Isle of Palms Firsts

First Name of Island
Hunting Island

First Title Owner of Island
Thomas Holton of Barbados
– 1696

First Home Built on Island
Summer Residence of the Nicholas Sottile family
– 1898

First Called Isle of Palms
Named by Dr. Joseph S. Lawrence to attract tourists
– 1898

First Official Transportation to IOP
Charleston and Seashore Railroad Company Chartered a ferry boat in Charleston to a trolley in Mt Pleasant that crossed the Intracoastal Waterway, continued through Sullivan’s Island and onto Isle of Palms
– Circa 1898

First Leisure Excursion to IOP
Passengers of the Charleston and Seashore Railroad Company
– July 28, 1898

First Post Office
Inside Hudson’s Pavilion
– August 5, 1913

First Paperboy
George Wurthmann
– 1933

First Bikini on IOP
– Fourth of July Weekend – 1965

First Person to Cast a Vote on IOP
Wiley G. Horne
– July 11, 1950

First Policeman/Also Fire Chief
Eddie Walters, known as “Chief”
– 1945

First Mayor of IOP
Walter I. Chapman, Jr. elected to office
– May 31, 1952

First Act/Law Passed by the City of IOP
Automobiles banned from beach