From railroad stop to growing suburb
- 1730s
Settlers of the Dutch Fork
German and Swiss families began settling the land between the Broad and Saluda Rivers. The area kept its German language and traditions well into the 1900s because it was so isolated.
- 1770s
A divided Revolution
Loyalties in the Dutch Fork were mixed. Many settlers held land grants from the British Crown, so not everyone here rushed to support independence.
- 1890
A town born on the railroad
Irmo was incorporated on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1890, as a water and fuel stop on the Columbia, Newberry & Laurens Railroad, nicknamed the “Crooked, Noisy & Late.”
- Irmo
Where the name comes from
“Irmo” blends the names of two railroad officers: C.J. Iredell, the secretary-treasurer, and H.C. Moseley, the line’s first president.
- 1973
The Okra Strut
Radio personality Gene McKay joked on the air about the “ancient Irmese” and their legendary okra. Local women ran with the joke, selling fried okra to raise money for a library. The first Okra Strut was held in 1973, and its proceeds helped fund Irmo’s first library.
- 1970s
Boom years
With the interstates and Columbia growing outward, Irmo grew from 517 residents in 1970 to 3,957 in 1980.
Schools built against the odds
Long before equal public schooling, Black families around Irmo built and paid for their own education, from church-run schools to a college of their own.
- 1885
Harbison College is founded
Rev. Emory W. Williams founded the school in Abbeville to educate young African Americans.
- 1910
Driven out by fire
After repeated fires set amid racial violence, including one in 1910 that took students’ lives, the school’s board chose to move rather than keep operating in Abbeville.
- 1911
A new home in Irmo
Harbison Agricultural College reopened in Irmo, teaching farming, trades, literature, religion and music, and encouraging Black families to own their own farms instead of sharecropping.
- 1923
Pine Grove Rosenwald School
Built on Piney Woods Road near Irmo to educate Black children during segregation. Of its $2,500 cost, the Black community raised $285, alongside the Rosenwald Fund, white neighbors and public money. It served as a school until about 1953, then as a community gathering place.
- 1958
Harbison closes
The college closed, and in 1978 its remaining campus buildings went to Midlands Technical College, today’s Harbison Campus.
- 2009
Pine Grove is honored
Pine Grove was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is believed to be the only Rosenwald school still standing in Richland County, and is now a community museum.
Much of what is now Harbison, known today for shopping and neighborhoods, sits on land tied to this history.
The lake that changed everything
- 1927
Building the dam
Work on the Saluda Dam began in April 1927. Thousands of workers lived in camps around the site, a boom for a small farming area on the eve of the Great Depression.
- 1930
A world record
When finished, the Saluda Dam was the largest earthen dam in the world. The lake is named for William S. Murray, the project’s chief engineer.
- 1928
Clearing the land
About 5,000 people were displaced. Three churches, six schools and 193 graveyards with 2,323 graves were moved. Old roadbeds and foundations still lie under the water.
- 1940s
War training
Army Air Forces crews trained over the lake. A B-25 bomber that crashed in 1943 was raised from the bottom in 2005.
- Today
Bomb Island
Every summer, one of the largest purple martin roosts in the country gathers on Bomb Island, with huge flocks arriving around sunset.
- 2005
A stronger dam
A new backup dam was finished beside the original to protect against earthquakes.
Sources: Town of Irmo history; Town of Irmo, Harbison Agricultural College; Richland County Recreation Commission, Rosenwald School; Roots & Recall, CN&L Railroad; Lake Murray; U.S. Census. Photos via Wikimedia Commons; click a photo for its source and license.