Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail

The Legacy of E.W. and Annis Pearson in Asheville, North Carolina

 Black Asheville entrepreneurs and civic leaders like the Pearsons created social and economic opportunities for Black communities. Prior to integration, Black entrepreneurs and civic leaders created social and economic opportunities for Black communities. Spanish-American War veteran Edward Walton “E. W.” Pearson and his wife Annis Bradshaw Pearson established a legacy of Black enterprise in Asheville.

In 1912, the Pearsons developed Pearson Park subdivision, now the Burton Street neighborhood. They founded the Buncombe County and  District Colored Agricultural Fair in 1913. It hosted amusement rides and livestock, food, art, and handicraft competitions. They built Oates Park in this neighborhood in 1916 and formed Asheville’s first Black semi-professional baseball team. In the 1970s, as urban renewal displaced half of the Asheville Black population, Mrs. Pearson co-founded the Senior Opportunity Center, now Grove Street Community Center, and the Burton Street Senior Club.

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E.W. and Annis Pearson 

Park Views- Burton Street Community Center - The City Of Asheville, North Carolina 

“Plant early, dig in now! Plant and hoe, make that garden grow. Plant it, work it, day and night; So when the winter snow is falling, you will be sure to eat right.”

Civic leader and renaissance man Edward W. Pearson Sr. used this slogan when organizing the Buncombe County District Agricultural Fair, but it can also be applied to the neighborhood that blossomed from seeds he planted and the community center that occupies the building of the former Burton Street School.

Originally extending to Westwood Place, Pearson’s development was called Park View and consisted largely of rural, wooded lots. Many tenant farmers from the Carolinas and neighboring states relocated to Asheville to establish their own small family farms in Park View while working in construction, tourism, domestic housework, and other industries. The population increased and streets, churches, stores, and a school were built as a vibrant neighborhood came to life.

Pearson held the first Buncombe County District Agricultural Fair in 1913 in Pearson’s Park, located on Fayetteville Street. Black residents from throughout western North Carolina traveled to Asheville to participate in the fair, which grew to include parades, amusement rides, and games. He offered cash prizes for the best exhibits in agriculture, fair variety, canned fruits and jellies, baked goods, sewing and handicraft, and flower arrangements.

Aside from organizing the annual fair, Pearson in 1916 established the Royal Giants, a baseball team that played other semi-professional Black clubs from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia in Pearson’s Park and Oates Park in Southside. He also operated several businesses  including Mountain City Mutual Insurance Co. and Piedmont Shoe Co., a mail order shoe venture. His vision to improve the quality of life for the city’s Black community members included founding the first business league for Black businessmen in Asheville  and establishing the local chapter of NAACP.

He also operated E.W. Pearson Grocery Co., which included a big room for social meetings, Piccolo jukebox, pool table, and playground complete with swings, seesaws, and a merry-go-round. Throughout the year, the Pearson family hosted concerts and large gatherings for family members, friends, and neighbors at the store and their home located behind the store. Pearson played multiple instruments and would perform on Sundays with his three children.

After his father passed away in 1946, E.W. Pearson Jr. operated a music club named Blue Note Casino in the former store, located across the street from the current community center. 

Burton Street School

The current community center occupies a building erected in 1928. An earlier two-room building opened as Burton Street School on the same site in 1916 as an elementary branch of Buncombe County Schools (before West Asheville was annexed by Asheville in 1917); however, the tract of land dates to 1884 when it was transferred to the public school committee with the purpose of establishing a school for Black students. Hattie H. Love was an early teacher who later became principal and served as secretary of the NAACP state conference.

The original building accommodated about 120 pupils with the first three grades taught in the morning and fourth, fifth, and sixth grades taught in the afternoon. When the second building opened with four classrooms and an auditorium, lunch room, and library, students were able to attend all day. After Burton Street, most students went to Hill Street School for middle grades.

In 1950, Burton Street School began hosting recreation programs supervised by Isaiah Rice and Mrs. C. W. James including group singing, dramatics, games, and table games. The school closed as part of Asheville City Schools’ desegregation plan in 1965 and was deeded to the City of Asheville in 1977.

Neighbors, Not Borders, Define Community

In the late-1950s, construction of Smoky Park Bridge (now Capt. Jeffrey Bowen Bridge) allowed for the westward extension of Patton Avenue, cutting through woods and burying creeks and springs. Construction of I-240 in the 1960s bisected the community even further, creating dead end roads, eliminating houses, and completely isolating families who lived on Argyle Lane and other streets that had once been part of the neighborhood. However, Burton Street had been shaped by resiliency since it began and community connections endured.

On April 1, 1963, Pearson’s former store building became Burton Street Community Center. Pearson’s daughter Iola Byers was named as the center’s director and served that role until 1992. Known as “Miss Iola,” Byers was the first Black woman to become a deputy with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office and cared deeply about the community her father had established. She was never without fresh ideas for lively programs and entertainment.

As APR leveraged federal grants to expand services in the 1970s, the community center relocated to the 1928 school building which was renovated to include a kitchen, sewing room, fitness center, billiards room, meeting space, and accessible restrooms. After sitting vacant, the building was in need of a new roof, complete electrical rewiring, new doors and windows, and replacement of floors and walls in some rooms.

The building served as more than just a community center, acting as the site for neighborhood meetings, social gatherings, and safe space before the APR Afterschool program was established. “We have a lot of working mothers in this area,” Byers said in a 1983 Asheville Citizen-Times article. “Some of their children do their homework here. If necessary, if parents are late coming home, we stay here until they get home. We adjust to fit the need. One advantage of living and working in the same community is that you get to know problems or needs that otherwise you wouldn’t know about. We are a center of information; if I don’t know what to do, I can always contact somebody.”

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Collage Description 

Top l to r: 1924 photograph shows the interior of Pearson’s store and on the right, the family to whom he was devoted: from left to right, daughter Iola Pearson Byers, son Edward W. Pearson Jr., wife Annis Bradshaw Pearson, and daughter Annette Pearson Cotton; 

Pearson’s own property in Park View included land he designated as Pearson Park. There in 1914, Pearson organized the first Buncombe County District Colored Agricultural Fair. Held annually for many years, this fair brought Black residents from all over western North Carolina to enjoy amusement park rides and games and compete for cash prizes in many categories, from baked goods to flower arrangement. Below we see Pearson and his older daughter Annette at the fair of 1945. The last fair was held in 1947, the year after Pearson’s death.

Second row l to r: 

The exterior of the store shows it emblazoned with symbols of the fraternal organizations to which Pearson belonged He was a networker long before the term became fashionable, belonging to the Masons (a Grand Master), the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He organized and was first president of the Asheville branch of the NAACP. He organized the Mountain City Mutual Insurance Company and ran Piedmont Shoe Company, a mail order shoe business. Date not given: 

Because of enforced segregation laws Black citizens could not attend white only ball games. So Pearson organized Asheville’s first Black semi-professional baseball team, the Royal Giants-they played at Pearson Park and later at Oates Park on Southside, the Royal Giants played against other Black teams from surrounding states.

Left 2 bottom images: He sold real estate, working as an agent for R. B. Hayes, son of the US President, who lived briefly in Asheville.  Black residents of Asheville were eager to buy lots in Park View, Pearson’s subdivision for Blacks in West Asheville. A plat map of the subdivision shows the names of property owners, a Who’s Who of Black Asheville, from Dr. William G. Torrence who opened Asheville’s first Black hospital, to men and women listed as cooks and laborers in the 1915 Asheville City Directory.:

Pearson’s own property in Park View included land he designated as Pearson Park. There in 1914, Pearson organized the first Buncombe County District Colored Agricultural Fair. Held annually for many years, this fair brought Black residents from all over western North Carolina to enjoy amusement park rides and games and compete for cash prizes in many categories, from baked goods to flower arrangement.

Middle and right bottom photographs: Portraits of Edward W. Pearson, Sr. Left on from 1947, right one date not given. 

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Special Collections - The Buncombe Co Library

Posted by Betsy Murray - Friday, February 07, 2014 / Published in African Americans, Local Heroes and Heroines, Local History, New Donations, Woo-Woo Moments

A Valentine for E. W. Pearson, Sr.

Edward W. Pearson, Sr. was one of the most energetic and creative forces for positive change for the Black community that Asheville has ever known. From Pearson’s arrival in Asheville in 1906, until his death in 1946, he worked tirelessly to educate and bridge racists gaps for a better quality of life for his family and his community, which was stripped of all liberty to partake in the same livelihood as white Americans were provided.  

Facing many racial barriers he  advanced in a white made segregated society and when he saw obstacles, he found opportunities for himself and others. 

Pearson, a decorated veteran of the Spanish-American war, left school after fourth grade, but he took advantage of every opportunity to learn. He took correspondence courses in insurance, business, religion and law. A savvy business man, he operated a general store in front of his home in West Asheville.

A recent discovery by Pearson’s grandson Clifford Cotton II inspired me to write about E. W. Pearson.  Mr. Cotton has generously allowed the NC Collection to scan many photographs and documents that help bring his grandfather back to life for future generations.  A few weeks ago Mr. Cotton came to the NC Room to share a new discovery. While cleaning off a porch of his home, he experienced one of those Woo-Woo moments we’ve described here before. 

Four letters, somehow preserved in the “trash” on the porch, gave Mr. Cotton exciting new information about his grandfather and his mother Annette. 

The year was 1935. The Great Depression was lifting, but money was still very scarce, and Mr. Pearson could not afford the tuition for his daughter Annette’s second year at the North Carolina College for Negroes (now NC Central University), the nation’s first state-supported liberal arts college for African American students. 

The four letters between Mr. Pearson and College President Dr. James E. Shepard describe the creative solution the two men figured out for financing Annette’s further education. Mr. Pearson deeded 50 acres of land to the college to be held as security until he was able to pay the tuition bill.

The forum of our blog allows only the most superficial coverage of Mr. Pearson’s many accomplishments. Is there someone out there prepared to write The Book about the life of this inspiring man?

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Sources: West Asheville History dot org; Special Collections Buncombe Co. Library; Asheville Black Heritage Cultural Trail; City of Asheville, Park Views Burton Street Community Center