Carolina) to Clemson. Construction of the college began with Hardin Hall in 1890 and then main classroom buildings in 1891. Convict laborers, some as young as 12 years old, built many of the original buildings on campus. The prisoners that built Clemson were almost all black, and over 500 of their names are recorded. South Carolina used more convict labor to build its universities than any other state.
Henry Aubrey Strode was the first president of Clemson from 1890 to 1893, hiring faculty and designing the curriculum. Edwin Craighead succeeded Strode in 1893. Clemson Agricultural College formally opened in July 1893 with an initial enrollment of 446. The common curriculum of the first incoming students was English, history, botany, mathematics, physics, and agriculture. Until 1955, the college was also an all-white male military school.
On May 22, 1894, the main building (Tillman Hall) was destroyed by a fire, which consumed the library, classrooms, and offices. Tillman Hall was rebuilt in 1894 and is still …
