City of Myrtle Beach
City
Oceanfront alongside Ocean Boulevard
Location of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina
Coordinates: 33°43′N 78°53′W / 33.717°N 78.883°W / 33.717; -78.883
Country	United States
State	South Carolina
County	Horry
Government
•  Mayor	John Rhodes (R)
Area
•  City	16.8 sq mi (43.5 km2)
• Land	16.8 sq mi (43.5 km2)
• Water	12,359,674 sq mi (0.1 km2)
Elevation	26 ft (8 m)
Population  (2009)
•  City	31,968
• Density	1,356/sq mi (523.7/km2)
•  Metro	324,571
Time zone	UTC-5 ( EST)
• Summer ( DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	29572, 29575, 29577, 29578, 29579, 29587, 29588
Area code	843
FIPS code	45-49075 [1]
GNIS feature ID	1249770 [2]
Website	www.cityofmyrtlebeach.com

Myrtle Beach ( /mʊrˈtəlˈbiːtʃ/ is a city on the coast of Horry County, South Carolina, located on the Atlantic coastal plain south of North Carolina's Southern Outer Banks. It is situated near the center of large and continuous stretch of beach known as the Grand Strand and is a major tourist destination in the Southeast, attracting an estimated 14.6 million visitors each summer.

The estimated 2009 population for the city is 31,968. ^[3] with a metro area population estimated at 324,571. ^[4]

Geography

Technically a man-made island, Myrtle Beach has been separated from the continental United States since 1936 by the Intracoastal Waterway ^[5], forcing the city and area in general to develop within a small distance from the coast. In part due to this separation, the area directly west of Myrtle Beach across the waterway remains primarily rural, whereas its northern and southern ends are bordered by other developed tourist towns, North Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach.

Due to strong erosion along the Atlantic Ocean, the city is separated from its beach by large dunes populated with sea grasses, which stabilize the sandy soil underneath and act as a natural seawall against storm surge. In conjunction, the city has also renourished the beach's sands several times, with one instance almost immediately followed by the landfall of Hurricane Hugo, necessitating a second replenishment to fill in the quick loss of the first.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.8 square miles (43.5 km²), of which, 16.76 square miles (43.5 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.12%) is water.

Climate

According to Köppen climate classification, Myrtle Beach has a humid subtropical climate that's heavily influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, giving the area a more oceanic feel. The city experiences mild winters and hot, humid summers. Rainfall is plentiful throughout the whole year, but most concentrated during the summer months, where it is not uncommon for almost every day to have at least a 30% chance of rain. The area is susceptible to strong thunderstorms, especially in the summer months. These typically have a very short duration, although some may have intense hail with tornadoes rarely. Snowfall is extremely rare in the area, but does occasionally occur.

History

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Long Bay area was inhabited by the native Waccamaw Tribe. The Waccamaw used the river for travel and fished along the shore around Little River. Waties Island, the primary barrier island along Long Bay, has evidence of burial and shell mounds, remains of the visiting Waccamaw. ^[6]

The first European settler along Long Bay arrived in the late 18th Century, attempting to extend the plantation system outward towards the ocean. ^[7] Records are sparse from this period, with most of the recorded history pieced together from old land grants documents.

These settlers were met with mixed results, producing unremarkable quantities of indigo and tobacco as the coast's soil was sandy and most of the crop yields were of an inferior quality.

Prior to the American Revolution, the area along the future Grand Strand was essentially uninhabited. Several families received land grants along the coast, including the Withers: John, Richard, William, and Mary. This family received an area around present-day Wither's Swash, also known as Myrtle Swash or the 8-Mile Swash. A separate grant was granted to James Minor, including a barrier island named Minor Island, now Waties Island, off of the coast near Little River. ^[8]

Mary Wither's gravestone at Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church speaks to the remoteness of the former Strand: "She gave up the pleasures of Society and retired to Long Bay, where she resided a great part of her life devoted to the welfare of her children." ^[9]

As the American colonies gained independence, the area remained essentially unchanged, and the coast remained barren. George Washington scouted out the Southern states during his term, traveling down the King's Highway. He stayed a night at Windy Hill (part of present day North Myrtle Beach) and was led across Wither's Swash to Georgetown by Jeremiah Vereen. ^[10]

The Withers family remained one of the few settlers around Myrtle Beach for the next half-century. In 1822, a strong hurricane swept the house of R. F. Withers into the ocean, drowning 18 people inside. The tragedy made the Withers family decide to abandon their plots along the coast.

Left unattended, the area began to return to forest. ^[11]

On February 28, 1899 Burroughs and Collins, predecessor of modern day Burroughs and Chapin, received their charter to build the Conway & Seashore Railroad to transport timber from the coast to inland customers. The railroad began daily service on May 1, 1900 with two wood-burning locomotives. One of the engines was dubbed The Black Maria and came second-hand from a North Carolina logging operation. A community named "Withers" post office was established at the site of the old Swash.

After the railroad was finished, employees of the lumber and railroad company would take train flatcars down to beach area on their free weekends, becoming the first Grand Strand tourists. ^[12] The railroad terminus was nicknamed "New Town", contrasting it with the "Old Town", or Conway.

At the turn of the 20th century, Franklin Burroughs envisioned turning New Town into a tourist destination rivaling the Florida and northeastern beaches. Burroughs died in 1897, but his sons completed the railroad's expansion to the beach and opened the Seaside Inn in 1901. ^[13]

After its original founding, New Town continued to grow until 1957, when it finally incorporated. ^[14] A contest was held to name the town and Burroughs' wife suggested honoring the locally abundant shrub, the Southern Wax Myrtle ( Myrica cerifera). So the town was named Myrtle Beach. ^[14]

In 1937, Myrtle Beach Municipal Airport was built, however it was promptly taken over by the United States Army Air Corps in 1940 and converted into a military base. Commercial flights began in 1976 and shared the runway for over 15 years until the air base closed in 1993. Since then the airport has been named Myrtle Beach International Airport. In 2010 plans to build a new terminal were approved. In 1940, Kings Highway was finally paved, giving Myrtle Beach its first primary highway.

Demographics

Myrtle Beach is the largest principal city of the Myrtle Beach-Conway-Georgetown CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach metropolitan area (Horry County) and the Georgetown micropolitan area ( Georgetown County), ^{[15] [16] [17]} which had a combined population of 273,405 at the 2000 census. ^[1]

Per the 2000 census ^[1] there were 22,759 permanent residents in Myrtle Beach (estimated 31,968 in 2009) ^[18], 10,413 households, 5,414 families, 1,356.5 people per square mile (523.7/km²), with 14,658 housing units at an average density of 873.5 per square mile (337.3/km²)

Race

The racial makeup of the city was:

• 81.16% Caucasian
• 12.76% African-American
• 0.42% Native American
• 1.28% Asian
• 0.13% Pacific Islander
• 2.37% from other races
• 1.88% from two or more races.
• Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.67% of the population.

Age

Of the total Myrtle Beach population:

• 18.0% were 1-17
• 11.0% were between 18-24
• 33.6% were between 25-44
• 22.5% were between 45-64
• 15.0% were 65 or older
• Median age was 37 years
• 103 males per 100 females overall
• 101 males per 100 females age 18 and over

Income

• Overall median income for a household in the city was $35,498
• Median income for a family was $43,900
• Males had a median income of $26,039
• $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.

References