Rock Hill is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, Rock Hill had a population of 4,750. It is home to the Fairfax House on the National Register of Historic Places.
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.
Rock Hill is bounded by cities Ladue, Brentwood, Webster Groves, Glendale and Warson Woods.
Streets Manchester Road is four lanes and runs east–west across Rock Hill. North Rock Hill Road was connected to the South McKnight Road extension in June 1962. Voters passed a $3 million bond issue to repair roads in 2000. By 2005 the fund was nearly depleted with considerable work left to be done. Voters passed a proposition in 2011 to extend the street bond issue, allowing the city to raise an additional $3.5 million.
In October 2019, the board of aldermen voted to lower the speed limit on most streets to 20 miles per hour.
History James Collier Marshall settled what became Rock Hill around 1832. He and his brother John Marshall purchased 800 acres along Manchester Road where he and his brother built a log building that operated as a home and store.
In 1839 James built a two-story weatherboard home, naming it "Fairfax" after a family friend in Maryland, Albert Kirby Fairfax, Lord Fairfax of Cameron. A year later the property was divided between James and John Marshall when James married Elizabeth Kyle McCausland (she is related to the Robert Campbell Family of St. Louis through the Kyles). Fairfax was completed the following year. James and Elizabeth had five children who lived to maturity. A son, Ernest, the only to marry and have children, raised two sons.
James Marshall sought to build a church and requested the services of the Presbyterian Church of St. Louis, which sent Rev Artemus Bullard to assist Marshall in 1845. A Presbyterian congregation was established in Rock Hill in March 1845, and met in a log house on Marshall's property while the church was built on land contributed by Marshall for a church. Though there is no written proof, it is assumed by many that slaves built the church using stone quarried from the Marshall farm quarry. Rev. Bullard gave the church the name "Rock Hill Presbyterian Church," presumably after two geographic features in the area, which became the namesake of the area. In 1866 fifteen members separated to found the Webster Groves Presbyterian Church
Marshall served as first postmaster at Fairfax House c. 1845. Marshall died in February 1864. The post office was closed in 1863, only to reopen a year later until 1897, whereupon mail service was moved to Webster Groves.
Mail service was re-established in February 1874.
Rock Hill was a stop near present-day Creve Coeur Drive on the Missouri Pacific spur from Creve Coeur, Missouri to downtown St. Louis. Trains ran twice daily. In 1934 Rock Hill Investment Co. purchased 22.93 acres on the railroad from Rock Hill Supply Co. for an industrial subdivision In 1954 Walter F. Hellmich purchased 15 acres to develop an "Industrial Court." In 1969 Rock Hill notified Missouri Pacific it would condemn its station.
Rock Hill remained largely undeveloped until the 1920s when much of the area was parceled for the construction of houses. In 1940 a 27-acre subdivision was created south of Manchester road. In April 1929 Rock Hill was incorporated as a village. The village switched to a mayor–aldermanic form of government in 1941. In April 1947 the Village of Rock Hill voted to incorporate as a fourth class city.
On 10 February 1959 a powerful tornado struck Rock Hill north of Manchester, destroying Mackle Florist (1913–1965) and continued onward into St. Louis.
In April 1962 the city voted to annex the eastern half of Des Peres Avenue.
The city flag was presented by the Citizens of Rock Hill Improvement Association in May 1965.
In 2006 Rock Hill began transitioning from a residential city to a point-of-sale city with a retail development project on Manchester. With city financial reserves at critical levels, city administrator George Liyeos told the Post-Dispatch "our entire future hinges on the success of that project."
The 30th annual Rock Hill Fall Festival was held in 2013.
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Rock Hill city, Missouri – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010Pop 2020% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)3,2063,1883,34767.28%68.78%70.46%Black or African American alone (NH)1,2991,06280327.26%22.91%16.91%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)81350.17%0.28%0.11%Asian alone (NH)941151001.97%2.48%2.11%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)1000.02%0.00%0.00%Other race alone (NH)28340.04%0.17%0.72%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)941212831.97%2.61%5.96%Hispanic or Latino (any race)611281781.28%2.76%3.75%Total4,7654,6354,750 100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Rock Hill had a population of 4,750. The median age was 37.2 years. 20.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 93.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 90.1 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 2,125 households in Rock Hill, of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 42.1% were married-couple households, 20.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 30.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 2,238 housing units, of which 5.0% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.4%.
2010 census As of the census of 2010, there were 4,635 people, 2,064 households, and 1,198 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 2,217 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 70.6% White, 23.0% African American, 0.3% Native American, 2.5% Asian, 0.8% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.8% of the population.
There were 2,064 households, of which 26.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.3% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.0% were non-families. 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.93.
The median age in the city was 36.9 years. 20.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 32.9% were from 25 to 44; 26.8% were from 45 to 64; and 12.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.0% male and 51.0% female.
Business Business first developed east of Deer Creek. Windom was the Rock Hill area serviced by railroad east of the river bounded by Brentwood Boulevard and Litzinger Road. Windom stop, later "Mentor", had a post office where mail was delivered weekly. West of Deer Creek a number of dairy and produce farms developed.
In business since 1890, Trainwreck Saloon on Manchester is the oldest continually operated bar in St. Louis County. The Hacienda restaurant building on Manchester Road was the home built by steamboat captain Mils T. Redmon in 1861. In 1951 the house became a restaurant called Chalet De Normandie, owned by the Ledait family, and later Parente's Italian Village. In 1968, it was St. Louis' first full-service Mexican eatery. It was called Oliver's until 1977, when it became Hacienda.
In May 1999 the Board of Alderman selected Sansone Development over Landside Resources for redevelopment of McKnight and Manchester. In October Sansone withdrew from the project. Sansone told Rock Hill later that year it wanted to scale back the development area from 25 acres to 16, just the northwest corner. After the city reopening the bid process Rock Hill agreed in April 2000 to allow Sansone to develop 16 acres, financed by up to $7 million in tax-increment financing. Sansone withdrew its proposal again in September 2000 citing city delays that meant surrounding development projects had progressed so much as to make the 16-acre proposal infeasible. The city re-bid the projects and received 40-acre plans from Regency Realty and THF Realty and an additional 25-acre plan from Regency. In April 2001 both developers retracted their bids amid a firestorm of resident opposition against the proposals.
In 2001 RSI Kitchen & Bath purchased the three-acre former Stivers car dealership property on Manchester for construction of its main showroom. In December 2000 Quebecor World began talks with city officials to acquire the city hall for a potential expansion of the adjacent Sayers Printing Company. In August 2002 Quebecor World Sayers closed its 3.5-acre property.
In January 2004 the Board of Aldermen selected Novus Companies to develop 36.9 acres at the southwest and northwest corners of Manchester and McKnight roads. In March 2005 the Board of Aldermen approved the $95 million mixed-use development, called Market at McKnight. The buy-out area targeted 126 properties on the north corner, and 48 properties, including 15 homes, on the south side. Demolition began in August 2006. In May 2007 Rock Hill sought a second request for proposals when over half of north-side property owners were unsatisfied with Novus' buy-out offers and Novus sought an additional $7 million in tax increment financing (TIF). In December 2007 the Board of Alderman replaced Novus with Miller Weingarten and Hutkin Properties on the northwest redevelopment site and increased the TIF from $18 million to $26.7 million. The south Market at McKnight opened in November 2007. By January 2010 the development area was 60 percent leased. In April 2014 Novus announced its second anchor for the development, 27,000-square-foot Lucky's Market.
In June 2005 the Board of Aldermen approved Mills Properties' request to build an 84-unit apartment complex on 7.7 acres on McKnight Road.
In 2006 Rock Hill joined the Webster Groves/Shrewsberry Area Chamber of Commerce.
In December 2008 Target delayed its plans for a store on the northwest development by nine months, citing the global credit crisis. In March 2009 Target canceled its planned location. Miller Weingarten ended its involvement in May. The 27-acre north development area was reduced to 2.9 acres in October 2010.
Education Since 1948 Rock Hill has been part of the Webster Groves School District. Three public schools are within the city's borders: Hudson Elementary SchoolHudson Elementary School Givens Elementary School (formerly Steger Sixth Grade Center and Computer School) Webster groves givens elementary Steger Sixth Grade Center