Enka was a planned mill village. The layout fostered a sense of community that Enka is remembered for having. Homes built by Enka housed workers and their families, who could rent the homes for $25 a month. They also had services like a post office, library, general store, and health center. Below, you can find maps and architectural drawings from Buncombe County Special Collections and Western Regional Archives that include information about the structure of Enka Village, the various resources and services provided to workers and their families, and the types of homes people lived in. The following maps are from 1928 through 1940.
Preliminary plan showing the village laid out in different sections from 1928.1
The map above was a preliminary plan for Enka Village. This drawing was meant to be one of the very first plans for the village. In the center is the community building and some planned business and commercial areas. Then to the right is a school playground. The rest includes a layout of the village, where the intended residential and commercial areas were to be located. The large space on the left was a “reservoir,” known then as Enka Lake, but now considered Biltmore Lake, within the subdivision of the same name. On the shore of Enka Lake sat the Enka Lake Club, the center of activities like parties, meetings, and more.2 It was also a place where those that worked for Enka and their families could come to swim at the lake. There were changing rooms with bathrooms, showers, and then a deck on the one side of the clubhouse.3 According to Dr. Beaver, who spent the first ten years of her life at Enka because her father worked there, said there was also a church located at the bottom of the hill on Sand Hill Road.4 She stated that she lived next to a minister who she believed worked at Enka Baptist Church. Dr. Beaver lived in the Enka Village as a child until her family moved to West Asheville when she was about 10 years old. Dr. Beaver eventually received her Ph.D. and became a professor at Appalachian State University in the Anthropology Department. She retired at the end of 2014 and has spent the last 7 years working on various projects, including participating in an Oral History Interview for this website (which you can read here).
Across the street from the shores of Enka Lake sat the homes of all the presidents and other officers. These were typically large homes with detailed exteriors. The blueprint below displays the house of J. Moritz, the President of the American Enka Plant. As seen here, he lived in a medium sized home across the street from Enka Lake on Lake Drive. Lake Drive was located right across an intersection that connected the plant and the neighborhood.5
Blueprint of the outside of the residence of Mr. Moritz.6
Typically, workers lived in houses with 5 or 6 room floor plans. Dr. Beaver lived in one of these many homes. “We had what I see now, was probably a little house. Two bedrooms and a dining room,” she said during the interview.7 The blueprint below displays the plan for a 5 room house.
Blueprint for one of the styles of company homes designed for workers.8
Some of the plans for the commercial buildings listed in the previous images can be seen in the below images.
Map showing the boundary lines of the community store which ran right along Sand Hill Rd.9
Architectural drawing circa 1931 showing the layout of the community store.10
Architectural drawing that shows the Enka Post Office and Library from 1931.11
Just over ten years after Enka’s construction, more architectural drawings of the village were completed, such as this one seen below. It includes a closer view into the layout of the community, with several of the prominent residential streets named in the drawing.
Drawing of the planned “first section” of Enka Village. It includes the planned company homes. In the middle of the drawing is Sand Hill Road, the street that ran through most of the village.12
Enka was traditional because it had the company housing, a store, and the village layout seen at various mill towns across the southern United States. It also provided a variety of services available for workers, similar to what is seen in many mill villages.13 Click on the button below for more information on these services.
- American Enka Corporation, Preliminary Plan of an Industrial Town, November 23, 1928, Buncombe County Special Collections.
- “Enka Lake Summer Activities,” Enka Voice, August 1932, 2, in private collection held by Becca Norris.
- Pat Beaver, interview by author, October 1, 2021, interview 1, transcript, Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC.
- Pat Beaver, interview by author, October 1, 2021, interview 1, transcript, Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC.
- American Enka Corporation. First Section Enka Village. [map]. 1×200. Asheville, NC: American Enka Corporation, 1940.
- William Waldo Dodge Jr., Residence Mr. Moritz American Enka Corporation, January 7, 1929, American Enka Company Architectural Drawings, Western Regional Archives.
- Pat Beaver, interview by author, October 1, 2021, interview 1, transcript, Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC.
- Lockwood Greene Engineers, Inc., 5 Room House Type No. 7, December 21, 1928, American Enka Company Architectural Drawings, Western Regional Archives.
- American Enka Corporation, Boundary Lines for Community Store, December 11, 1931, American Enka Company Architectural Drawings, Western Regional Archives.
- Key Map for Community Store, February 2, 1931, American Enka Company Architectural Drawings, Western Regional Archives.
- Proposed Layout For Post Office, January 16, 1931, American Enka Company Architectural Drawings, Western Regional Archives.
- American Enka Corporation, First Section Enka Village, December 21, 1940, Buncombe County Special Collections.
- Pat Beaver, interview by author, October 1, 2021, interview 1, transcript, Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Asheville, NC.
