McColl, SC

McColl is a Marlboro County town in the Pee Dee region, eight miles from the North Carolina line. It grew around a railroad depot in 1884 after local landowners helped bring the South Carolina and Pacific Railway through town. Stores, residences, warehouses, churches, and cotton businesses followed, and the community took its name from Duncan Donald McColl, a banker and railroad president from nearby Bennettsville.

The town's textile era left a strong physical and cultural imprint. McColl Manufacturing opened in 1892, followed by Marie Mill and Iceman Mill; by the early twentieth century the town was an important ginning, marketing, and mill center for eastern Marlboro County. Many Main Street buildings survived after the mills shifted to warehouse use. McColl is also home to the Pee Dee Indian Tribe, whose tribal government has operated from Marlboro County since 1976 and continues cultural, educational, health, and conservation work. U.S. Highways 15 and 401, the school, civic clubs, retail businesses, and the tribal office keep McColl tied to both its industrial past and the living Pee Dee community.