Intersection of South Waccamaw Avenue and Tugaloo Avenue
198 South Waccamaw AvenueWilliam Davis Melton
Credited with developing part of Rose Hill, lawyer and entrepreneur W. D. Melton began purchasing land in the Wales Garden and College Place neighborhoods as early as 1895. With the sale of two lots in 1918 to A.B. Warren and Mitsuo Tokunaga, former employees of Rose Hill Greenhouses, Melton established Liberty Realty. Though Melton died in 1926, his wife, Netta, continued to sell lots in the neighborhood and resided there for a time during the 1930s at 131 South Waccamaw. Melton's efforts to develop adjacent neighborhoods may explain similarities between the communities. William Davis Melton A clever attorney, businessman and entrepreneur, W.D. Melton played an important role in developing Columbia's early suburbs, including the Hollywood-Rose Hill community.
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William Davis Melton. Image courtesy South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
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Plat of Hollywood-Rose Hill. Image courtesy Safran's Antiques
Melton 'sold' the land where Rose Hill Presbyterian Church stands to the church for five dollars. Melton never lived in Hollywood-Rose Hill, but appears to have lived near the University of South Carolina at both 1222 Senate Street and, later, 1602 Pendleton Street. Before his death in 1926, Melton was appointed president of the University of South Carolina, though he served less than four years in the position. As this February 1914 plat indicates, journalist and businessman August Kohn joined W. D. Melton in efforts to develop the final section of the Rose Hill neighborhood. Born in 1868, educated in Orangeburg, South Carolina and New York City schools, Kohn went on to graduate with honors from South Carolina College in 1889. Kohn is perhaps best known for his work as a journalist, a career in which his prowess led to his being described as one of the most 'capable and prolific' reporters in South Carolina. Among his notable endeavors, Kohn served as president of the Tree of Life Congregation in Columbia for 25 years, amassed a significant collection of South Carolina-related books, pamphlets, and ephemera, and worked to develop the economic interests of his city and state. August Kohn passed in 1930.