
Courtesy of the Fredrick Tucker Collection – 2017
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Jan. 12, 1871 – “A fire was set at the store of Simon Jacoby between his building and that of Miles Hunter. The fire destroyed the block of buildings from McAliley’s Hotel to the cross street. Including were the dwelling, store and kitchen of Mr. John McKee, the confectionary store of Miles Hunter, the law office of Melton and McClure, the jewelry store of Bennett and Brandt, and the large dry goods store and grocery store of Alexander, Robinson, and Adkinson. The McKee loss is very sever, they are the oldest residences of the town and Mr. and Mrs. McKee have lived and labored together for fifty years. The long piazza with its white pillars was one of the earlies landmarks of the town. The exertions of the fire crew prevented the fire from crossing the street to the building occupied by Babcock and Co., which is owned by Smith and Melton.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on May 2, 1878 – “A fire was discovered last Tuesday night in the cellar of Mr. J.J. Stringfellow’s store. It was extinguished in a short time. The fire could have spread to the Cotton Hotel and other properties.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Jan. 23, 1879 – “Mr. C.C. McCoy has purchased a tract of land in East Chester, near the residence of Mr. W.H. McConnell, on which he has erected two cottage residences.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Aug. 5, 1880 – “Mr. C.C. McCoy has commenced a brick storeroom on Center Street oppose the Cotton Hotel.”
The Rock Hill Herald on July 28, 1881 reported – “A fire in Chester last Thursday night caused extensive damage. The fire started in the frame building of Cross and Hafner at the corner of Main and Center Streets. The firefighters fought to save the Cotton Hotel located on the same side of Main Street but the opposite site of Center Street. The Hotel caught fire twice but the flames were extinguished. The roof of the Shannon House on the opposite side of Main caught fire but that fire was also extinguished.”
On Jan 29, 1885 the YK Enquirer reported – “A fire was discovered in one of the front rooms of the Cotton Hotel. The sample room of Mr. Wm. Taffe, one of our cotton buyers, was the scene of the fire which was extinguished before much damage was done.”
City Directories and History: 1908 – J.J. Stringfellow (Druggist), (102.5) Cotton Hotel Building, Mary C. Carroll, Carrie Walker, Martha Barba, Wilkes Page, 1940 – Chester Furniture Company (102.5) Pryor Building, Carolina Life Insurance, Francis S. Chance, Mabel Johnson Insurance, Fredrick A. Triplett, US Dept of Agriculture, Weber Finance Company
“Passing thence westward along the public square was on the site of the present post office the store of Amzi Neely, with whom was Middleton McDonald; next was the law office of Samuel McAliley, next was a doctor shop, next the Robinson Hotel, next the store of John McKee, next a store of Charles Alexander, next the law office of Maj. Nathaniel Eaves, next a tailor shop at a later date occupied by my uncle Rush Hudson, and lastly on the corner where stands the Cotton Hotel was the store of Mr. Coleman and Henry Kennedy, subsequently occupied by Brawley & Alexander.”
(Information in part from: Chester County Heritage Book, Vol. I, Edt. by Collins – Knox, Published by the Chester Co Hist. Society – Jostens Printing, 1982 – Joshua Hilary Hudson’s Recollections)

Sanborn Map layout of the corner in 1884 showing the Cotton Hotel complex. Courtesy of the Sanborn Map Company
Known locally as the location of the Belk – Hudson Department store, this building was destroyed by fire on Jan. 15, 1942. Originally the Cotton Hotel was located here having been constructed shortly after the Civil War and stood approximately

Advertisement dated 1932
at the end of where People’s Furniture store now stands. Other occupants of this space included; Miles Hunter’s store, Bennett and Brandt’s Jewelry Store and the office of Melton and McClure. Most importantly, this was also the location of Chester’s outstanding silversmith and clock maker, Mr. John McKee.

Image of a McKee clock, assembled in Chester, S.C., courtesy of the MESDA’s Collection in Winston-Salem, N.C. – 2013

Images of Chester’s “Hill”, courtesy of the Chester Co Library
Informative link: Mesda Artican Search
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MERCHANT JOHN MCKEE – The following article was prepared for the Sunday News and Courier, and copied in The Chester Lantern under date of April 27, 1906.
Mr. McKee was one of the earliest residents of the Village of Chester. John McKee, the oldest signer of the Ordinance of secession. Was boRN in Rathfriland, County of Down, Ireland, November 4, 1787, and came to America in 1800 with his mother and sisters. Upon his arrival in Charleston, S.C. he found that his father, whom he had come to visit, had died, and the early age of twelve the responsibilities of life were thrust upon him. He settled in the lower part of Chester district for a few years, then removed to the village and engaged in the mercantile business.

Courtesy of the AFLLC Collection – 2017
He married in 1818, a Miss Mary Haydon, from Virginia; they were married at the home of a Mr. Chisholm, a relative of the bride. In those days a trip to Virginia was a matter of six weeks time, so Mr. McKee did not further prolong his bridal trip, but immediately brought his bride to Chester and brought a little home form Mr. McNinch, just on the rise of “the hill” and adjoining the Inn. He enlarged and renovated the house, and built his store adjoining. Connecting all by a piazza at least a hundred feet long.
Mr. McKee was a great traveler for his time and it was the delight of his wife and himself to gather for their home articles of beauty and value rare at that time. In connection with his mercantile business Mr. McKee was an importer of rare articles from abroad, and conspicuous among them were his clocks, which are precious heirlooms in many homes in this and adjoining counties. Mr. McKee had one of the most beautiful gardens ever seen in Chester, in fact in any part of the country at that time. It occupied the entire square back of his residence and was surrounded on three sides by a high stone wall. In fact, the house and garden was so different from what one saw generally in those days that it is not at all surprising that the children who had the pleasure of entering could readily believe they were in a veritable fairy land, or like Alice of the present day, had gotten through the looking glass. Mr. McKee, had a large family of children, but lost all save a son and a daughter in an epidemic of scarlet fever.
In those days and times every man was a politician, so Mr. McKee entered with heart and soul into the issues at stake, and was a member of that convention just thirty years before the signing of the Ordinance of Secession. In 1845, Mr. McKee, wife and daughter went abroad and remained for a year, leaving his business with his son, and at the beginning of the war, they were still in business at the old stand. Mr. John McKee Jr. went out with the first company from Chester, but was discharged by the surgeon as unfit for active service. Shortly afterwards his only daughter, who was engaged at the time to one of Chester’s most promising young men, gave of her heart’s blood for her country’s cause, for her lover went out never to return.
Mr. McKee’s age 72, precluded active service on his part, but he gave liberally of his means to the cause he loved so well. During the winter of 1870 a disastrous fire swept over that part of Chester in which he resided, and the loss of what he had spent a lifetime in
accumulating was so great a shock that he rapidly failed, and in the early part of 1874, he passed away at the good old age of 82. (Reprinted courtesy of the CDGHS – Bulletin)
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