A history of the University of South Carolina online

lature.

The city of Columbia installed a sewerage system in 1903,
which necessitated a system of sewerage on the campus to
connect with that of the city. This was put in during the
years 1903 and 1904.

In order to help improve the teaching force of the State
a special normal course was introduced in 1903. It was
meant at the start to reach men who would teach and yet
were not prepared to do effective work even in the rural
schools. Accordingly the curriculum did not correspond in
severity to that of the regular college course, although it
was intended to have it later reach the college standard, as
has been done. For several years the regular college
entrance examinations have been the test for the students
entering the teachers 7 school. The students in the normal
department, or Teachers' School, as it came to be known
after the University was organized, have been an earnest
and serious set. At first 41 scholarships valued at f 40 each
were created by the legislature for students taking the
special course. The number was increased to 82 in 1904.
Two years later these scholarships were reduced in number
to one for each county, while the amount paid the holders
was increased to $100. An associate professorship was
added to this department in 1906, the position being filled
by Leonard T. Baker, who came from the principalship of
the Mount Zion school in Winnsboro. He was advanced to
the full professorship the following year.



126 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY

A small bulletin was issued in 1904; the first number
appeared in March. A year later the present series of bul-
letins began. They have proved a valuable addition to the
work of the University, not merely advertising the institu-
tion but disseminating knowledge by means of monographs.

The death of Professor K. Means Davis, March 13, 1904,
was deeply lamented on the campus and throughout the
State. His genial nature made him loved by all. He kept his
office open at all hours and welcomed every student that
came. To many he gave assistance not only in their studies,
but also in kindly advice, or even in instruction in shorthand
or some other branch of practical knowledge. Professor
Davis left behind little of published work, although he had
been a constant contributor to the newspapers. His remains
were laid to rest in the old family burial ground at Ridge-
way; the student body and faculty accompanied the body
to the grave. Dr. Gordon B. Moore taught history the fol-
lowing year and was then transferred to the chair left vacant
by Dr. Flinn. Yates Snowden of Charleston was elected to
the chair of history.

Professor J. William Flinn resigned at the close of the
session of 1905-06. The remainder of his life was spent in
Columbia until his death December 28, 1907.

Under President Sloan the number of the students rose
to 301 in 1905-06. There was also an increase in the faculty :
Professor H. C. Davis was made adjunct in the department
of English; Professor Baker was added to the pedagogical
faculty; Professor W. H. Hand became, through the gene-
rosity of the general board of education, professor of peda-
gogics with his especial work of supervising the high schools
of the State. In the law school the faculty was increased
to three, John P. Thomas, Jr., of the Columbia bar, being
associated with Professors Pope and Moore. A chair of geol-
ogy was created in 1906 and filled by M. W. Twitchell.

On the 19th of December, 1901, the alumni of the Univer-
sity united as the guests of the Charleston alumni in the
auditorium of the South Carolina Inter- State and West
Indian Exposition and again at night in Hibernian Hall in



OF SOUTH CAROLINA 127

celebration of the centennial of the approval of the act that
created the South Carolina College. This gathering was also
preliminary to the celebration of the centennial of the open-
ing of the college. The exercises of this celebration were
held in the theater at Columbia on the 8th, 9th, 10th of
January, 1905. Visiting delegates were present from many
of the institutions of higher education throughout the
country. Rev. J. William Flinn, the chaplain, preached the
centennial sermon in the morning of the 8th; Rev. John A.
Rice of Alabama preached at 8 p. m. On Monday, the 9th,
the morning was given to addresses of welcome, the after-
noon to class reunions, and the evening to a joint celebration
of the literary societies in the State House: Hon. W. A.
Barber spoke as the orator for the Clariosophic Society,
Judge Joshua H. Hudson was orator for the Euphradian
Society. A ball followed. An academic and civic proces-
sion from the library to the theater began the exercises of
the centennial day, January 10. An ode, "From Generation
to Generation", was read by Professor George A. Wauchope,
after which General LeRoy F. Youmans made the Commemo-
rative Address on "The Historic Significance of the South
Carolina College." Honorary degrees were conferred on the
visiting delegates. A meeting of the alumni association and
a reception by the faculty in the library occupied the after-
noon. In the evening Hon. Joseph A. McCullough deliv-
ered an address in the State House on "South Carolina Col-
lege and the State." A banquet brought the end of the
celebration. The proceedings and addresses have been pub-
lished.

Great efforts were made to have the legislature grant a
charter for the change of the South Carolina College into
the University of South Carolina, so that the hundred year
old institution might go forward into the work of another
century with prospects for a vigorous growth. This was,
however, not to be until a year had passed. The change was
authorized by an act approved on the 17th of February, 1906.

Intense opposition had been aroused against the second
university. This animosity continued against the college



128 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY

that was opened in 1891 : it was called an "aristocratic insti-
tution", "a hot-bed of aristocracy." Sectarian institutions
seized the opportunity to fight the college. During the first
three years of President Woodrow's administration there
were so few students that fears were entertained for the
very existence of the institution. Governor B. R. Tillman
was in the office of the chief executive for two of these years,
and he aided the trustees in securing an annual appropria-
tion of $30,000 : he also urged on the legislature the necessity
of fixing a definite sum for the maintenance of the college
and withdrawing it from politics. After his term of office
had expired a hard fight was required at each session of the
legislature to get an appropriation of $25,000. The appro-
priation for 1900 was $27,000, which was gradually increased
from year to year; in 1906 it was $36,639.

The third South Carolina College conferred degrees on 18
masters of arts, 162 bachelors of arts, 51 bachelors of science,
146 bachelors of law and 12 licentiates of instruction.



OF SOUTH CAROLINA 129



CHAPTER XII.



THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 1906

The act creating the University of South Carolina was
approved by Governor D. C. Heyward, February 17, 1906,
the result of two years of agitation led by Dr. Edward S.
Joynes. Thus the third University of South Carolina came
into existence. With the one hundred and first year of its
existence the institution entered on a new life with a vigor
and activity that had apparently been lacking in the college.
The university organization responded to the call for wider
opportunities at home.

At the time of its foundation the South Carolina College
was designed to accommodate one hundred students. Forty
years later several buildings were added at short intervals
to meet the needs of twice the original number. Half a
century almost passed after the completion of Dr. John
LeConte's house in 1860 before another structure was
authorized by the legislature. The steward's hall was
replaced by a new building in 1901; but in 1907 began an
activity in building that has continued. In this year the
legislature granted the sum of f 10,000 for three professors'
houses, which were erected on the west side of Sumter street
between Green and College and were ready for occupancy
by October of that year. In the spring of the same year Mrs.
Ann Jeter presented to the University the sum of $15,000,
which on the suggestion of President Sloan she directed
should be used to erect a memorial infirmary in memory of
her nephew, Wallace Thomson, to be known as the Wallace
Thomson Memorial Infirmary. This building, placed on
the southwest corner of Bull and Green streets, was com-
pleted in 1908. Equipment was secured through appropria-
tion by the legislature. Through the munificence of Mrs.
Jeter the University has enjoyed the advantage of a superb
infirmary, by means of which the general health of the



9 H. U.



130 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY

student body has been greatly improved. All cases of sick-
ness receive immediate and most careful attention. The old
infirmary was remodeled into a residence.

An arts building, to be used for classrooms, was provided
for by the legislature of 1908 at a cost of $30,000. It was
erected on the green east of the wall on a lot purchased from
the estate of Malachi Howell in 1838, because the city of
Columbia was at that time laying claim to the greater part
of the green. The claim of the University was sustained by
the supreme court of the State in 1910. This college was
completed by the summer of 1909 and was formally opened
on Founders' Day, January 14, 1910; the address of the
occasion was made by Lewis W. Parker, A. B. 1885. The
trustees selected "K. Means Davis College" as the name of
the new building in honor of the late Professor R. Means
Davis.

Mr. C. C. Wilson, A. B. 1886, was appointed in 1907 the
architect of the University, and a plan was adopted which
was to be followed in the location of the buildings and in
the improvement of the grounds. The general style of the
new structures is to correspond to that of the old. There is
to be a double campus, the old one and a new campus on
"Gibbes Green" east of the president's house, which is to
be replaced by a structure that will serve as a central point
in the grouping.*

In the spring of 1908 Dr. Edward S. Joynes was placed
on the Carnegie Foundation and in June retired from active
service to the emeritus professorship of modern languages.
His successor was Professor Oscar L. Keith.

Professor Joseph Daniel Pope died at his home in Colum-
bia, March 21, 1908, at the age of eighty-seven. He was the
founder of the present law school and had carried on the
entire work until 1901, when he became emeritus professor
of law with an assistant. In Professor Pope the University
lost a great and good man, a most devoted instructor and
warm friend. Professor J. Nelson Frierson succeeded to his

*(The action of the trustees in selecting a permanent architect was
rescinded in 1915. Mr. Wilson was the architect of R. Means Davis,
LeConte, Thornwell and Woodrow Colleges.)



OF SOUTH CAROLINA 131

chair, Professor Herndon Moore being appointed to the dean-
ship of the law school.

President Sloan resigned from the presidency at the close
of the session of 1907-08 and has since been living near
Biltmore, N. C. He had been previously placed on the Car-
negie Foundation. For twenty-two years he had been pro-
fessor and for six years acting president and president of the
college and the university. It has not fallen to the lot of
many to enjoy the respect and love that have come to Presi-
dent Sloan.

During the summer of 1908 the trustees elected to the
presidency Professor Samuel Chiles Mitchell of Richmond
College. As he had agreed to fill the chair of history at
Brown University for one year, he was given a year's leave
of absence to carry out his contract. Professor Andrew C.
Moore was elected acting president during his absence.

Under Professor Moore's able and judicious guidance the
University continued to advance. An appropriation was
obtained from the legislature of 1909 for a new science
building; the sum of f 20,000 was granted with the under-
standing that the same amount was to be given the following
year, as was done. This building, which was named LeConte
College in honor of the two LeConte brothers, John and
Joseph, once professors in the University, was finished in
time for the opening of the session in 1910. The formal
opening took place on Founders' Day, January 11, 1911. At
the commencement of 1909 the degree of A. B. was conferred
on the surviving members of the class of 1862.

President Mitchell visited the University several times
during the session of 1908-09 and in June, 1909, entered on
the performance of his duties. It was his first purpose to
make the University known in all parts of the State. In a
few months he had traversed every county, acquainting him-
self with all sections. He was a man of unbounded energy.
During the whole time of his connection with the University
he was in constant demand for addresses not only in South
Carolina but throughout the country. He wished to attach
South Carolina to the full current of affairs in the nation



132 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY

and in the world, for which reason he neglected no oppor-
tunity to go outside the State himself and to have the mem-
bers of the faculty attend educational and scientific gath-
erings. The University was to furnish the leaders in all
movements that made for the advancement of South Caro-
lina; men who were publicists were to go from the Univer-
sity for service to the State and the nation.

Through the press the University was more widely adver-
tised than ever before. The Bulletin was used to distribute
information throughout the State on good roads, high
schools, mill village work, rural schools, and on various
educational topics. On Monday mornings and on every
other possible occasion prominent men were invited to
address the students on the questions of the day. A course
of lectures on Thursday evenings, known as "Thursday
Lectures", were delivered for several years by members of
the faculty.

In order to do honor to the men who were instrumental
in founding the South Carolina College, Founders' Day was
instituted. The first day to be thus celebrated was Jan-
uary 14, 1910 : the 10th of January was the day of the first
opening of the college, but owing to the session of the legis-
lature, which nearly always meets just after the tenth, it
was decided to hold the celebration on the Thursday imme-
diately following the opening of the legislative session. The
alumni hold a meeting in LeConte College on the morning;
in the afternoon there is a gathering at some point on the
campus, usually in the chapel, and a number of addresses,
the majority of which are short; in the evening the chief
address of the day is made in the State House in the hall of
the house of representatives. The addresses of each year
have been preserved in the Founders' Day Bulletins. Among
the speakers from outside the State have been Dr. William
MacDonald of Brown University, Dr. Seaman A. Knapp,
Dr. Walter Page, editor of World's Work, Hon. L. W. Page,
director of federal bureau of roads, Dr. Charles Alphonso
Smith, Walter S. McNeill of the Richmond bar, Hon. Charles
Francis Adams, Professor Charles R. Raper, President
George H. Denny.



OF SOUTH CAROLINA 133

Mr. Fitz Hugh McMaster, A. B. 1888, Insurance Com-
missioner of South Carolina, offered in 1909 a medal to be
awarded as the McMaster Medal to an alumnus who should
have been deemed worthy of it for "distinguished service to
mankind." This medal has been presented on Founders'
Day, 1910, to E. Mclver Williamson, class of 1883, for his
method of raising corn, through which the production of
corn in the South has been greatly increased; in 1911 to
Dr. Gill Wylie, class of 1868, for his distinguished medical
and surgical services; in 1912 to Dr. John M. McBryde, for
his services as an educator.

President W. H. Taft visited the campus November 6, 1909,
and spoke from the steps of the president's house to the
assembled faculty, students, pupils of the city schools and
citizens generally.

Flinn Hall was opened in 1910. This was the house long
occupied by Dr. J. William Flinn, who made his home a
social center for students. With the money that had been
contributed by friends toward the erection of a Y. M. C. A.
building and placed in the keeping of Dr. Flinn his former
home was fitted up to be the social center of the student
body and named Flinn Hall in his honor. A secretary of
the Young Men's Christian Association has been secured
by action of the students and by legislative appropriation,
who has charge of Flinn Hall and of the general religious
interests of the University. The late Mrs. J. William Flinn
left the sum of f 1,000 which she directed should be given
to Flinn Hall. The interest of this sum is to be devoted to
permanent equipment. The secretaries have been : W. Plum-
mer Mills, A. M., 1907, sessions of 1910-11, 1911-12; W. U.
Guerrant, 1912-13, 1913-14; E. S. King, 1914. An addi-
tion has been made to the hall for an auditorium.

When the new science hall, LeConte College, was com-
pleted, and the departments of physics and chemistry had
been moved from the old science hall, this latter building
was turned into a gymnasium and partly equipped. The
large hall above is used for gymnastic practice and basket-



134 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY

ball and for the dances that are held under the auspices of
the German Club and of the Social Committee. This com-
mittee composed of students and professors has as its
object better social advantages to all students, and so gives
dances and receptions. Baths are below. A department
of physical education has been created, and a course of
instruction has been evolved which is compulsory on
students of the first and second years. All new students
are required to take a medical and anthropometric exami-
nation.

A course of weekly lectures on personal hygiene, muni-
cipal and rural sanitation, the transmission and prevention
of all communicable diseases is given by officers of the State
Board of Health. This course is an elective to all students.

Two new dormitories, Thornwell in the rear of DeSaus-
sure and facing Pendleton street, and Woodrow in rear of
Eutledge and facing Green street, were erected by legislative
appropriation, the former in 1912, the latter in the following
year. These are modern buildings; Woodrow is furnished
with steam heat.

A steam heating plant for all buildings was begun in the
year after Dr. Mitchell arrived ; but owing to opposition in
the legislature, it was delayed, and the central plant was
finally moved to the position it occupies behind Rutledge.
Only two buildings are as yet heated in this way, Woodrow
and Davis.

Professor Andrew C. Moore was appointed dean of the
University with supervision of the discipline and govern-
ment. During the absence of the president he performed
the duties pertaining to his office, which put into the dean's
hands the greater part of the administration, as the presi-
dent was away for most of his time traversing the State or
representing the University in other States.

Several professors were added. Professor William Knox
Tate came to the University in 1910 as professor of elemen-
tary education and supervisor of rural schools. He resigned
in 1914 to take a chair in the George Peabody College in
Nashville. Professor Reed Smith was added to the English







President Benjamin Sloan. 1902-1908.
President Samuel Chiles Mitchell, 1908 1913.



Acting President Andrew Charles Moore,

1908-09, 1913-14.
President William Spencer Currell, 1914.



OF SOUTH CAROLINA 135

department first as associate professor and then as full
professor. Professor H. C. Davis was advanced to the full
chair in the same department at the same time. Professor
M. Goode Homes, beginning as adjunct professor of civil
engineering, built up in a few years a school of engineering.
Professor J. E. Mills entered the faculty as lecturer on
industrial chemistry; he was later given a full chair. The
department of commerce and finance was built up by Pro-
fessor George McCutchen. Fuller advantage was taken of
the presence of the State Board of Health on the campus
to use the officers as lecturers. Professor Charles W. Bain
resigned in 1910 to take the chair of Greek at the University
of North Carolina. Two professors of ancient languages
were elected, Professor Edwin L. Green, advanced from
associate, and Professor Louis Park Chamberlayne. After
a year's leave of absence in Germany Professor Gordon B.
Moore withdrew in 1912 from the University, his place being
taken by Professor Josiah Morse, who had filled the chair
in his absence. Professor M. W. Twitchell resigned in 1912
to take a position with the geological survey of New Jersey.
He was succeeded by Professor Stephen Taber. Professor
Eobert M. Kennedy, A. B. 1885, was in the same year elected
to the position of librarian, succeeding Miss Margaret H.
Eion, who had entered the library in 1898.

In the spring of 1913 Dr. Mitchell sent in his resignation
to the board of trustees to take effect at the close of the
session. He went to Eichmond as president of the Virginia
Medical College. Owing to opposition to his work and to
attacks upon him personally he had become unwilling to
remain in South Carolina. He had also been examined
before a committee of the senate and house in regard to his
action with other presidents of Southern universities con-
cerning the division of the Peabody funds, and although he
was triumphantly acquitted, he still felt the injustice of the
attack.

The trustees at their meeting in June placed the adminis-
tration of the affairs of the University in the hands of Pro-
fessor Andrew C. Moore as acting president, until the elec-
tion of Dr. William Spenser Currell in the summer of 1914.



136 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY



CHAPTER XIII.



THE LANDS OF THE UNIVERSITY.

The act establishing the South Carolina College empow-
ered the trustees to "make choice of any square or squares,
yet unsold, in the Town of Columbia, for the purpose of
erecting the said college, and the buildings attached thereto,
having strict reference to every advantage and convenience
necessary for such institution." At the meeting of the board,
held in Charleston, February 4, 1802, Colonel Thomas Taylor,
Colonel Wade Hampton, Rev. D. E. Dunlap, Judge Brevard,
Messrs. John Chestnut, Henry D. Ward, Bartlee Smith and
James B. Richardson, were appointed a committee to
examine and report on a proper site for the new college.
Their report, made May 24, 1802, set forth "Amongst the
unsold squares in the Town of Columbia, there is not at pres-
ent any two or more squares nearly contiguous which would
be eligible sites for said college. Your committee, however,
anxious to have so valuable an institution located and speed-
ily organized, would be unanimous in favor of erecting said
college on a public square, known by the name of Moultrie
Square, in the plan of the Town of Columbia, was it not that
said square lay too near a mill pond, now erecting by Mr.
Purvis, on Eocky Branch, just above where the road leading
from Columbia to Granby crosses the same. . . . From
this consideration your committee beg leave to report a square
of land to the eastward of the State House as being the most
eligible site whereon to erect the South Carolina College."

When the board met in Columbia on December 2, follow-
ing, it "proceeded to make a choice of a Scite for the buildings
to be placed on, and having chosen the squares on the plan
of Columbia comprised between Medium (College) Street and
Blossom Street and between Sumter Street and Marion Street
and also the square comprised between Richardson (Main)



OF SOUTH CAROLINA 137

Street and Sumter Street, and between Green Street and
Devine Street, it was resolved that the Committee on Con-
tracts be authorized to pursue all necessary measures to pro-
cure a title to the said squares and the parts of the several
streets comprised between them.

As it was found that most of this land was covered by sales
to private persons, the legislature on December 18, 1802,
passed the following act: "Whereas the Board of Trustees
of the College of South Carolina, in locating the spot which
appeared to them the most proper for the site of the above
mentioned College, have discovered that parts of the squares
comprised therein have been sold to private persons, who
are willing to relinquish their purchase."