[4] Rankin was the six-time mayor of Asheville and chairman of the Buncombe County Commissioners for 22 consecutive years, plus two additional two terms.
He was a director of the Western North Carolina Railroad and a founder and president of the Asheville Power and Light street car company.
[1] His parents were Elizabeth Roadman and William D. Rankin, a prosperous merchant in Newport, Tennessee.
[1] They built a Greek Revival house that survives today in the Montford Area Historic District.
He joined Company G of North Carolina 7th Cavalry, or Woodfin's Battalion, on October 7, 1864, with the rank of First Lieutenant.
[3] After the Civil War, Rankin returned to Asheville and operated his father's mercantile business for twenty years.
[1][3] Rankin was an organizer of the Blue Ridge Building and Loan, serving as its president for thirty years.
[2] She was the daughter of William Michael Cocke, a congressman from Tennessee who moved to Asheville after the Civil War.
[24] On February 11, 1928, newspapers across North Carolina reported that Rankin had been ill for a week and was declining.
[26] Before his burial, Rankin was laid in state at the Buncombe County Courthouse where thousands came to pay their respects.
[28] In addition, the courthouse bell was rung 82 times in honor of the number of years that Rankin lived.
[28] A memorial service was presented in each of Asheville's public schools which were then dismissed so that the students could view his body; hundreds of schoolchildren came through the courthouse.
[28][1][11] Dr. John E. Calfee, president of the Asheville Normal School, presented a eulogy in Rankin's honor and dismissed the 3 p.m.
The Buncombe County Commissioners passed a resolution in his honor and ordered that a blank page be placed in the minutes in his memory.