“One of Rock Hill’s earliest stores stood at the corner of East White and North Trade Streets.”
Messrs. W. F. Broach and John J. Mills having purchased the interest of H. F. Broach, and John Massey in the establishment of Broach & Company, have formed a Co-partnership with G. W. Broach, and will continue the business at the old stand, at Rock Hill Depot, under the style of Broach, Mills, & Co…. . Broach, John J. Mills and W. Broach – Rock Hill Oct. 11, 1855
The Rock Hill Herald reported on Oct. 21, 1880 – “Mr. W.P. Broach has visited friends here after many years. He left in 1857 and settled in Meridian Miss. He sold the first goods in Rock Hill, his firm being the W.P. and H.F. Broach Company. He was also the first agent at the Rock Hill Depot. Mr. Broach is now 75 years old.”
City Directories and History: The first business to open in what is now downtown Rock Hill was the Broach Mercantile Company. William B. White, Jr. writes the following: Within a few weeks of the arrival of the first train at Rock Hill, a United States post office was established there. The Post Office Department began postal service at Rock Hill on April 17, 1852. The first postmaster was Henry Ferguson Broach, who served in this capacity until November 4, 1858. Henry F. Broach and his father, William P. Broach, were the first merchants in Rock Hill. A
Receipt for payment to W.P. Broach, the railroad agent. Courtesy of the White Family Collection – 2008
newspaper account stated at the time of a visit to Rock Hill of William P. Broach in 1880 that he had sold the first piece goods ever sold at Rock Hill, S.C. He was also the first depot agent at Rock Hill. As will be seen in the next chapter, the Broaches owned the corner lots at East Main Street and Depot (later Trade) Street and at East White Street and Depot Street. The first was purchased from A. T. Black on December 31, 1852, and the second was bought on February 15, 1853. The Broaches sold out in Rock Hill and moved to the neighborhood of Meridian, Mississippi, about 1857-58. Interestingly enough they were the first merchants at Meridian, where they left many descendants.
Another early receipt for payment to Broach and Massey Co., – 1854
Part of the lot was later used as the site of Murphy’s Shine Parlor located on (North Trade St.), in the 20th century.
Note from the Hutchison Group 2021 – Asking, “Mr. Steele of Rock Hill if he had moved the road himself?” This deals with a lawsuit between Mrs. Ann H. White and many of Rock Hill’s business leaders dealing with the opening of White Street and the road behind Mrs. White’s home along the Miller property line.
Purchased from A. T. Black on December 31, 1852, by William P. Broach and Henry F. Broach, his son, for $125. They were owners and operators of Rock Hill‘s first general store, which was in operation from 1852-53 until the Broaches moved to Mississippi about 1857-58. (See Wm. G. Broach in Meridian, Ms.). They built a frame storehouse on this lot. Thanks to the longevity of the carpenter and a newspaper editor with an eye to history, we know the name of the young man who sawed the wood and drove the nails for the village‘s first mercantile establishment. John B. Proctor was born April 17, 1823, probably in Chester District, S. C. He lived until August 27, 1910. His wife was Sara Jane Fennell, born October 1, 1831, and died August 11, 1871. She was a daughter of John Bell Fennell, M.D., of Chester District, and his wife Eliza Simpson. Sarah Jane Fennell was an aunt of William Wallace Fennell, M. D., distinguished Rock Hill physician and surgeon. The building erected by John Proctor stood until the night of June 3-4, 1878, when it was destroyed in a fire that consumed a dozen or more business houses on Main Street and Front (later known as Depot or Railroad or Trade) Street. At the time the old building was burned, the land on which it stood was the property of Mrs. Catherine (Wylie) Baskin, mother-in-law of Captain W. Lyle Roddey, another of the town‘s prominent bankers and merchants. The store building was occupied by J. C. Sharpe, a shoe merchant and grocer, in 1878.
The seemingly ubiquitous Broaches were continuing their mercantile stores. William P. Broach and John J. Mills were partners at Rock Hill. George W. Broach, son of William P. and brother of Henry F. Broach, was operating a branch store at Fort Mill. This was the first Rock Hill business establishment to open a branch in a neighboring community. By the fall of 1856 G. W. Broach had withdrawn from business and had probably begun to pursue a medical education, looking got his becoming a physician. He moved to Mississippi with his family and died there in 1873, aged forty years.
[Along the Landsford Road by Wm. B. White, Jr. ]
*** Interestingly, it was John Proctor who also was a chain bear in 1851 when Mr. Roddey surveyed the lots for development of what would become Rock Hill, S.C.
The Herald reported on Feb. 14, 1889 – “The new canning factory will be open under Capt. L. M. Davis, he has purchased the Williford Property on Depot St., this property is one half acre and has a brick store house 22-56 feet, and a four room cottage.” On March 13, 1889 the YV Enquirer reported – “The Sec. of State has approved incorporation of the Davis and Candy Company with cooperators: L.M. Davis, A.H. White, D. Hutchison, R.T. Fewell, N.P. Alexander, W.C. Hutchison, and J.M. Cherry. The company will can fruits, vegetables and grains. It will also manufactures, candies, breads and crackers.”
R&R HISTORY LINK: The White Home and property…
The YV Enquirer reported on April 24, 1889 – “The Davis Canning and Candy Factory has purchased a boiler and engine for use in their business and they are now arranging for the remaining equipment.”
Rock Hill Canning Company
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on May 29, 1889 – “The Davis Canning and Candy Factory has begun work and has received their first car load of 5,000 tin cans for putting up fruits and vegetables.”
The Herald reported on June 13, 1889 – “The Davis Canning Factory is ready to begin operations. The factory has a capacity of 7,000 cans a day. They will be purchasing peaches, beans, tomatoes or corn at the factory on Depot Street. – Later the Charleston News and Courier reported on June 7, 1890 – “The Davis Canning and Candy Co., which commenced business last year, is an important industry in Rock Hill. It has a capital stock of $5,000. Officers are: A.H. Wolfe. Pres., L.M. Davis, Manager, J.M. Cherry – Sec. and Tres., and directors: J.M. Cherry, R.T. Fewell, A.H. White, L.M. Davis, W.C. Hutchison, E.B. Mobley, and D. Hutchison.) (Later in the year, Sept. 10, 1890 – “Davis Canning Co., reported due to severe drought, the crops were small this year. No fruit was packed this year and Mr. Davis says they have been canning mostly corn and tomatoes. On May 23, 1889 the Herald reported – “The first whistle of the canning factory was blown last Tuesday. The engine we understand, worked admirably. The company received a train car of cans Monday.”
Rock Hill Herald, March 16, 1892 – Report on a fire destroying old wood buildings on Depot Street. The fire began inside the corner building, “known as the old Hutchison Store house.” The fire then covered adjacent wood buildings. One side of the Button building burned. The Williford building, belonging to the Canning Company, was torn down and dismantled. (Also – The Yorkville Enquirer of March 6, 1892 reported, “A fire at the old Hutchison Building on the corner of Depot and White Streets, resulted in the destruction of the building.”)
The YV Enquirer reported on March 30, 1892 – “The RH Canning Factory will move this year to the Sims place, near the Standard Cotton Mill.”
The Herald reported on Feb. 26, 1896 – “Dr. Delveaux, the manufacturer of patent medicine, who has for several years been living in Yorkville, has rented the Rock Hill Canning Factory and will establish a factory for the manufacturing of his medicines.”
The blacksmith shop of Coniber & Co. was damaged but it is of sheet metal and only slightly damaged. “The factory company had a lot of bagging and ties in the corner (Hutchison) building. The corner building was one of the oldest in Rock Hill, having been built in 1846. [The date of 1846 is obviously wrong, but the article contains valuable information in these buildings.] Capt. Hutchison used it as a store house until the close of the war. It was once the most important stand in town.” Mrs. Button had no insurance on her building. During the fire, a spark set a bale of cotton on the R&D platform on fire, endangering the depot. This was put out quickly.
Image from 1936 of the corner of East White St. and N. Trade Streets far left corner), where the Broach family constructed the first business in Rock Hill.
The Herald reported, on Oct. 19, 1895 – “That G.E.M. Steele, has died in the asylum. He was one of Rock Hill’s first merchants. Before the War, he conducted the principal building in town, the name of his firm being Steele and Company. In the old store house on the corner of Hutchison Corner (Depot and White Streets). His house was the Steele house in a grove on Ebenezer Avenue, now owned by Rock Hill Factory Company and now occupied by operatives.” (See receipt for payment below.) The Herald reported on June 9, 1900 – “Mrs. G.E.M. Steele bought the house on Ebenezer Ave. owned and occupied by Mrs. Metts, who will return to Georgia.”
The Herald reported Aug 12, 1914 – “that W.B. Wilson is to erect a new building at the corner of Railroad and East White Street, plans are completed and bids are to be called for soon. The work of tearing away the shacks that for years have been an eyesore to Rock Hill is already underway and by the first of the year a handsome and commodious structure will greet the eye of all passers by, on the street or passing the city by train. The lot has 100 ft frontage on Railroad St. and about the same on White. The building will be two stories and will have four storefronts on Railroad Ave., and two store fronts on White Street. The second floor will include office rooms and an opera house with seating for 1,000.” (There is no record of this proposed construction ever being completed.)
Rock Hill Post Office: Historian Harvey Teal’s Postal History of S.C., 1989 states: the Rock Hill Post Office was started on April 17, 1852 at the store of Henry F. Broach, Postmaster.
Ann H. White routinely purchased goods from the Broach Co., at the corner of East White and Railroad Ave.,(N. Trade St.,). Courtesy of the White Family Collection – 2008
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R&R HISTORY LINK: Western York County Stock Group
R&R HISTORY LINK: Claude Smith’s history of the early Steele Company of Rock Hill
R&R HISTORY LINK: Broach Property at Edgemoor SC
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