Chall, into the light

6 Comments

1. 

   Ash January 10, 2009

   Thanks for the information, Cindy!

   Reply
2. 

   Cindy Visnich Weeks January 10, 2009

   Here is some historic info on the Glen Rock Hotel…

   The Glen Rock Hotel and other hotels were not the only businesses located near the passenger depot. This was a thriving commercial section in Asheville, with nearby businesses including restaurants, a poultry dressing plant, auto parts stores, boarding houses, wholesale grocers, the United States post office, machine shops, and storage warehouses. The street car line ran from the depot up Depot Street, carrying visitors to the center of town. The businesses along Depot Street and Southside Avenue served not only visitors, but the nearby African-American community which was located in the same area. Some of these businesses, lost now to urban renewal, were thriving in their own right, including the Booker T. Washington/James Keys Hotel which was built in the 1930s and featured such notable performers as Marion Anderson, Nat King Cole, Jackie Robinson, and County Basie.

   The Glen Rock Hotel was designed by prominent Asheville architect Henry Irven Gaines.City directories note that the building was under construction in 1930, but was fully operational by 1931, with the retail businesses including Finley Depot Drug Store, Atlanta Quick Lunch, The Tavern, McFee Jewelry, and Glen Rock Barber. From the mid-1930s through the mid-1940s, businesses in the Glen Rock Hotel included Mills Café, Davis Dry Goods, Finley Depot Dry Goods, Finley Drug, Atlantic Quick Lunch, The Watch Shop, Glen Rock Barber, the Pullman Company, ABC Cleaners, and Glen Rock Billiard Parlor. Many of these businesses remained in the 1950s, with some new businesses, Kneeburg’s Watch Repair, Rexall Drugs, and Lanes Clothing Store, replacing the older ones.

   -Cindy Weeks, Mountain Housing Opportunities

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3. 

   Back at you January 10, 2009

   That is really nice.

   Reply
4. 

   Ash January 9, 2009

   Rat: Photo was shot inside the old Glen Rock Hotel on Depot Street in Asheville.

   More here:
   http://www.mtnhousing.org/services/rental/developments/glen_rock.php

   Reply
5. 

   Julie January 9, 2009

   Always knew Chall was enlightened.

   Reply
6. 

   Rat January 9, 2009

   Where is that?

   Reply