City Directories and History: 1907 – J.A. Carter, 1922/23 – J.S. Starr,
“The other old place was what came to be called “Ivy Hall, located at what is today the southwest corner of Wilson Street and Charlotte Avenue. This land in ante-bellum times was all owned by James Moore. He cut off a portion of land for one of his daughters, Dorcas, who married James Archibald Murphy. They built there a four-room brick cottage, known as “the Murphy cottage.” This passed by inheritance to their daughter Euphemia, who married William Stewart Starr. And then the house went by the Starr name. Just after the Civil War the property fell into the hands of Col. R. M. Kerr and his business partner, William L. Roach. They conveyed the house and a small acreage to Col. J. M. Ivy, the town’s leading entrepreneur of that day. Colonel Ivy prospered and soon enlarged the house, adding a second floor and additional downstairs rooms. (frame construction built around the original brick core). After the collapse of the Ivy fortunes in the 1880’s, the property was acquired by J. M. Cherry, who developed a residential neighborhood; in that area. The son of a former owner, Julian Stewart Starr, son of William Stewart Starr, bought the house and the lot surrounding it before 1910. He remodeled the house and added an elaborate front portico with columns. That house eventually burned on May 18, 1930, as we recall.” [Robbins – White History Tour]
The Rock Hill Herald reported on Sept. 26, 1900 – “Mrs. E.L. Barnes and children have returned from a visit to Camden and are now occupying the Ivy Homestead.”
The Herald reported on Nov. 19, 1902 – “T.W. Ross is now engaged in building a deep well for E.L. Barnes at his home in Oakland.” (R&R is not certain that this is the location of the Barnes home in 1902.)
The Rock Hill Record on March 29, 1909 – “Catawba Real Estate Company is grading the property around the old Ivy House and these improvements along with the Moore property will create very desirable building lots.”
The RH Record of April 22, 1909 – “The Catawba Real Estate Company is having the Old Ivy House on the corner of Clay and Wilson Streets remodeled and it will be a very attractive house when completed.”
Crossing the railroad on Charlotte Avenue, in Rock Hill’s downtown, we come to the southwest corner of Charlotte Avenue and Wilson Street. Here stood one of the earliest brick cottages in the area, built well before the Civil War by James Archibald Murphy and wife, Dorcas Erwin Moore. Their daughter Euphemia D. Murphy and her husband, William Stewart Starr, then lived there for a time. Interestingly enough, Mrs. Starr’s ancestors Reverend James McElhenny and Reverend James Archibald Murphy built the oldest part of the Fort Hill Mansion where Clemson University now stands. That house was called originally “Clergy Hall” because both these ministers and their families lived there at the same time. After the War, the Murphy house in Rock Hill was bought by Colonel J. M. Ivy, founder of The Herald. He greatly enlarged the house, adding a second floor and other first-floor rooms. The enlarged house, called “Ivy Hall,” fell victim to the flames in the 1930’s. (Along the Landsford Road, Wm. B. White, Jr. Vol., I – 2008)
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