141 East White Street – Edwards & White Home

City Directories and History:  1913 & 1917 & 1920 & 1926 – J.B. Davis, 1946 – A & P Food Stores, 1963 – A & P Food Stores

Mary E. White, J. S. White, A. H. White and Addie R. White sold a one-acre lot in 1869 to Dr. Elijah Hyatt Edwards for $500. The frontage was 116.16¢ and the depth was 376.20¢.  The next year, 1870, he built an attractive two-story frame residence on the lot and at once set about planting an elaborate boxwood garden in the front yard.  Doctor Edwards came to Rock   Hill in 1869 and practiced medicine there until 1880.  He also operated a drug

store in Rock Hill.  His wife was Harriet Elizabeth Roddey (1835-1912), daughter of David Roddey, Jr., and his wife, Isabel Craig.  She was a first cousin of Captain W. L. Roddey, Jr.  Doctor Edwards was born in 1833 and died in 1901.  After leaving Rock Hill, he and his family took up residence in Due West, S. C., where they were active in the work of the Due West A. R. P. Church and of Erskine College.  He and Mrs. Edwards sold their Rock   Hill home to the Reverend James Spratt White on November 13, 1880, for $1,600. He was the son of Mrs. Ann H. White.

Mr. White and his family lived there until the 1890’s. Mrs. White was born Caroline C. Dudley in Americus, Georgia.  She was a granddaughter of the distinguished Georgia statesman, William Harris Crawford.  Mr. and Mrs. White erected several other structures on the lot on White Street, including a windmill, which made it possible for them to have running water in the house, a luxury not often encountered in those days. (The W. L. Roddeys also had a windmill behind their house on Main Street.)  The White home, formerly belonging to Edwards, became a showplace in Rock   Hill.  The house, even though built in the Victorian Age, had simple, pleasing lines.  A broad porch ran across the front of the dwelling, supported by squared columns.  The boxwood garden stretched all the way across the lot and out to the public street.  The writer has a vague recollection of having seen the house when he was but a child; and, too, he remembered when the house was razed and an A & P grocery store with parking lot occupied the entire lot.

[Information provided via Along the Land’s Ford Road – Vol. I, 2008 by William B. White, Jr.]

The Herald reported Oct. 17, 1939 – “That the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P), will lease a large lot on East White Street opposite the city fire department to build a new superstore. The Building will be 75″ by 100″ and they will also lease the adjacent lot for parking.  The contract has been given to J.E. Healan and the store is to open by the first of the year.  The A&P has two other stores in Rock Hill.”

Click on the More Information > link found below the picture column for additional data and image of the area along East White Street in the circa 1950’s. The red arrow points to Rock Hill’s landmark the old Rock Hill Depot. The A & P grocery store is clearly viewed on the photograph to the right.

Click here to visit his gravesite on the Laurelwood Cemetery Tour.Click on the More Information > link found below the picture column for additional data. Click HOME to return to the numbered site tour of Rock Hill’s downtown.

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