This Building Has History™
Name: People’s National Bank
Architect: Charles C. Hartmann and Gaston Edward Shand
Builder: Walter Kidde Company of New York
Constructed: 1906
This lot was purchased from A.T. Black by Mr. Jonathan N. McElwee for $110 in 1856. Acting on behalf of his father, J. Lewis McElwee went on to divide and sell the lot to various individuals.
In 1887, part of the western side of the lot was sold to brothers C.W. and W.M Frew. The Frew brothers constructed side by side buildings to house their various enterprises, including a three-story building. These brick storehouses still stand today. The Hamiltons, descendants of the Frews, have still owned the property in recent times.
A second portion, east to the Frew lots, was sold by McElwee in 1883 to J.B. Johnson for $800. Johnson sold the lot four years later to J. Henry O’Toole. O’Toole was Rock Hill’s premier barber of the day, whose brother was barber to President Grover Cleveland. The lot changed hands several time over the years, and was known to have been used for rental purposes, by a furniture dealer and funeral director, as grocery store and also as an A & P chain store. In more recent years, the building was occupied by Smith’s Drugs. *** (The Yorkville Enquierer reported on June 20, 1888 – “Frew Brothers and J.H. Toole will each erect brick buildings on the lots on Main Street between the stores of Frew Brothers and John R. Allen and Company.”)
McElwee sold a third part of the lot to James P. Caston in 1882 for $1000. Caston likely constructed the building that still stands there today. Caston left Rock Hill under a cloud in 1880’s, and property was acquired by attorney and Rock Hill community leader Colonel W.B. Wilson. Once again, the lot was sold many times, and used as a drug store, newsstand, and the R.W. Cranford Company.
The last part of the lost was sold by McElwee to Ferguson H. Barber, a local churchman and merchant. Barber sold the lot to Colonel Wilson, who sold it jointly with the lot mentioned above. In 1909, the People’s National Bank building was erected on the land, and still stands there. It has been used in recent decades as the Central Newsstand and Hearns’ Jewelers, and more recently for office space and private residences.
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