Intersection of Art, Architecture, Industry and Parks in Western North Carolina from 19th Century to Present Day

By timeline07

  • Moses Cone born

    Cone born to parents Herman (Kahn) Cone and Helen Guggenheimer in Jonesboro, Tenn. His parents were of Jewish-German descent.

  • George Washington Vanderbilt II born

    George Washington Vanderbilt II born to William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam in Staten Island, NY

  • Claribel Cone born

    Claribel Cone born in Jonesboro, Tenn.

  • Henri Matisse born

    Matisse born in Le Cateau-Cambresis, France

  • Etta Cone born

    Etta Cone born in Jonesboro, Tenn.

  • Mose Cone and brother Ceasar acquire a newly formed textile mill C.E. Graham Manufacturing in Asheville

  • Biltmore Estate Construction Begins

    Vanderbilt commissioned the construction of the Biltmore Estate by Architects Richard Morris (house) and Frederick Law Olmsted (gardens)

  • Moses Cone and partners form the "Plaid Trust"

    To stabilize the production market of checks and plaids, Cone & Trust formed an Export&Commission Co. As marketers of Southern cloth mill-goods to South America they were in competition with Great Britain for the market (eventually capturing another 40 mills in an attempt to control market.)

  • Claribel Cone graduates from Women's Medical College in Baltimore, Md.

    The Cone Family moved to Baltimore, Md. where Herman Kahn opened a grocery store. Claribel Cone meets Gertrude Stein in medical school, and her brother Leo Stein. The Cone sisters would live on Eutaw Street for the next 50 years (when not traveling in Europe and Asia.) Etta Cone manages family affairs, but does not pursue a college degree. Moses Cone and his brother become traveling salesmen prior to starting their textile company.

  • Cones open a large cotton mill called Proximity in Greensboro, NC.

    The defunct steel mill converted to cotton mill will produce blue and brown denim. Cone became the biggest producer of denim fabric in the world. By 1900, he is supplying denim to Levi Strauss and Co, an relationship the Greensboro firm continues to this day as the International Textile Group.

  • Biltmore Estate Opens on Christmas Eve

  • Moses Cone builds Flat Top Manor in Blowing Rock, NC

    The mansion cost $25,000 and took two years to build.

  • Mose Cone donates $500 to develop Watagua Academy

    The largest donation ever received at time would lead to the eventual development of Appalachian State University

  • Cornelia Stuyvesant Dresser born

    Vanderbilt and wife Edith Stuyvesant Dresser's daughter Cornelia is born at Biltmore Estate

  • Vanderbilt provides financial assistance to Biltmore Industries

    Biltmore Industries is created to teach young people to make hand-made furniture, baskets, and homespun fabrics.

  • Cone sisters visit Gertrude Stein in Paris

    Stein introduces the Cones to Picasso and Matisse. The Cone sisters buy paintings of Picasso from Leo Stein for as little as $3 a piece.

  • Matisse receives notoriety as a fauvist

    In 1906, he meets Pablo Picasso for the first time at the salon of Gertrude Stein on Rue e Fleurus in Paris. The artists would become lifetime friends and rivals.

  • Moses Cone dies

    Cone dies at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, Md. He is buried on the grounds of the Flat Top Manor in Blowing Rock, NC.

  • George Washington Vanderbilt II dies

    His wife sells approximately 86,000 of Biltmore Property to US Forest Service at $5 an acre.

  • Claribel Cone dies

    Claribel Cone is buried at family mausoleum in Baltimore, Md.

  • Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC opens to the public

  • The Cone sisters gather one of the finest collections of modern French art in U.S.

    The Cone sisters collection grew to include Matisse's Large Reclining Nude, Paul Cezanne's Mont Saints-Victoire, as well as works by Van Gogh and Cezanne.

  • Nazis invade Paris, Matisse escapes to Nice

    When the Nazis occupy Paris from 1940-44, Matisse escapes to southern France, but in order to keep working must pledge Aryan status.

  • Biltmore Estate closes in World War II

    The estate closed during war, and artwork from National Gallery of Art transferred there.

  • Bertha Cone, wife of Moses, dies

    Bertha Cone bequeathed Flat Top Mansion to the Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, NC, and a few years later the estate was donated to the National Park Service and named Moses H. Cone Memorial Park.

  • Etta Cone dies

    Etta Cone is buried alongside sister in family mausoleum in Baltimore, Md. The Cone collection is donated to the Baltimore Museum of Art and consists of 3,000 works valued at over $1 billion.Etta Cone donated a portion of collection to the Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC including 67 Matisse prints and six Matisse bronze statues.

  • Henri Matisse dies

    The artist is buried in Nice, France. His designs for the Chapelle due Rosaire de Vence including windows and doors using the cut-out method is installed in 1949. The largest Matisse cutout exhibition is held at the Tate Museum in London in 2014.

  • Biltmore opens first of four restaurants

  • Biltmore winery opens

  • Biltmore opens first 210-room inn

    Today the privately-owned Biltmore trust is one of the largest employers in Asheville, NC.