Grove Arcade Arts and Heritage Gallery Postcards and Ephemera, PC.7044

[Identification of item], PC.7044, Grove Arcade Arts and Heritage Gallery Postcards adn Ephemera, State Archives of North Carolina, Western Regional Archives, Asheville, NC, USA.

This collection contains postcards, brochures, exhibit ephemera, clippings and articles.

.25 cubic feet

The Grove Arcade in downtown Asheville was the brainchild of E.W. Grove, a self-made millionaire who moved to western North Carolina for its superior air quality. Around 1908, Grove, who made his fortune selling patent medicine - Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic and Grove's Laxative Bromo Quinine - began to develop E.W. Grove Park, an upscale neighborhood north of Asheville. It would be the site of his stately Grove Park Inn.

The astute businessman also had plans for downtown Asheville. In 1921, he purchased the thirty-five-year-old Battery Park Hotel. He razed the Queen Anne-style structure and leveled the hill upon which it stood. In its place a new modern high-rise hostelry of the same name was built.

Grove then set out to create a one-of-a-kind indoor marketplace to house specialty shops and merchants. The Grove Arcade would occupy two city blocks and become a commercial center. Sadly, E.W. Grove died in 1927, two years prior to its completion.

In 1942, the federal government purchased the building to house the General Accounting Office Postal Accounts Division, it then became the headquarters of the National Weather Records Center, later known as the National Climatic Data Center.

The non-profit Grove Arcade Public Market Foundation was created to guard the historical and architectural integrity of the remarkable ornate centerpiece of downtown Asheville. The organization's establishment coincided roughly with the federal government's move into a new building in 1995.

After an extensive renovation, the Grove Arcade was restored to its original purpose and reopened in 2002.

The Grove Arcade Arts and Heritage Gallery was a non-profit organization connected with the Grove Arcade Public Market Foundation. Its purpose was to increase visitation to the Grove Arcade and to promote local contemporary craft by interpreting its history and context. The gallery hosted many exhibits, book signings, concerts and classes.

Affected by a global economic downturn, the gallery closed in 2008.

Container Count

2 Boxes

The Grove Arcade Arts and Heritage Gallery Postcards and Ephemera collection was donated to the WRA in October 2021.