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Clemson was founded in 1889 through a bequest from Thomas Green Clemson, a Philadelphia-born, European-educated engineer, musician and artist who married John C. Calhoun’s daughter, Anna Maria, and eventually settled at her family plantation in South Carolina.
- Past Presidents
James F. Barker (1999-2013), the fifth alumnus to serve as...
- Notable People
Walter T. Cox — Cox first came to Clemson in 1935 as a...
- Thomas G. Clemson's Will
Main Content The Will of Thomas Green Clemson. Whereas I,...
- Historic Properties
Clemson Historic Properties on Facebook Clemson Historic...
- Historical Figures
Thomas Green Clemson (1807-1888) The University’s founder...
- Statewide Gravesites
Clemson University Working to Preserve Grave Sites...
- Founder Bios
Stories for the Clemson Family; Clemson University on...
- History of Clemson
More than 70 faculty, staff, students, alumni and trustees...
- Past Presidents
History. Beginnings. Fort Hill, photographed in 1887, was the home of John C. Calhoun and later Thomas Green Clemson and is at the center of the university campus.
- Thomas Green Clemson
- Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson
- John Caldwell Calhoun
- Floride Bonneau Colhoun Calhoun
- Richard Wright Simpson
- Benjamin Ryan Tillman
The University’s founder and namesake, was a Philadelphia-born, European-educated engineer who married John C. Calhoun’s daughter, Anna, and settled at her family estate in South Carolina. Clemson was as complex as the times in which he lived: He was a diplomat, mining engineer and agriculturalist whose hobbies included music, art and the classics....
Anna inherited her mother’s style and grace and her father’s interest in politics. She was well educated, culminating her studies at the South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute, an academically rigorous women’s college. As the wife of Thomas Green Clemson, Anna fulfilled the roles of diplomat’s spouse, plantation mistress, mother and confidant, ...
Calhoun held many high offices, including U.S. Vice President twice, during a political career that spanned approximately 40 years and included service in both houses of Congress and as Secretary of War and Secretary of State. He was one of the most powerful and influential statesmen in U.S. history, and his speeches and writings articulated econom...
Floride was a prominent woman even before she married career politician John C. Calhoun in 1811. She was the daughter of John Ewing Colhoun Sr., a Revolutionary War soldier and aid-de-camp to his brother-in-law, General Andrew Pickens. Colhoun was a U.S. Senator and Lowcountry plantation owner who purchased land in the Upstate that would eventually...
A Pendleton-born farmer, lawyer, legislator and Confederate soldier, Simpson became a close friend and confidante of Thomas Green Clemson in his later years. In his capacity as Clemson’s attorney, he authored and served as executor of Clemson’s Last Will and Testament, lobbied vigorously for its acceptance in the state legislature and defended it i...
Tillman was a powerful politician who served as Governor and U.S. Senator and was one of the original seven trustees named in the will of Thomas Green Clemson. A successful farmer, he embraced the idea of an agricultural college in the Upstate. Tillman's contributions to Clemson’s founding are significant, but his efforts to energize rural white vo...
Thomas Green Clemson, the University’s founder and namesake, was as complex as the times in which he lived. In his 80 years, he achieved fame as a diplomat, an agriculturalist and a mining engineer. Clemson was a renaissance man whose hobbies included music, art and the classics of the ancient world.
Sep 17, 2024 · The state established the Clemson Agricultural College the following year, and instruction began in 1893. At the outset the college was a military school and open to men only. In 1955 the school changed its status, becoming a civilian and coeducational institution. It gained university status in 1964.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Clemson University was founded in 1889 as a land-grant institution in the upstate of South Carolina. It was donated by Thomas Green Clemson, who willed his house and the surrounding area to the state of South Carolina to create a technical and scientific university.
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Clemson University is a public institution that was founded in 1889. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 22,875 (fall 2023), its setting is rural, and the campus size is 17,000 acres.