William Allen Dills was an American businessman and politician. He founded the town of Dillsboro, North Carolina, served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, and was the father of Gertrude Dills McKee, the first woman elected to the North Carolina State Senate. [1]
Dills was born around 1842 about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the town that holds his name. During the Civil War he was part of the Confederate Army. He was captured by Union troops and taken prisoner in Missouri. There he taught himself surveying and, upon his release, became a school teacher. In 1876, he returned to Jackson County and wed Alice Enloe. Alice gave him three daughters: Minnie Dills Gray (author of The History of Dillsboro); Gertrude; and Beulah Dills Weaver. [2]
In 1882, as the Murphy Branch railroad arrived, Dills built the first home in the area. [3] [2] His large house was on a hill overlooking Scott Creek and the Tuckasegee River. [3] The area's first post office was located in that house and Dills was its first postmaster. [2] Tunnel Post Office was named after the nearby Cowee Tunnel. [3] The home was the only spot travelers could find a place to stay in the area. North Carolina governor Zebulon Vance lodged there at one time. [2]
Dills owned most of the property that would become modern Dillsboro. He chose an area of his farm and set apart streets and lots. [2] The unincorporated village was called Depot, New Webster, and Webster Station. [3] Dills organized the community's first Sunday school in a depot waiting room until a church-academy could be completed on land he donated. That building later became the Masonic Lodge on Haywood Street. It was demolished around 1971. [2]
Around 1884, Dills built the historic Jarrett House. It was founded as the Mount Beulah Hotel, named after his daughter. Dills later built a home next door. [2] His earlier home on the hill was later occupied by industrialist Charles Joseph Harris and, by 2019, was the Riverwood Shops. [3]
Dills' daughter Gertrude was born in his home on June 8, 1885. In 1889, Dills was elected to state office and served in the North Carolina House of Representatives. That same year he introduced a bill resulting in Dillsboro's town charter. Railroad executive Alexander Boyd Andrews suggested the town be named Dillsboro. [2] With about 750 residents, Dillsboro was the largest non-county seat town in the state west of Asheville right before the turn of the century. [4] Dills died around 1900 and was buried in Parris Cemetery. [2]
Jackson County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43,109. Since 1913, its county seat has been Sylva, which replaced Webster. Cullowhee is the site of Western Carolina University (WCU). In the early 21st century, the university has more than 12,000 students, nearly twice the number of permanent residents of Cullowhee. The university has a strong influence in the region and county. More than 10 percent of the county residents identify as Native American, mostly Cherokee. The federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is based at Qualla Boundary, land that consists of territory in both Jackson and neighboring Swain County. This is the only federally recognized tribe in North Carolina, and one among three federally recognized Cherokee tribes nationally. The other two are based in what is now the state of Oklahoma, a former Indian Territory.
Haw River is a town in Alamance County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the population was 2,298.
Dillsboro is a town in Jackson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 213 at the 2020 census down from 232 at the 2010 census.
Sylva is an incorporated town located in central Jackson County, in the Plott Balsam Mountains of Western North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 2,588. It is the county seat, taking over the role from nearby Webster in 1913.
Webster is a town in Jackson County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 363, down from 486 in 2000.
Holly Springs is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 41,239, a 67% increase from 2010.
The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is a heritage and freight railroad based in Bryson City, North Carolina, United States. Originally formed in 1988, it is currently owned and operated by American Heritage Railways since late 1999. The GSMR operates excursion trains on the former Southern Railway's Murphy Branch between Dillsboro and Nantahala, North Carolina. The GSMR is one of the most popular tourist railroads in the United States, carrying 200,000 passengers each year.
Boggy Depot is a ghost town and Oklahoma State Park that was formerly a significant city in the Indian Territory. It grew as a vibrant and thriving town in present-day Atoka County, Oklahoma, United States, and became a major trading center on the Texas Road and the Butterfield Overland Mail route between Missouri and San Francisco. After the Civil War, when the MKT Railroad came through the area, it bypassed Boggy Depot and the town began a steady decline. It was soon replaced by Atoka as the chief city in the area. By the early 20th century, all that remained of the community was a sort of ghost town.
Chinquapin is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located adjacent to the Northeast Cape Fear River in Duplin County, North Carolina, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 86.
Glasston is a farming town located in Saint Thomas Township in North Dakota's Pembina County, United States. It consists of a post office, a general store, and a handful of houses. It was established in 1886 as a station along the Great Northern Railroad. Originally called Baltimore, the site was later renamed for Archibald Glass, its first postmaster. The population of the village has rarely exceeded 100 since it was established.
David McKee Hall was a Representative from North Carolina. He was born in Sylva, North Carolina. He attended the public schools in Jackson County, North Carolina, and then became a special student at the University of North Carolina, receiving a certificate of law in 1947 and a law degree in 1948. Hall was admitted to the bar in 1948 and commenced practice in Sylva. He served as attorney for the towns of Sylva, Dillsboro, Webster, and Jackson County; Then, in 1952 he was appointed to the Twentieth Judicial District Committee. He organized the Jackson County Savings & Loan Association and served as secretary; in 1953 organized Jackson County Industries, Inc., and served as president; member of the North Carolina Senate in the 1955 session; member of North Carolina Board of Water Commissioners 1955–1958; elected as a Democrat to the 86th United States Congress and served from January 3, 1959, until his death in Sylva, North Carolina on January 29, 1960; and was interred in Webster Methodist Church Cemetery in Webster, North Carolina.
Wrights, California is a ghost town in unincorporated west Santa Clara County, California. It is located near Summit Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains, on the north bank of Los Gatos Creek, east of State Route 17.
Ercildoun, population about 100, is an unincorporated community in East Fallowfield Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The hamlet was founded by Quakers and was an early center of the abolitionist movement. In 1985 the entire hamlet, including 31 properties, was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Of these properties two were vacant land, 14 were significant buildings, ten were contributing buildings, and five buildings, built in the 1950s, were non-contributing. The Lukens Pierce House, an octagon house listed separately on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, is located about half a mile northwest of the hamlet. Ercildoun is one of about ten hamlets in the township, which has no cities or towns, but has 31 sites listed on the National Register. It is one of the larger hamlets, located near the center of the township, and historically among the best known. The city of Coatesville is about 3 miles north.
A Mississippi Landmark is a building officially nominated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and approved by each county's chancery clerk. The Mississippi Landmark designation is the highest form of recognition bestowed on properties by the state of Mississippi, and designated properties are protected from changes that may alter the property's historic character. Currently there are 890 designated landmarks in the state. Mississippi Landmarks are spread out between eighty-one of Mississippi's eighty-two counties; only Issaquena County has no such landmarks.
Comyn is an unincorporated community located in Comanche County in Central Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, it had a population of 40 in 2000.
The Jarrett House is a historic hotel and restaurant located near the intersection of US Highways 23 and 441 in Dillsboro, Jackson County, North Carolina.
Savannah is an unincorporated community in Jackson County, North Carolina, United States. Savannah is located along North Carolina Highway 116 and US 441, south of Dillsboro and southeast of Webster. It has its own fire department, a community center, businesses lining US 441 and NC 116, and little else except homes.
Gertrude Dills McKee was an American civic leader and politician from North Carolina. She was the first woman elected to the North Carolina State Senate.
Charles Joseph Harris was an industrialist who contributed heavily to the development of Jackson County and Western North Carolina from the late 19th century into the 20th century.