'Myrtle Beach' is a city in
Horry County,
South Carolina,
United States. Myrtle Beach is located in a region known as the
Grand Strand, an area generally considered to stretch from
Calabash, North Carolina in the north to
Georgetown, South Carolina in the south. The population of the city was 22,759 at the 2000 census, with the metropolitan population counting in at 196,629. A 2005 estimate combining all three counties (Horry,
Georgetown, and
Brunswick,
North Carolina) made the metro population 377,137, an increase from the 2000 metro population of 346,548.
Myrtle Beach is the largest city along the Grand Strand and the most populated and visited. It houses numerous attractions and other points of interests along the Strand, drawing an estimated 13.4 million visitors in 2004
[1]
History
Lack of Primary Documents
Early Myrtle Beach area history is largely undocumented and difficult to uncover and describe. Most documents were recorded in the early
20th century, with documents in years past being either oral recollections or simple hearsay. This is due to the fact that Myrtle Beach was, prior to the 20th Century, a non-existing area, being more of an amalgam of coastal properties and farm land than a unified city. No records were kept on Myrtle Beach because there was, in essence, no Myrtle Beach.
Early History
For generations the general area surrounded by Myrtle Beach was inhabited by the Waccamaw Indians. Long before European settlement into the area, Indian tribes fished the area and traveled by canoe up and down the regions that traversed from the North Carolina coast to Georgetown, S.C. The primary source of travel was by foot or river. With the arrival of the Europeans, the area was late to develop as farming and fishing in the nearby towns of
Conway and Georgetown were the major sources of trade. Until the late 1940's Myrtle Beach was an historically underpopulated stretch of coastline in
Horry County, South Carolina. The entire county at this time was generally underpopulated when contrasted to the larger parts of the state, such as
Charleston, with the coast essentially uninhabited.
Myrtle Beach's development and history is tied directly to its neighbors, primarily
Conway and surrounding towns. These areas preceded Myrtle Beach in growth and importance, with many locals in these towns either owning small parcels of land in the area or visiting the coast during the warmer summer months.
Early adopter families included the Able Hucks family that moved to the area in 1768. Peter Horry and Francis Marion fought revolutionary skirmishes in and around the area during the revolutionary war. One of its most pioneering families with the earliest vision for the area were the Burroughs Family and the Collins family of Conway.
The area was poor for farming South Carolina's early crops, with products like
rice unable to grow in the sandy coastal soil. This, combined with a significant lack of geographic features or strategic locations, left the area in the hands of some small farmers and others who generally lived off of the land.
Eventually, timber and tar production began to enter into the Grand Strand area. Farmers and small land owners found it much more profitable to simply sell the land to the companies as opposed to renting out tapping and logging rights. Thus, the early timber companies in the late 1800s began to acquire large sections of land, much of which would later be transformed into the Grand Strand and inland towns and communities.
Burroughs & Chapin Company
The F.G. Burroughs steamship
F.G. Burroughs was an entrepreneur in the 1800s who began mining the timber and tar resources of the Myrtle Beach area. As the soil did not grow tobacco, cotton, or local varieties of vegetables, early farmers saw little value in the land. Burroughs, a Conway, S.C. business man, was the first to see profits and potential in the area's timber resources. An early partnership formed the company known today as Burroughs and Collins. This firm built a railroad from Conway, S.C. east into what is now Myrtle Beach for the purpose of shipping timber. The firm began acquiring vast acres of land from area farmers who saw no real value in the unincorporated property.
In the late 1920s, the Burroughs family partnered with an industrialist from the North and the company became Burroughs and Chapin. This company had the first vision to develop the Myrtle Beach area for tourism. Oceanfront lots were offered for fifty cents an acre to anyone who would develop a home on the oceanfront land . Few local residents took the company up on its offer .
The first major investment in the area was Arcadia, an oceanfront hotel, golf course, and riding stables. With the stock market crash of the late 1920s, Arcadia also went bankrupt. The
Ocean Forest Hotel, which was a part of Arcadia, was the first major Hotel built in Myrtle Beach. The connected golf course is today called Pine Lakes golf course. It was the first golf course built in Myrtle Beach and the site where Sports Illustrated was first envisioned .
The name Myrtle Beach comes from a local contest held in 1900 to give the area an official name. Up until this point, it had been known as "Long Bay", a description of its geography, "Withers", named after a local prominent family, and "New Town", a placeholder given by B&C. Addie Burroughs, widow of Franklin G. Burroughs, suggested the name Myrtle Beach, named for the abundance of
wax myrtle along the Grand Strand, and the name has persisted.
[2]
Growth and Expansion
Myrtle Beach was still sparsely populated until 1908 when a railroad was built between Conway and Myrtle Beach. The railroad ended in 1899 in the locale of
Pine Island and was extended four miles into the future city.
By the 1930s, the city grew to include areas as far north as present-day Ocean Forest. The Ocean Forest Hotel was built about this time (which was to be demolished in 1974). The Intracoastal Waterway began construction several years later. Almost a year later, the city was incorporated as a town in 1938 and became a city in 1957.
In the 1960s, northern development in what was unincorporated Horry County began to develop, with the newly formed communities of
North Myrtle Beach and
Briarcliffe Acres.
Myrtle Beach continued to grow, and by the 1970s, had become well associated with tourism. Parts of what is now US 17 Bypass were built later in the decade. The building boom along the Grand Strand began in the late 1970s, with many suburbs of Myrtle Beach such as
Surfside Beach and
North Myrtle Beach.
Present
Today, Myrtle Beach, S.C. is one of the top family destinations in America. Oceanfront Hotels and condominiums almost completely line the areas from 29th Avenue North on Ocean Boulevard to 23rd Avenue South.
A Myrtle Beach landmark, the Myrtle Beach Pavilion, closed its door in August 2006 leaving a temporary void in area attractions. Burroughs and Chapin company, the theme park owners, moved the attraction to Broadway at the Beach in 2007. The attraction was renamed The Myrtle Beach Pavilion Nostalgia Park. In 2008, Myrtle Beach will feature a major attraction as Hard Rock Theme Park arrives with a Led Zepplin Themed Roller Coaster, thrill rides, and daily musical performances. Hard Rock Theme Park is an over $400 million dollar investment and is expected to be a major attraction.
Tourism is the primary industry in Myrtle Beach. The area is ranked by the Travel Channel as America's top ten family resort destination. Businesses from Real Estate sales, Vacation rental companies, restaurants, malls, music theatres, Broadway at the Beach, and national outlet chains generate most of their annual dollars directly from tourists.
Myrtle Beach also boasts as the number one golf vacation destination in America. While most Myrtle Beach golf courses are dependant on cash rounds that are walk up play in the Summer season, many Myrtle Beach Property Managers and Hotel owners provide golf vacation packages included during the season that runs from September to early May.
With the exception of a few weeks that run from late November to mid January, Myrtle Beach does not truly have an off season. In August 2007, overdevelopment coupled with a shaken national and international mortgage banking institution created a concern as most of the Oceanfront and off the Ocean rooms are now individually owned by investors. These investors depend upon property managers to rent their condos so as to help meet mortgage expenses and H.O.A. fees. With literally thousands of new Myrtle Beach condos (as reported by Myrtle Beach Condos, LLC
★ ) on the market competing for tourist dollars which could potentially cause unrented rooms and lower nightly rental rates, lending institutions have become nervous about mortgage defaults in the area. As of 2007 Fall, few new 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom condos were being purchased and many of these units are now for sale on the market.
In 2008, almost $1 billion in new investment will come from the Hard Rock Park as well as the Market Commons, which is being built on the grounds of the old Myrtle Beach air force base.
While tourism related growth continues, Myrtle Beach has never been able to diversify into other industries. This is an inherent concern as Real Estate, Banking, attractions, and Property Management companies would all be affected by a major category 4 or 5 Hurricane or an entire tourism related industry slump.
The last major hurricane in Myrtle Beach was Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Hugo caused $7.2 billion 1990 dollars in damage to the industry. Hurricane season for the Myrtle Beach area is at its peak from mid August to the first week in October. The most damaging hurricanes to land in the Myrtle Beach area were Hurricane Hazel in 1954 and Hugo.
The largest landowner in the Myrtle Beach area is the Burroughs and Chapin company. The largest employer in the area is the Horry County School system.
Some projections have over 22 million retirees, baby boomers, moving to the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area over the next 10 years. Concerns about infrastructure, ocean water quality, air pollution, and traffic congestion will need to be addressed if these statistics are realized.
Geography
Myrtle Beach is a city located at (33.704238, -78.875453). It is situated mainly between the
Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway on the west and the Atlantic Ocean (Long Bay) on the East, although building west of the waterway is rapidly increasing. Much of the area between the coast and the waterway is a slightly elevated sandbar or dune area. West of the waterway the land is mostly pine forest with a normal high water table, in which developers dredge ponds and use the soil to create elevated areas for better drainage around buildings. According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 43.5
km² (16.8
mi²). 43.5 km² (16.8 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.12%) is water.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 22,759 people, 10,413 households, and 5,414 familiesresiding in the city. It has a metropolitan population of about 217,608 which is steadily rising. The
population density was 523.7/km² (1,356.3/mi²). There were 14,658 housing units at an average density of 337.3/km² (873.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 81.16%
Caucasian, 12.76%
Black, 0.42%
Native American, 1.28%
Asian, 0.13%
Pacific Islander, 2.37% from
other races, and 1.88% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 4.67% of the population.
There were 10,413 households out of which 20.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.8% were
married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.0% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.79.
In the city the population was spread out with 18.0% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 33.6% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 103.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,498, and the median income for a family was $43,900. Males had a median income of $26,039 versus $22,473 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $23,214. About 7.6% of families and 12.0% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 17.1% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.
Attractions
''See
List of Grand Strand Attractions''
Education
The Myrtle Beach metro area is home to two major institutes of higher learning,
Coastal Carolina University and Horry-Georgetown Technical College in
Conway. The area is also home to a branch of
Webster University, an MBA graduate school, and NAIA, a flight school.
The entire area of Horry County is served by a single public school system,
Horry County Schools, and the Myrtle Beach area is dotted with private schools of various sizes and motifs.
Transportation
The first major route into the Myrtle Beach area, US Route 17, ran from the North Carolina border to the Myrtle Beach area and turned west and north into Conway. The road was named in 1933, and US 17 was extended into South Carolina a year later. The road from Myrtle Beach to Conway was later renamed US 501 in a complicated route that roughly followed the current Broadway Street, Highway 15, Seaboard Street, Grissom Pkwy, Highway 544, and Business US 501.
The current route of US 501 was created in a more direct path from Aynor, South Carolina into Myrtle Beach. The new four-lane road was built in the 1960s to cover the growing traffic coming into Myrtle Beach. Very little development occurred along the new part of US 501. The bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway was built in 1962, and the surrounding area has just recently been developed as developments have moved across the Waterway.
By the late 1970s, a bypass roughly paralleling a dirt road was created for bypass traffic for US 17. This original route, named
South Carolina Highway 317, was opened in 1975 and allowed traffic to bypass Kings Highway from the northern city limits to US 501. By the 1980s, the road was completed to Murrell's Inlet and renamed as US 17.
Within the past ten years (and massive growth to the county's population), new roads have been put into place. Most of these roads follow the Metro Loop Road Plan, organized in 1997 to better the traffic flow of Myrtle Beach. Some of the roads included have either been funded through RIDE I funding or through the City of Myrtle Beach.
RIDE II plans include the third phase of the
Carolina Bays Parkway, a graded separation of
Farrow Parkway and US 17 Bypass at the Back Gate of the Former Air Force Base, and many other projects. The county is currently debating where to allocate the $400 million generated through a proposed 1-cent sales tax. Other road projects in Horry County, including some in
Aynor and
Conway, will be included when voted upon.
The Myrtle Beach area is also served by the
Myrtle Beach International Airport, located on the former
Myrtle Beach Air Force Base base on the south side of town. The airport opened in 1976 and has served the Myrtle Beach area continuously, even after the
Myrtle Beach Air Force Base closed.
Hooters Air began operating out of Myrtle Beach in early 2003, only to be closed in early 2006 due to rising airline prices and the airline industry as a whole.
Roads & Highways
★
S.C. Highway 22, which is a bypass around Conway for anyone taking US 501 into North Myrtle Beach. It will eventually be the southern terminus of Interstate 73.
★
Harrelson Boulevard, a connector from US 17 to the Myrtle Beach International Airport (will eventually connect to Kings Highway).
★
Grissom Parkway, a connector from the airport to the Carolina Forest area, eventually turning into International Drive. During the third Saturday in February, the road is closed as it is the start line for the Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon, with half-marathoners crossing the road twice, and full marathoners three times during the race.
★
U.S. Highway 17 Business or Kings Highway, the main highway in Myrtle Beach. Commonly called Kings Highway.
★
US 501, a widening and interchange project from US 17 to Tanger Outlet Center, providing a non-stop, no-stoplight trip for three miles (5 km).
★
Carolina Forest Boulevard,
Carolina Forest's main road.
★
Ocean Boulevard, the Myrtle Beach ocean boulevard with resorts and amusements.
★
S.C. Highway 31, a north-south bypass from Highway 9 in Little River to Surfside Beach, now in its third phase. It will eventually be the eastern terminus of Interstate 74.
★
Farrow Parkway, one of the few connectors between US 17 and US 17 Bypass south of the
Myrtle Beach International Airport.
Future Roads
★ Fantasy Harbour Interchange, connecting Harrelson Blvd. to the former Waccamaw Outlet Malls, forming a bypass around the congested US 501.
★ Interstate 73 will connect S.C. 22 (Conway Bypass) with Interstate 95 in Dillon County, continuing northwest through North Carolina, eventually terminating in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
★
North Myrtle Beach Connector, connecting S.C. 31 into the city of North Myrtle Beach around Main Street. It will eventually be
Interstate 174.
Sports
Myrtle Beach is home to two non-major sports team, the
Myrtle Beach Pelicans, a
Carolina League baseball team and
Atlanta Braves farm franchise, and the
Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz, an
ECHL hockey team that will eventually play regularly at Coastal Carolina University in nearby Conway.
Myrtle Beach is also the home of the annual Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon, a
track and field event in February featuring a Friday night 5K and a Saturday half-marathon, marathon, and relay. Marathon day draws the limit of 6,000 runners annually (2,500 full, 3,500 half) and results usually in an unusual dawn as the race starts before dawn (6:30 AM) in order to finish by 2:30 PM.
Golf
One of the mainstays of the Myrtle Beach area is the golf course. Popular with golfers across the United States, the area is home to many golfing communities and cannot be dismissed as a strong draw to the area.
Media
Newspaper
Myrtle Beach is served by one weekly newspaper,
The Myrtle Beach Herald, and one daily newspaper,
The Sun News.
Television and Radio
''See
List of Broadcast Stations in Myrtle Beach''
Sister Cities
Myrtle Beach has four
sister cities, as designated by
Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):
★
Pinamar,
Argentina
★
Keighley,
West Yorkshire
★
Burlington,
Ontario
★
Killarney,
Ireland
External links
★
City's website - CityofMyrtlebeach.com
★
Official Chamber of Commerce Site - MyrtleBeachInfo.com
★
Myrtle Beach Herald website - MyrtleBeachHerald.com
★
Archive of Independent Republic Quarterly issues
Notes
#
City of Myrtle Beach History
#
Myrtle Beach Herald Current Local Events
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