Decals found along Main Streets and historic districts. The This Building Has History program is a patented and trademarked program of Roots and Recall.
Tom Mills as a young African American entrepreneur in Rock Hill, S.C.
Luther and Frederick Nims
HERON’S FERRY: Daniel Sturgis operated a ferry across the Catawba River, the beginning date unknown. In his will written October 22, 1787 Sturgis included the following: “My fourth son Joshua shall have the one-half of the profits arising from my Boat as she now stands together with one acre of land on the south end of Punch’s Land with timber and fire-wood to support the same during the running of sd. Boat and no longer and if Joshua Sturgis should dispose of sd. Boat out of the family it shall immediately descend to Daniel Sturgis.” In 1799 the South Carolina General Assembly passed an act stating that “a ferry commonly known by the name of Sturges’s ferry, near the Old Nation Ford, on Catawba river, shall be continued and established as a public ferry for the term of fourteen years; and
be vested in Daniel Sturges and Thomas Spratt, the younger, and their heirs and assigns. ”
At the same location above the Nation Ford the records show that later operators of the ferry were franchised by the state as:
1813 – Andrew Herron And James Spratt
1824 – William Moore and Thomas Spratt
1835 – William Moore 1846 – Dr. William
Moore 1871 – L. M. Dinkins
Courtesy of the YCGHS, March 1994
The Red River Mill at the Red River Community along the Catawba River, also known as the Carhartt Mill and later the Lafarr Mill.
The Rock Hill Record newspaper reported that Hamilton Carhartt plans to erect a cotton mill at Carhartt Station, three miles south of Fort Mill. Mr. N. G. Walker, architect of Rock Hill is preparing the plans. The building will be three stories with a dye house, boiler rooms, and two warehouses. The village will contain 30 houses arranged in a circular design with a community house in the center. Mr. L. A. Pope of Rock Hill has the contract for the first two houses for workers. All the houses in the village will be of individual design and have pebble dash outside. – From the Fort Mill Times, August 10, 1916
Courtesy of the Kimbrell Family – 2015 pictured are Ruth Holler – Kimbrell, M.E. Kimbrell and Nell Pickett.
1894 – Sanborn Map diagram showing the new brick building.
Early 20th century display in the paper.
The Chester and Lenoir Railroad line was an attempt by York and other regional towns to have regular railroad service. It allowed large quantities of agricultural products to be shipped from the western areas of N.C. into the S.C. Railroad system and find the way to S.C. factors in Charleston, S.C. Printed in the Yorkville Enquirer newspaper, Oct. 31, 1895.
1850s Map showing the village of Brattonsville in York County.
Hightower as it appeared when acquired from the Draper estate.
