Elbert Capers Chambers was born in Flat Creek (Buncombe County), North Carolina, on February 20, 1855. Chambers was a car dealer and coal supplier who served as a member of the Asheville board of aldermen (1901-1905), as interim mayor of Asheville, and as president of the Buncombe County Good Roads Association. He died in Asheville on March 20, 1936.