A location between Savannah and Statesboro encouraged the town of Pembroke to grow into a hub of commercial activity. Timber and turpentine from the Georgia pine forests, as well as cotton, were the main commercial activities of the early town. The city of Pembroke began as a result of the extension of the Savannah and Western Railroad through the upper part of Bryan County in 1889. The town's first resident was M.E. Carter, a member of the railroad construction crew, who lived in a box car that was switched off at a siding; Carter would later serve as mayor of Pembroke. By the late 1890s, substantial permanent buildings were being constructed, and by 1900, Pembroke was the commercial center of Bryan County. It was incorporated as a city in 1905, and the next 20 years saw Pembroke develop into a prosperous town, with the formation of the first bank in Bryan County, a school, and many businesses.