The front section of this one-story brick commercial building with an angled entrance at the northeast corner was rebuilt around 1954. The façade contains double-leaf wood doors and a large three-part aluminum-frame window that comprises much of the front wall. The upper section of the façade contains a panel with a decorative basket-weave brick pattern. A modern partition has been erected on the interior dividing the building into two spaces, with a second entrance added to the west wall. The rear block of the building, which dates to the 1930s or 40s, was built for automobile repair and the garage bay is accessed from Brevard Road.

A building has stood at this location since the 1910s, originally housing a grocery. In the late 1920s, the OK Lunch Room, along with Dowtin’s Bakery, operated from this location, but by the mid-1930s they had been replaced by Atkins Service Station. In 1948, Standard Lunch, an establishment owned by Harry Atkins and operated by Homer Smith at this location, was closed by the county in an effort “to drive booze and gambling from the city” according the Asheville Citizen-Times (August 11, 1948). The property stood vacant for several years before reopening as a branch of Bon Ton Cleaners in 1954. The Steak House Restaurant operated from this location in the mid-1950s, followed by Hazel’s Grill and the J&R Grill in the late 1950s and early 60s. Mayflower Cleaners opened in a part of the building beginning in 1956, and by 1965 was the sole tenant.

“Bon Ton Cleaners, 732 Haywood Road. Ca. 1954,” West Asheville End of Car Line Historic District, National Register of Historic Places. Nomination by Clay Griffith.

Bon Ton Cleaners – Opened 1947

Published September 2024.