Lake City, South Carolina facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lake City, South Carolina
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Historic Downtown Lake City
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| Motto(s):
"Harvesting our past, cultivating our future"
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Location of Lake City in South Carolina
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| Country | United States | |
| State | South Carolina | |
| County | Florence | |
| Settled | 1736 | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 5.46 sq mi (14.13 km2) | |
| • Land | 5.45 sq mi (14.11 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.01 sq mi (0.02 km2) | |
| Elevation | 75 ft (23 m) | |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 5,903 | |
| • Density | 1,083.32/sq mi (418.31/km2) | |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) | |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) | |
| ZIP code |
29560
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| Area code(s) | 843, 854 | |
| FIPS code | 45-39310 | |
| GNIS feature ID | 1246275 | |
Lake City is a city in Florence County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 6,675 at the 2010 census. Located in central South Carolina, it is south of Florence and included as part of the Florence Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The Lake City area was originally part of Williamsburg Township, which was first settled by a group of Scots-Irish in 1736. It was first called "Graham's Crossroads" and then "Graham", after Aaron Graham, a land owner around the crossroads that now form Church and Main streets in Lake City.
In 1856, the Northeastern Railroad built its main line through the area. This brought new growth to the community. On March 4, 1874, after requests from residents, a city charter was granted to the new town of Graham. On December 24, 1883, the town changed its name to "Lake City", after the swimming lakes just north of town. This was at the request of the locally-serving Lynches Lake Post Office, since there was another post office in South Carolina known as that.
This small town had a population of 300 in 1893, and by 1898 the area had become the leading strawberry cropland in South Carolina.
Lake City was at one time called the "Bean Capital of the World", and the Bean Market downtown has now been converted into an event rental and civic center facility. The building was built in 1936 by the Public Works Administration (PWA), and was a central hub for farmers across the South to get their beans to market. The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property in the Lake City Downtown Historic District. Also listed on the National Register of Historical Places is the W.T. Askins House.
Geography
Lake City is located in southern Florence County at 33°52′4″N 79°45′22″W / 33.86778°N 79.75611°W (33.867697, -79.756153). U.S. Route 52 is the main highway through the city, leading north 24 miles (39 km) to Florence, the county seat, and south 17 miles (27 km) to Kingstree. U.S. Route 378 crosses US 52 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the city center, leading east 45 miles (72 km) to Conway and west 35 miles (56 km) to Sumter.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Lake City has a total area of 5.2 square miles (13.5 km2), of which 0.01 square miles (0.02 km2), or 0.15%, is water. Lake Swamp drains the northern part of the city, flowing east to the Lynches River and then the Pee Dee River.
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1900 | 374 | — | |
| 1910 | 1,074 | 187.2% | |
| 1920 | 1,606 | 49.5% | |
| 1930 | 1,942 | 20.9% | |
| 1940 | 2,522 | 29.9% | |
| 1950 | 5,112 | 102.7% | |
| 1960 | 6,059 | 18.5% | |
| 1970 | 6,247 | 3.1% | |
| 1980 | 6,731 | 7.7% | |
| 1990 | 7,153 | 6.3% | |
| 2000 | 6,478 | −9.4% | |
| 2010 | 6,675 | 3.0% | |
| 2020 | 5,903 | −11.6% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
2020 census
| Race | Num. | Perc. |
|---|---|---|
| White | 933 | 15.81% |
| Black or African American | 4,647 | 78.72% |
| Native American | 21 | 0.36% |
| Asian | 27 | 0.46% |
| Other/Mixed | 143 | 2.42% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 132 | 2.24% |
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 5,903 people, 2,415 households, and 1,568 families residing in the city.
Education
Lake City has a public library, a branch of the Florence County Library System.
Notable people
- Derrick Burgess (b. 1978), NFL player with the Oakland Raiders
- Brad J. Cox (1944–2021), co-creator of the programming language Object-C, which became the basis for languages used to build Mac OS and iOS (obituary)
- D. T. Cromer (David Thomas Cromer, b. 1971 in Lake City), Major League Baseball player
- Tripp Cromer (Roy Bunyan Cromer, b. 1967 in Lake City), Major League Baseball player
- Derrick Faison (1967–2004), professional football player for the Los Angeles Rams; died from an undetected heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
- Ronald McNair (1950–1986), graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, one of the astronauts killed during the launch of the space shuttle Challenger mission STS-51-L
- Darla Moore (b. 1954), investor and philanthropist
See also
In Spanish: Lake City (Carolina del Sur) para niños
