09/12/2024
On September 12, 1927, eighty-five students enrolled at Buncombe County Junior College, the predecessor to the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
The General Assembly approved state support for the college in 1955, and when the same body provided for the community college system in 1957, Asheville-Biltmore College was the first institution to qualify as a state-supported community college. By 1958 the college, with the help of community leaders, launched a development campaign that eventually gave the institution the financial backing to purchase a 157-acre tract of land on the north side of town and to construct seven buildings there.
The campus officially moved to the site in 1961. At the recommendation of the Governor’s Commission on Education Beyond High School, Asheville-Biltmore College became a four-year state college on July 1, 1963. Exactly six years later, the college became a part of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, adopting its current name, the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The campus, still in its scenic North Asheville location, now encompasses 265 acres.
Marker located in Asheville, NC: https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/01/22/university-nc-asheville-p-56
