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1880
After the railroad came in 1880, mills and factories lined the river
After the first railroads reached Asheville in October 1880, industries began to locate along the French Broad River. The two-story Cotton Mill building, where denim and flannel were made, was built in 1887. Moses and Caesar Cone took over the factory in 1893 and renamed it Asheville Cotton Mills. Cone Mills closed the complex in 1953, and it stood empty for the next 40 years.
1916
A fire in 1915 and a flood in 1916 swept the riverside park away
The Asheville Electric Company created Riverside Park, with a carousel, a boat house and a movie screen that could only be viewed from a boat. A fire destroyed much of the park in 1915. In 1916 massive flooding swept away the watershed community, and owners moved to higher ground. Industries began leaving in the 1940s because of flooding.
The artists
Artists moved into the empty buildings and RiverLink worked to save them
Artists moved into abandoned buildings in the 1970s, and the non-profit RiverLink began working to save the buildings. Karen Cragnolin started RiverLink in 1987, and the plan of 1989 began the formal process. In 2012, 165 artists in 19 buildings opened their studios for the River Arts District Studio Stroll.
Over 140art studios in 16 buildings, as of 2010
1995
The Cotton Mill burned in 1995, and artists bought what remained in 2002
The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County bought the Cotton Mill complex in 1993. Most of the 122,000-square-foot building burned on April 2, 1995, in a fire determined to be arson. Eileen and Marty Black bought the remaining building in 2002, renovated it and moved into Cotton Mill Studios with other artists.
“...the key structure in the area's redevelopment”
Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County, on the Cotton Mill
Helene
Hurricane Helene flooded much of the district in September 2024
In late September 2024, Hurricane Helene triggered catastrophic flooding along the French Broad River and inundated much of the district. According to local reports, approximately 80% of its studios and buildings were damaged or destroyed. Volunteers came to salvage artworks and clean studios. Most businesses had reopened by the autumn of 2025.
Day 1, evening
It comes after Grove Arcade.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article River Arts District, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.