An African American family calls Brooklyn home….
City Directories and History: 1917 – NA, 1922/23 – Richard Nelson (Grocery), and Isaac Player / Palair, Triumph Church of God, 1925 – Isaac Plair, Sarah Plair, 1946 – I.G. Plair, 1963 – James E. Roddey, 1975 – Vacant
The Herald reported on July 14, 1925 – “That a building permit was issued to I. Plair for repairs to a building on West Main Street costing $300.” (Building locations unknown.)
INTERVIEW WITH CYNTHIA PLAIR RODDEY – July 28, 2011
Cynthia grew up in what they called the Brooklyn area of Rock Hill. She described this area as the neighborhood along West Main Street from Wilson Street in the east to the
railroad at the Rock Hill Body Company on the west. She felt free to roam the whole area and the downtown with her friends. There were several racial groups in the Brooklyn area. African Americans lived along the hill going west and along the side streets. A number of white families lived over the hill on West Main Street, included several Greek families. Indians lived near the Rock Hill Body Company. Everyone knew the location on each race, but there were no boundaries they could not cross. Cynthia and friends would walk to the African American businesses on West Main Street and West Black Street and to the downtown area of Main and Black.
Cynthia’s grandfather was Isaac G. Plair. He moved to Rock Hill from Fairfield County and was a carpenter, builder, painter, and musician. His brothers John Plair and Simon Means Plair later moved to Rock Hill. John Plair was a painter and lived at 142 West Black Street, (1908 RH City Directory). Simon was a pharmacist with Gathings Pharmacy on West Black Street and lived at 405 Hagins Street. Issac married Sarah Burris Plair and they lived at 415 West Main Street. This house was on the corner of Tom Street to the west of the Carver Theater. Issac built houses and did carpentry and painting work for a number of projects, including the Friedheim Building, the Tillman Building at Winthrop, and painting signs for the Rock Hill Body Company. Family members still own a number of houses which were built by Issac. Sarah was very light skinned, and was often described as white by people who did not know the family, so some City Directories show the family as white. Sarah began to preach in the 1920s, and eventually founded seven churches in Rock Hill and the surrounding towns. They were holiness churches and she named them all Mt. Zion Church of God. She became a Bishop. The churches were located on Cypress Street in Flint Hill, on Porter Road, Fort Mill, and West Main Street. The main church on West Main Street is still in existence and is at 315 West Main. It is named Mt. Zion Church and Kingdom of God.
Cynthia’s father was Isaiah Plair, who was born in 1909. He went to an Episcopal school at St. Pauls Episcopal Church on South Wilson Street, and later went to Biddle High School at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte. The family originally lived at 415 West Main Street, then Isaiah ran a store at 435 West Main Street. Cynthia was born upstairs in the store building where they had an apartment. They later lived in a house next door at 433 West Main Street. The house and store building are still there. The house originally had a wrap-around porch, and she remembers it had no closets.
Cynthia remembers several neighborhood landmarks. Some of the homes on West Main Street were owned by the McGlocklin, Harris, and Young families. Ida Caldwell lived on West Main and was a dressmaker. Brown Agurs had a home and café. Ola Mobley ran the Samaritan Café at the corner of Hagins and West Main. She would fix meals for workers who would stop in for lunch. Cynthia remembers going to her café for ice cream. Bernelle Pearl had a beauty parlor. The West End Grocery was run by the Johnson Clark family.
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