City Directories and History: “Another seven miles on ’ S.C. Highway 9 is the junction of U.S. Highway 701 and the town of Loris, the naming of which has been something of a controversy. In a letter from C.C. Chadbourn, datelined Dahlonega, Georgia, March 3, 1955, is the following: “….. .One summer I was assistant to Engineer Chadbourn, who was a close friend for life time. We lived in a shiny car which necessarily followed the progress of the railroad line. Mr. Chadbourn was a hard worker. He would run railroad lines by day and figure out triangles by night. However, there were inclement days, Sundays, holidays and many hours which we spent reading. One of the books which we both enjoyed had the title of LORIS. You asked the name of the author, I was a sixteen year old boy at the time and very soon I shall be eighty nine years old. In the intervening years, the author’s name has been crowded out but I can assure you of the accuracy of the naming of ‘Loris.’”
Loris was not named after a book, if you take the word of C.C. Chadbourn’s cousin, Philip H. Chadbourn of Clarksburg, Maryland. Philip tells of the first locomotive on the Wilmington, Chadbourn and Conway Railroad: “Dad went with the cash up in Pennsylvania and bought the first locomotive (photo enclosed) and drove it home. On Saturday A.M. he would have to run into Wilmington to get the baggage-passenger car loaded with kegs of silver dollars to pay off the Negro laborers who demanded to be paid in silver.
“After crossing the South Carolina line towards Conway, Dad had another camp at Loris which he named after the big old St. Bernard dog that was Mother’s pet. I have a fine photo of Mother and the dog which I have thought of presenting to the mayor. Mrs. Catherine H. Lewis, who is Director of the Horry County Library system and a native of Loris, made inquiry about a book by the name of Loris to the New York Times Book Reviews Queries Editor and received this notice: “I regret to report that we have been unable to locate the information which you requested.” So it looks as if the dog has won!”
(Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)
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