Vance Monument

Vance Monument
The monument in July 2012
Artist	Richard Sharp Smith
Year	1898
Medium	Granite
Subject	Zebulon Vance
Dimensions	2,300 cm × 430 cm × 430 cm (75 ft × 14 ft × 14 ft)
Designation	National Register Historic District key structure
Condition	Demolished, May 2021
Location	Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.
Coordinates	35°35′42.3″N 82°33′5.3″W / 35.595083°N 82.551472°W / 35.595083; -82.551472

The Vance Monument was a late 19th-century granite obelisk in Asheville, North Carolina, that memorialized Zebulon Vance, a former North Carolina governor from the area.^[1] The monument was designed by architect Richard Sharp Smith and was an "iconic landmark" and key structure in the Downtown Asheville Historic District.^[2][3] Smith was the supervising architect for George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate and the leading architect of the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He donated his services to design the monument, which was a project envisioned by community leaders.

The Vance Monument was mostly funded by George Willis Pack, a New Yorker who had recently moved to Asheville. Other contributors included Jewish organizations and politicians and businesses from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Massachusetts. In addition to serving three terms as governor of North Carolina, Vance was a United States Congressman before the Civil War and a United States senator from 1880 until he died in 1894. The project's donors reflected Vance's influence and reach as both a politician and popular speaker of the era.

In the early 21st century, the monument became increasingly controversial because of its association with Vance, a former slave owner. The monument was removed by the City of Asheville in May 2021.^[4]