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The History of Rock Hill, SC

Located in York County, South Carolina, Rock Hill is the largest city in that county and considered a satellite city of Charlotte, North Carolina. The city was named for a flint hill of rock that blocked the way of the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad Company, which was building a rail line from Charlotte to Columbia. Much of the rock was removed to clear the way for the railroad. A depot was built at the site and eventually became known as Rock Hill.

Although not officially incorporated until 1870, Rock Hill dates its history back to April 17, 1852 when the Rock Hill Post Office opened. Consequently the city celebrated it’s centennial in 1952 and its sesquicentennial in 2002.

There are four "Civitas" statues in Rock Hill serving as the city’s official symbols. Erected in April of 1991, each of the statues hold discs that symbolize the four different industries in the city. They are located at the GateWay Plaza on Dave Lyle Boulevard. A fifth Civitas statue was placed in the City Hall Rotunda a year later.

Rock Hill was home to the late Vernon Grant, a commercial artist best known as the creator of Snap, Crackle and Pop, the longtime cartoon mascots of Rice Krispies cereal.

Grant also was known for his many depictions of Santa Claus. He created Glen the Frog, the mascot of Rock Hill's annual spring festival, Come See Me.

Rock Hill was a hotbed of activism during the time of the American Civil Rights movement, garnering national media attention. The city’s Saint Anne School was the first school in South Carolina to desegregate. In honor of the historic event the school is to receive a plaque that will be placed in front of their new location.
Additionally, in February of 1961, nine African-American men went to jail at the York County prison farm after staging a sit-in at a segregated McCrory’s lunch counter. The event gained nationwide attention because the men followed an untried strategy called "jail, no bail," which lessened the financial burden civil rights groups were facing as the sit-in movement spread across the South. The group became known as the Friendship Nine because eight of the nine men were students at Rock Hill's Friendship Junior College.

Later in 1961, Rock Hill was the first stop in the Deep South for a group of 13 Freedom Riders traveling via bus from Washington, D.C. They were headed South to test the 1960 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court outlawing racial segregation in all interstate public facilities. When civil right leader John Lewis and another man stepped off the bus, they were beaten by a group of white men. In 2002, Lewis – by then a U.S. congressman from Georgia – made a triumphant return to Rock Hill and was bestowed a key to the city.