Please correct me if I am wrong, Old Main Hall was renamed..

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Some education on Clemson and Tillman...

Jun 12, 2020, 2:05 PM

For those interested in the formation of Clemson University...

Tillman and Higher Education: Clemson, Winthrop and S.C. State University

Throughout the early 1890s, Tillman helped to establish Clemson College as an agricultural and mechanical college and Winthrop College, originally Winthrop Training School for Teachers, as an industrial school for women. As a young man, he had been accepted to the South Carolina College, but because of illness related to his eye and the events of the Civil War, Tillman never matriculated or received a college education. However, Tillman would later have an opportunity to aid in the establishment of not only Clemson University and Winthrop University, but also S.C. State University. Reluctantly, he ceased attacks on the Citadel, which he had called a “dude factory.”[8]

Tillman opposed using land-grant funds under the Morrill Act to create an agricultural department at the existing University of South Carolina, instead favoring the establishment of a separate land-grant college focusing on agricultural education and the practical sciences. He argued that

fuller investigation and study had taught me that the joining of an Agricultural Annex to an older Literary University had proven a failure in almost every case when where tried in the United States. The Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing and the Mississippi Agricultural College at Starkesville were so far in advance of any of the other hybrid institution.[9]

Probably due to Tillman’s political prominence and his determined advocacy for agricultural education, Thomas Green Clemson shared with Tillman his plans for willing his estate to the state of South Carolina for the purpose of establishing an agricultural college. In a meeting with Tillman, Richard W. Simpson and Daniel K. Norris at Fort Hill shortly before his death, Clemson shared his plans, seeking the advice and support of the other three men, which they eagerly provided. After Clemson’s death, Tillman helped lead the political fight to have the state accept Clemson’s bequest, and he was appointed by Clemson as one of the original seven successor trustees of Clemson Agricultural College. For the remainder of his life, Tillman was a powerful advocate and supporter of the school, and he was very proud of his role in its development.

One of Tillman’s major contributions to the discussion with Clemson, Simpson and Norris had been rooted in his fear of African-Americans being admitted to the college at some point in the future. Clemson’s will did not specify that only white students would be admitted. However, the Board of Trustees was to be structured so that a contingent of successor trustees would be self-perpetuating and thus independent of state government control or influence.

As governor, Tillman supported the creation of Clemson College through the establishment of a convict labor camp where a predominantly African-American crew of inmates cleared land, made bricks and constructed many of the original campus buildings. Some convicts as young as 12 years old worked at Clemson during their incarceration. Tillman reviewed several of their cases, and there is documentation that he issued at least 11 pardons for convicts assigned to Clemson.

https://www.clemson.edu/about/history/bios/ben-tillman.html

Benjamin Ryan Tillman Bio

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