ASHEVILLE, ash'vil. A city and county seat of Buncombe County, N. C., 262 miles by rail northeast of Atlanta, Ga.; at the junction of the Swannanoa and the French Broad rivers, and on the Southern Railway (Map: North Carolina, B 4). It is finely situated, at an elevation of 2300 feet in a mountainous region, and is widely celebrated as a health resort, both summer and winter. The city eontains a public library, Ashe ville Normal and Collegiate Institute, ningham Military School, Asheville School for Boys, Asheville College for Young Women, Ashe ville Academy of Fine Arts, and other edu cational institutions. The post - office and l7nited States Government building, county court-house, city ball, auditorium, and Bat tery Park Hotel are notable buildings, and additional points of interest are Overlook Park, Richmond Hill, Beaumont (grounds), Conally's View, and Swannanoa Drive along the river bank. Adjoining the city is the great Vanderbilt
estate, Biltmore. Asheville is in a region which has some mineral wealth and valuable timber, and is especially adapted to stock-raising, dairy ing., and general agriculture, as well as truck gardening and fruit-growing; it has become an important tobacco market and manufactures wagons, cars, agricultural implements, cotton goods, tanned leather, and tobacco. Settled in 172, Asheville was first incorporated about 1835. The government, under a revised charter of 1901, is vested in a mayor, biennially elected; a city council, chosen on a general ticket, and subor dinate officials, the majority of whom are either elected by the council or confirmed by that body upon nomination of the executive. The water works are owned and operated by the municipal ity. Population, in 1590, 10,235; in 1900, 14,694.