West Black Street in Rock Hill was a thriving African-American business district from the early 1900s to 1973, especially during segregation, when black-owned restaurants, barber shops, pool halls, shoe shine parlors, pharmacies, medical and dental offices, funeral homes, taxi companies, a newspaper, and other businesses served the community between Wilson Street and Trade Street, later Dave Lyle Boulevard. Among the businesses and figures associated with the district were Chisolm Funeral Home; Gathings Drug Store and the offices of Dr. John A. Gathings, Dr. Spofford Gathings, and Dr. Dewey Duckett, Sr.; People's Undertaking Company, later Robinson Funeral Home; Dr. S.H. Blake, the first black dentist to locate in Rock Hill; Mills Service Station; Minute Grill; Mutt's Pool Hall; O.K. Barber Shop; the Black Street Fish Market; Chicken in the Basket; the Rock Hill Messenger; Hunt's and McRae's Shoe Shine Parlor; Capital Taxi Company; Blue Bird Taxi Company; and City Barber Shop. The district was sustained by strong support from African-American customers, with money circulating back into the community, and it was remembered as a lively gathering place filled with music, food, and social life. Many of its buildings were demolished in the early 1970s as part of Urban Renewal after World War II, and while some businesses relocated, others did not.