The Herald reported on May 13, 1942 – “Mr. and Mrs. T.W. Hutchison moved on Tuesday from 711 N. Wilson to their new home at this address.”
City Directories and History: 1906 Listed as 611 College Ave., – Dr. I.A. Biggers and Mrs. Biggers, 1908 – I. A. Bigger (611 College Ave.), 1922/23 – I.A. Bigger, M.D., #711 Cedar Crest, 1946 – Anne H. Bigger (Mrs. I.A. Bigger), 1963 – Same
“We were about to forget two old houses that were community landmarks from the ante-bellum times until the early nineteen hundreds. The first place was the house of James Moore, which stood at what is today the northeast corner of Wilson Street and Charlotte Avenue. This was a large, long, low log house
built about the third decade of the nineteenth century. The Moores had an unusually large family that moved away from Rock Hill early and distinguished themselves in many different fields of endeavor, not only in South Carolina but throughout the southeastern states of the Union. The old Moore house was razed by John G. Anderson, who built on the site a large frame residence for two of his young married daughters, Genevieve Anderson McCaw and Mary Anderson Hardin. That house still stands today, at 711 North Wilson Street.” [Robbins – White Tour History of Rock Hill]
This home is so similar to the Steele home on Oakland Avenue and so in keeping with the design elements often used by Rock Hill builder – designer, Julian S. Starr that it is easily attributable to the architect. When visiting Rock Hill in circa 2010, the architect’s grandson, also pointed out a number of dwellings he credited to Starr, including this home. Julian S. Starr was a prolific designer and builder working from circa 1902-1931. In 1908, he began calling himself an architect. Note that Mr. Starr had also constructed a home for his sister, Lillian Adams, at the same time further west on North Wilson Street.
A prominent physician of Kershaw County, Dr. I. A. Bigger was born May 9, 1867 His education was obtained from the high school of the neighborhood, and at Woodlawn Business College. Graduated with second honor from the Medial College of South Carolina, 1889. He then took a postgraduate course in polyolbion at Philadelphia. He married Miss Mary Keel Johnston, Sept. 5, 1888.
GLENCAIRN GARDEN by Louise Pettus
The centerpiece of Rock Hill’s annual early spring Come-See-Me week is a visit to Glencain Garden on Charlotte Avenue. The event is timed to concur with the blossoming of the gardens. Glencairn Garden began as a hobby of Dr. David A. Bigger in 1928. A friend gave him some azaleas of the Oriental Kurume variety. Dr. Bigger decided to experiment with the compact, (tense plant with small leaves and blossoms that grew in clusters.
In 1928 there were few azaleas in upstate South Carolina, although there had long been magnificent plantings at Magnolia and Middleton Gardens near Charleston and wild azaleas were not unusual in the entire low country.
When Dr. Bigger had enough cuttings rooted in a sandbox under glass, he began experimenting with the cuttings in red clay. The plant had been tested in Massachusetts and California which had two weather extremes but no one was certain that azaleas could survive in red clay. The park area already existed. There was a spring at the bottom of a hill with a surrounding moist area. The first cuttings were placed around the spring and they thrived. By the second year, 400 plants had been started. For some years prior to the azalea planting, the area had been a deer park. Mrs. Bigger once remarked that the original gardens were “a thicket and a swamp” and that the deer (along with sheep and goats) were placed there to keep down the underbrush. They started with one doe and one buck. By 1928 there were 20 deer. The deer were sold to make way for the azaleas.
Dr. Bigger named the garden Glencairn for the Scottish ancestral home of the Bigger family and began to shape the natural amphitheater into a place of beauty where the colors blended naturally. By 1936 the gardens, while not advertised, were attracting numerous visitors. That year, one of the visitors was a presidential candidate. Alfred M. Landon, the Republican nominee running against Franklin D. Roosevelt, came to Rock Hill, a Democratic Party stronghold. Landon spent most of his time taking pictures in Glencairn Garden. By 1937 Dr. Bigger had over 12,000 azalea plants in every hue of red, pink, and lavender. He also had more than 10,000 cuttings in sheds. His original Japanese Kurumas had increased but he had also added many Chinese, Indian and Korean varieties. Rare trees were planted. The rarest of all was a Franklin Altamaha, a native of Georgia. Fire had destroyed all of the Georgia Altamaha trees but fortunately Benjamin Franklin had taken three specimens to England in the 18th century. In the 1930s, Dr. Bigger obtained a fine specimen of the rare tree from England.
In 1940, Glencairn Garden were formally opened to the public. People flocked in to see the magnificent plantings. By 1951, the year Dr. Bigger died, there were over 100,000 plants. Mrs. Hazel Mott Bigger continued to care for her husband’s love but realized that the garden needed professional care. Glencairn Garden was deeded to the City of Rock Hill in 1958. In 1959, the year of Mrs. Bigger’s death, the city hired a professional landscaper and architect, Robert Marvin of Walterboro, to make a master plan for the six-acre tract. Improvement projects that were called “a face lifting” were initiated that year. A lily pool with five cascades was built. A fountain was installed, a circular walkway was constructed and a retaining wall with entrance steps was placed.
On opening day in April 1959, 8,500 people came to see Glencairn Garden. The Rock Hill Chamber of Commerce and the city fathers began promoting Glencairn Garden as the focal point of Come-See-Me week. (Information courtesy of and from: YCGHS – The Quarterly Magazine)
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