Early settlers practiced subsistence farming and produced indigo, cotton, naval stores and timber, which were shipped down the Great Pee Dee River to the port at Georgetown and exported.

[11] General William Harllee, the president of the W & M, built his home at the junction, and named the community "Florence", after his daughter.

After the war, Florence grew and prospered, using the railroad to supply its cotton, timber, and by the turn of the century, tobacco.

During the 20th century the economy of Florence came to rely heavily on the healthcare industry, driven by two major hospitals and a number of pharmaceutical plants.

[14] Industry grew, especially after World War II, when Florence became increasingly known for textiles, pharmaceuticals, paper, and manufacturing, in addition to agricultural products.

Bruce and Lee Foundation Library, and today now has the new Florence Little Theater, some 60 new apartments and the Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center which opened in September 2011, as well the new Florence Museum of Art, Science & History which opened October 11, 2014.

New office space has emerged from once abandoned buildings, and a police substation was added on once crime-ridden Dargan Street.

Special efforts are being aimed at the downtown area, which was once the center of the city's activity but remains dormant after retailers and shoppers left for suburban malls.

[1] The climate experienced is humid subtropical (Köppen: Cfa) of the type found in the deep south, especially far from the coast.

The rest of the population are distributed among other Protestant denominations as well as the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches.

The council responsible for making policies and enacting laws, rules and regulations in order to provide for future community and economic growth.

[23] Current members of the Florence City Council:[24][25] During the latter part of the 20th century and early 21st century, Florence's economy was transformed from being based largely on rail and farming into a diversified economy as the major commerce, finance, rail and trucking services, health care, and industrial center of the Eastern Carolinas.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the Florence metropolitan area as of 2009[update] was $6.8 billion, one of the highest among MSAs in the state.

[27] Milken Institute 2008 Best Performing Cities Index showed the Florence MSA as the 5th largest gainer in their evaluation of the top 124 small metropolitan areas in the United States.

The growth of these providers has led to the transformation of the Florence skyline over the last 10 years, with development for demand with multi-story high-rises as well as community relation projects.

Companies with regional operations and headquarters include Truist Financial, Monster.com, Otis Elevator, CSX Transportation and Wells Fargo.

This has allowed Florence to remain competitive and bringing in and sustaining major manufacturers such as, General Electric, Honda, QVC Distribution Center and Otis Elevator.

Facilities of higher education in and around Florence include Francis Marion University and Florence–Darlington Technical College.

Regency, with its corporate office based in Alpharetta, Georgia, has 20 hospitals nationwide, and continues to aggressively grow throughout the country.

PDRTA operates express shuttles, and bus service serving Florence and its immediate surrounding areas.

PDRTA began operations serving the six-county Pee Dee region of Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion, and Marlboro Counties.

It operates services with 165 vehicles ranging in size from transit, intercity buses, and trolleys to lift-equipped vans and goshens.

Greyhound Lines and Southeastern Stages operates a station on Irby Street, in the southern part of downtown, providing Florence with intercity bus transportation.

Drawing the best high school talent from all over the Pee Dee area each summer, Post 1 has had over 30 players move on the professional ranks, including Reggie Sanders.

Carolina Bank Field is a baseball stadium being built as part of the Florence Sports Complex to host the Flamingos starting in 2022.

Florence was also home to the Southern Professional Hockey League's now-Twin City Cyclones, who played from 2005 to 2007.

This team was part of a two event package in 2004 to replace the now defunct Pee Dee Pride (to be the Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz) from the ECHL.

WBTW and WPDE have moved most of their operations to Myrtle Beach and Conway, respectively, due to the Grand Strand's larger population.

Florence, along with The Pee Dee Region, makes up the 217th largest radio market in the United States.

The Morning News is the largest daily paper published in the Pee Dee, with a readership base extending across several counties.