Company History
BURROUGHS & CHAPIN COMPANY, INC.
Burroughs & Chapin Company's presence in Horry County (pronounced O-Ree) and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, began more than a century ago when Franklin G. Burroughs settled in nearby antebellum Conway and recognized the potential of the turpentine business there. As Burroughs' turpentine and mercantile business grew, Conway flourished as a primary destination on the Waccamaw River. Riverboats like the "F.G. Burroughs" linked Horry County to the rest of the world.
After service in the Civil War, Burroughs returned to Conway and formed a partnership with Benjamin Grier Collins, a native of nearby Georgetown County. The two men expanded the company's commercial interests into timber, farm credit, consumer goods, riverboats and, eventually, the first railway through the swamps of Horry County to the beaches of what are today Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand.
F.G. Burroughs was a true visionary and he foresaw that one day the beaches of the Grand Strand would grow to rival the then-famous northern resort destinations of Coney Island and Atlantic City. Burroughs died in 1897 before his efforts to link the beach, via railroad, to the rest of the world were realized. In pursuit of their fathers' dream, Collins' and Burroughs' sons completed the railroad and built the Seaside Inn in 1901 (pictured above), the first oceanfront hotel in Myrtle Beach, a ground-breaking event that foreshadowed the enormous building boom that has taken place in the ensuing 90 plus years.
The Seaside Inn was followed by a bathhouse and a wooden pavilion around which beach houses were constructed. By 1907, "New Town" by the sea, as Myrtle Beach was then called, had become a popular vacation spot. Beachfront cottage lots sold for $25 each. When a contest was held to name the new beach resort, Burroughs' widow, Miss Addie, suggested "Myrtle Beach" for its proliferation of wild wax myrtle bushes. It was fitting that Burroughs' widow had the honor of naming the resort destination that he had so keenly envisioned.
Burroughs & Chapin Company was soon to benefit from the arrival of another individual of extraordinary character and business acumen. In 1912, Simeon B. Chapin, son of a prominent Chicago merchant, and himself a highly successful New York stock broker and real estate investor, joined with the Burroughs brothers to form the Myrtle Beach Farms Company. Chapin, too, embraced the belief that Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand offered unlimited potential for future growth. Chapin's financial resources and business experience, coupled with the Burroughs' vast real estate holdings, provided for a period of sustained economic growth. The landmark Myrtle Beach Pavilion (pictured at right) was expanded, a downtown shopping district took shape around The Chapin Company General Store and housing needs were met by Myrtle Beach Farms residential real estate developments.
As the area began to take shape, Myrtle Beach Farms Company demonstrated a remarkable capacity to contribute philanthropically to a broad spectrum of community needs. Most of the region's churches were built on land donated by the company. Myrtle Beach State Park, a natural haven in the midst of the bustling Grand Strand, sits forever untouched on 320-acres of prime oceanfront land given by the company to the state of South Carolina. The ample public access that exists today along Myrtle Beach's 10-miles of beachfront is the direct result of land (street ends) given by Burroughs & Chapin Company to the City of Myrtle Beach on the condition that the land remain undeveloped and used for public access. Many school sites also were provided by the company throughout Horry County. In more recent history, the company provided land for the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, land for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans baseball team's stadium on 21st Avenue North in Myrtle Beach, and has provided many millions of dollars to Coastal Carolina University, Francis Marion University, Horry-Georgetown Technical College and other institutions of higher learning.
Libraries, schools, museums and a wide range of charitable and nonprofit community regional causes continue to receive significant support from Burroughs & Chapin Company on an annual basis.
In 1990, Myrtle Beach Farms Company joined with Conway-based Burroughs & Collins Company to form Burroughs & Chapin Company, Inc.
While Myrtle Beach and Horry County will always be our home base, Burroughs & Chapin Company also has begun to expand its holdings, on its own or via joint venture partnerships, into other states generally within the Southeastern United States.