Agriculture

From 1920 to 1930, agriculture is still the primary source of income for the county.  The majority of the population still lives on farms. But more and more people are moving to the textile towns of East Flat Rock, Tuxedo and Balfour, and to the city of Hendersonville, as employment opportunities open there during the economic boom of the 1920s.
Farmers are using the railroad to ship their crops out of the county. The main commercial crops were vegetables. The No. 1 crop still rotated between cabbage and beans, of many varieties. The major fruit crops were peaches, grapes, strawberries and pears, followed by apples.
Farmers were still raising and selling hogs as the primary livestock. Some farmers began raising beef cattle to sell the meat to meat markets.
Poultry and dairy production continued to rise dramatically.
In 1922, Frank FitzSimons wrote a letter to the editor to the Hendersonville newspaper proposing a central marketing location for local farmers. He envisioned an area of commerce set up along the curb of a downtown street, a place for housewives to shop and farmers to sell the ”truck crops” grown on their farms.
This was the beginning of the historic Henderson County Curb Market.
The market opened in 1924.
For more information, visit: www.curbmarket.com
The Henderson County Farm Bureau also began in 1924. The bureau at this time was primarily a cooperative buying group for farm necessities, such as fertilizer.
The N.C. Cooperative Extension Service agents continued their work with the county’s farmers and agriculture teachers began entering the public school system.

 Business

The economic prosperity brought huge growth to the towns of Hendersonville and East Flat Rock during the 1920s.
There were four banks in Henderson County during the 1920s. Three were in Hendersonville and the fourth was the Fletcher Bank. The three Hendersonville banks were the First Bank and Trust Co., which also had a branch bank in East Flat Rock; the Citizens National Bank; and the American Bank and Trust.
With the economic prosperity since 1900 and the land boom that began with the arrival of the railroad, bringing many summer residents, primarily from Florida during this time, there were 89 real estate agencies and four land developers. Increasing land values reached a peak in 1925 and 1926.
By 1926, businesses included the Chero-Cola Bottling Co., (Chero-Cola and Nehi) and a Coca-Cola Bottling Co., ice companies supplying ice for “ice boxes” and businesses selling the new electric refrigerators and washing machines.
There were numerous building supply companies, selling everything from hardware, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, painting supplies, sheet metal, concrete and other building supplies, including several lumber companies. Numerous painters, plumbers, electricians, paper hangers, interior decorators and tile plasterers were listed, including one person who specialized in skylights.
There were print shops, sign companies and coal and wood companies.
Five pharmacies and drug companies were located in the county – Rose, Justus, Jackson, Hunters, Wilson, Turlington and Peden. Two candy stores were in town, two book and stationary stores, art supply stores, barber shops, beauty parlors, furniture dealers, jewelers, a florist, two undertakers and 10 laundries and/or dry cleaners. There were several moving and packing companies.
There were clothing stores, milliner stores and department stores, such as Lewis Department Store, Patterson Department Store and Brenner-Penny Co. Two “five and 10 cent” stores were listed.
Numerous garages and service stations were scattered throughout the county for the “new” automobiles. Car dealerships totaled 13 and there were taxi services. There was also a bicycle dealer and repair shop. But, there were still blacksmiths, wheel wrights, dray companies and livery stables.
Two “motion picture houses” were in Hendersonville and the AMC Music Co. sold musical instruments and the “talking machines.”
Numerous architects, landscape architects, investment firms, accountants, and advertising agencies were in the county, a total of 21 attorneys, 16 physicians and surgeons and one veterinary surgeon.
There was an Army and Sporting Goods Store named Bradley Bros. and two sporting goods stores – Sherman’s and Solomon’s.
A total of 73 boarding houses and 15 hotels were scattered throughout the county. Four “eating houses” and 15 restaurants were listed, with three of those restaurants in East Flat Rock.
There were meat packers, 40 groceries including a Piggly Wiggly and the Stepp and Walker Store in East Flat Rock, and the Hendersonville Fish and Oyster Co.