Young Men's Institute [1]
Young Men's Institute
by Raymond Gavins, 2006 University of North Carolina at Asheville [2]. " class="caption" src="/sites/default/files//YMI_0.jpg" style="float: right;" title="Young Men's Institute, built 1892. Image courtesy of D. H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville. " />
The Young Men's Institute [3] in Asheville [4], backed by businessman and philanthropist George W. Vanderbilt [5], opened in 1893 as a community center for black construction workers at his Biltmore House and Asheville's increasingly segregated African American [6] citizens. By 1906 a black-led supervisory committee had assumed ownership of the center's building. The large brick structure provided blacks with space for a wide variety of business, civic, educational, religious, and social activities until 1977, when it closed. The Young Men's Institute building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places [7].
References:
Catherine W. Bishir, Michael T. Southern, and Jennifer F. Martin, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina (1999).
H. G. Jones, North Carolina Illustrated, 1524-1984 (1983).
Sydney Nathans, The Quest for Progress: The Way We Lived in North Carolina, 1870-1920 (1983).
Additional Resources:
Young Men's Institute, NC Historical Marker P-88, NC Office of Archives & History: http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?sp=Markers&k=Markers&sv=P-88 [3]
Young Men's Institute, National Register of Historic Places, Nationional Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/asheville/you.htm [8]
Young Men's Institute, Western North Carolina Heritage Center: http://heritagewnc.org/historic_register_sites/young_mens_institute/young_mens_institute_building.htm [2]
Image of the building, NCSU Libraries: http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/buch0052 [9]
Richard Sharp Smith, Designer of Building, NCSU Libraries: http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000100 [10]
YMI Building, Image Collection, NCSU Libraries: http://images.lib.ncsu.edu/luna/servlet/view/all/what/Young+Men%27s+Institute+%28Asheville,+N.C.%29/where/United+States+--+North+Carolina+--+Buncombe+County+--+Asheville?os=0&pgs=50&sort=Division%2BSequence%2BNumber%252CPageSequenceNumber%252CFilename%252CTitle [11]
Image Credit:
Young Men's Institute, built 1892. Image courtesy of D. H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville. Available from http://heritagewnc.org/historic_register_sites/young_mens_institute/young_mens_institute_building.htm [2] (accessed August 29, 2012).
1 January 2006 | Gavins, Raymond
