Ashton Williams, Victoria Anderson, Charles Mayfield, Wilson Hughes, Samuel Jones, and Thomas Schmidt, these names are remembered today as the founders of Ashville. Their families have shaped Ashville’s history. And in this edition of our series on Ashville’s history, we will be covering those early years of our town’s history, from its founding up to 1923.
On April 12th, 1861, the American Civil War began, only 41 days later Ashville was founded. Over the next few years, its population would boom from only 41 to 283 by the 1870 census. A good portion of these initial settlers were fleeing west to avoid the Civil War. Seeing opportunity in this rapid growth, Ashton Williams organized the construction of dozens of homes, selling them to new arrivals and splitting the profits between the families that contributed to his efforts.
His forethought largely kickstarted the generational wealth of the founding families of Ashville, especially the Williams Family. During this period, they would use the money they’d made to open many of the businesses central to Ashville’s economy. With his share, Ashton would build Manor Williams on the mountainside overlooking town and open Williams Mining and Lumber. While many of these businesses would need to rebuild after the Great Fire of 1923, Williams Mining and Lumber stood unharmed. This cemented the Williams family’s political dynasty, as nobody else in town had the wealth or influence to unseat them.
For 62 years after its founding, Ashville would continue to grow steadily. Only with the Great Fire of 1923, which we will cover in the next part, did this trend stop. This first leg of Ashville’s history was largely an uneventful one, with little of note taking place. However, that would all change on March 28th, 1923.
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