“Downtown zoning issued the death of historic properties in much of old Rock Hill.”
City Directories and History: 1908 – J.F. Reid, 1917 – J.F. Reid, 1922 – J.F. Reid, 1946 – Roderick Macdonald, M.D., (Edward Stultz) 1963 – Same, 1975 – NA
“On the opposite side of Main Street, across from the Flowers house, was the very large two-story frame house of Mr. and Mrs. James (“Mr. Jim”) F. Reid. This house was built about 1880 or 1881. It was the typical Victorian house of that period, replete with a tower on one side. Dr. Roderick Macdonald had his office there in later years.” [Robbins – White Tour History]
This home was designed by Rock Hill Architect, Hugh Edward White (1869 – 1939), born in Fort Mill, S.C. he attended Fort Mill Academy and started his practice in about 1894. Remained in Rock Hill until about 1903 and later returned to work. In the 1890’s he worked in an architectural firm in Atlanta. Between 1903-1918 he was a field supervisor of the Supt. Architect Dept. of the Treasury. For about three years 1918-21, he was employed with Charles Coker Wilson in Columbia or Gastonia, N.C.
James Ferdinand Reid was born in Chester County in March 1850. He was the brother of W.G. Reid and Samuel Lafayette Reid. When his father, George Reid died in 1855, he was five years old. By 1861, his four older brothers had all enlisted in the Confederate Army and he was left at home on the farm with his younger sister and brother (Samuel L.) and their widowed mother. Shortly after the death of his mother in 1868, James came to Rock Hill at the age of eighteen and lived in the home of Edwin Ruthvin Mills. His younger brother Samuel L. Reid came soon afterwards. James began his business career with the general merchandise firm of Captain W. L. Roddey. After a few years James and Samuel were both made members of the firm that became W.L. Roddey & Company and later in a re-organization the Roddey Mercantile Company.

The George Reid property was along the old Saluda Road at Smith’s Turnout, they were next door neighbors of both the Strait and Wherry families. Courtesy of the Mayhugh Map Collection
In 1877, he was married to Helen Agnes Mills (1852-1920) by the Reverend R.E. Cooper and Reverend J.L. Wilson in Rock Hill; Helen was the daughter of Captain Edwin R. Mills and Mary Jane Crawford. He was a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church which he became a member of in 1872. He was elected a deacon in 1877 and an Elder in 1883 and remained one until his death in 16 Feb 1925.
Before the town of Rock Hill had a public water system built, James Reid and a neighbor built a windmill and bored a well in James Reid’s back yard. They then piped water into their homes and yards. He was a director of the Electric Company organized in 1890 to serve the city. He was known as a man of cheerful disposition and to be full of energy. He died after a long illness during which he continued his cheerful disposition despite being physically incapacitated. He wrote the first history of the descendants of Jane Simpson in 1895. His research papers were placed in the Rock Hill Public Library in Rock Hill, S.C.
The Herald reported on July 15, 1880 – “That Mr. James Reid has begun erection of a dwelling on the eastern side of the city.”
The Herald reported on Feb. 28, 1889 – “Allen Izard has married Florence Behre of Walterboro, S.C. They will board with J. F. Reid (Main Street).”
The Herald reported on June 30, 1900 – “Mr. J.F. Reid has contracted with Mr. A.D. Holler for the erection of a $2,000. dwelling on the site where his home is now. On Aug. 11, 1900 – Mr. J.F. Reid and family moved out of their old home yesterday to the home of Mrs. Moore on Black Street, prior to the commencement of tearing down their old home to begin the erection of their new dwelling.”
The Herald reported on April, 1, 1925 – “That a building permit had been issued to the J.F. Reid Estate on Main Street for repairs costing $450.”
James and Helen had seven children:
Edwin Mills Reid: Born 1878 and died 11 months later in 1879.
Helen (Nell) Simpson Mills: Born 1880; not married.
James Ferdinand Reid, Jr.: Born 1882, died at the age of 3 in 1885.
Mary (Mayme) Crawford Reid: Born 1884, died 1953, married Frederick Adair Dunlap, Jr. and had three children: Frederick, Jr. , Helen Reid Dunlap, and Mary Bradley Dunlap.
John Boyd Reid: Born 1897; graduated from Davidson College, Class of 1910; unmarried, was a clerk in Rock Hill, became a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Rock Hill in 1900 and an Elder in 1921. Owned and operated Reid Flower Shop on Hampton Street with his niece Helen Reid Dunlap, the daughter of Mayme Crawford Reid and Frederick Adair Dunlap.
Thomas Sumter Reid: Born 1890; unmarried, a bookkeeper in Rock Hill; graduate of Davidson College, Class of 1910.
Florence Mills Reid: Born 1892; unmarried, graduated from Winthrop in 1912 and became the principal of the Robbins School in Lexington, N.C.
Following the Reid family the property was for decades owned and used by Dr. Roderick Macdonald as his medical office.
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The Rock Hill store of W. L. Roddey & Company, which was eminently successful and which lasted until 1893, when a new partnership was created by these men: W. L. Roddey, A. Fletcher Ruff, J. Edwin Roddey (Captain Roddey’s nephew and son of D. C. Roddey), James F. Reid, Samuel L. Reid, and Rufus E. Sadler, using the name Roddey Mercantile Company. 29 After a number of years, a new arrangement was made and the business was called Roddey-Poe Mercantile Company, a firm which lasted well into the twentieth century.
[Information provided via Along the Land’s Ford Road – Vol. I, 2008 by William B. White, Jr.]
Joe Means posted on Facebook 10/16 – “In a childhood accident I cut my cornea one Sunday afternoon around 1960. My parents were able to get in touch with Dr. MacDonald, who was in Sunday evening service at First Presbyterian. He immediately left church and met me at his office. After examining my eye, he immediately scheduled surgery at York General Hospital. I will never forget since I was scared to death lying on the OR bed, Dr. MacDonald said a prayer for me and to guide his hand for very difficult surgery. He actually put 4 stitches in my eye to piece the cornea back together. He saved my eye but unfortunately, the scar on my cornea left me legally blind most of my life until about 10 years ago. I had a cornea transplant which restored quality vision to my eye. Every ophthalmologist which examined my eye since Dr. MacDonald’s surgery always complimented Dr. MacDonald’s work in my eye. I still remember all the follow-up visits in the James ‘F. Reid House. It was a beautifully restored home.”
Dr. Macdonald had plans drawn by Rock Hill architect, Mr. A.D. Gilchrist in 1938, presumably for the update of the Reid House and conversion into his office. WU Pettus Archives – 2024
Spencer McMaster wrote: “Dr. Macdonald treated me for a broken nose when I was 12, about 1964. I still have the same nose and it still works!”
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