The Mercantile Has 1 of 11 of These Buggies

The Elephant, (sic) Buggy, In The Mercantile

1888 Rock Hill Buggy Company, Buggy

One of our favorite things about The Mercantile is all of the character that’s inherently a part of a building of this age. After sitting vacant for many years, the Warehouses on White Street came to store many unique treasures, most noteably, a buggy from The Rock Hill Buggy Company.

The buggy on display in our store was found in the back of the building under layers of dirt and treasures. Shown in the photo here, this buggy was made in 1888 and is one of eleven known to still exist.

For those who are new to Rock Hill, or perhaps just unfamiliar with the history of the area, the Rock Hill Buggy Company proceeded the Anderson Buggy Company.

The company stood on a 5-acre area where the Lowenstein Building stands today.

“A Birds-eye View of the Rock Hill Buggy Company”

The brochure for which this engraving was drawn boasted around 1900: “This company was started here in 1886 with a little hand power plant and about $10 capital – and that was borrowed. Now it is capitalized at $250,000, all paid in, and is paying a handsome dividend…

The buildings and yards cover five acres of grounds, the plant consisting of blacksmith shop, woodworking shop, paint shops, trimming shops, etc., embracing over 100,000 square feet.

The plant…is operated by a 75-horsepower electric motor and a 75-horsepower steam engine,…and there are employed about 125 men. Everything for the buggy is manufactured on the premises, the output last year being 7,000 vehicles. It is the largest buggy factory in the South.” The Rock Hill Buggy Company later became the firm that manufactured the Anderson Automobile.

Buggy History, Continued

Anderson Motor Company

The firm became Anderson Motor Company and began building automobiles in 1916. Its first cars were the Anderson Six, a 6-passenger touring car, and the Roadster, a 3-passenger convertible. By 1923 there were 8 brightly-colored luxury cars with innovations such as the first floor dimmer switch. At its peak in 1923 the factory made 35 cars a day. It built the last Anderson in 1924 and closed in 1926. Fewer than a dozen Anderson automobiles still survive.