College Timeline

College of Charleston founded.

College of Charleston chartered.

Classes begin at the College of Charleston.

First graduating class (six students).

The cornerstone is laid for Randolph Hall, the College’s main academic building.

College of Charleston becomes the first municipal college in the United States.

Construction begins on the first campus library (now known as Towell Library).

The Cistern is constructed as a reservoir to provide water for fighting fires in the days before the city installed a water system. It was later filled in and covered with grass. Today a stage is built over the Cistern to seat the graduating class for May Commencement.

Charleston is under siege during the Civil War. College of Charleston closes.

Classes resume.

President Harrison Randolph introduces the bachelor of science degree.

Pi Kappa Phi founded at the College (now a national fraternity with more than 125 active chapters).

Women are admitted to the College.

Pierrine St. Claire Smith Byrd becomes the first female graduate.

College of Charleston admits its first Black students.

College of Charleston is incorporated into the S.C. State College System.

Robert Scott Small Library opens (holding capacity of 500,000 volumes).
Eddie Ganaway is the first African American to graduate from the College of Charleston.

First graduate program established.

The College completes the Grice Marine Laboratory on James Island; the laboratory serves as the center for the marine biology curriculum.

The Simons Center for the Arts, home to the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art and the School of the Arts, opens.

The Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture opens.

College of Charleston is one of six colleges chosen to serve as a space research facility and partner with NASA.

College of Charleston formally establishes The Graduate School of the College of Charleston.

The College opens two new facilities: the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library, with a holding capacity of 1 million volumes, and the Beatty Center, home to the School of Business and Economics.

The College opens two new residence halls, the George Street Apartment Community and the Liberty Street Residence Hall. The complex also contains the Liberty Street Fresh Food Company dining hall.

The Carolina First Arena, home to men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball, opens.

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art opens in its new location on the first floor of The Marion and Wayland H. Cato Jr. Center for the Arts.

The School of Business launches its accelerated MBA program.
Randolph Hall, the Cistern Yard, Towell Library and Porters Lodge undergo an extensive restoration and preservation process.
A natural history museum, later named the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History, opens in the School of Sciences and Mathematics Building.

CougarNation joins the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

Athletics unveils a new visual identity and officially enters the CAA with the volleyball team winning the College's first CAA championship.
The Bachelor of Professional Studies program launches for adult students through the School of Professional Studies.
The 15,000-square-foot George St. Fitness Center opens.

The College unveils a new logo and updates the mission statement to recognize the College's separate component, the University of Charleston, South Carolina (UCSC), as a research university.
The College's North Campus moves into a new facility and the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture is founded.

Marty's Place, a 5,000-square-foot kosher, vegan, vegetarian restaurant opens as part of the extension to the Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik Jewish Studies Center.