Site of Rock Hill

What Rock Hill left behind was a segregated school. Prosper's 1963 school history, written by Juanice Stanton, says the district's May 1962 bond issue of $320,000 included repairs and improvements to the colored school at Rock Hill, which the plaque says closed in the 1960s. The churches had gone much earlier. Another Prosper history says Rock Hill's Methodist church, known as Smith's Chapel, and its Baptist church were moved to Prosper after the 1902 railroad bypass. By the mid-1930s the only church still in Rock Hill was the African American Baptist church.

What the plaque says

Site of Rock Hill Probably named for the white rock escarpment on which it was built, Rock Hill was established by December 1854 when John Moore became its first postmaster. By the early 20th century the town boasted two schools, four churches, three doctors, a grist mill, general store, cotton gin, blacksmith, drugstore, dry goods and grocery and a population of 115. In 1902 the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad bypassed the town, and within months most of the businesses, townspeople and churches had relocated to Prosper. The little community survived for several more years. In the mid-1930s an African American Baptist church was the only one remaining. The Anglo school closed in 1948; the black school closed in the 1960s. A general store, the last remnant of Rock Hill, was razed in 1973. (1999)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 11 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square — 19 mi
  An 1896 courthouse by W. C. Dodson in Denton limestone, pink granite and two sandstones, restored in 2004, now a free county museum on a lawn holding the grave of John B. Denton.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 28 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.

More markers nearby

• First Presbyterian Church of Prosper — 2.0 mi
• Prosper United Methodist Church — 2.1 mi
• Prosper — 2.2 mi
• Lee Lodge No. 435, A.F. & A.M. — 2.2 mi