“M” is for McCormick County

“M” is for McCormick County (360 squarer miles; 2020 population 9,430). Named in honor of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the mechanical reaper, McCormick County was formed in 1916 from portions of Greenwood, Abbeville, and Edgefield Counties. Early settlers mined gold in the area prior to the Civil War. In the 1870s Cyrus McCormick purchased the mine and tried unsuccessfully to realize a profit. He did, however, helped create an orderly town that brought population and prosperity to the area—and served as the genesis of the movement that led to the creation of the state’s smallest county. In the 1990s the creation of retirement communities on the shores of Lake Thurmond attracted new residents. At the turn of the twenty-first century, McCormick County continued to be designated one hundred percent rural by the U.S. Census Bureau.