Brick by Brick

In 1954, twelve businessmen each pledged $5,000 for a college to educate the children of Horry County, South Carolina. Thirty-two students immediately signed up to take evening classes at Conway High School in what would become Coastal Carolina Junior College. These students, after obtaining their college credits, helped teach in local schools, grow businesses, and build their local community.

In 1958, Horry County voters approved an additional property tax to help fund the new college. The South Carolina legislature appointed the Horry County Higher Education Commission to provide scholarships and building support with those tax dollars from every property owner in the county. The Commission helped the tiny junior college become Coastal Carolina University. This book details Coastal’s journey from satellite campus to a thriving, independent public university—through the stories of the students, faculty and Commissioners who helped it grow, brick by brick.

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President Ingle adding "University" to the Coastal Carolina sign after its independence from the University of South Carolina in 1992.

Horry County Higher Education Members in 1992 in front of Athenaeum Hall, who worked tirelessly for Coastal to become a public, independent institution.

The Project

Brick by Brick: How the People of Horry County Built Coastal Carolina University details the immense impact that local tax dollars had on building this regional public institution. The Athenaeum Press team paired with the Horry County Higher Education Commission to create a narrative of this history. Drawn from interviews with over 30 individuals, including members of the administration, students and Horry County Higher Education Commission, this book shows the personal and monetary investment that made Coastal Carolina University possible.

Coastal, established as a two-year night school in 1958, has grown into a comprehensive liberal arts university with graduate programs and 12,000 students. Using short narratives, statistics and two fold-out timelines, the unexpected history and rapid growth of this relatively young institution. That growth was spurred not by the minimal state funding the institution has received, but instead by two partner organizations: the Coastal Educational Foundation and the Horry County Higher Education Commission. The representatives of these organizations translated donations and county tax dollars to fund both large investments like buildings and land, but also small items like books and supplies. Among the most important investments the Commission is the scholarship provided for high-achieving local students, fulfilling the promise that Coastal would create opportunities to continue to grow this small corner of South Carolina.

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks

This project was produced by The Horry County Higher Education Commission and the Athenaeum Press at Coastal Carolina University, a student-driven publishing lab. We are indebted to the numerous Commissioners and Coastal faculty, both past and present, who took time to speak with the students as they conducted their research, and graciously opened their institutional and personal archives to the project. It was an honor for our students, many of them Horry County natives, to discover how a community created a university to "form our dreams for better years."

We would also like to thank Charmaine Tomczyk and Ben Burroughs of the Horry County Archives Center for their guidance through the Commission’s and Coastal’s archives, and photography staff Judy Johns and Scott Dean for their gracious help in accessing the visual archive of the university. But most of all, we thank the Horry County Higher Education Commission’s Book Committee, chaired by Ruthie Kearns, for the opportunity to learn, to ask questions and to tell this story of our region.

Student Contributors

  • Alisa Alice, Graduate Writer and Researcher
  • Kaitlyn Cegielski, Design Lead
  • Benjamin Counts, Graduate Writer and Researcher
  • Tanya Jones, Writer and Researcher
  • Valerie McLaurin, Graduate Writer and Researcher
  • Carlie Todd, Writer and Researcher

Athenaeum Press Staff

  • Trisha O'Conor, Director
  • Alli Crandell, Project Manager
  • Scott Mann, Art and Production Manager
  • Cali Duncan, Program Assistant
  • Alexa Stress, Student Graphic Designer