| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 10,000 BC | Estimated earliest human habitation of the area. |
| 1521 AD | Spaniards explored the land called Chicora. |
| 1670 | British settle Charles Town. Under the Lords Proprietors, present day Horry County was part of Craven County. |
| 1730 | Robert Johnson, first royal governor, included Kingston Township on the Waccamaw in a plan to develop the province. |
| 1732 | Site of Kingston, now Conway, laid out by Alexander Skene and Chief Justice Robert Wright. |
| 1740 | Rev. George Whitefield traveled the coast road, Jan. 1-2 |
| 1760 | John Bartram, naturalist, visits and records his discoveries. |
| 1776-83 | American Revolution. Small engagements at Bear Bluff and Black Lake. Gen. Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” camped at Kingston overnight on his way to the Battle of Black Mingo, Sept.1780. |
| 1785 | General Assembly authorizes breakup of old Georgetown District which included this area. Kingston County designated as a subdivision of Georgetown District. |
| 1785, 1791, 1795, 1801 | Bishop Francis Asbury visited Kingston. |
| 1791 | George Washington spent the night of April 17 with Jeremiah Vereen two miles above Singleton Swash and the night of April 18 with George Pawley in southern Horry County near present day Surfside Beach. |
| 1801 | Horry District was named for Brig. Gen. Peter Horry [1747-1815] and the village of Kingston was designated the county seat and renamed Conwayborough for Brig. Gen. Robert Conway [c. 1753-1823]. |
| 1802 | First Board of Commissioners [Thomas Livingston, Samuel F. Floyd, Jr., Samuel Foxworth, William Hemingway, William Williams, John Graham, Sr., Thomas Fearwell and Robert Conway] met for the first time, Jan. 3, and authorized a courthouse [on Fifth Avenue] and sale of lots. |
| 1807 | First post office was established in Conwayborough. |
| 1820 | Population 5,015. Mills’ Atlas shows 20 schools, 6 meetinghouses. |
| 1824-25 | Second courthouse [present Conway City Hall], designed by Robert Mills, cost $9,500. The jail, built later, cost $8,000. |
| 1828 | Henry Buck of Bucksport, ME, built his home at Upper Mill Plantation, now on the Historic Register. He established commercial lumber industry along the lower Waccamaw River. |
| 1830s | Commercial production of naval stores became important. |
| 1840 | Population 5,755. Post offices at Conwayborough, Green Sea, Bayboro, Galivants Ferry, and Bucksport [Port Harrelson]. |
| 1857 | Conwayborough Academy Association built a schoolhouse on Fifth Avenue, replacing an earlier building. |
| 1860 | Population 7,962. SC Ordinance of Secession, Dec. 17, signed by Horry delegates Thomas W. Beaty, William J. Ellis, and Benjamin E. Sessions. |
| 1861-65 | Civil War. First newspaper, The Horry Dispatch, established. First steamboat on the Waccamaw River was Francis Marion, a troopship. The age of steamboats on the Waccamaw lasted until after World War I. |
| 1863 | Federal Navy captured Ft. Randall on Jan. 5, but it was recaptured by Confederate defenders. |
| 1876 | End of the Reconstruction Era. Marker on oak tree at Fifth and Main St., Conway, commemorates Wade Hampton’s speech during his campaign. F. G. Burroughs took over the schools in Conwayborough. In the next few years he built a new schoolhouse at Main St. and Kingston Lake Drive. The old Academy [built about 1857] became Whittemore Academy for blacks. |
| 1883 | General Assembly changed name of town from Conwayborough to Conway. |
| 1886 | Horry Herald began publication. Charleston earthquake felt here, August 31. |
| 1887 | On Dec. 15, the railroad [built by the Chadbourn family] came to Conway. A station along its route was named Loris. |
| 1890s | Commercial tobacco cultivation began. Homewood Colony attracted immigrants from the west. Naval stores declined. |
| 1890 | Population 19,256 [13,706 white; 5,550 black]. Conway population 677. |
| 1893 | Tidal wave, October 13. |
| 1898 | Conway was incorporated. Population 705. Col. C. P. Quattlebaum was elected first intendant [mayor]. |
| 1899 | Seashore and Conway Railroad began construction of a line from Conway to the beach. The first tobacco warehouse opened in Conway. |
| 1900 | Population, 23,364. First train ran to the beach. New Town on coast was named Myrtle Beach for the native Wax Myrtle shrub. |
| 1902 | A wooden bridge at Gallivant's Ferry is built, replacing the ferry that had served that area. It had one lane with turnouts. Loris incorporated; D. J. Butler, first mayor. |
| 1906 | New Burroughs School opened [9th and Main]. A lot for a new courthouse was purchased. The first automobile came to Conway. A new town was established at the western end of the Conway, Coast & Western Railroad and was named Aynor. The name is a derivative of Eykner and comes from the 1790 Jacob Eykner state land grant that eventually became a part of B&C's "Aynor" tract. |
| 1907 | Paul Quattlebaum’s new company brought electric lights to Conway. |
| 1908 | Present courthouse [3d and Elm, Beaty and 2d] finished and dedicated May 22, 1908. Construction cost was $24,950.40; contractor, H. P. Little. It has undergone renovations and additions in 1927, 1964, and 1982-83. |
| 1914 | Aynor was incorporated. |
| 1917-18 | World War I. |
| 1919 | Waccamaw Line of Steamers, established in 1880s,. ceased operation |
| 1920s | First efforts to establish a tourist industry. |
| 1923 | Statewide law takes effect Jan. 1, ending free range for stock. |
| 1926 | In March, Myrtle Beach Farms sold 65,000 acres to Woodside Brothers of Greenville for $850,000, to be paid in six installments through 1932. The venture ended in the Great Depression. |
| 1928 | Railroad tracks removed from Main Street, Conway. |
| 1930 | County population was 39,376, Conway’s was 2,947. The Ocean Forest Hotel opened. |
| 1936 | Intracoastal Waterway completed, dedicated at Socastee on April 11. |
| 1937 | Waccamaw River Memorial Bridge over the Waccamaw River at Conway opened. |
| 1938 | Myrtle Beach incorporated; W. L. Harrelson, mayor. |
| 1940 | Horry Electric Cooperative formed 24 April to bring electricity to rural Horry County. |
| 1941 | Myrtle Beach Air Force Base established. |
| 1941-45 | World War II. |
| 1948 | Ocean Drive Beach was incorporated. |
| 1950 | Population 59,820. Loris Community Hospital opened May 15. |
| 1953 | Crescent Beach incorporated. |
| 1954 | Sun Fun Festival held at Myrtle Beach for the first time. Hurricane Hazel hit Oct. 15. Coastal Carolina was established. County Board of Education became an elected body and the Superintendent of Education an appointive post. Horry County police established. |
| 1958 | Ocean View Hospital opened in Myrtle Beach |
| 1959 | Cherry Grove Beach was incorporated. |
| 1960 | Population 68,247 |
| 1964 | Surfside Beach and Windy Hill Beach were incorporated. |
| 1965 | Horry-Georgetown-Marion Technical College was established [Marion later dropped out.] Myrtle Beach High School had its first black students. |
| 1966 | Atlantic Beach was incorporated. |
| 1968 | Ocean Drive Beach, Crescent Beach, Windy Hill Beach and Cherry Grove Beach consolidated and became North Myrtle Beach. |
| 1970 | Population 69,998. School freedom of choice ended; unified system was established. South Carolina celebrated the tricentennial of the founding of Charles Town. |
| 1974 | Ocean Forest Hotel destroyed on Friday, September 13. |
| 1975 | Home Rule Act was passed. |
| 1976 | Briarcliffe Acres was incorporated. First Horry County Council was elected. |
| 1977 | First Horry County Council was seated. Douglas Wendel, first County Administrator, entered on duty July 1. |
| 1980 | Population 101,419. |
| 1984 | Horry County Railroad Line established to continue rail service to Myrtle Beach. |
| 1985 | Horry County celebrated 250 years since Kingston Township was opened for settlement. |
| 1989 | Hurricane Hugo, September 21-22 |
| 1990 | Population 144,053 |
| 1993 | Myrtle Beach Air Force Base closed in March. Coastal Carolina, independent of the University of South Carolina, became Coastal Carolina University on July 1. |
| 1996 | Hurricanes Bertha (July 12) and Fran (September 5) |
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