The museum's director says the new building — a renovated former textile factory — is more public-facing and better suited to community engagement.

ROCK HILL — Much like Rome and San Francisco, there was a time when Rock Hill burned, too. That was July 2009, when a pair of arsonists set fire to a former textile mill site in downtown Rock Hill.

Ireatha Leona Woods can’t help but relish in the power of establishing her sewing shop in a place her ancestors could not do the same. Woods runs her business, Leona’s Sewing Studio, out of the ...