The Rock Hill Herald reported on Oct. 18, 1883 – “The gin house of Mr. Andrew Hollingsworth in Laurens Co., was destroyed by fire.”
City Directories and History: In 1928 when the Sanborn Insurance Company conducted their survey of Cross Hill, S.C., it shows a prosperous commercial area including the two story brick building known as the Hollingsworth Store. The store is coded red for brick construction and marked as a G.M. site meaning the store sold general merchandise.
The survey team in 1980 recorded the building was most likely constructed about 1900, and operated by J.E. Spearman, II but the location was known as Hollingsworth’s Store as well as the A.D. Hill store.
Cross Hill is located in the lower part of the county. The fertility of the soil made this area attractive to early settlers who named the settlement because of its location at a crossing of a foot trail and a wagon road at the top of a hill. There is little evidence today of the original settlement, however, because of the later relocation of the town. In the early 1890’s the Seaboard Airline Railroad came through the area. In order to take advantage of the railroad, the town of Cross Hill was relocated one mile south of the original settlement. As anticipated, proximity to the railroad stimulated the economic life of the community and made it for many years an important business and social center. The railroad also brought people from throughout the state to the nearby families’ and health resort known as Harris Lithia Springs which was widely known for its mineral water. Another change in the mode of transportation, the appearance of the automobile in the early 1900’s, contributed to a decline in the prosperity of the turn-of-the century period. With the greater mobility of automobile travel, the population of the area went elsewhere for employment and entertainment.
(Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)
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