Peedee

Travelers from Charlotte, North Carolina, call Marion “that pretty little town we go through on the way to the beach.”

Marion County was named to honor General Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War hero whose camp was hidden deep in its swamps.

Marlboro County was formed on March 12, 1785, and named for John Churchill, first duke of Marlborough.

After Lee’s death an intense legal battle ensued among the elite of the South Carolina Bar to settle the estate. To contest the will, the heirs at law employed James R. Ervin, Abram Blanding, and William Harper, three of the state’s most prominent lawyers.

While McColl became a transportation, ginning, and marketing center for eastern Marlboro County farmers, the establishment of McColl Manufacturing Company in 1892 supplied additional growth. By 1896 this mill processed fifty bales of Marlboro County cotton daily and employed three hundred workers, who lived in cottages erected on mill land.

McColl, known for his tough management style and outspoken nature, was also an active supporter of Charlotte’s development. He was the first chairman of the Charlotte Uptown Development Corporation, which coordinated business interests to finance major redevelopment of the central city.

A craftsman without formal training, McCollough was nevertheless aware of the new ideas that were transforming Episcopal church architecture. “Ecclesiologists,” influenced by the high-church Oxford movement in England, emphasized the relationship between theology and architecture, believing that new churches should mirror fourteenth-century English Gothic design. Recessed chancels, dark interiors, stained glass, pointed arches, battlements, and cross-topped spires replaced Georgian simplicity.

Since beginning his coaching career at Summerville High School, McKissick’s teams have won thirteen lower state titles and ten state championships. He has compiled more than six hundred victories, which surpasses by far the victory totals of all other football coaches at any division or level.

As a member of the House from 1892 to 1897, McLaurin increased his influence in state and national politics. On the national scene he was a strong advocate of free silver, frequently using his oratorical talents throughout the nation.

Inaugurated on January 16, 1923, McLeod took office amid a prolonged statewide agricultural depression. Despite the economic crisis, McLeod advocated increased legislative spending on public education. As governor, he signed the 6-0-1 Law, which guaranteed all children in South Carolina at least six months of schooling annually.

McMillan’s tenure as chief highway commissioner was one of unparalleled growth. He created a division to oversee license examinations and the Highway Patrol; survived a struggle with Governor Strom Thurmond over converting the patrol into a state police organization; and created a public affairs office. In 1950 he successfully lobbied for a one-cent increase in the state gas tax to fund construction and maintenance of South Carolina’s burgeoning highway system.

Except for the tragedy at Orangeburg in February 1968, McNair saw the state peacefully through the stormy times without yielding on major policy issues. Settlement of the Charleston strike without union recognition in 1969 and keeping USC open in 1970 without serious injury to students were foremost among many public demonstrations in the state in which his moderate leadership was credited with minimizing violence.

The second African American in space, McNair made his first flight in February 1984 aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

Moore has also been involved with philanthropic projects over the years, most notably in education. In 1998 she donated $70 million to the University of South Carolina, and the university in response renamed its business school in her honor.

The publisher’s son, Jack O’Dowd, became editor in 1951 for a short-lived stay. A moderate on racial issues, he endorsed the U.S. Supreme Court’s desegregation decision, angering Klansmen and other conservatives.

Attracted by the commercial activity around the station, a few residents built houses nearby. These first homes were scattered, with no indication of forming an orderly town. Slow initial growth increased rapidly once the fledgling town began to develop. In 1878 only seventy-five residents and three stores occupied Mullins. Twelve years later the population figure had jumped to 282.

While local people caught fish and gathered shellfish for their own tables, the only seafood products that could be shipped from the future “Seafood Capital” were salted mullet, clams, and diamondback terrapin.

In the late 1940s Myrtle Beach began a period of sustained growth as fun-seeking Americans discovered the South Carolina resort. Hurricane Hazel temporarily stalled the postwar boom in 1954, but the lower land prices that resulted created an opportunity to combine small holdings into commercial-sized parcels. Soon, national hotel and restaurant chains acquired properties in Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach AFB became part of Tactical Air Command, with F-100 Super Saber fighters and an estimated 3,500 military and civilian personnel. During the following two decades, aircraft from Myrtle Beach AFB saw extensive action in Indochina and other theaters.

The original pavilion was a wooden structure that adjoined the Seaside Inn, Myrtle Beach’s first hotel, built in 1901. It was used principally for dances during the summer season.