Hendersonville History

The Hendersonville Trolley Company, Inc.

History

History of Hendersonville and Henderson County

Henderson County was created by the N. C. Legislature in 1838 and was named for Judge Leonard Henderson, who was the Chief Justice of the N. C. Supreme Court. He died in 1833.

Fifty acres on Chinquapin Hill was deeded in 1841, by Judge Mitchell King, the largest individual landowner in the county. This gift stipulated that the county seat must be located on this hill, and it became the town of Hendersonville.

Main Street was laid out to be 100 feet wide, because Judge King said that an ox cart pulled by four yoke of oxen should be able to turn around in the street.

The first courthouse was built in 1841 but was torn down and replaced by the beautiful building on Main Street between First and Second Avenues which has become the symbol of the ‘heart’ of downtown.

As businesses started moving from downtown, it became obvious that leaders needed to revamp the Central Business District. From a design in Grand Junction, Colorado, a serpentine plan on Main Street was developed and completed in 1977. Our spectacular flower show that goes on ‘year-round’ is the envy of every small town in our state.

In 1995, a new courthouse was built on Grove Street to replace the one built in 1905. The old building sat empty for almost ten years. The newly renovated Historic Courthouse was reopened in April, 2008, as offices for the Board of Commisson and home to the HERITAGE MUSEUM, for the preservation of the history of Henderson County.

Trolley History

History of the Trolley System

In Hendersonville, NC

On January 25, 1890, a gentlemen named Col. Sidney Vance Pickens, was granted the first exclusive franchise to operate with any moving power on all streets of Hendersonville. The first was a small, closed car drawn over rails by mules, named Kitty and Beck, and a horse named Major. A five-cent maximum fare was set and schedules were to conform to the public interest. This mule drawn rail line closed in 1902.

There were many starts and stops for moving power in our town, and in 1921, A. A. McCall, who served as Mayor for two terms, received a grant to operate a trolley, so poles and trolley lines were installed, and ran from Main and Fifth to Laurel Park. This was a 25 horse-power steam locomotive which pulled a passenger coach and sometimes a flat car. It was later electrified when a steam power plant was erected on Fifth Avenue.

These early modes of transportation were later replaced around 1942, with gasoline-powered buses. After World War II and the lifting of wartime restrictions on the use of private automobiles, mass public transportation ceased to exist in Hendersonville until 2001.

Ref. A Partial History of Henderson County

James T. Fain, Jr., 1979

Our thanks to the Preservation Commission for supplying the above history. They can be reached at www.cityofhendersonville.org

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