What Started It All....An Abridged History of RHSC

Once upon a time,  there was a group of Native Americans, the Catawba Indians, who inhabited a large amount of land of what we know as present day York County. They were here for a hella long time, centuries before European settlers came here. They had trading paths up and down the east coast and were one of the larger tribes in the Carolinas.

In 1701 this dude John Lawson came over from England to survey what is now North and South Carolina. He started in Charleston and soon found his way to the 803 through the kick ass rivers that South Carolina has. He encountered the Catawbas and made nice with them.

Catawba Indian Village
oldhalifax.org

After he ended up telling everyone how great and fertile this area of the 'new world' was, droves of people flocked here from the North (typical). Most were Scotch-Irish, but there were Welsh, Germans, and Frenchies and some came from Charleston.

So were at about 1720-ish right now and people are pretty happy with the piedmont. One problem. They don't really OWN the land they are living, cultivating, and having a hell of a good time on. So, the Catawbas start leasing their land to the settlers. If you're wondering why the Catawba Indians all live together right near the mall....this is why. They end up leasing a big-ass amount of their land out.
The governor at the time made a law that limited the area of land that people could lease from, which left the Catawbas with about 30 square miles of land...which went down to 15 square miles by 1760. Cool.
In 1840 the land was officially sold to the State of SC...with a few stipulations.

It is important to note that the Catawbas and the settlers in York County got along pretty well. During the Revolutionary War, they helped out a ton. They knew their way around the forests and were true warriors. Although I just said the Catawbas and settlers were BFF (almost pilgrims and Indians like), I do need to add that one of the largest reasons that the Catawbas were so quick to aid the war was that the settlers told them the BRITISH were coming to take THEIR land away.....hmm. I thought that already happened.

Battle of Huck's Defeat
sciway2.net

Anyways, back to the Revolutionary War....It happened here. Like a lot of it happened in this area. SC had the largest number of battles. Cool, right? Battle of Huck's Defeat in July of 1780 happened basically in Rock Hill's backyard and was one of the first major wins for the colonists.
Long story short, the British lost. South Carolina became a state and civilization started to form around what we know as Rock Hill.

You know Ebenezer Road? That was Ebenzerville, a small village that was incorporated into Rock Hill proper in the 19th century.

Shit stayed the same really until about 1840. That's when Rock Hill became a big deal and started to become the city we know and love. Unfortunately, Rock Hillians of bygone eras weren't able to enjoy the delicacies of Wing King (or Wing Bonz now...wtf does that even mean?) or PW's like we can. They stuck to whatever people were growing/killing.
This is about the time too that locomotives started becoming the 'it-thing.' Sorry, horses. Or not? Less human bullshit to put up with. They wanted to build a railway line from Charlotte to Columbia...two major cities in the southeast. Yeah, at one time Columbia was pretty sweet. Then Sherman came along, dick.

Railroad map c. 1896

The people of Ebenezerville were pissed that the trains were coming because it was going to be loud....yeah. So,  tracks were being placed far enough away to please them, AKA the core of the Thrill.
It was around this time too that major players in Rock Hill history made their debut. George Pendleton White (White Homestead, downtown), Alexander Templeton Black and J. Lawrence Moore all owned a substantial amount of land to the railway companies. Smart men, great investment. They made beaucoups of money.

By the beginning of the 1850's, the Charlotte, Columbia & Augusta Railway and the Chicago, Cincinnati & Charleston Railways had depots smack dab in the middle of 29732. The trains that passed through came bearing gifts, and so people started setting up shop around the depots so they could get their shit easier. You could probably figure out that this is about the time that downtown starts becoming downtown.

Here we are...1852. The founding of Rock Hill. Its birthday is actually April 17th, the opening of the post office. So, if you need a reason to go get shitfaced at Pub House on April 17th (but do you really need a reason?) tell people you're celebrating the birfday of the best city in South Carolina.

This is actually a cute and a totally TRH story. When the area around the railroad started to grow, they were like, 'what shall we call this town?' Laurence Moore, the dude I mentioned, before said "Rock Hill." This was because there was a ROCKY HILL near the area. Really? So, if you were wondering why it's called Rock Hill....it's because there was a fucking mound of rocks on a hill.

The Civil War really shitted on that mound of rocks on a hill, as it did on the whole south. Tons of men were killed and the desolate situation that Rock Hill was in really did not help the growth. Rock Hill was super important though because it was a stop on one of the few railroads the south had access to. Jefferson Davis even passed through Rock Hill and stayed in Fort Mill during his flight through the south when he fled Richmond.

The Civil War ended (thank god) and reconstruction began. Between about 1865 and 1910 Rock Hill's population EXPLODED and reached 7,215 people. OVER 7000 PEOPLE. HOLY SHIT, Y'ALL. THAT'S LIKE NORTHWESTERN CLASSES OF 2004, 2005, 2006 AND 2007 COMBINED. Railroads also meant industrialization. Turn of the century was when the cotton mills downtown were built and brought workers in.

RIP!

Winthrop was founded in 1886 as a women's college. A college in the city? It must be legit now, right? It is. These were Rock Hill's glory days. There was also a sweet new train depot built in 1912 that became a symbol of Rock Hill. It was demolished in the 1970's during the super cool and effective urban renewal program that became all the hype up and down the east coast. Kidding. It was a kick ass building that should have stayed. Luckily, we still have the White Home on Elizabeth Street.
Nothing extremely newsworthy happened (are you surprised?) in the early 20th century. Shit was built...Rock Hill High was founded (1888), etc., etc., etc.....nothing exciting.

Interject Glencairn Gardens: being the backdrop of prom pictures since 1960.

Y'all, me and my high school boyfriend
are going to be together FOREVER.
ci.rock-hill.sc.us

Rock Hill made national news in 1961 during the time of tumultuous racial relations. On January 31st, 1961 nine students from Friendship Junior College staged a sit-in at McCrory's lunch counter, a segregated establishment on Main Street (now Old Town Bistro).

Friendship 9 that day*

These men were arrested and eight of them spent time 30 days in prison for trespassing, one decided to pay a fine. Sit-ins were a brave and commendable act in the early 1960's, and it's pretty cool that something like this happened in Rock Hill. Honestly, these men and their ballsyness are probably what Rock Hill should be most proud of. This also proves that Rock Hill has always been full of badass people.
8 of the Friendship Nine are still alive (Robert McCullough died in 2006).


They are: Thomas Gaither, Clarence Graham, W.T. "Dub" Massey, Willie McLeod, James Wells, David Williamson, Jr. and Mack Workman. If you ever see them out and about, give them a high five, hug or just a thank you. They are for real inspiring and legit.

Yes, the City of Rock Hill spent money
 on two foam frog costumes.*

A year after the Friendship Nine did their thing, Rock Hill's pride and joy was born. COME SEE ME! It started as just a weekend event it started as just a weekend event...now it's expanded to ten whole days of TRH insanity...INSANITY. Wonder if they had the fireworks with that tribute to Rock-n-Roll background music in 1962? Let's pray to God they did... they were just able to listen to the music from their transistor radios instead.

Vernie Grant in his Studio
vernongrant.org

This would be a good place to mention the Mac Daddy of Rock Hill, Vernon Grant. He's probably the most well known person out of Rock Hill. As you learned in elementary school art class, Grant was responsible for the Snap, Crackle, and Pop campaign that Kellogg's still runs to this day.

The 1970's were the start of modern Rock Hill that we know and love. Your parents (I'm assuming the majority of people reading this are twentysomethings) just got a new high school, Northwestern, to either go to or hate.

1986: The era of Betty Joe Rhea and her amazingly awesome scarves commenced.

Rock Hill's Original Fashion Plate *

1989: Rock Hill and all of South Carolina got their asses kicked by Hurricane Hugo.

What a Dick.
http://www.heraldonline.com/2008/09/03/788446/looking-back-on-hurricane-hugo.html

In 1991 the Galleria was built. Thank Jesus. All Rock Hill needed was a shitty mall. Lest not forget the old Rock Hill Mall on Cherry Road and its use as a bingo parlor. RIP. I tried to find an establishment date for Ebenezer Grill, but couldn't. If anyone can confirm this, let me know. I feel like it's important enough to add in.

Oh, present day Rock Hill. I could sum up the commonplace activities by just adding a link to heraldonline.com to see all the stupid shit our fellow citizens are up to. Ok, good idea.

(www.heraldonline.com) Rock Hill has really grown, too. Y'all, we got two Wal-Marts, a Target, and an Olive Garden. It's now the forth largest city in South Carolina with over 70k people and three whole high schools, Rock Hill has also produced some exceptional athletes. Justin Worley? Jadaveon Clowney? Anyone? They put Rock Hill on ESPN for Christ's sake.

Whose team are you on?*

So, here we are, November 2011. At the end of the day, we're just at someone's house....drinking, at one of Rock Hill's fine establishments...drinking, at a football game, piddling, fixing to do something or on a country ride.

Speaking of, who wants to get a case of Bud Light Limes and come over? Someone needs to be DD though, we've GOT to go to Waffle House.


* Friendship 9 image from: http://www.tampabay.com/incoming/article991505.ece
* Glen the Frog image from: http://weekend10.com/area-event-pages/rock-hill-events/
* Betty Jo image from: http://www.heraldonline.com/2008/05/08/543725/a-towering-honor.html
*Worley image from: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/544525-tennessee-volunteers-reasons-to-be-thankful-and-a-few-things-to-change
*Clowney image from: http://www.visa2tour.com/2011/02/14/jadeveon-clowney-join-south-carolina/