USA > North Carolina > Buncombe County > Asheville > Maloney's Asheville, N.C. city directory [serial] 1899-1900 > Part 2
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The Bingham School (for Boys)
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American Educational History," Circular of Information, No. 2. Page 131: "The Bingham School stands preeminent among Southern Schools for Boys and ranks with the best in the Union, and has reached its highest efficiency under its present Superintendent, Major Robert Bingham." The officials of the U. S. Government who have seen the school, the Vice-President, Army Officers detailed as Military Professors, Naval Officers and Army Inspectors say that it is the best. The Execu- tive, Judiciary and Military Departments of the North Carolina State Government say the same thing. More than seventy-five Medical Experts who have inspected it say that its sanitary conditions are the best in the country. The wisdom of having selected so excellent a location and of having erected a school plant so well equipped for health. comfort, convenience, discipline, instruction, and safety against fire, is abundantly vindicated by the fact that this school is a financial and educational success in the fullest sense. In addition to a good North Carolina pat- ronago, it attracted more than eighty (80) pupils during the last year from sixteen other States, North and South.
The Normal and Collegiate Institute is unique in its character and aims, making a long step in advance of the ordinary arrangements, apparatus and facili- ties for the education of the young women. The building is spacious and impos- ing, heated with steam, furnished with hot and cold baths, plentifully supplied with pure water from springs on the premises. The site, composing thirty-three acres, includes a magnificent grove of forest trees. Health culture is pro- vided for in a well furnished gymnasium, under the care of an experienced teacher.
The Normal and Collegiate Institute
The class work is presided over by efficient and accomplished instructors. The work of preparing teachers is thoroughly and conscientiously done, and young women are efficiently trained for a business life, and for the duties of a Christian home. Through the liberality of a few friends of the higher education of young women. the privileges of this school are put within the reach of families whose means are slender, and there is no institution in the State where a pupil can enjoy like privileges at so inconsiderable a cost. Dr. Thomas Lawrence is the efficient head of the institution.
The Home Industrial School
The Home Industrial School is situated in the suburbs of Asheville, about one mile south of the business center of the town. It is surrounded by a plot of ground consisting of thirty-three acres, which it occupies jointly with the Normal and Collegiate Institute. The purpose of the school is to place within reach of girls who would otherwise be de- prived of an education, the opportunity to secure educational advantages such as will enable them to become useful, self-supporting women.
The name of the school indicates its scope of work. It is a Christian home where the Scriptures are read and studied daily. Each member of the family has some share of ministering to the family comfort, as all the work of the house is done by the girls under the direction and supervision of the matron.
The work periods include six wecks' time, and at the close of each period every girl is assigned to a different kind of work, and by this method, each one, during the year, has practiced in all departments of housework. The principles of housework and household economy are taught in the kitchengarden classes. The sewing de- partment gives training in plain sewing. in drafting, cutting and fitting dresses, in fancy work and embroidery. Besides the cooking that must necessarily be done for the family, each student has the advantage of twenty-four lessons in cookery The course of study begins with the first primary grade and covers six years' work. Those who complete the work are competent to secure first-class certificates from county superintendents of public instruction, but they are not well equipped teachers until after completing the course in the Normal and Collegiate Institute, which covers four years' additional study.
Miss Florence Stephenson is the efficient manager of this school.
Asheville Farm School
The Asheville Farm School, situated eight miles from the city, is doing the same work for boys that the Home Industrial School is doing for girls. The present capacity of the school is eighty-eight, and this number could easily be doubled if there were more room. The capacity of the school will be enlarged as rapidly as possible, and equipments in- creased so as to give the pupils an education in every branch of industrial work. IInder the management of Superintendent Jeffreys, the school is growing rapidly in efficiency and popularity, and the training given the boys is ad- mirable in every respect.
Skyland Institute
Skyland Institute. J. S. Dickey. principal, is a private school. established in September, 1894, for both sexes. It has enjoyed a large patronage from its very beginning, having every year all the pupils it could accommodate, both in literary and music depart- ments.
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It is non-sectarian and is patronized by every denomination in the city, and has won its reputation solely on the merits of the thorough work it does. The Misses Champion's School for The Misses Champion's School for Girls Girls was opened in January, 1886, and has been successful from its beginning, owing to the refined culture and surroundings. and thorough instruction,
The Asheville Free Kindergartens, under the The Asheville Free Kindergartens management of an association, consist of four schools in different parts of the city, and are doing a splendid work for the younger children.
The Industrial School, colored, is doing an ex- The Industrial School (Colored) cellent work for the colored youth of the city who patronize it.
There are numerous smaller schools.
The Asheville Summer School and Conservatory, endorsed by the Board of Trade and organized by a number of leading citizens of the city, held its first ses- sion July 7-August 17, 1898. The school was conducted in the buildings and grounds The Asheville Summer School and Conservatory of the Asheville College for Young Women. The art- ists and teachers employed were selected from the leading conservatories and universities, a thing possi- ble in view of the fact that these institutions are as a rule closed for the summer. The courses of instruction given by the Summer School are vocal and instrumental music, art, elocution and such other branches of science and literature as are demanded. Students in botany and biology have ac- cess to the Vanderbilt Botanical Garden and Arboretum.
Library
Board and Rents
A handsome library under the management of an association of ladies and gentlemen, is largely patronized, and contains, besides about 4,000 volumes of good books, the leading periodicals on its reading tables. A membership fee of $2.00 per annum is charged for the use of the books and rooms. Unfurnished houses of eight to twelve rooms can be rented for $20 to $50. Small cottages rent from $5 to $20. Flats $15 to $20. Good board can be obtained in any part of the city or suburbs at $20 to $50 per month.
Climate
Western North Carolina, with its sublime scenery and the charms of its dry and equable climate, has made Asheville renowned as a health resort. But few places in America can be found with the same climatic advantages and scenic beauty as this God-favored and sun-lit land. The recovery of sufferers from ca- tarrhal, rheumatic, nervous and pulmonary affections, affords ampl mosphere. proof of the healing properties found in this pure and exhilarating at- The absolute freedom from malaria, due largely to the great fall of the French Broad river ,which acts as a natural drain to this part of the country, and the situation between the extreme cold North and the enervating heat of the South, give Asheville the right to be called the best "all the year round resort" on the con - tinent.
When compared with the most renowned resorts of the Old World it ranks among the first, as will be seen by the following table:
Spring.
Summer.
Autumn.
Winter. 37.2
Mean Yearly.
Asheville,
54.8
71.3
55.3
55.3
Genoa.
52.2
70.3
55.2
34.0
52.7
Turin,
53.7
71.5
53.8
33.5
53.1
Milan,
54.9
72.8
55.0
36.1
54.9
Vienna,
56.2
71.8
54.6
38.7
55.3
Temperature
The following temperature table prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture's Weather Bureau will show how Asheville compares with other cities in this country as an all-the-year-round re- sort.
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Average Monthly and Annual Temperature at the Stations Named.
STATIONS.
Jau. Fob. Mch.
Apr
May June July Ang. Sept
Oct.
Nov. Dec. Aunual
Asheville, N. C.
38 .3 39 . 1 45.5 53 .8 62.6 69.5 72.5 70 .6 63 . 9 55 7 42.6 38 4
54.4
Atlanta, Ga.
12 . 5 48 . 0 51 .5 61 . 6 68. 8 75.7 78 4 76 5 71.5 62. 2 51.8 45 3
61.2
Augusta, Ga
47 . 4 52 . 0 56 . 1 64 . 3 72 . 8 78 . 8 82 . 2 80 . 0,75 . 4 65 . 7 55 . 4 49.5 65.0
Charlotte, N. C.
41 .2 45 . 9 50 8 59 . 8 68 . 5 75 . 8 79 . 9 76 . 5 70 . 4 61. 0 51. 4 43 9 60.4
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Columbia, S. C.
40. 6 45 . 9 50 . 8 61 2 68 3 75 . 6 78.3 76 .7 71 6 61. 1 50.3 43 7 60 3 46 . 4 50 . 0 54 . 2 63 . 0 72 . 0 78 . 1 81 . 3 78 . 6 73. 8 64 . 1 54.9 48.5 63.
Knoxville, Tenn.
38 . 1 43 . 7 48.3 58 6 66 2 73. 5 76 . 6 74 . 7 69 . 9 59 7 48 . 4 40.7| 58.2
Lexington, Ky 31 .0 37 .2 44 . 4 53.3 63 . 4 73 . 7 75 . 7 72. 9 67 7 57.2 46 1 37 2, 55.0
Louisville, Ky.
32 .6 39.0 45 . 9 56 . 9 66 . 1 74 . 0 78 . 9 75 .5 69 . 4 59 . 3 48 .1 38 .5
57.0
Lynchburg, Va. 37 . 5 41 . 0 45 . 4 55 . 9 65 . 8 74 . 2 77 . 8 75 .5 68.9 58.2 47.1 40.0 57.3 Meridian, Miss. 47 . 0 53 . 6 54 . 5 65 . 6 70 . 4 77 . 6 78 .6 77 .8.73.0 62.2 53 .4 50.5 63.7 40 5 43.7 47 .0 56 1 65.7 73.5 79 1 75.8 71.2 62.0 52.2 44.2 59.2
Raleigh, N. C ... 41 5 45 .0 48 3 57 .5 67 . 5 74 .8 78 .3 75 . 6 70. 2 60.2 49 . 8 43 .2 59.3
Washington, D. C.
32 . 6 36 3 41 . 4 52. 8,63 . 6 71 .5 77 .6 73 .5 67 . 4 57 3 46 .4 37.8 54.8
What Asheville is Not
It is not a mere watering place, closed for a large part of the year. It is a health resort all the year round.
It is not a mountain village with a depot, a sidetrack, a store, and a hotel, but a large and growing city with railroad lines, water, gas, electricity, street cars, pavements, and other modern necessities.
It is not a place where men never die, where one may abuse nature with im- punity, but it is nature's great sanitarium where exhausted vitality is restored, and its ozonized atmosphere is highly unfavorable to the propagation of the germs of - tubercular disease.
It is not a hot climate.
It is not a cold climate.
It is not summer all the year round.
It is not winter nine months in the year.
It is not anywhere near the seashore, but miles straight inland, among the wonderful mountains of the Alleghany and Blue Ridge ranges.
It is not an unknown place, but already entertains thousands of visitors an nually.
It is not a sectional resort, but is patronized by North. South, East and West alike.
It is not a temporary resort, but a place where people from all parts of the country are building permanent homes.
It is not far from the centers of national prosperity and is easy of access. You may ride to Asheville in a Pullman buffet car.
It is not out of touch with the day's doings, for New York papers are read here at breakfast next morning.
It is not subject to malaria.
It is not full of half dead people, but is alive with energy and ozone, a stimulus to mind, body and estate.
It is not a number of other things which some strangers suppose it to be.
It is possessed of a highly ozonized atmosphere.
It is where Sir Andrew Clark, M. D .. of London, England, Dr. Loomis, of New York, Dr. Marcy, of Boston, and other great specialists have sent hundreds of pa- tients suffering from throat and lung diseases. Physicians should read Dr. Marcy's paper on Climatology, delivered before the International Medical Congress. It gives facts. So do papers issued by some of our lead- ing physicians.
What Asheville Is
It is the center of a circle embracing the territory bounded by the Mississippi river, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, No other resort draws from so wide a field.
It has 25 churches, six miles of paved streets, three electric car lines. It has a splendid system of water works supplying pure water, which has its source in the Black Mountain range. In an analysis of a sample of water from the Asheville, N. C., water supply, made June 28, 1897,by A. C. Abbott of the Laboratory of Hy- giene, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Abbott says: "Chemi- cally, this is a pure water, according to the classification of Dr. Chaumont." It has also a perfect system of sewers; electric light and gas plant; two banks; three clubs; the best golf links in the South, with
Its Pure Water
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Norfolk, Va.
country club house: fire alarms and fire company; two telephone exchanges, seven private schools; four modern public school buildings; a cotton mill with 8,500 spin- dles and 100 looms: roller mill; five tobacco warehouses; a bicycle club; two Y. M. C. A. associations, ono white and one colored; the best city market in the South; United States district court and internal revenue building; two daily and three weekly newspapers, with a number of church, school and society publications; the best opera house in the State; three large. modern and well equipped sanitariums; the finest livery in the South; ice factories; dairies; green houses; cigar factories, lodges of all the leading orders; a Mission hospital; Flower mission; children's home; Asheville reformatory; Lindley training school; fifteen hotels, etc., etc.
The business of Asheville amounts to about $3,500,000 per annum. The assessed value of city property is $4,758.801. The rate of taxation on valuation is $1.20 for the city (20 cents of this for schools) and 90 cents for State and county (18 cents of this for schools).
Vanderbilt's Biltmore
An evidence of the permanent nature of Asheville's prosperity, the value of its climate and the beauty of its scenery, is afforded by the magnificent honic- a princely manor- established just outside of the city by Geo. W. Vanderbilt, of New York. With a vast fortune and with a whole world to choose from lie has selected Asheville as the one place for creating the splendid house and lordly park which his architects and engineers have con- structed under the direction of Frederick Law Olmsted, the land- scape architect, who gave New York her Central Park. The house was built under the direction of the eminent architect, the late Richard M. Hunt, and is a chateau of the French Renaissance, 375 feet long and 150 feet wide, and in some features not unlike the famous chateau at Blois, France.
The Biltmore Estate contains about 10,000 acres and the Pink Beds and ad jacent tract of Mr. Vanderbilt's hunting preserve comprise about 84,000 acres. This is known as Pisgah Forest.
An arboretum embracing twelve miles of winding road traverses the Biltmore domain, and to complete its planting, 10,000,000 plants will be required, many of which are now being propagated. The number of plants already propagated and set out in the landscape plantings in the Biltmore nurseries for use on the estate reaches the enormous total of 10,000,000, the nurseries having an annual output of something over 2,000,000 plants.
Visitors' Praises
Col. A. K. McClure, Philadelphia Times says: "I have seen the grand moun - tain views of every part of our continent east of the Sierra Nevada, and must tes- tify that there is no mountain scenery this side of the Rocky Mountains that equals, or even approaches the grandeur of the varied views presented here. It is not sur- prising that thousands of visitors come from the Sunny South in the summer time to enjoy the bracing atmosphere and unrivaled beauty of these mountains, nor is it surprising that thousands come here from the North in the winter to escape the sudden changes and op- pressive rigor of our winter climates. It is the one pleasure and health-seeking region which has all seasons for its worshipers. Its rides and drives of unequaled beauty; its dry exhilarating atmosphere; its genial winters, even among the moun .. tain tops, and its pure breezes and cool nights in the heat of summer, make it an all-the-year resort for those who seek pleasure, rest or fugitive health, and it is evidently destined to become the great resort of the American continent."
W. H. Weir, of W. Weir & Sons, bankers, Montreal, Canada, said: "I came to Asheville two years ago from Montreal, Canada, for the benefit of the health of my family, and have resided here during the summer and winter, and I have no hesita - tion in saying that as an all-year-round climate Asheville has few equals and none superior, either in climate or scenery and beautiful drives, all of which are so nec- essary to the invalid or pleasure sveker. As a place to make a home where climate and comfort of living are a consideration Asheville has few equals."
Physicians' Opinions
Dr. G. W. Gleitzmann, of New York, who devoted periods of from ten to thir- teen years to personal observations of the climate of the Asheville plateau, its tem- perature, humidity, rainfall and sunshine, has tabulated the results of his labors. The figures compare favorably with those concern- ing any celebrated mountain resort in America or Europe. "Dur- ing a period of eight years." says Dr. Gleitzmann, "the mercury but twice rose above 88 degrees and but three times fell below three degrees."
Drs. Segur and Lloyd, of Brooklyn, after personally examining the Asheville plateau, declare what is well known to every resident, that there is no malaria, and the advantages for its treatment in patients coming here are indicated.
Dr. Samuel Westray Battle, Passed Assistant Surgeon. U. S. Navy, retired, says of the climate: "It is cool in summer, yet the winters, shorn of their harshness by reason of its southern latitude, induce almost daily out-of-door exercise, in the way
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of shooting, driving, riding. or short mountain excursions on foot. Moderate alti- tude, dry and ozoniferous atmosphere, bright sunshine and beautiful scenic en- vironment are the important factors of the region."
Prof. Dixon, of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, states that the health of himself and family nowhere improved so much as in Asheville. He is "not aware of any other spot in Europe or America so full of all that is desirable as the country of Asheville."
Agriculture and Stock Raising
The mountains of Western North Carolina are covered with a deep, rich soil, mostly clothed with heavy forests to the tops. There are some exceptions where there are balds, which are natural meadows found on the tops of many of the high- est mountains. This. pasturage is used for herds of domestic animals which are annually driven to remain until the cold weather sets in. and has been the chief aid to make the production of fine beef our leading agricultural output. During the last few years, although cattle have been at an extremely low price every- where, many of our farmers have continued to feed largely, the number of head turned out by some farms often exceeding 100 or more each season, and being marketed chiefly in Richmond. Va. Now that an era of better prices has set in this is a most promising industry.
The cultivated productions of this section are as diversified as in the Piedmont section, cotton and rice excepted. All the cereals and all the grasses are cultivated. This is not to be wondered at when the fact becomes known that the soils of the basins of the rivers of this section and its mountain valleys, are noted for their fertility.
Among these valleys most noted for extent and quality of soil may be men - tioned the upper French Broad and Mills river valleys of Henderson and Transyl- vania; the Swannanoa, in Buncombe; and the Pigeon river, Richland and Jona- than's creek flat lands. in Haywood. This entire transmontane country is adapted to stock raising. Timothy, herds grass, and other rich pasture grasses respond readily to cultivation; and once established, the grass perpetuates itself upon the land. In fact, where undergrowth is removed, the trees thinned, and the surface stirred and sown in orchard grass, it flourishes luxuriantly while the forest trees are left standing. Lately, attention has been turned to raising cattle for the market, and to the breeding of fine stock. There is good opportunity presented for cattle and sheep breeding and for dairy products.
Garden vegetables grow well here, and there is a fine opening for trucking of almost all kinds. The cabbage and Irish potato grow here to a high degree of per- fection. In addition to these, sweet potatoes, spinach, turnips, onions, lettuce, beans, peas, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, okra, beets, radishes, sweet corn, celery, and numerous other vegetables are successfully cultivated. There is a splendid opening here for trucking, not only for the home market, but for shipment, and the increase in trade of this kind has been greatly stimulated by the truck farming on the Vanderbilt estate. But a quantity of vegetables that could easily be raised in this section, is imported. One hotel alone buys from further South over $500 worth of vegetables per month, nearly all of which could be raised around Asheville. Major McKissick, proprietor of the Battery Park hotel, declares that the celery of this section, if properly handled, cannot be surpassed by any other in the world. and yet the amount raised here amounts to almost nothing.
Small fruits go to waste for lack of attention, and there is wealth in the berries and other small fruits whenever systematic cultivation and care are bestowed upon them. Owing to the altitude of this section, strawberries,
Fruit Growing
which can be raised in large quantities and excellent quality, and bring fine prices, reach their perfect growth and are ready for shipment just after the berry crop further south and in the eastern section of this State is exhausted.
As to grape culture, it is only necessary to call attention to the Engadine Vine- yards in Buncombe county to prove with what success grapes can be grown.
Farm labor is much less expensive in this section than at the North or West, owing to the milder climate and cheaper products. Farm labor can be had at prices ranging from 8 to 12 dollars per month. This labor is at present mostly untrained, but is capable of intelligent training, easily controlled and sat- isfied. Strikes are unknown in this part of the country. With reason- able care and training the same class of work here can be done at much cheaper price than further north. Mechanics get from $1.00 to $2.50 per day.
Labor
Farm Lands
Timber lands can be bought at from $1.50 to $5 per acre. Agri. cultural lands at from $8 to $100 per acre, according to quality. proximity to railroads, towns, etc. These are prices of land either in a high state of cultivation already or capable of being made so. Poorer lands are much cheaper.
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Water power and waters are abundant as may be Water Power and Waters inferred from the character of the country. Streams are bold, free and numerous, the water is pure, clear and cool. Of the many undeveloped powers in this section we mention only one. Four and one-half miles below Asheville on the French Broad river there is a splendid water power of 5,000 horse power with a fall of thirty-one and a half feet in three-fourths of a mile. Easily developed. This power was surveyed by High- tower Bros., of Holyoke, Mass.
Taxation
The State constitution regulates taxation by providing that the legislature levy- ing a tax shall state the object to which it is to be applied, and restrict its use to that particular object. An equation between the property and the capitation tax is established by directing that the capitation tax levied on each citizen shall be equal to the tax on property valued at $300 in cash. The capitation tax is levied on every male inhabitant in the State over 21 and under 50 years of age, and shall never exceed $2 on the head. The effect of this limitation restricts the tax on each hundred dollars worth of property to sixty-six and two-thirds cents. The amount of taxes levied for county purposes cannot exceed the double of the State tax. except for a special purpose and with the approval of the legislature. Homestead exemption includes personal property to the amount of $500, and vests in the owner for life only, and until his children become of age, the homestead and the dwellings and buildings used therewith, not exceeding in value $1,000, to be selected by him. By an act of the last legislature the State will duplicate not exceeding $500 any sum raised by subscription or spe- cial taxation in any school district. This has already given an impetus to educa- tion in the country districts.
Medicinal herbs in this section are gathered in immense quantities and shipped to northern cities and Europe. Bales of herbs may be seen collected about the country stores as bales of cotton in other sections. Ginseng is shipped in large quantities to China, and the trade in medi- cinal herbs has grown into a large business.
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