When one man of wisdom and foresight can look among the despair of troubled times and imagine what could be, great things can happen. That is what the University's founder, Thomas Green Clemson, was able to do in the post-Civil War days. He looked upon a South that lay in economic ruin, once remarking that "conditions are wretched in the extreme" and that "people are quitting the land." Still, among the ashes he saw hope. Mr. Clemson envisioned what could be possible if the South's youth were given an opportunity to receive instruction in scientific agriculture and the mechanical arts. He once wrote, "The only hope we have for the advancement of agriculture (in the U.S.) is through the sciences, and yet there is not one single institution on this continent where a proper scientific education can be obtained." When he was president of the Pendleton Farmers Society in 1866, Mr. Clemson served on a committee whose purpose was to promote the idea of founding an institution for "educating the people in the sciences."
When he died on April 6, 1888, a series of events began that marked the start of a new era in higher education in the state of South Carolina, especially in the study of science, agriculture and engineering. Mr. Clemson's passing set the stage for the founding of the university that bears his name - the beginning of a true "people's university," which opened the doors of higher education to all South Carolinians, rich and poor alike. In his will, Mr. Clemson bequeathed the Fort Hill plantation and a considerable sum from his personal assets for the establishment of an educational institution of the kind he envisioned. He left a cash endowment of approximately $80,000 as well as the 814-acre Fort Hill estate to South Carolina for such a college. The biggest obstacle in the creation of an agricultural college - the initial expense - was removed by Mr. Clemson's bequest.
In November 1889, South Carolina Governor John Richardson signed the bill accepting Thomas Clemson's gift. Soon after, a measure was introduced to establish the Clemson Agricultural College, with its trustees becoming custodians of Morrill Act and Hatch Act funds made available for agricultural education and research by federal legislative acts. The founding of Clemson Agricultural College supplanted the South Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanics, which had opened in Columbia in 1880.
Today, more than a century later, the University is much more than its founder ever could have imagined. With its diverse learning and research facilities, the University provides an educational opportunity not only for the people of the state, as Mr. Clemson dreamed, but for thousands of young men and women throughout the country and the world.
Thomas Green Clemson came to the foothills of South Carolina when he married Anna Maria Calhoun, daughter of South Carolina's famous statesman John C. Calhoun.
Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Clemson was educated at schools both in the United States and France, where he attended lectures at the Royal School of Mines, studied with prominent scientists in the private laboratories of the Sorbonne Royal College of France, and received his diploma as an assayer from the Royal Mint in Paris. Mr. Clemson, then in his mid-20s, returned to America greatly influenced by his European studies. He became a great advocate of the natural sciences, achieving a considerable reputation as a mining engineer and a theorist in agricultural chemistry. He also was a gifted writer whose articles were published in the leading scientific journals of his day, an artist and a diplomat who represented the U.S. government as charge d'affaires to Belgium for almost seven years.
Mr. Clemson had a lifelong interest in farming and agricultural affairs. He served as the nation's first superintendent of agricultural affairs (predecessor to the present secretary of agriculture position) and actively promoted the establishment and endowment of the Maryland Agricultural College in the 1850s. Though remembered today for these accomplishments, Thomas Clemson made his greatest historical contribution when, as a champion of formal scientific education, his life became intertwined with the destiny of educational and economic development in South Carolina. Although he never lived to see it, his dedicated efforts culminated in the founding of Clemson Agricultural College.
At the time of his death, Mr. Clemson was living at the Fort Hill homeplace, which today is a national historic landmark and provides a historic centerpiece for the Clemson University campus. He had inherited the house and plantation lands of his famous father-in-law, Senator Calhoun, upon the death of Mrs. Clemson in 1875.
Clemson College formally opened in July 1893, with an enrollment of 446. From the beginning, the college was an all-male military school. It remained this way until 1955, when the change was made to "civilian" status for students, and Clemson became a coeducational institution. In 1964, the college was renamed Clemson University as the state Legislature formally recognized the school's expanded graduate offerings and research pursuits.
The enrollment of Clemson has grown from 446 students at the opening of the University to 17,465 for the fall semester 2000-01. In addition to students from virtually every state, Clemson has approximately 864 enrolled students from 77 nations. Since the opening of the University, 82,062 students have been awarded bachelor's degrees and 24,857 graduate degrees have been awarded.
Clemson currently offers 102 graduate degree programs in 66 fields of study. Included in this total are 37 doctoral, 65 master's, and one educational specialist program(s).
