Harry Walter Plummer was born in Bangor, Maine on September 1, 1865. Plummer relocated to Asheville (Buncombe County) around 1897, where he served as head of the Asheville Power and Light Company (1911-1923) and president of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce (1911-1912). In late 1930, as the financial downturn of the Great Depression began to wreak havoc of municipal coffers, Plummer was named a city commissioner and then elected to serve as mayor of Asheville by his fellow board members. In May of the following year, he was named city manager, serving in that capacity until July. Upon his death, he was best remembered for stewarding Asheville through those trying financial years. He died in Asheville on May 8, 1941.