Conway was founded in 1733 and incorporated in 1898. We have grown and
changed, like many towns, over the last 268 years. Through it all, downtown
Conway has strived to remain the heart of our community and is once again a
thriving hub of business and the center of community activities. With a
strong sense of pride, Conway is looking to the future with great
excitement.
Overlooking the dark waters of the picturesque Waccamaw River, the city of
Conway offers an appealing mixture of small-town friendliness, modern
conveniences, and Old South charm. It is one of the oldest towns in America,
established in 1733, in what was then South Carolina's colonial frontier. A
walk along the riverfront is a pleasant reminder that Conway has experienced
a great deal of history.
American Indians were here first: the Conway area was home to South
Carolina's Waccamaw Indians, whose name now graces our river and our region.
Conway's first European
settlers were Irish immigrants who carved out a new life for themselves amid
the wilderness of Colonial America. The town was named Kingston to honor
Great Britain's King George I. During the Revolutionary War, Brigadier
General Francis Marion -- "the Swamp Fox of the Revolution" -- operated in
our region, waging a monumental campaign for American freedom.
Following independence, the town was renamed Conwayborough (later shortened
to Conway) in honor of Robert Conway, a veteran of the Revolution and a
prominent local legislator. Led by hardworking townsmen and
independent-minded farmers, Conway eventually flourished as South Carolina's
outpost on the Waccamaw. During the War Between the States, most of its
young men went off to fight for Southern independence.
Take a Photo Tour
In the 1870's, Conway boomed as an export center for timber products,
shipping tar, pitch, turpentine, and pine limber around the world. The
railroad came to Conway in 1887, and a few years later a group of Conway
businessmen extended it to the coast,launching what is now Myrtle Beach.
Conway has flourished as
the county seat of Horry County and as the center of one of the largest
tobacco-producing regions in the nation.
Today, Conway is a pleasant, riverside town of quiet neighborhoods, historic
structures, and moss-shrouded live oak trees. The best of the Old South's
charm lives today in picturesque Conway, South Carolina's Historic Rivertown.
