Agriculture has always been an integral part of the local economy of the Pee Dee. In the late 1880s, a curb market occupied the ground floor of the Florence City Hall where meat and fresh produce from Florence and adjacent counties were sold to the townspeople. The Irby Street Market was established by the Florence Kiwanis Club, the Florence County Delegation, and the Clemson University County Extension Office in the late 1950s. These curb markets offered fresh garden produce, watermelons, home baked goods, home canned goods, pickles, sugar cane, jellies, corn meal, milk, eggs, and home craft items such as aprons and dolls.
To replace the old curb markets, the Pee Dee State Farmers Market was opened in June of 1983 at the “Old Tobacco Experiment Station” location on Highway 52. The 55 acres of land on which the Pee Dee Market now rests was originally used for production farming.
