Additional information and history: First Presbyterian Church of Rock Hill began as a mission work of Ebenezer Presbyterian Church in (…more)]]> Rock Hill City Directories and History: 1908 /1938 1st Presbyterian Church

Additional information and history: First Presbyterian Church of Rock Hill began as a mission work of Ebenezer Presbyterian Church in 1855 to serve residents of the new village of Rock Hill. The first site was on the Steele property south of Rock Hill and it was known as Antioch Chapel. Early supporters of the chapel were Mrs. Ann Hutchison White and her family. It is thought that Rev. John G. Richards, pastor of Ebenezer, preached one of the first sermons in the spring of 1855. As the village of Rock Hill grew, it was decided that the meeting place, in order to better serve the community, needed to be in the center of the new town. The present lot on Main Street was purchased from Alexander Templeton Black for $79 in 1858. The chapel building at Antioch was moved to the new site. In 1859, Bethel Presbytery met at the relocated Antioch, the first church court to meet in Rock Hill.

As the village of Rock Hill grew, the Antioch congregation expanded, and by 1859, fifty-two members of Ebenezer petitioned to organize a new congregation. The new church took the name of First Presbyterian Church of Rock Hill. Ebenezer’s minister continued to serve both churches. A new church brick building was completed in 1875. The old chapel was sold and moved to the southeast corner of Black and Saluda Streets, where it was used as a school until 1888. The first full-time pastor, Rev. William Beatty Jennings, was called in 1883.

First Presbyterian Church was active in supporting the development of educational opportunities and new churches in the latter years of the Nineteenth Century. Chapels were started in mill villages and members of the church helped to start the first public graded school in Rock Hill in 1888 and the Presbyterian High School in 1891.

As the congregation continued to grow, a new sanctuary became necessary. Charles Coker Wilson (1864-1933) was selected as the architect. Wilson was one of the most important architects in South Carolina during the period. A native of Hartsville, he studied at the University of South Carolina and later did work at l’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. His practice included extensive work on college campuses and a number of high schools, hospitals, homes, textile mills, hotels, and office buildings. He served as Architect for the State House in Columbia for a number of years, and was the founding president of the South Carolina Association of Architects (now the AIA). The design for the First Presbyterian Church was done early in Wilson’s career while he was practicing in Roanoke, Virginia, and reflects an eclectic mixture of Late Victorian design elements. Construction of the new church building was completed in 1895. In 1905, the first pipe organ in Rock Hill was installed in the church by local builder and architect Julian Starr.

Rock Hill’s First Presbyterian Church grew rapidly, and by 1910, it was the largest Presbyterian congregation in South Carolina. Over the years, three ministers of the church served as Moderator of the General Assembly, the highest office in the denomination. In 1913, Oakland Avenue Presbyterian Church was organized with 192 members from First Presbyterian. A new educational building was constructed in 1922, designed by Rock Hill architect A. D. Gilchrist. This building served the church until it was demolished and replaced by a new educational building and family life center around 2000.

An interesting event in the life of the church occurred on November 26, 1926, when a tornado ripped through downtown Rock Hill. Many residences, commercial buildings, and churches were damaged. The bell tower of the First Presbyterian Church was toppled. It was soon replaced with a shorter tower. [Paul Gettys]

Presbyterian Church Lot South—The area that became the village of Rock Hill was within the bounds of the congregation of Ebenezer Presbyterian Church in the 1850‘s. In an effort to provide a house of worship for those members of the Church who lived in the southern portion of the parish, the Session (the ruling elders) of Ebenezer Church gave permission to build a chapel in the neighborhood of the Steeles and Workmans, three miles south of what is today Rock Hill, S.C. The chapel was built in 1854-55 in that location. But it was soon realized that the village growing up around the railroad depot called Rock Hill was the place where the church (chapel) should have been built. Accordingly, the Ebenezer officers gave their approval to moving Antioch Chapel to Rock Hill. In 1858 the little frame structure was negotiated onto logs. With the help of many laborers and many mules the chapel was dragged through the woods and along the early roads to the village of Rock Hill. It was placed on a lot (see the attached copy of Roddey‘s 1851 plat) that had been purchased from A. T. Black on July 3, 1858, by three leading officers of Ebenezer church: Joel S. Barnett, William P. Thomasson, and James M. Johnson, M.D. The cost of the lot (a quadrilateral) was $79. The lot fronted on Main Street 174‘, or 175‘. On Church (later Black) Street, the measurement was 51‘. The western boundary was 346‘; and the eastern, 367‘. The lot to the west was owned in 1858 by Hugh Simpson. The land to the east was the property of Mrs. Ann Hutchison White. There was no street bordering the eastern side of the lot in the 1850‘s—only the cotton fields of Mrs. White.

The deed from A. T. Black was a deed of trust, as follows: In Trust—for use and benefit of the members of the Presbyterian Church of Rock Hill, and to be called Rock Hill Church, and said to be used by the members of said congregation for a place of worship. In other words, if the site should ever be used for anything other than a place of worship for the Presbyterian Church of Rock Hill, then the property would immediately revert to the heirs of Alexander Templeton Black.

On November 13, 1869, the Presbyterian Church of Rock Hill was formally organized by Bethel Presbytery, Presbyterian Church in the United States. At that time the property in Rock Hill was deeded by the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church officers to the newly elected officers of the Rock Hill (not First) Presbyterian Church and their successors in office, in perpetuity.

On October 31, 1882, the heirs of Mrs. Ann H. White—Mary E. White, A. H. White, J. S. White, and Addie R. Witherspoondeeded to the church officers a triangular lot immediately adjacent to the original lot, thus making the church lot a rectangle. By this time a street had been cut through from Main Street to Church (now Black) Street. A portion of the Presbyterian Church lot was taken in order to allow for a street (then called Academy Street, since the Rock Hill Academy was then situated at what is now the southeastern corner of Saluda and Black streets). The land to the east of this street bordering the church lot was owned then by Captain Edwin Ruthven Mills, who erected thereon a large and impressive frame residence, which he later sold to the merchant Arnold Friedheim for a residence.

The Presbyterian Church lot is the only piece of downtown property that has never changed hands since it was originally conveyed by A. T. Black. The only known change in the dimensions of the lot after 1882 came about as a result of the creation of Academy (now Saluda) Street, as related above. The front footage was set in the deed of 1858 at 174‘. At the present time the front footage is 142‘. In truth, most of the land for Saluda Street was carved from the Presbyterian Church lot of 1858.

Purchased (…more)]]> Lots #s 5 & 6 North: These two lots ran approximately from the side of People’s National Bank to the western side of St. John’s Methodist Church – original location.

Purchased from A. T. Black on October 1, 1867, for $400, by Captain W. L. Roddey.  Sold by Captain Roddey on December 12, 1868 to Ferguson H. Barber, formerly of Chester District, S. C. The front footage of these two lots was 136‘, and the depth, 212‘.  On Lot 5 Mr. Barber, a merchant, built a large frame storehouse in 1869. Then, on March 3, 1870, he took into partnership John R. Allen, formerly of Chester, S. C., and they operated there the firm of Allen and Barber.  At about the same time Mr. Barber erected his large frame residence on the adjoining Lot 6. The writer would like to share this insight with any serious student of Rock Hill history, particularly the history of the original downtown area. The western property line of F. H. Barber‘s Lots 5 & 6 has remained the same line since it was laid down by Squire John Roddey in1851, and as far as the writer knows, that property line remains the same today. It can, therefore, be used as a reliable point of reference in measuring other places of property on the north side of East Main Street. To describe this line in a more familiar way, we may say that it is the line between the former McCrory‘s store and the former People‘s National Bank building to the west.

John R. Allen was formerly a stagecoach driver and postmaster at Chester, S. C. In 1870 he was elected the first intendant (mayor) of Rock Hill. When Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Barber decided after a few years to build a larger residence on their lot at the southeast corner of Main and Hampton streets, Mr. and Mrs. John R. Allen acquired Mr. Barber‘s former house located on Lot 6 and lived there until Mr. Allen‘s death, after which Mrs. Allen erected a large residence in the western area of Rock Hill on property that had originally belonged to Alexander Templeton Black. In fact, Mrs. Allen‘s property there was known at the time as ―the old A. T. Black home place tract.‖ It was situated on what is today Allen Street, and formerly known as ―the old York Road.

On August 8, 1899, Mrs. Eliza A. Allen and the Barber interests sold 56‘ off the western Lot 5 to Mrs. Della A. Sadler.  Then on January 11, 1901, Mrs. Sadler sold the lot to James S. White.  An item from the Rock Hill Herald of March 27, 1901, had this to say: ―Work on the J. S. White block on Main street was commenced Monday morning by Mr. A. D. Holler, who has the contract. The building will be two stories in height and will be provided with two store-rooms, each 29 by 100 feet. Both the rooms will be occupied by the Rock Hill Supply Co., and it is their intention to move into the new building September 1st.‖ Mr. White had paid $3,360 for the lot. In later years this building was occupied for a long time by McCrory Stores Corporation and is still standing today.

The remaining two portions of Lots 5 and 6 North were sold as two units. On December 10, 1904, F. H. Barber and E. W. Hall, executors of Mrs. John R. Allen, conveyed 34 7/12‘ to William Cosby White and James S. White, for $2,766.67.  The second part of the remaining land was sold in May, 1912, by James A. Barber and Amie B. Sykes, the Barber heirs, to John T. Roddey [this is John T. Roddey, Sr., formerly mayor of Rock Hill], for $4,000.  The lot measured 25‘ by 210‘ and included an alley of 9.5‘ between the two tracts cited herein. After the passage of several years, a large brick building was erected on the combined portions, and included the enclosed alley between the McCrory building and this new structure. This small area on the western side of the building housed a jewelry store and was rental property. The newly erected building was occupied by F. W. Woolworth Company for many years.

When the congregation of St. John‘s Methodist Church wanted to erect their new building on the northwestern corner of Main and Caldwell streets in 1897, there was a great deal of swapping of property in order to put together enough land for a large church structure. Barber and Allen sold 11.5‘ from their holdings to the church officers. As may be seen from adding together these divided portions of Lots 5 and , their sum equals the original front dimensions of Lots 5 and 6: 136‘ (56+34+25+10+11=136).

We should mention here that in December, 1894, the Allen and Barber storehouse, then occupied by J. H. McFadden & Company, dealers in furniture, buggies, carriages, wagons, and the residence next door of Mrs. John R. Allen were destroyed by fire. Mrs. Allen occupied the house, together with the following boarders: W. J. Cherry, E. W. Hall (Mrs. Allen‘s nephew), W. H. Ross, and D. P. Steele. All these lost their possessions as a result of the fire, which damaged the western wall of the Methodist Church (St. Johns), which was located a few feet from Mrs. Allen‘s residence, on the adjoining lot (Lot 7 North).  [Along the Lands Ford Road, Vol., I and Historic Rock Hill]