Downtown in the Early Years

The focal point of downtown Brevard is the intersection of Main and Broad Streets. When discussing buildings and events, people often describe them as being on East or West Main (divided by Broad Street) or North and South Broad (divided by Main Street). The four corners of the intersection are anchored by the Courthouse, O.P. Taylor's toy store, Beverly Hanks Realty (the former Aethelwold Hotel), and Number 7 Arts (in the McMinn Building).

West Main Street

If you stand in the center of the intersection of Main & Broad and look west, you'll be looking down a hill towards Caldwell Street. Past Caldwell, on your left, you'll see the Co-Ed Cinema, City Hall, and the Post Office before the road continues into neighborhoods in the distance.

Taken around 1886, this enhanced and colorized photo shows West Main Street with some stores on the south side (left) and the home of Nathan McMinn on the right. The grade of the road hasn't changed much. The men in the photograph are Jim Paxton, Wait Gash and Alexander England.

This is the same view of West Main, showing what it looked like in the early 1900's. On the left, you can see the space that later became Times Arcade Alley. There are two stores on the left. The first belonged to Emma Bagwell, and the second was the Phillips Bakery. The tall building in the trees to the right is the Clayton Hotel, located at the northwest corner of Main and Caldwell. This photo was colorized for clarity.

Moving back to the intersection with Main & Broad, this colorized photo of West Main Street shows a store on the left on the land presently occupied by O.P. Taylor's toy store. Across the street is the McMinn Building. If you look closely through the trees, you can see some of the upper porch of the home that belonged to McMinn. There are more photos in the chapter about the McMinn Building.

By the time the 1940s came around, Brevard had changed quite a bit. This colorized photo was taken in 1940-1942 from the courthouse at Main and Broad. The building on the left is where O.P. Taylor's is today (you can see the angled doorway). The various shops and other properties will be discussed later in this book.

East Main Street

East Main Street's businesses run from Broad Street (by the courthouse) to a little past Johnson Street. While the courthouse property has always been used for the courthouse, other buildings have seen many tenants over the years. The Aethelwold Hotel used to occupy the large structure on the southeast corner of Main & Broad, but it now houses a realty office at street level and apartments above. Most spaces on both sides of the street between the courthouse/hotel and Johnston Street have been used for retail stores. Further (looking east) down East Main Street, the Franklin Hotel used to be on the property currently occupied by the Brevard Davidson River Presbyterian Church. The hotel was built on the highest point in Brevard and was surrounded by an 80-acre park. It had 100 rooms and was a popular place for tourists to stay in the summers. The Toxaway Company built it - the same people who built the railroad running from Hendersonville. As part of a deal to secure funding from the town, it went through Brevard, through Rosman and on to Lake Toxaway.

This photo, taken of a parade on East Main Street in 1952, looks east from the south side of the road – likely from the hotel. It shows the stores for Shulman's (currently Sully's Steamers), Dixie Home, and Pearlman's on the north side of Main Street. The Brevard Jewelry store to the right was on the first floor of the hotel.

South Broad Street

Broad Street south of Main Street has mostly shops until it reaches Jordan Street – only a single city block. After that, there is a bank and various businesses in separate buildings. South Broad extends south until it turns and becomes Highway 64 heading to Rosman. There are a few government buildings, the County Library, and a city park along this stretch of road.

This 1937 photo shows South Broad Street looking northeast, probably from a location close to present-day Rocky's. The building across the street is the Aethelwold Hotel (EMS11). Note the portico over the Broad Street entrance to the hotel lobby. The portico was later removed and has never been rebuilt. Enhanced and colorized.

Taken around 1950 and colorized, this is South Broad Street looking north from Jordan Street. On the left, you can see the building currently housing Rocky's Corner Market and Rocky's Grill and Soda Shop. Most of the buildings look pretty much the same in 2025, except for the Amoco gas station on the right. Today, that location is the home of Quixote's restaurant and a small plaza with outdoor seating and shops. The grill just past Rocky's brick building is the location of todays Bracken Mountain Bakery.

Photo Credits

Unless otherwise noted, all photos Courtesy of the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library
Present-day (2024-2026) photos were taken by the author.

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