In 1851, a railway stop between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina was built so that the early settlers could ship their produce and cotton to the big city markets. The railroad planners had considered locating the station at Ebenezer, but the farmers objected because the locomotive noise would disturb their mules and the flying sparks might burn their cotton fields. So, the railroad was moved three miles south to the present location and while laying the tracks, the construction crews ran into a very high, rocky hill. Because of it, the town came to be known as Rock Hill and grew tremendously as a railroad station and a transfer point. Cotton was king and when it was realized that it could be woven into cloth locally, the textile industry boom began.