Irmo South Carolina

Looking for a new home in the lake town of Irmo South Carolina area?

Located off the shore of Lake Murray and only ten miles from Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, Irmo was a sleepy little town of 500 people in the early 1970's. Today with more than 12,000 residents Irmo is one of the country's most sought after places to live. Irmo SC has been recognized by Money Magazine in 2007 as the 12th "Most Affordable Place to Live in the Country".

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The Cherokee Indians first roamed the waterways and woodlands of this area while following the Cherokee Trail. Later German and Swiss immigrants were the first Westerners to settle the area bounded by the Broad and Saluda Rivers and extending to the Newberry county line. Germans, using land grants from the King of England, settled the Dutch Fork area in the mid 18th century. Self-sufficient farms were established in spite of the rocky, red clay that was unsuitable for plantation farming.

The origin of Irmo tells the story of the railroad's influence. Irmo was incorporated in 1890 and flourished along the tracks of the Columbia, Newberry and Laurens railroads on the high ridge between the rivers. The town was named by combining the first two letters of the names of two railroad company men - C.J. Iredell and H.C. Moseley.

A quarter of a century later, the largest earthen dam in the world (at that time) was built across the Saluda River, forming Lake Murray. The dam, along with the construction of I-26 adjacent to Irmo in the late 1950's, made possible the continuing rapid growth of the greater Irmo area. The beautiful Lake Murray provides much sought after real estate along its 528 miles of shoreline and provides a recreational paradise for the residents of Irmo - truly the "Gateway to Lake Murray".

History of the Lake Murray Dam

Of course, the railroad was the first and most important event in the history of Irmo, but the second most important event would have to be the construction of the Lake Murray Dam (or as some around here call it, The Irmo Dam).

In February 1927, a water company in Lexington submitted a permit request to build a mile-and-a-half long earthen dam on the Saluda River. It was to be the the largest earthen dam in the world. . . no small endeavor. It would create a lake over 40 miles long and about 14 miles wide (78 square miles). It would flood over 50,000 acres and hold almost 800 billion gallons of water. The application was granted on July 8, 1927. The developers had to obtain over 1,100 different parcels of land that had over 5,000 people living on it (approximately 100,000 acres). Six schools, three churches, and 193 graveyards containing 2,323 graves were relocated to flood-free zones. Many other graves remain under the lake. Markers at Bethel Lutheran Church in White Rock and St. Michael's Lutheran Church on River Road bear the names of family members whose graves still lie at the lake-covered site of the original High Hill cemetery.

A large percentage of the land was covered by timber and supplied all of the lumber needs for the project. Thirty-seven sawmills were born with 2,000 employees that manufactured over 100 million board feet of lumber. All told, over 4,000 people were employed in the raising of the history making dam.

The first load of dirt was dumped on the site on September 21, 1927 and the last load of dirt was dumped on June 28, 1930. The dam covers 99 acres, 208 feet high and is 1,150 feet in width at the bottom, and 25 feet wide at the top. The intake towers required more than 636,000 bags of cement, 122,000 tons of stone and gravel, 62,000 tons of sand and almost 4,000 tons of steel plate.

The lake began filling on August 31, 1929 and reached the elevation of 290 feet by April of 1930. One woman who refused to move out of her house boasted that she could drink the water faster than it could rise. She was rescued as the lake level reached her house and eventually covered it up.

The name of Lake Murray was given in honor of William Spencer Murray of the Murray and Flood firm of New York City, designers of the project.

Source: Irmo SC