People and places of Buncombe County

Pack Square and Pack Library

Mary McPhail Standaert
Special to The Valley Echo

George Willis Pack and his wife Frances Farnan Pack moved  to Asheville from Cleveland, Ohio in 1883  and remained for 20 years. Moving to Asheville cured the throat problems of Frances Pack. 

George Pack made his fortune in the lumber business and donated generously to his new community including donations to the Vance Monument in Pack Square, land for a new courthouse, municipal parks and the purchase of the former First National Bank Building (castle–like building, far right) to house the city library, renamed Pack Library.

This location is now home to The Asheville Art Museum.

Courtesy of the Mary and Joe Standaert Postcard Collection