The winter of 1895 was quite unusual across the United States. Florida’s deep freeze wiped out most of the citrus groves. The weather alternated between unusually warm periods with intermittent extreme winter storms and deep snowfalls. The Asheville winter was particularly harsh. What occurred on February 16th of that year was extraordinary. George Willis Pack, a Cleveland Ohio based lumber tycoon with a fondness for Asheville, sent a dispatch to Asheville’s mayor that included the following instructions:
“Do your citizens need help on account of the severe weather? If so, draw on me for such amount as you think proper.”
According to John Turk, an Asheville tour guide and Professor Emeritus, at Youngstown State University, for anyone who knew Pack, this act of generosity would have come as no surprise.
In 1884, George Pack’s wife traveled to Asheville hoping that its helpful climate would ease her respiratory difficulties. She experienced a marked improvement in her health. Like many others who visited Asheville her husband developed a strong attraction to what he considered a mountain paradise.—one ripe for growth. However, initially boarding at one of the city’s finer establishments, the Swannanoa Hotel, what they experienced was not quite up to their personal standards—which included a lack of indoor plumbing. So, Pack had a residence built on Merrimon Avenue for use during return trips to the city. It was not your typical vacation home. Manyoaks was one of Asheville’s largest estates. Then he began purchasing land and property, investing heavily in the development of the downtown and surrounding areas of his adopted city, often referring to himself as an Ashevillian.
Pack established a free kindergarten for Asheville, donating the cost of the land and building as well as funding the teacher’s salary. He donated prime real estate for a new Asheville courthouse and to expand the city’s central square. He donated the building for the Public Library. For more than twenty years, he continued to contribute to the betterment of Asheville, providing financial aid for city hospitals, the YMCA, orphans and widows, and veterans’ organizations. He also deeded land for three city parks. His gifts were often provided by means of a brief note to city officials. His gifts “were always timely and of an enduring value.” The Asheville Citizen newspaper in 1901 wrote:
“We salute George W. Pack! If heaven has vouchsafed to any community a better citizen, the fame of him has not reached these parts.”
However, despite his fondness for Asheville, Pack continued to maintain his permanent residence in Cleveland. And around 1900, he and his wife moved to a shore-side residence located on Southampton Long Island at the advice of doctors who recommended a move to sea level due to Pack’s failing heart. After the move, he never returned to the mountain city he had adopted, and on August 31, 1906, Asheville’s greatest philanthropist died.
