City Directories and History: 1959 – Roddey Reid (Eliz. L.), Roddey Reid Oil Supply Co., Reid Auto Supply Co.,
The Reid’s lovely home sat on two lots and was built under the direction of architect A.D. Gilchrist of Rock Hill. Mr. Reid was a very prominent businessman, having grown up on Caldwell and Main Streets in downtown. He owned the Reid Oil (filling station), at the corner of Oakland and East Main, as well as the Reid Auto Supply Company on South Oakland Avenue.
WU’s Pettus Archives has plans for this dwelling drawn by Rock Hill architect, Mr. A.D. Gilchrist from 1929 – 1933.
Mr. Reid’s home was for years considered one of the finest in the city. When he determined that he couldn’t maintain the home any longer he contacted Dr. Frank Strait, a local gynecologist. The story goes that Frank Strait’s grandfather, (Dr. Wm. F. Strait – RH’s first trained surgeon), had come into his private Rock Hill hospital, that he owned with Dr. Tom Crawford to find a young boy, Roddey Reid on the surgical table. Reid had been run over by a delivery wagon and Dr. Crawford was preparing to amputate one of his legs. Dr. Strait intervened and helped save Roddey Reid’s leg. Decades later, Mr. Reid asked the grandson of old Dr. Strait to simply pay him what he could afford for the house at 934 Myrtle Drive. He wanted to repay the Strait family for having saved his leg and given him an opportunity to enjoy life to the fullest! Wm. Francis Strait, M.D. and Sarah Strait lived in this home until ca. 2019 when he to became elderly and couldn’t maintain the house as desired. Frank and Sarah Strait raised their three daughters on Myrtle Drive; Mary, Alice and Helen.
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