History & Genealogy

Genealogical research documents covering mostly Eastern Chester County and the Catawba River area. Hours: Monday-Friday: 10 am-6 pm; Saturday: 10 am-2 pm. No paid researchers.

Genealogical research documents covering primarily York, Chester and Lancaster counties, but also information covering other areas of South Carolina and some relating to North Carolina,
Georgia and other southeastern states. Hours: Monday-Thursday: 8:30 am-5 pm; Friday: 8:30 am-noon, and by appointment other times. This is a repository for historically valuable records relating to the history of Winthrop University, women, and South Carolina. A number of the collections pertain to the Civil War and are available for research including diaries, letters, master rolls, publications, reminiscences, genealogical collections, scholarly research, photographs and other materials. No paid researchers, but simple searches by staff available for a small fee. Visitors can e-mail the archivist here and from the website. In the Dacus Library.

This 19-acre site was the home of a multi-building campus of a private Methodist school for African Americans. It was established in 1867 by Sarah Babcock Mather who decided to create a school to teach children of former slaves for whom no formal educational institution existed. The Browning Home and Mather Academy opened a school with boarding facilities for girls in 1887. The original curriculum consisted of basic educational skills, instruction in social and family living and religion. Boys were enrolled for the first time in 1890 and the school had its first graduating class in 1893. In the 1930s Mather Academy was one of three schools in South Carolina to have a 12th grade. It merged with Boylan-Haven School of Jacksonville, Florida in 1959 and became known as the Boylan-Haven-Mather Academy. Mather had a peak student population of 300 in the 1940s-50s. The Academy produced some of South Carolina's most prominent African-American leaders in business, law, medicine and politics. One set of gates is all that remains of the campus. For more information on the school's history, reunion photos and more, visit the alumni website.

Built in 1914 by the Seaboard Air Line, this station was used for both passengers and freight until closing in 1971. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the museum shows what an early 20th century small town railroad depot was like. Tue & Thur: 10 am–1 pm and 2-5 pm. Other times by appointment. Free admission.

McCrory’s was a department store founded by a Pennsylvania entrepreneur named John McCrory. McCrory’s opened its first store in Rock Hill, SC in 1918 and the building became known as the “McCrory’s Building.” By 1960 McCrory’s had begun calling its stores “McCrory’s 5-10-25 Cent Variety Store” It was during this decade that McCrory’s became the target for civil rights protesters in the south. Like most other retail establishments, McCrory’s stores did not allow blacks to eat at the lunch counters. African-Americans could shop in the stores and purchase take-out orders, but were not allowed to sit at lunch counters and eat along with white customers. Beginning in 1960, the Rock Hill McCrory’s, along with Woolworth’s and several other downtown establishments, was the site of several lunch counter sit-ins. Protestors (9 young men) from the nearby Friendship Junior College targeted McCrory’s and Woolworth’s on February 12, 1960, resulting in the lunch counters being closed for several days. The most famous of these protests occurred at McCrory’s on January 31, 1961, and resulted in the “Friendship Nine” incident, and garnered national attention because of the “jail, no bail” strategy. This previously untried strategy lessened the huge financial burden civil rights groups were facing as the “sit-in” movement spread across the South, ultimately changing the face of American business by granting equal service to African-Americans. The stools from the former McCrory’s Five and Dime lunch counter, are still in place at  Rock Hill’s Five and Dine restaurant.

Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church was started in 1866 as a brush arbor church, a structure made of poles and covered with tree branches and bushes by freed slaves. The first wooden structure was built by the church's congregation in 1874. It was replaced by the current brick Romanesque Revival building in 1913. View from outside; open on Sundays.

The second of the two known such campgrounds in the Olde English District, Mount Carmel was organized by a former slave, Isom Caleb Clinton, and members of the Mount Carmel African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church in 1870. From its inception, the campground has been an interdenominational gathering place that combined religious services with fellowship. There is a large open-air arbor in the center of the complex which is surrounded by approximately 100 small cinder-block or wood houses known as tents. Hundreds participate in the annual ecumenical services which are held the first Wednesday through Sunday in September. In 1981 Mount Carmel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Location: 1.7 miles from the intersection of New Hope and Mount Carmel Roads. View from outside; open on Sundays.