Mount Carmel, in the northwestern part of McCormick County, became a thriving village in the early 1880s when the Savannah Valley Railroad passed through it. A post office was established in February 1885, and the relocation of the Lodiment Reformed Presbyterian Church to town soon increased the population. An 1894 business directory listed five general stores, a furniture store, a druggist, a confectionery shop, a grocery, a carriage maker, two blacksmiths, two gins, a shoe shop, four physicians, two hotels, and seven churches. Most of the village's buildings were erected during this rapid growth from the 1880s to the 1900s. On July 30, 1896, fire destroyed a significant portion of the village, including four residences and twelve businesses, and brick buildings quickly replaced the framed structures that were lost. Mount Carmel was incorporated on August 4, 1906. Later, residents moved toward more industrial areas in search of jobs, the boll weevil's arrival in 1921 directly affected the rural community, and the Great Depression of the 1930s dealt a final blow to its remaining prosperity. Today it is home to McAlister and Sons Furniture Store, the oldest business in McCormick County, and it is also the site of Fort Charlotte, now under water, where the first overt act of the Revolutionary War took place.