EDITOR’S NOTE: Western North Carolina is weird – and it always has been. From Cherokee myths to Bigfoot and alien encounters, the Blue Ridge Mountains host the quirky and bizarre from past and present. We would not have it any other way, and neither would you. Join us in unfolding the histories and unraveling the mysteries of this strange land we call home.
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A Fortune 500 company called Asheville home from 1928 – 1985. With some 3,000 employees, the sprawling factory produced textiles including “artificial silk.” Today, only one beacon of the manufacturer’s greatness remains in W.N.C., the Enka clock tower, now almost 100 years old.
American Enka arrives
Around 1927, a Dutch firm was looking to expand with a rayon factory in the United States. Protectionist policies in America, instituted by President Calvin Coolidge, had added a hefty tariff to imported rayon, causing the Netherlands-based company to build a new plant in the New World.
Officially organized on May 1, 1928, American Enka, the Dutch company’s U.S. subsidiary, needed a factory to manufacture rayon. Known as “artificial silk,” rayon is primarily used in wearable textiles due to its soft, silk-like texture. While less commonly found in clothing today, the synthetic fabric was primarily used in dresses and shirts. Nylon and polyester supplanted rayon’s grip on the synthetic fabric market after World War II, although rayon can still be commonly found in blankets, medical bandages and tampons.
Land inspectors began a nationwide search for the perfect spot to set up shop. In late 1928, Asheville was selected from a list of 51 potential locations. Many reasons contributed to its selection including access to trains for transporting goods and access to a large, non-unionized workforce.
A cynical reading of Asheville’s selection comes from Asheville Junction. “When Dutch site-seekers came to Asheville, they were looking for land, waterpower, raw materials and rail- and water-transportation,” wrote David Whisnant. “They also sought, it turned out, cheap, non-union white labor, which the local Chamber of Commerce assured them was available in abundance, and could be had without ‘risk’ of having to hire Blacks as well.”
Most of the rest of Whisnant’s article attempts to inculcate American Enka in the sin of the Dutch slave trade which had been abolished more than a century before the company was founded. Asheville Junction’s attempts to discredit the factory’s achievements seem to be contradicted by the testimony of former employees and their children on this Facebook post with hundreds of positive comments.
When American Enka announced their plans to invest millions into an Asheville plant in 1928, the news was met with public delight. Only a year before the Great Depression, an economic downturn had already began affecting the South as land speculators toppled the value of property.
On the Asheville site, which sat around 7 miles from the downtown in Hominy Valley, American Enka bought 2,300 acres of farm and pastureland to build on, eventually using 72 acres for factory complexes. On it, they raised up several large manufacturing plants with two several hundred-foot-tall smokestacks, laid rails, connecting their factories directly to the Southern Railway and added a 139-foot-tall clock tower for good measure.
Over the decades, American Enka expanded both their Asheville operation and added new plants. Nylon production began in Asheville in 1953 and new plants were constructed in Tennessee, New England and California.
American Enka dominates
Asheville’s American Enka factory first fired up her engines in July 1929. In its first year of operation, the factory employed 1,900 people. At peak production, 3,000 employees worked at all hours of the day. A small town, known today as Enka Village on Orchard Street was constructed to house some of the employees. Those who did not live there mostly commuted using the extensive bussing service American Enka set up throughout Buncombe County.
At its peak, according to CNN’s Fortune 500 database, was ranked the 430th largest corporation in the nation, with an annual revenue of $59.7 million. According to Buncombe County Special Collections, American Enka was “the largest rayon manufacturing facility in the world.”
Despite choosing Asheville for its lack of unionized labor, on March 22, 1941, American Enka took a major hit as nearly 2,000 employees walked out. The Asheville Musuem of History connected this to other strikes that year, with some 2.5 million workers picketing outside their factories across the country.
After twelve days of protests, the United Textiles Workers Association, which represented more than two thirds of the rayon makers in Asheville, signed an agreement with American Enka on April 2. Of the conciliations, the manufacturing giant offered a five-cent hourly raise to all employees, about $1.10 today.
American Enka was unphased by the strike, remaining in Asheville for four more decades. Later employees seemed to have a positive relationship with the Dutch multi-national firm.
American Enka demolished
In 1985, American Enka sold the Asheville plant to BASF who continued to operate it through 2005 as a rayon manufacturing facility. By the early 2000’s, the aging infrastructure was beginning to become a liability.
Demolition of the remaining structures began in 2007. Many locals attended the explosion of the twin smokestacks, each two hundred feet tall. Work abruptly stopped afterwards, not to begin again for 15 years.
Plans for a new facility on the American Enka property began appearing in articles in 2019. At the time, Amazon was rumored to be the developer, supposedly looking to set up a distribution center in Asheville. The company never confirmed the line, and the current developer has denied working with the online sales giant.
New construction at the former rayon factory was approved in early 2023. “The three-building project would consist of industrial and warehousing space on 45 acres,” reported WLOS. Occupied by separate companies, the Enka Commerce Park would be built as a clean slate for whatever corporation would inhabit it.
Construction continues today around the historic clock tower, now approaching its centennial birthday. One factory appears to be mostly complete, although what will eventually be the parking lot is composed of dirt and acre-wide piles of downed trees. Dozens of construction vehicles dot the barren landscape.
As of writing, the 139-foot historic and iconic tower is standing high. Samet Corporation has reversed any previous plans for its removal, telling Asheville’s Answer Man, John Boyle, they promise to preserve it. In a separate article, Samet told Boyle that they plan to fix the masonry and remove graffiti on the lonely edifice. It will soon be towering over the employee parking lot.
Do you have a bizarre, weird or extraordinary story about Western North Carolina? Let us know by emailing jvander-weide@avlradio.com. Your tall tale could be the next Strangeville story.
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