News

City PD seeks memorabilia to display at new headquarters

A 1978 Plymouth Grand Fury, in one of the historic photos Capt. Tracey Cox has collected.

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 28, 2021

The Hendersonville Police Department is seeking citizens assistance in providing old photographs, names and stories about the departments past.

Any photographs of officers, employees, vehicles, buildings, memorabilia, and other items are being sought to place in the halls of the new police department currently being erected on Ashe Street. The department does not need to the keep pictures. They can be scanned and returned.

The first town marshal, T.F. Freeman, was appointed in 1880. The first official location of the Hendersonville Police Department was on the back side of the original City Hall, located at Main Street and Fourth Avenue. That building was also the home of the Fire Department and served as an opera hall.

Structural issues led to the building's demolition in 1925, followed by the construction of the current City Hall at Fifth Avenue East and King Street in 1928. Again, the police and fire departments were housed together, with a city courtroom on the second floor and a jail on the fourth floor.

In the late '70s, the city acquired the old Times-News building on Sixth Avenue East. The building was originally shared with the water department, but in the early '90s the Police Department took the entire building. In 2003, a remodeling of City Hall took place and the Police department moved back into that building in 2004.

In 2017, the City needed room to expand its other operations located in City Hall, and the Police Department was also maxed out in space, so a plan to build a new police headquarters was launched. Construction began in the summer of 2020 with completion projected to be July or August of this year. The new building will be about 27,000 square feet and will have a large training room and space for for public functions.


For several years, Capt. Tracey Cox has been the unofficial department historian. Last year he began reaching out to former employees, spouses, and others who could provide more insights into the department’s history. Sorting through hundreds of pictures and other items, and researching library files, old newspapers, and several local history books, Cox has created a picture archive, some of which is documented on the City of Hendersonville’s website, Hendersonvillenc.gov, under the Police Department’s history page.

Pictures are being printed to glass and will be prominently displayed in the new police station. Any help from the public in providing photos and information would be greatly appreciated. If you have anything to submit, please contact Capt. Cox at 828-697-3038 or email tcox@HVLNC.gov