 1890.
The railroad opened Asheville to the rest of North Carolina. Bob Terrell notes that he "daresay Asheville might still be a crossroads town rather than the thriving metropolis it is had
The Grove Park Inn further exacerbated the growing elitist movement in Asheville and portrayed the city as a playground for the rich. The inn boasts clientele including Franklin D. Roosevelt and the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Henry Ford, Frederick Firestone, and Thomas Edison.
Prior to the arrival of the Salisbury-Best railroad station in October 1880, getting to Asheville was inconvenient at best. The most common means of transportation to the city was by rail to Old Fort (the terminus of the Western North Carolina railroad between 1869 and 1880) and stagecoach up the initial descent into the Blue Ridge and the rest of the way to Asheville.
Edwin Grove, a native of eastern Tennessee was attracted to Asheville because of the relief it provided his wife (who suffered from respiratory problems). Having been a seasonal resident for several years, he purchased land and constructed the Grove Park Inn within a year and has been called "the Father of Modern Asheville." He shared his vision for the inn eleven days after its grand opening:
Frances Tiernan (daughter of a Southern Railway executive) portrayed Asheville in "The Land of the Sky," her 1875 fictional essay marketing Asheville as a prime vacation spot. Under the pen name Christian Reid, Tiernan expounded the comfortable climate, scenery and accommodations the city had to offer and "portrays the city as an island of modernity amid the rich and wild scenic grandeur of the southern Appalachians." In correlation with the growing national fascination with the Blue Ridge Mountains, the city was able to exploit the "land of the sky" image to promote tourism to the city.
Sanitation was a particular matter of concern for the city. The city had long been a haven for people with respiratory problems and people suffering from tuberculosis. Grove, in an attempt to rid the city of tuberculosis sanitariums, bought several of the institutions and symbolically burnt them to the ground. An outbreak of typhoid fever in the 1880"tms placed Asheville"tms reputation as a healthy haven in dire jeopardy, as did a meningitis outbreak in 1887. The summer of 1887 saw tourists fleeing the city or entirely avoiding it and damaged the local economy. In parts of the city, hogs ran wild in the streets and open sewers merged with bubbling mountain streams. The city created a board composed of local physicians to oversee the cleaning of the city.
Local writer Thomas Wolfe"tms vision in Look Homeward Angel for the city was materializing. In addition to the rising municipal and transportation services, resort hotels, and its national dignity, the city boasted an opera house seating 400 on the third floor of the new courthouse. Liquor dealers dotted the streets of downtown. In just a few years, Asheville had flourished.
The Biltmore estate quickly turned the nation"tms eyes to Asheville. Being the largest private residence in the country, the 175,000 square-foot home was built on a 125,000 acre homestead. The estate boasted an elevator, elec
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