Asheville School in the 20's
Asheville School - Class of 1923
History
Two major events in the 1920s had a great impact on the school.
The first, known as "The Incident", took place in 1923 and resulted in the expulsion of fourteen students, nine from 6th form and five from the 5th Form or, about 10% of the student population and one third of the senior class. In 1990, Edmund Ball '23 recounted events.
Edmund F. Ball '23
Later in the decade, Pittsburgh businessman Walter P. Fraser purchased the school in 1926. Cashing in on the real estate boom in Asheville, he took control of the extensive property and considered developing the land adjacent to the lake into a neighborhood on par with Biltmore Forest.
Fraser, who remained in Pennsylvania, left day-to-day operations to the administration but changed the name of the school to "The Asheville School for Training in Christian Leadership" in his quest to create a theological seminary.
A founding member of the Christian Laymen's Association, an evangelical group having the motto "a yielded will, the power of prayer, the morning watch and witnessing for Christ daily", Fraser fired several faculty members whom he thought were against teaching Christian principles. Fraser did hire Howard Bement, a well-respected English teacher from The Hill School in Pennsylvania, as Headmaster. While Bement was not Fraser's first choice, the two seemed very much alike and developed a cordial working relationship. In time however, it became apparent that Bement disagreed with Fraser's idea of turning the school into a seminary. Instead Bement used the distance between the school and its owner to build a faculty of the very best educators who could work harmoniously to create an atmosphere of inquiry and trust.
Headmaster Howard Bement
During the first stressful years of his tenure, Bement saved funding for the Review, encouraged the start of the Ashnoca, oversaw construction of Boyd Memorial Chapel and attracted an outstanding faculty. In 1928, he proposed that the alumni purchase the school from Fraser; in May 1929 Fraser offered to sell the school for $600,000.
In a time of deepening financial crisis, this must have seemed an impossible figure to reach. Invited to make a presentation in Chicago, Bement’s chance meeting with Philip R. Clarke, president of City National Bank and Trust Company proved fortuitous. The two formed a lasting friendship and Phil, Jr. (class of 1933) enrolled.
The papers for the sale of the school went through in the summer of 1930. The School was now obligated to pay $30,000 the first year and $20,000 a year for 20 years. While favorable terms, they were still a crushing financial burden. As the Depression continued, enrollment dropped off and many other well-known prep schools closed.
Running the School on a tight budget, Bement cut his own salary 40%. Meanwhile. Fraser’s finances also foundered in Pittsburgh and the economic situation in Asheville was dire. The First National Bank and Trust where Asheville School had an account closed in1933.
Fearing a takeover of the School by the bondholders, Bement worked with Fraser’s brother, Alexander to resolve the tenuous financial situation. That summer with help from Philip Clarke, they mapped out a strategy that secured financial help from alumni and placed control of the school into the hands of alumni.
The Archives holds the detailed daily correspondence between Walter Fraser and Howard Bement. The letters are filled with daily concerns and issues--how to pay for utilities, how much to pay teachers, which boys to admit—but also each man’s thoughts on the role of religion.
Howard Bement, a man of deep religious commitment himself, wrote to Fraser in June 1929 after Fraser once again put pressure on Bement to create a more obvious religious atmosphere:
“You are, frankly, two different people: the man in whose personal presence all is affection, humility, Christ-like-ness; [and] the man on paper who is harsh, critical, and unjust.”
Jazz Age Influences
The school archives houses the Asheville School Review, a monthly publication that included news for and about the school, student activities, athletics, and alumni. Fully half of every issue included creative writings and essays written by students. It is in these short stories and essays that the influences of the rapidly changing cultural and political landscape emerge.
"It Comes In Every Man's Life" (Asheville School Review, May 1925)
"Coal" by Robert G. Downer '29 ( Asheville School Review, Dec. 1927)
"A Dark Hero" by David K. Andrews '27 ( Asheville School Review, Dec. 1925)
"Interesting If True" by R. R. Stafford '26 (Asheville School Review, May 1926)
"Glory" by Robert J. Graf '27 (Asheville School Review, February 1926)
As the United States and the South transformed, some resisted. Responding to increases in European immigration and the migration of African Americans to urban areas, the Ku Klux Klan again gained influence. An essay by John Cooper '24 in the October 1923 Asheville School Review examines the KKK's influence.
1925 Review Staff
Asheville in the 20s
Asheville became a tourist destination and playground for the wealthy beginning in the late 1880s -1890s. The development of the railroad opened up the region for easy access. During this time George Vanderbilt completed construction on his opulent estate and brought a great deal of attention to the area in northern newspapers. Learn more about the history of the estate and the Vanderbilt estate at the Biltmore website.
The influx of visitors kicked off a flurry of construction of hotels, boarding houses, and resorts. Chief among these was the Grove Park Inn. The brainchild of Edwin Wiley Grove, a pharmacist and chemist from Paris, TN, the Inn was built of native rock. Grove employed Italian stonemasons, many of whom lived in the Asheville area after the completion of the Biltmore Estate. After he moved here permanently, Dr. Gove became a leading businessman, intent on changing Asheville from a seasonal tourist town to a regional retail and economic center. He rebuilt the Battery Park Hotel and began what is now the Grove Arcade, one of the first shopping malls in America.
To learn more about E. W. Grove, go to this biography.
No one embodied or symbolized Asheville’s cultural and material opulence and the era’s optimism more than architect Douglas Ellington. His arrival coincided with the real estate and building boom of the early 1920s. His Art Deco-inspired buildings in downtown Asheville brought an air of European elegance to the mountains. Visit this website created by West Buncombe Elementary School about Douglas Ellington and his Asheville legacy.
UNC-Asheville has started a digitization project on architecture in Asheville, and has a nice webpage devoted to Douglas Ellington.
Asheville was soon discovered by the rich and influential. Florida developers kicked off a huge real estate boom hoping to turn Asheville into a "Miami North". Asheville appealed to urban dwellers in the northeast by marketing itself as "America's Beauty Spot and All Year Playground". Outside magazine stated that Asheville was the Aspen of the 1920s.
America's new love of the Automobile caught the attention of the local Chamber of Commerce who billed the area as "The Motorist's Paradise" and promoted the beautiful paved roads in the area.
Asheville School fell sway to this marketing. "School Notes" in the May 1923 issue of The Asheville Review reports that Mr. Anderson purchased a Cadillac Sedan; Mr. Jackson purchased a new Buick Touring Car and Mr. Fox purchased a Reo Touring Car.
Asheville called itself the “Metropolis of the Southern Highlands” beginning in 1926. It was the only city in America to produce grand opera and have it succeed financially and artistically. The city constructed an auditorium for theatre productions and vaudeville shows. Numerous shops, boutiques, and department stores opened to accommodate “the high-class buying taste of Asheville’s cosmopolitan population.” These “splendid shops and stores compared favorably with those found in the largest cities.”
Timeline of significant events in Asheville:
1917 -- The Legal Building is built next to the Asheville Library. It later houses the Central Bank and Trust Company.
1920s - L.B. Jackson, who had made money in the Asheville land boom, hires architect Ronald Greene to design the Jackson Building on the corner of South Market and the square, the location of the grave monument shop owned by Thomas Wolfe's father. The 12-story Jackson Building becomes Asheville's first skyscraper and is part of an astounding building boom downtown in the 1920s during which 60 new buildings are constructed.
1920s - Black Asheville residents, unable to own land or businesses in white areas because of segregation, form their own business district downtown in the Eagle-Market street area. Known as "the Block," the area booms along with the rest of Asheville.
1922 - The Imperial Theater at 32 Patton Ave. and the Pack Theater on Biltmore Avenue open.
1924 - The new Battery Park Hotel, a high-rise brick structure that replaced the original Battery Park Hotel, opens for business. Developer E.W. Grove bought the original hotel in 1921, razed it and lowered the hill it sat on by 70 feet.
1926 -- City Hall is razed, making way for the continuation of North and South Market streets and opening the City-County Plaza to the Square. Fire and police departments are moved to a new Municipal Building, built by African-American mason James Vester Miller.
1927 - E.W. Grove dies.
1928 - The current City Hall is built. Architect Douglas Ellington's pink tile-roofed, Art Deco design is controversial, as are plans for a similar but larger adjacent building to house the County Courthouse. County residents opt for a more traditional, classical style.
Sears, Roebuck and Co. opens its first Asheville store at 17-19 Market Street. The store will have locations on Haywood Street and Coxe Avenue before moving to Asheville Mall in 1972.
1929 - The stock market crashes, dashing Asheville's booming and often speculative real estate market.
Thomas Wolfe's epic autobiographical novel, "Look Homeward, Angel," is published. The book, with its thinly veiled references to Asheville residents, creates a huge stir. Asheville's public library bans the book for more than seven years.
1930 - The Biltmore Estate opens to the public in an effort to increase tourism. By 2002, the estate will draw nearly one million visitors annually.
