Rock Hill offers scenic riverfront views along the Catawba River and is home to numerous nature trails, restaurants, and thirty-one parks which are used for both national and local events.

Its historic downtown consist of twelve contiguous buildings built as early as 1840 offering dining and retail options.

[9]: 26–28 Now that Rock Hill had a name, a railroad station, and a post office, it began to draw more settlers to the area.

Captain J. H. McGinnis built a small general store near the station in 1849 or 1850 to provide supplies for the construction and railroad workers.

[9]: 33 Shortly before the American Civil War began, a census had been taken of the population in York County where Rock Hill is located.

The 4,379 white males in the county formed fourteen infantry companies; some of the men joined cavalry or artillery units instead.

[9]: 35 Due to its position on the railroad, Rock Hill became a transfer point for Confederate soldiers and supplies moving to and from the front.

[9]: 39 Beginning in the spring of 1862, local area farmers switched from cotton to corn in order to produce more food.

[9]: 39  Records show that prices in Rock Hill changed frequently during the war, reflecting both shortages and the inflation of the Confederate paper money.

When General Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House, it was actually a future Rock Hill resident who was responsible for waving the white flag.

[9]: 42 The Civil War changed the social, economic, and political situation in Rock Hill tremendously, as it did elsewhere in the South.

A petition, signed by major landholders and businessmen from the Rock Hill area, was presented to the General Assembly on October 19, 1855.

The petition was signed by 48 men, most relative newcomers to Rock Hill, with only a few members of the old, established, landed families.

[9]: 63  The situation was a strong indication of the changes Rock Hill experienced as it transitioned from mostly farms to a business community.

In February 1961, nine African-American men went to jail at the York County prison farm after staging a sit-in at a segregated McCrory's lunch counter in downtown Rock Hill.

"[10] Rejecting bail was a way to lessen the huge financial burden which civil rights groups were facing as the sit-in movement spread across the South.

[10] As their actions gained widespread national news coverage, the tactic was adopted by other civil rights groups.

When the civil rights leader John Lewis and another black man stepped off the bus at Rock Hill, they were beaten by a white mob that was uncontrolled by police.

In 2002, Lewis, by then a US Congressman from Georgia, returned to Rock Hill, where he had been invited as a speaker at Winthrop University and was given the key to the city.

On January 21, 2008, Rep. Lewis returned to Rock Hill again and spoke at the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance.

Four unincorporated communities of York County were annexed into the city including Boyd Hill in the late 1940s, Ebenezer and Mexico in the 1960s, and Oakdale in the 1980s.

[13] On April 7, 2021, former NFL player Phillip Adams shot and killed six people, including two children, at a house in Rock Hill.

Once in the town, the twister cut a path about three blocks wide, leaving 60 homes heavily damaged, the hospital roof removed, and cars flipped or crushed.

The storm ripped through the city with sustained winds over 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), toppling massive oak and pine trees.

[15] Sustained winds over 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) across Rock Hill knocked out power, resulting in schools' closing for a week.

The city itself is part of the USDA hardiness zone 7b with yearly minimum low temperature extremes between 5 and 10 °F (−15 and −12 °C), typically occurring in the month of January.

Rock Hill has nicknamed itself "Football City USA" because of its prolific production of NFL players.

[52] Rock Hill hosted the 2017 UCI BMX World Championships in July 2017 at the Riverwalk mixed-use community along the Catawba River.

This two-year community college offers associate degrees and provides continuing education for approximately 9,000 area residents annually and is growing each year.

Rock Hill is home to a free daily online newspaper, the YoCoNews that covers all of York and Lancaster counties.