Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fifth-largest city in the state. It is also the fourth-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte, Concord, and Gastonia (all located in North Carolina, unlike Rock Hill). The population was 66,154 as of the 2010 Census.
Rock Hill is located approximately 25 miles (40 km) south of Charlotte and approximately 70 miles (110 km) north of Columbia.
The town was not officially incorporated until 1870, on the third try.
The first attempt to get Rock Hill incorporated was made in 1855. A petition, signed by major landholders and businessmen from the Rock Hill area, was presented to the General Assembly on October 19, 1855. No action on the matter was taken by the General Assembly.
The second attempt was in 1868. In their petition, the townspeople claimed that Rock Hill had over 300 residents, “eleven stores, two churches, two bars, two hotels, two carriage shops, three blacksmith shops, three shoe shops, one tannery, one cabinet shop, and elementary schools for white girls and boys.” The petition was signed by 48 men, most relative newcomers to Rock Hill, with only a few members of the old, established, landed families. The larger landholders opposed incorporation because of the taxes it would bring. They filed a counter-proposal which claimed that there were only 100 residents, many of them temporary. The situation was a strong indication of the changes Rock Hill experienced as it transitioned from mostly farms to a business community. Ultimately, the state legislature did not act on either petition and Rock Hill was still not incorporated.
The third, successful petition was made in 1869, only one year after 1868’s failed petition. This time there were 57 signers in favor of incorporation, with only seven opponents. The opponents collectively owned 80% of the land that would be incorporated into Rock Hill if the petition was successful. They were unsuccessful at preventing incorporation this time; Rock Hill was officially incorporated on February 26, 1870.
Rock Hill celebrated its centennial in 1952 and its sesquicentennial in 2002.
Four unincorporated communities of York County have been annexed to the city: Boyd Hill in the late 1940s, Ebenezer and Mexico in the 1960s, and Oakdale in the 1980s.
Rock Hill is home to a daily newspaper, The Herald, which covers the area. Magazines include Rock Hill Magazine and YC (York County) Magazine (which covers the entire county).
OTS Media Group owns and operates WRHI (News/Sports, 1340 AM and 94.3 FM), WRHM-FM Country/Sports and WRHM-FM HD2/W281BE (Contemporary Christian, 104.1 FM). There are also WAVO (Standards, 1150 AM), NPR affiliate WNSC-FM (88.9 FM), and the Southside Baptist Church of Rock Hill Christian broadcast station, WRHJ-LP 93.1.
Rock Hill has several television stations: PBS affiliate WNSC-TV (Channel 30), CN2, a daily cable news program produced by Comporium Communications for York, Chester, and Lancaster counties; Fox-owned MyNetworkTV station WMYT-TV Channel 55, is licensed to Rock Hill, but serves the entire Charlotte market, while their studios are shared with sister station WJZY-TV in unincorporated Mecklenburg County, NC.
Enjoy your next visit to Rock Hill South Carolina and have fun exploring this great little town.