Lot #1 – South (Scrap A)

City Directories and History:  1908 – Duncan and Smith (Wm. G. Duncan’s Cleaning and Pressing @# 116.5)

Lot 1 South—this lot fronted on Main Street 103’ and was 212’ in depth.  There is no documentary evidence to prove that the first owner of the lot was one John McConnell, but all the inferential evidence points in that direction.  We know that John McConnell was occupying Lot 1 South in 1853.  It seems reasonable to conclude that he built a rather large two-story frame house on the lot which he purchased from A. T. Black in either 1852 or 1853.  McConnell probably operated a rooming house (hotel) or perhaps a boarding house in his residence there.

E. Baugus was operating “The Rock Hill Hotel” on this lot c 1857-58.  He moved his “hostelry” to the Neely-Ratterree lot nearby just before January 1, 1859.  On this date William Frew, formerly of Mecklenburg County N.C., opened “The Frew (Boarding) House” in the McConnell-Baugus structure.  Colonel Lucien P. Sadler and his family moved to Rock Hill about the time of the beginning of the Civil War.  He ran a hotel in the Neely-Ratterree building for a time, and then he moved Sadler’s Hotel to the McConnell-Baugus building, on Lot 1 South. 

East Main Street was a fantastic site to view Rock Hill exciting Christmas and festival parades. Note these two images were on opposite sides of the street near the corner of East Main and North Trade.

It should be noted here that a family of Millers was connected in some way with Lot 1 South.  One member of the family who may have occupied a portion of the lot in the 1850’s or 1860’s was Joseph W. J. Miller. Another of the family was David B. Miller, whose family owned a large acreage in the neighborhood of Rock Hill long before the Civil War.  We do not know whether the Millers owned Lot 1 South or whether they only rented it for commercial purposes.

The first confirmed owner of the lot in question was Makemie Wilson Russell, who acquired it in the early 1870’s, so it would appear.  He was a native of Cabarrus County, N. C., and moved to Rock Hill, to be depot agent for the Charlotte and South Carolina Rail Road Company during the Civil War.  His wife’s maiden name was Margaret Nelson.  She was formerly a resident of either York or Chester County, S. C.  From the 1870’s until the middle of the twentieth century, Lot 1 South was known as “the Russell lot.”  M. W. Russell probably operated a store of some kind on that portion of his lot which adjoined the Roddey lot next door to the west.  At the risk of getting ahead of our story, let us record that “the old Russell store House” stood on that part (30’) of the Russell lot that was sold in 1887 to Captain W. L. Roddey, who had just erected

Rock Hill Hardware Co building, the last saved on the south side of Main Street. Courtesy of the Mendenhall Collection

his large three-story building on the Roddey lot.  The site of the Russell store house was built over by Captain Roddey in 1889, and after the turn of the century this brick building, still standing today, became the  home of the Rock Hill Hardware Company.  *** The Yorkville Enquirer reported on June 12, 1889 – “Ground was broken today by Mr. M.W. Russell for a brick store on her lot adjoining the store of F.O. London.  The building will be 26 – 100 ft and will be two stories with plat glass windows on the first story.”

From this point it is difficult to know which businesses and how many businesses occupied the Russell lot.  The only constant in the real estate equation was the enduring Russell ownership of the property.  After Mr. Russell’s death, his widow held on to the property and had a handsome income from renting out the various structures that stood on the property.  In 1881 Mrs. Russell erected a two-story brick building and leased it to Charles W. and William M. Frew. (The Herald contained an ad on Sept. 10, 1902 for C.W. Frew, who had received a shipment of ladies shoes.  And another ad on Sept. 17th, C.W. Frew has just received another shipment of those popular corsets.) They conducted a dry goods store and a grocery business in this building.  In the same year Mrs. Russell leased space to B.N. Craig, D. P. Steele, and William M. Steele (a partnership called B.N. Craig & Company), who operated a dry goods store and a grocery business there.

Before we forget, we must mention that Arnold Friedheim’s mercantile establishment once occupied rental space on the Russell lot.  As stated above, Friedheim’s store first began on the north side of Main Street; then, after a big fire, the store was moved for a time to the Russell lot; and following a fire on that side of the street, Arnold Friedheim moved back to the north side of the street.

Mrs. Russell sold off a thirty-foot portion of the lot to Captain Roddey in 1887, as given above.  Then she sold a section off the eastern side of the lot to David Hutchison for use by the Savings Bank, of which the Hutchisons were the principal stockholders.  They built an attractive home for the bank on this narrow lot in the year 1887.  That building is still standing today.  The author remembers it as the headquarters of the T. W. Hutchison Insurance Agency. The central part of the Russell lot remained in the family until after the death of John M. Russell in 1946.  Efird’s Department Store occupied a large two-story brick building on this lot until well after 1960.

It is too bad that buildings cannot talk.  There has been a lot of coming and going on this particular piece of real estate since the 1850’s.  During the time of the Civil War, when Rock Hill was a transfer point for Confederate troops and a storage place for war supplies of all kinds (particularly medical supplies) the lot that has come to be know as the Russell lot was a familiar landmark and meeting place in the bustling village of Rock Hill.  Travelers—both civilian and military—frequented the hotel on the Russell lot in great numbers.  The commercial success of this downtown site in the years from 1855 to 1870 may be attributed to its proximity to the railroad depot.

[Information provided via Along the Land’s Ford Road – Vol. I, 2008 by William B. White, Jr.]

The Charleston News and Courier of June 7, 1890 stated – “The Savings Bank of Rock Hill has always been in a prosperous condition, this institution grew out of the Young Mens Loan and Trust Company organized in 1882.  In 1886, it was changed to the Savings Bank of Rock Hill.  The bank is a fine two story brick structure and was constructed for banking purposes. The outside presents a beautiful plat glass and iron front, while the inside is elegantly fitted.  The officers and directors are: David Hutchison, Pres., John R. London, V.P., J.M. Cherry Cashier, and directors: David Hutchison, J.R. London, R.T. Fewell, N.P. Alexander, T.L. Johnston, T.A.Crawford and W.C. Hutchison.” The paper also reported, “Another financial institution is the Rock Hill Real Estate and Loan Company officers are: David Hutchison, Pres., N.P. Alexander, V.P., J. M. Cherry, Sec. – Treasurer, and director are: Rev. J.Q. Adams, David Hutchison, R.T. Fewell, J.R. London, N.P. Alexander, T.L. Johnston, J.M. Cherry and W.J. Rawlinson.”

The south side of East Main Street in ca. 1895 is where the Hutchison’s Bank was once located. Courtesy of the YC Library.

The Herald reported June 22, 1901 – “The property of Capt. A.E. Hutchison is in the hands of T.F. McDow, Esq. as trustee, and will be  sold at an early date.  It includes all the property on the east side of Main Street from but not including, the old Savings Bank building to Gordon’s Old Hotel; the vacant lot on the corner of Depot and White Streets; the grove in the rear of Capt. Hutchison’s homeplace; the Sims place in the eastern part of the city “sixty acres”; and eighty acres of other property.”   (The Herald of Aug. 7, 1901, included a list of lots sold as part of this auction.)

The S.C. Architects: 1885-1935 Wells & Dalton, 1992 attributed this building to Julian S. Starr in 1912.

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