In 1975, South Carolina’s population, as recorded in the census at the time, was 2.5 million — an amount that would grow and grow, to more than 5.48 million people who live here now, according to the 2024 estimate.
Fifty years ago, the state was experiencing dramatic changes. The state’s economy was diversifying. New South Carolina sections of interstate highways were coming into service — I-20, I-77 and I-95 — highways that would have a profound and lasting impact on the economic landscape.
And exactly 50 years ago, the Municipal Association of South Carolina reached a milestone of its own, when it published Volume 1, Issue 1, of Uptown.
It was not the Association’s first periodical publication, since the quarterly magazine South Carolina City had launched in 1959. But Uptown was distributed on a monthly basis, in keeping with a growing Municipal Association which had only a few years earlier achieved 100% membership of all of the state’s cities and towns.
Fittingly, the cover of that first issue marked a momentous occasion in South Carolina municipal history. It featured a photo of Gov. James B. Edwards signing the bill establishing Home Rule, which created the modern structure of county and municipal government, and required that “all laws concerning local government shall be liberally construed in their favor.”
This was not the only big piece of news in the first issue — another article reported the establishment of the SC State Ethics Commission. Faces familiar to local governmental history can be seen throughout the issue — one photo has Municipal Association leadership meeting with Sen. Strom Thurmond to discuss Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
The August 1975 issue concluded with a note from the magazine’s first editor, Mary E. Muthig. It described the new publication and the topics it would cover: legislation, training and professional development, and innovative municipal programs.
“With this first issue of Uptown, the Municipal Association of South Carolina is beginning what we hope will be a valuable medium for providing information and education to the state’s elected and professional municipal officials,” she wrote. “We hope that Uptown will be useful to these officials as they strive to improve local government around the state.”
Today, the list of regular publications and communications coming from the Association is much longer than just Uptown. It encompasses everything from the From the Dome to Your Home weekly legislative reports to podcasts and social media.
Even so, for as much as the technology and communication channels have changed — and as much as South Carolina has changed — the mission of Uptown is the same as it was 50 years ago. It still covers innovative projects and initiatives that can help cities and towns deliver excellent services, no matter their size. It covers the legal requirements for operating a municipality, and new developments happening in state law. It spotlights ways that municipal leaders can protect their employees and other resources, and new professional development opportunities for officials and staff alike.
Uptown stopped counting its volume and issue numbers long ago. It’s still aiming to make municipal government, the government closest to residents’ everyday lives, the best that it can be. It will strive to do so for the upcoming chapters of South Carolina’s story as well.