406 Oakland Avenue – Wroton Home

City Directories and History:  1906 – RH PO Ledger: W.R. Whitfield, Ms. Elsa Jennings, Harold Jennings, Mrs. Harold Jennings, Mrs. Lillie Fewell, 1908 – Charles L. and Alice Wroton (salesman), 1913 – Alice Alston (wid of Butler), 1917 – C.L. Wroton, 1936 – Charles L. Wroton, 1946 – Douglas B. Hughes, 1963 – College of Commerce, Thurmond Hackney

Sanborn Insurance Map 1926 – 1959. Courtesy of the Galloway Map Collection

The Wroton home was designed by 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.

Mrs. Alice Alston of Rock Hill, S.C.

THE WROTON FAMILY: The year following his graduation from the Citadel, Charles L. Wroton married Alice Augustine Alston of Rock Hill.  Her father and grandfather were distinguished educators.  Gen. John Augustin Alston, Alice’s grandfather, was born in Fairfield County in 1809 and was a graduate of South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina).  He practiced law in Yorkville.  He later became principal of the Ebenezer Academy from 1851 to 1856, principal of the new Rock Hill Academy, then principal of the Mount Zion Institute in Winnsboro.  Alice’s father was Capt. George Butler Pearson Alston (1836-1886).  He was educated under his father, served in the Civil War, and became a noted educator in his own right.  He served as principal of the Fort Mill Academy and the Rock Hill Academy for nine years.  Alice’s mother was Alice M. Davis… (Read the entire article, this page as PDF)

The RH Herald reported on Feb. 25, 1899 – “Mr. C.L. Wroten is having a well drilled on his lot in Oakland.”

The Herald reported on July 15, 1899 – “A residence of C.L. Wroton on Oakland Ave., is under construction at a cost of $3,500.”

The Herald reported on Sept. 13, 1899 – “Little Anna Kate Fewell, while at the newly constructed dwelling of C.L. Wroton, last Friday, fell from the second floor to the first. Her injuries were not serious.”

The Herald reported on Nov. 16, 1899 – Mr. C.L. Wroten and family expect to move into their new magnificent new home in Oakland this week. Also, “The Rock Hill Roller Mills has a new delivery wagon manufactured by Mr. C.L. Wroten.”

The RH Herald reported on Dec. 9, 1899 – “C.S. May, one of our merchants, has sold his  stock of furniture to the RH Furniture Co., a corporation to be organized and of which Mr. C.L. Wroten will be one of the leading stockholders. ”

The Herald reported on June 27, 1900 – “E. L. Barnes and S.T. Love have purchased the stock of the RH Furniture Company and will hereafter run it under the name of Barnes and Love.  C.L. Wroten and H.M. Wroten are retiring from the business.  Mr. H.M. Wroten will return to his home in Denmark, S.C.”

R&R HISTORY LINK: the 1894 Sanborn Map of the Reid – Stultz wagon shop. This was most likely the predecessor of the Reid and Wroton wagon shop.

The Herald reported on Sept. 15, 1900 – “Mr. C.L. Wroten will rebuild his shop on the old site. The building will be of corrugated iron some 20-30 feet.” (Rear lots near the Hardware Co’s warehouses.  Note a fire had recently destroyed the business.)

On Jan 5, 1901, the Herald reported, “Ms. Julia Johnson of Cincinnati Oh, a teacher elect of domestic science at Winthrop College, is at the home of Mr. C.L. Wroton.  She is a graduate of Drexel Institute of Philadelphia.”

The Herald reported the Messrs., Charlotte arrived Thursday and are boarding at the home of Mr. C.L. Wroton.”

The Herald reported on April 27, 1901 – “Mr. C.L. Wroton has bought an acre lot on the east side of the SC and G Extension railroad, near the southern corner of the Winthrop campus on which he will erect a building thirty feet wide by 100 feet long for the Rock Hill Wagon Works.  He is drilling a well, has ordered the lumber, and will commence construction as soon as it arrives. The company, which is already in existence on a smaller scale, will engage principally in the manufacture of one horse wagons, for which it already has a demand that it is incapable of supplying.”

R&R HISTORY LINK: the 1900 Sanborn Map page showing the Frew Machine-works, the approximate location of Mr. Wroton’s shop.

The Herald reported on Oct. 26, 1901 – “That Mr. C.L. Wroton is completing the Rock Hill Wagon Works and has ordered new machinery of the very best design.”

On March 16, 1902 – “Mrs. C.L. Wroton is fast regaining health.  She is now at Red Bank N.J. Mr. Wroton will visit his wife in a few days and expects to accompany her home next week if her condition permits.” One March 29, “Mrs. C.L. Wroton, who has been in Dr. Gill Wylie’s Hospital in N.Y. for sometime returned home Wednesday morning accompanied by her husband.  There is little improvement in her health.”

The Herald reported on Nov. 29, 1902 – “C.L. Wroton of Lincolnton, N.C. spent Thursday in this city.” The Herald also printed a legal ad on Dec. 17, 1902 – “The receiver of the assets of the Rock Hill Wagon Works will hold an auction of those assets at the main factory building on Ebenezer Ave., on Jan. 7, 1903.  The auction includes all property purchased from the American Woodworking Machine Company, all remaining property, including the engine, boiler, machinery, wagons, etc., and ownership of the land on the Southside of Ebenezer Ave., having a frontage of 200 ft. and extending to the railroad, containing four – fifths of an acre and bounded by lands of the Rock Hill Land and Townsite Company. R.A. Smith, Receiver.”

The Herald reported on Jan. 7, 1903 – “Mr. C.L. Wroton returned to Lincolnton on Saturday. His school reopened on Monday.” On the Jan. 10, 1903 the Herald reported – “The Rock Hill Wagon Works was sold at auction last Tuesday by the receiver, A.E. Smith on Main Street to Mr. C.L. Wroton, for $1,751., that sum being one dollar more than the upset price. Mr. Wroton left the same day for Lincolnton and consequently we have been unable to learn his plans.”

The Herald on April 4, 1903 reported, “C.L. Wroton, who has been teaching school in Lincoln, N.C. returned home on Wednesday night, the school having closed on Tuesday.”

The RH Record reported on April 15, 1904 – “Mr. and Mrs. S.E. Mathis of Camden have moved to Rock Hill and have rooms at Mr. L.L. Wroton’s home.  Mathis will be in charge of the Rock Hill Brick Works, which recently resumed operations.”

The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Oct. 27, 1905 – that C.L. Wroton has moved his family to Red Springs, where he is teaching in the graded school.

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R&R HISTORY LINK: the W.G. Reid Co., history (Reid & Wroton)

R&R HISTORY LINK: the Rock Hill Academy and Mr. Alston….

R&R HISTORY LINK: the Davis connection of Charleston S.C.

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