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Lake City, South Carolina facts for kids

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Lake City, South Carolina
Historic Downtown Lake City
Historic Downtown Lake City
Motto(s): 
"Harvesting our past, cultivating our future"
Location of Lake City in South Carolina
Location of Lake City in South Carolina
Country United States
State South Carolina
County Florence
Settled 1736
Area
 • Total 5.35 sq mi (13.85 km2)
 • Land 5.34 sq mi (13.83 km2)
 • Water 0.01 sq mi (0.02 km2)
Elevation
75 ft (23 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total 6,675
 • Estimate 
(2019)
6,497
 • Density 1,216.44/sq mi (469.69/km2)
Time zone UTC-5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
29560
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 / 33.86778; -79.75611 (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%
2019 (est.) 6,497 −2.7%
U.S. Decennial Census

2020 census

Lake City Racial Composition
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.

Attractions

  • Moore Farms Botanical Garden
  • Artfields: since 2013 an annual festival in April featuring artists of the Southeastern US


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, a partner of the private investment firm Rainwater, Inc; a pioneering woman in the banking industry and a benefactor to many institutions in her home state of South Carolina

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Lake City (Carolina del Sur) para niños

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