Passing of a Landmark: The Herald building’s rich legacy isn’t defined by location.
Cliff Harrington is The Herald’s executive editor. He came to The Herald in 2015.
One evening, after I’d been editor of The Herald for just about a year, I took keys to the building and toured the complete site.
Many sections of the building had been long shutdown as new technology and economic downturns took their toll.
Former Herald Editor Terry Plumb, a true champion of the city of Rock Hill and it’s hometown newspaper, had graciously told me the grand history of this local newspaper. So I decided on that evening it was time to know the place where all the history, at least since the 1950s, had happened.
I was reminded of that late-evening tour when developers broke ground Thursday for new, mixed-use construction coming to that site. The new construction is expected to be completed by 2024.
Demolition of the old building is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
In the not-so-distant future, people will walk or drive past that site, but they won’t remember the site once was home to an institution, a place of employment, a place of commerce, a place bustling with human beings who worked to help others.
So it seems fitting now to say a fond farewell to that building.
On my tour, I walked through the ample newsroom that had evolved from typewriters to desktop computers. I walked through several meeting rooms. There was the darkroom that photographers used before the age of digital images.
There was a large, imposing press room where the paper was printed each night. The floors and walls had the residue of ink, years deep and with the accompanying smell. I’ve been told that, at it’s peak, 125 people worked in the building daily to get the paper published.
Down a long hall was the area where people came to place advertisements -- from yard sales to church bake sales. I later learned that the entrance to that area had once been a main public entrance.
That’s because the building sits at the intersection of Dave Lyle Boulevard and West Main Street. That area was at one time considered the west entrance to downtown Rock Hill. A big clock on the side of the building was a familiar landmark.
I also toured other buildings used as warehouses, and sites where carriers came at night to pick the newspapers they would deliver.
Everywhere I went, there was a recurring theme. The building had been an anchor in people’s lives. I could imagine smiles, greetings, handshakes, celebrations, retirements, and even tears and fond farewells. I could imagine people coming past the building saying “That’s the place where I ......” You can fill in the blank.
That site will soon be gone.
In my career I’ve had a front-row seat to watch the passing of two institutional newspaper buildings. I worked at The Charlotte Observer when that building was demolished. And now it’s time to bid adieu to The Herald building.
However, the occasion is not all melancholy. We say farewell to the building, not the institution.
We at The Herald are still on duty without failing. The Herald will be the voice of your local news that it has always been. We will chronicle this region’s memories, key events and issues that touch your lives.
So, to put a somewhat different spin on an old cliche: Even as things around us change, The Herald will remain the same.
But Rock Hill soon will definitely lose a true landmark.
