Myrtle Beach History

This is not a complete history of Myrtle Beach by any means, it's just a way of acquainting you with Myrtle Beach and a few facts you might find interesting! Myrtle Beach gets its name from the many "wax myrtle trees" that grow in such profusion along the beach and in fact everywhere in the area. 

As you may well know Pine Lakes Country Club is the oldest golf course at Myrtle Beach. In the '20's a group of business men started building an upscale beach get away called Arcady which included what is now known as Pine Lakes Country Club and the Ocean Forest Hotel. The golf course was finished in 1927 and still remains to this day as an elegant mascot of those bygone days. Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen were some of the very good old golfers to play the course. They mixed with the Vanderbilts and the Rockerfellers. And in fact Gene Sarazen has a plaque dedicated to him on the 10th hole. Pretty heady stuff in those days. The club continues today in the Scottish Tradition in which it was founded. The starter, usually dressed in a kilt will give you the history of the club and tell you about the features of the club before you ever tee off. You should play this course at least once in your life!

Pictured on the right is the Ocean Forest Hotel. It was the hotel, located on the beach a block east of Highway 17. A very grand hotel, built with 300 rooms, crystal chandeliers, a beautiful ballroom, indoor and outdoor pools, stables an arcade of small shops and home to the first radio station WMY13. Next to the hotel was an open to the stars ballroom, where many of the "big bands" came to play. Called The Patio, you had to brown bag it (take your own alcohol), pay for your set-up, a bucket of ice cost a $1.00, as did a coke or ginger ale. The Ocean Forest was were everyone in Myrtle Beach gathered. It was a highlight of beach life until it was demolished in 1974.

The Patricia Hotel was south of the Ocean Forest and was known as a "family resort".

Motels were just being built on Highway 17 in 1947, '48. The first "nice" big motel was The El Rancho, built and owned by Jack Nelson, by time the 5th one went up - The Dogwood Court - everyone was worried how Myrtle Beach could support all these motels!

The late '40's early '50's were a busy time in Myrtle Beach. The Dunes Club was built about 1948, stretched along the Atlantic, still beautiful still going strong as a private club that accepts players from affiliated hotels.

Also in 1950 the Sun Fun Festival (we know you've all heard of it - a yearly event since it was organized) by the local Ford dealer, Oliver Miller. Life Magazine covered the first event and everyone HAD to wear shorts that day. At that place in time, Myrtle Beach was a "nice" small town and no one wore shorts! But for Sun Fun, it was something to see the "older" business people wearing shorts and being taken off to Kangaroo Court or jail and the fine that was paid was for the benefit of the building fund for Ocean View Memorial Hospital. Myrtle Beach did not have a hospital at that time. Shortly after Sun Fun got going could a "Miss South Carolina" contest be far behind? In 1952 the first Miss SC was held at the Pavilions. Mickey Spillane was one the judges!

In those long gone days, the Sun News was a weekly paper, the telephones were handled by a local operator who kept up with where everyone was and what they were doing

These are just a few glimpses into the history of Myrtle Beach, we'll try to add to it from time to time. The bulk of this information was provided by Dottie Miller Dixon (Miss Myrtle Beach of 1948) - thank you Dottie for these insights into Myrtle Beach history.