Editing Dillsboro, North Carolina (section)

==History==
Dillsboro was founded when the Murphy Branch Railroad came to the area in the 1880s. In 1882, the first post office in the area opened. Called the Tunnel Post Office, it was named after the nearby [[Cowee Tunnel]]. In 1882, the postmaster, [[William Allen Dills]], built a large home on a hill overlooking the [[Tuckasegee River]],<ref name="scott">{{cite book
  | last = Dickson
  | first = Scott
  | title = In Search of Mayberry
  | publisher = Parkway Publishers, Inc.
  | year = 2005
  | location = Boone, North Carolina
  | pages = 1
  | isbn = 1-887905-98-7
  }}</ref> later the home of [[Charles Joseph Harris]] and now The Riverwood Shops. The unincorporated village was called Depot, New Webster, and Webster Station until the state legislature had its name officially changed to Dillsboro when the village was incorporated as a town in 1889 to honor William Allen Dills, the town's founder<ref name="scott"/> (another source names [[George W. Dill]], an early settler.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n105 106]}}</ref>) Railroad executive [[Alexander Boyd Andrews]] suggested the town be named Dillsboro.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Hotaling |first=Lynn |date=2019-02-27 |title=Dills laid foundation of much of early county history |url=https://www.thesylvaherald.com/news/article_4bdc8ea8-3aa8-11e9-8587-63748a699041.html |access-date=2024-10-07 |work=[[The Sylva Herald and Ruralite]]}}</ref>
[[File:The_Riverwood_Shops_in_Dillsboro,_North_Carolina,_was_once_the_first_house_in_the_town.jpg|left|thumb|The first house in Dillsboro was home to William Dills and C.J. Harris. Today it is Riverwood Shops.]]
One of the oldest buildings in the town dates to the 1870s, before the town was officially founded. As of 2024, it serves as a barber shop. The building is one floor and was built on Front Street when the town was largely farmland. Around 1884, the historic [[The Jarrett House|Jarrett House]] hotel was constructed by Dills.<ref name="nrhpinv">{{Cite web |author=Michael Ann Williams |date=October 1983 |title=Mount Beulah Hotel |url=https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/JK0010.pdf |accessdate=2015-01-01 |work=National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory |publisher=North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office |format=pdf}}</ref> In a relatively short time period, Dillsboro became a thriving town; by 1888, it was the most important town on the Murphy Branch of the Southern Railway in the areas of Industry, with two sawmills, two clay mines, a locust pin company, a [[corundum]] crushing plant, a chestnut pole yard, a chestnut corkwood yard, two [[livery stable]]s, six [[general stores]], a large hotel, and a shoemaker.
[[File:The Jarrett House in Dillsboro, N.C., also known as Mount Beulah Hotel.jpg|left|thumb|[[The Jarrett House]] in 2024]]
A rivalry existed between [[Sylva, North Carolina|Sylva]] and Dillsboro in their early days, as the efforts of one town were matched by the other, and the two towns were very much alike, and the same distance from the then-county seat of [[Webster, North Carolina|Webster]]. But a flood in 1894 ended the milling operations of the [[Blue Ridge Lumber Company]], and near the turn of the century, two back-to-back floods at a [[tannery]] construction site in Dillsboro caused owner C.J. Harris to move the factory to the present site of the Jackson Paper Plant in Sylva. Around 1899, Dillsboro was the most-populated non-county seat town in the state west of [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]] with about 750 residents.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.dillsboronc.info/government/town-history/ |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=Dillsboro, North Carolina}}</ref>
[[File:Aerial_photo_of_downtown_Dillsboro,_North_Carolina,_in_Jackson_County_01.jpg|thumb|Aerial photo of downtown Dillsboro]]
Dillsboro's population has declined over the years, mostly due to little new housing being built in town limits and the fact that many homes are now shops in the downtown area. Since 1975, when Wade W. Wilson became mayor due to many write-in votes, Dillsboro has made a successful effort to restore many older buildings in the town to their original appearance.

In 2012, the Dillsboro Dam and Powerhouse were demolished to restore the [[Tuckasegee River]]'s ecosystem.<ref>[http://www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/6939-tuckasegee-river-revival-demolition-of-dillsboro-dam-restores-aquatic-life Tuckasegee River revival: Demolition of Dillsboro dam restores aquatic life], ''Smoky Mountain News'' (retrieved July 3, 2014)</ref> Downtown Dillsboro was partially flooded in 2024 during [[Hurricane Helene]].

[[The Jarrett House]] and [[Elias Brendle Monteith House and Outbuildings]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

[[Gertrude Dills McKee]], first woman elected to the [[North Carolina State Senate]], was a native of Dillsboro; she was the daughter of William Allen Dills.<ref name="stoppingpoints.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.stoppingpoints.com/north-carolina/sights.cgi?marker=Gertrude+Dills+Mckee&cnty=Jackson|title=Gertrude Dills Mckee|work=Stopping Points Historical Markers & Points of Interest|access-date=September 9, 2015}}</ref>