USC Columbia Bicentennial Celebration

south carolina college at 143 students year 1861 Fort Sumter was fired it was later said that the entire student body at the college Rose is one man and joined the Confederate armies this is not exactly true in fact one alumnus even fought for the Union side and his father had been a professor and his own dear brother had thought that Wade Hampton and was killed in Virginia and yet this boy fought the Yankees and that the knighted souls name was we don't Norman people it's not because of this building leave a college today for his father Francis who was a very great teacher stall soon enough though after the outbreak of the war then all the college buildings were used as a hospital for the wounded with rabble and Yankee alive because of that when General William Tecumseh Sherman marched his troops through Columbia carrying within a hailstorm of burning fire April 14 1865 the college was saved the building was home at that time to Joseph's economy chemistry professor his daughter Emma could see much of the city from a third-story window and she wrote about it in her diary story before me the southern horizon was lit by campfires which dotted the woods on one side the sky was illuminated by the burning general Hamptons residents a few miles off I went downstairs trying to hear neighbor said there was a bottle [Music] it's rare we would see the Yankee soldiers generally staggering back and forth from camp to the town it was shouting for prying cursing South Carolina swearing singing rippled songs and using such obscene language that we were forced to go indoors fire on Main Street was now raging and we anxiously watched its progress from the upper front windows in a little while the flames broke forth in every direction by midnight the whole town still the flame to not approach sufficiently to threaten our immediate safety I fell into a heavy sword which I was roused by the sound mrs. Caldwell's house was ablaze in my aunt Josie's - they huddled at the front door oh I see it was now about 4:00 in the morning in Statehouse was one grand conflagration the college buildings caught fire on the other side of the war shootin some Yankee soldiers joined the doctors and the nurses were tended to the wounded housed on campus and they saved the buildings more patients had to fend for themselves those that could crawled out onto the grass in front of the buildings because they assure the building [Music] they cried piteously waited vacant lot across Sumpter Street was crowded with homeless women and children a few were wrapped in blankets but most of the shivering in the night rollin smoke they were littered with Sparks and flying embers all around us from falling think hours of burning flames straight as far as the eye could see were solid mass of flames the air was filled with this horrible war of the place on every on every side he's heard the crackling of fire the crashing of timber the thunder of falling buildings it was a horrible 12 hours and every other the Sun rose finally dim and read from the big Murphy at me it's set on a beautiful town with women and children but it's shown EE down this morning smoking ruins abject misery the Union soldiers took over many of the buildings for their use the college trustees couldn't very well ask them to leave but they did demand payment the Brent I was looking at my garden black last night thinking about school days of Carolina a B class of 1937 I came across this old chestnut young man says have you an opening for a bright intelligent college graduate and the employer says yes don't slam it on your way out well yeah what's the depression when I came down to Carolina class of 37 my father told me that someday I'd look back on my days in colleges the best days of my life in 1933 I didn't believe for Carolina tuition widow professor salaries went down but I don't know the number of students didn't go down that much over 1,400 of us eventually Roosevelt's work programs began to make a difference the civic work administration paid for the repair of lacan Davis slogan in Rutledge here which needed some work Rutledge has been the first building of the old South Carolina College that was completed 1905 I think fire all destroyed in 1855 but it was rebuilt by 1934 did some work people needed jobs federal work programs also paid for the new library yet head of the horseshoe later it was named the McKissick library quite a grand building from the outside after studying in the old library the one that's become known as the Carol in the Attic because it just never seemed quite right inside I was lucky I was one of 125 boys to get a warped scholarship the Federal Emergency Relief Administration 150 dollars a year a lot of money then couldn't always find a dime for pack of cigarettes newspaper some work the night shift in a cotton mill still others wandered at night room room the tenements that's what the college dorms were trying to sell candy or peanuts I'd sell my ticket to a football game didn't get a job patrolling the fence is a Melton field during the game the ticket and pay for the patrol usually netted me three dollars couple of weeks there weren't many coeds in Carolina vent underclass women weren't allowed to live on campus in tuition was extra for females never could figure out why but we had dances lavishes festooned crepe paper the music of local bands homemade evening dresses and ill-fitting borrowed tuxedos could make them there wasn't any parking problems a few rattletrap Salafis week afford well they're always full 3/4 neat seating others hanging off the blenders of the running boards I guess my father was right I miss my days freshman Brad welcome town my girl to the movie houses with mainstream go bowling share a milkshake in brunettes drugstore listen to someone play the piano and the woman's building last night early spring sit talk hold hands on the benches ringing dollars somehow I managed to escape Columbia without getting there which reminds me of another corker from the year two girls talking hey one says hasn't John ever married and the second replies no and I don't think he intends to is he studying for a bachelor's degree well thanks for listening there's a multi image presentation thank you welcome folks to South Carolinian a library in this a fine-looking first complete in 1840 it was the first freestanding building in America that had been erected specifically to be a library that's a pretty big claim to fame but it's not it's only one see it's thought through the famous architect Robert Mills designed this building because the facade up front here looks just like the facade of the fire crews building in Charleston and as everyone knows Robert Mills is on fire prints over see the inside up here second floor reading room is designed to be an exact replica of the Library of Congress reading room and all that insiders remain unchanged since about 1840 and it is the only building of the horseshoe that you can say that about see one of the reasons I think is stay unchanged them so long it's because they didn't allow artificial lighting of any kind inside the library until turn-of-the-century it seemed to be less risk of fire that way now I was a student here myself in the 1890s and maybe if I spend a little bit more time up there I'd have been a better student but not me I wanted nothing better than to be out of doors you know batting around a bar with some fellows see sports of all kinds with just getting going around now oh and not just a Carolina lot of time of thousands president wide of Cornell University made his famous quit and then you probably haven't heard it was real famous to see the Cornell University football team have been invited to compete against the University of Michigan well president white didn't take too kindly to that he said I will not permit 30 men to travel 400 miles merely to agitate a bag of wind Christmas Eve 1892 a bunch of Carolina boys went down to Charleston to play Furman in an unauthorized game Furman 144 to nothing look and see that just got Carolina all fired up two years after that we were playing regularly scheduled games in two years after that we had a coach that was 1896 and that was the first year that Carolina played Clemson there was November 13th and the State Fair was this town and the game was played on the fairgrounds now start at 11 a.m. early morning game a no but see that was some people can watch the horse races after and so they could drive their wagons over before dark 2,000 people a 25-cent speech to watch that first game and then it rained on top of that but you know they said rain doesn't stop a football game it just makes it a lot more amusing but back then see the clubs and boys were where they were bigger and they were better trained but Carolina won the first Carolina Clemson game 12 to 6 order kept on playing even we lost I love sports play baseball to see intercollegiate competition just began in 1895 but Carolina wasn't paying as well then in fact on about one visiting team wiped us out because their guys could do something my guys never seen before you can throw see that was new there and some was long tennis tennis had just gotten down to the state around that time and it was the kind of nice home I can't run without played with a young lady another year long ladies that arrived here would have been a student at this university until 1895 see that was the first year women were admitted and at first the guys what we didn't like that too much at first now can't remember why but it seems like that ideas about our men and women and uh modesty with just a lot more complexity if not going on for the story to illustrates that point that occurred right up here in this library does he have to give a picture first the 1880s Carolina the social life was listening the 1885 commencement ball was held in the Statehouse grounds Supper was in the Senate chambers then there was dancing all over the dock browse until after dawn so Carolina returned the big bat a party here with a long Japanese land we just you know pretty much what you see around you right now we've got a fetish a pickup truck my friends didn't take it in college but see that was just called a fancy word for a country party the after standards in this time elegance and sophistication and knock down white party spirit that a very very very nice reception was held up here in this library and a President's House had sent over a bunch of people to clean and make the place presentable and nice for this reception well one of the maids was scurrying back over to the house to speak to mrs. and greif you know very very himself and she wanted Nathan you already have Nate you're wearing well can you want another apron well it seems that he made a been dusting away in the library it's dust away and come across a very nice classical statue a nude classical statue of the goddess Aphrodite where she won and she thought that was indecent you know it just wasn't decent for any sort of company to see so she rushed back over to the house and told mr. fried that she needed an apron on that statue to cover up all those parts well this they brought that that was pretty funny you know dad do you have a very elegant reception there's some paper on the possible statute she got a big laugh about that but she also had the statue safely hidden away before the reception in Paris that's how modest things were Carolina [Music] Soph your gals good fellows don't put your coats on slow for drinking at Oh Billy's we are ready for to go above me gives good suppers good dinners down below and many a time we've had a good spree at Billy maybe it's all here at the South Carolina College in the late fifties week of the 1850s of course discipline is strict here at the college mandatory morning chapter in your rooms by 9:00 p.m. and dinner oh but that's been done away with well that is the steward still serves at the Commons which you don't have to eat there if you can find bored in town not since the great biscuit rebellion Oh students always complain about the food at the Commons but in 1852 it is said the steward served wormy biscuits the students demanded leave to dine in town the trustees refused so 108 students left the campus in protest the biscuit rebellion April Fool's Day someone just laid a plank up to the door and I remember when President Henry announced in Chapel there were too many dogs on campus that they should be expelled the next morning he noticed several dog suspended from one of the horse racks the dogs yeah to be level we said we softened his order from expulsion to suspension but we would not have you believe the students of this college or without on we do not lie steal or cheat we protect the proprieties the honor of women even to fighting a duel if necessary some years ago in 1833 there was a duel between Govan roast of gallopin County and James G Adams of Richland County now you see the route was a young man he was about six feet tall and he was very handsome and Adams was not so tall but he was still admired by the young ladies of Columbia one evening the two left their rooms here at does so sewer to have supper at the stewards hall when the dinner bell rang and the doors on either end of the room open roots and Adams led the charge to the supper table but there was a mad dash to get to the table first and lay claim to a serving dish well it was considered a matter of honor that when one man touched a plate that it was his and he got shorts from it first Roach and Adams ended up opposite each other and each touched a dish of trout and exactly the same time Adams did not let go neither did Roach after a few moments Roach growls at Adams sir I will see you after supper there were no harsh words no fisticuffs both were cool as cucumbers they just glared at each other through the meal with two angry young Bulls wrong chat choice of weapons pistols at ten paces a crowd assembled the two young fellows stood back to back they marched off ten paces seeing this Adams lorry his weapon to the ground the call was given a second time gentlemen are you ready fire one both men were badly wounded within several hours Adams died roads recovered it's true but he died while still a young man he never seemed to get over having best friend over a point of Honor over a plate of trout but that was long ago today in 1859 we're far too civilized we read our Latin and Greek we before over philosophy and mathematics and a commencement we're going to have a medieval jousting tournament which man amongst us who can spear three rings on a lens by horseback shall have the honor of selecting the bay Queen and when we graduate and he just taken his degree will drink will their disgrace the title of a bee and when we left Colombia our wending homeward slow will sigh Oh reminiscences that Billy may beans oh well thank you for listening to our side of things now if you like you might take a trip down to South Carolina in a library we have a friend down there I can tell you about the 1890s and sports and such in that era and if you're interested in the Civil War you might go on over to Libre College and find out all about that [Music] [Music] welcome welcome everyone I never dreamed that so many of you would be here today you know this crowd may be bigger than the whole city of Columbia back in 1833 when I was a student oh but first let me tell you that my name is Thomas bull and I'm from Buford I've been invited here to talk about life at South Carolina College and Columbia it's not an easy assignment because there's a lot to tell even though there were less than 100 men on the campus of South Carolina College when I started in 1833 we were closed good South Carolina boys who wanted the right education Thomas Cooper was president and a good one at that he looked so much like a turtle lots of us called him all coot but that wasn't all he was calm he was tough and demanded the best he once told the Board of Trustees I have no hesitation in saying that the education received and the college is not exceeded in the United States he believed in the classics and even though I had my heart set on growing rice and cotton I learned Cicero and Houma and was required to recite Greek and Latin at least twice a week well that's ok the ladies found it charming tell but you know most of that and even about the duel between two students that took place while I was there both of those good men died over a point of Honor arguing over who had first rights to a servant played a fish at dinner you want to know about Columbia it only had about 200 houses back in 33 maybe a dozen shops but it was an entertaining town not that the city people always loved the students especially when we got to tie in lighted fireballs to the tails of animals and chasing them across campus still some wonderful balls I remember especially the Lafayette ball there were horse races beautiful girls and everyone tried out the new split spoons we now call Forks frankly I was surprised they caught on still think it's easier to eat peas with a knife well I must run a lots happened in 200 years [Music] it's hard to believe this is the same place before I begin please allow me to pause a moment I'm William Campbell Preston and was president from 1845 to 1851 I understand there's even a building around here somewhere named for me I guess what amazes me most is that though a lot has changed many of the same issues lingered when I was on campus parking was a problem students didn't like the food resulting in what was later called the great biscuit rebellion and the state legislature was in arms over South Carolina College being a rich man school and a center for dead languages still President James Thornwell who followed me announced the school was in business to produce scholars and not sappers or miners apothecaries doctors or farmers those boys of the Statehouse do love to get their dander up enrollment increased to 247 while I was president Greek fraternities were organized and the first out-of-state student was admitted and Thomas Neal of the college began offering his services in Columbia to parents who were desirous of having their children lend a charm to the fireplace also homes for both the hilarious suffix and the you Fraidy ins were built on opposite sides of the horseshoe and we began enjoying the use of a modern college library building in 1850 it contained more than 18,000 volumes and was larger than the library at Princeton we even completed work on what was later called long street theatre although I must admit I was not sure it would ever get finished it ran more than two years behind schedule the contractor went bankrupt when it was finished the acoustics were so poor he had to abandon it as an auditorium but a lot was underway then work had just begun on the new north wing of the State House the Old Courthouse was torn down in City taxes were raised taxes were $1 on $100 of property valuation and for the first time levies were placed on dolls insurance policies and incomes but that was about all the building that could be done before the war between the states took everyone's attention they say that I was at South Carolina during the Golden Age but the times that followed me was sad long and hard it's a wonder that school ever survived at all the secession convention was held in December 1860 Fort Sumter was bombarded in April of the next year and soon most of the students were enlisted campus buildings were turned over to Confederate authorities for use as hospital facilities these buildings were saved when Sherman's stormed Columbia only because they contained Confederate and Union wounded but that's another story [Music] hello I normally don't talk with my mouth I usually do my talkin with my ball and glove I'm a shortstop came to South Carolina College in 1906 from Union to get an education and play baseball it sure is nice a girl study here now the stuck-up sober at the Clarion Suffolk society still say it's not a woman's place to think but I think it's great they're here to look at the Greeks are banned now because of the way they treated the barbarians the guys who weren't Greeks so they can't meet anymore but we do have sports baseball is the best of course but we also got track football golf and tennis course we can't play football at Clemson anymore because of that big fight after we hooked up a few years back we still got the rats though it's great fun to make the freshmen get down on their knees and pushes a little ball with their nose and every time they come to a crack they got to act like they're blowing a whistle what do you want we say they say water or wood we always keep big buckets water and hard paddles around four times like that but that makes for a good school seven hundred students who know each other when I started we were a college now we're a university I guess that means I'm getting a better education Ben Tillman still tells everybody that the college is the seedbed of aristocracy but I'm living proof of that ain't so I'm not a member of the afternoon music club don't go to town theater or do any of that elite stuff although I would have loved to have gone to the state ball in the hall of the House of Representatives I don't care much about dancing but dinner included six courses well gotta go [Music] by their I have no special skill a reason to be here other than the fact that I've hung around a long time and went to Carolina in the 30s and had a daughter in school in the 50s and now I've got grandchildren who started a few years ago and act like they don't want to ever get out this school in this town had gone through a lot of changes at that time and a few things have remained the same grandkids still complain about food professors insists they shouldn't have to teach so many hours and finding a parking place requires an act to the legislature it's hard to believe that 26,000 people now populate this little piece of earth when I started during the Depression the enrollment was 1800 and the cost of the first year of the university reached the astronomical sum of three hundred and five dollars that included all expenses William Melton who is president in the 1920s one of the school to become a force in the state I grow weary of the expression so often on the lips of men who call themselves educators he said that too many men and women go to college I believe in South Carolina we have demonstrated that too few of our citizens have had given the advantage of a college education but what I remember best is the years under Jay Ryan mckissick an extensive building program was undertaken a doctoral program was reinstated and the University Press found this type of momentum continued to grow in the 1940s and 1950s while the bad feelings in town began to feed more and more Columbia and Carolina became a part of one another until they reached a point that both realized they couldn't do without the other not that the townspeople have forgotten about the students has shaved the tails off their horses dance to jazz I tried to jab themselves into a phone book my daughter was on hand for that Sigma Chi effort in 1959 I must admit but Columbia and Carolina were maturing and seeing that only a bright future lay ahead although 500 streakers showing their best on green street in 1974 will probably not be recorded as the school's greatest moment under President Thomas F Jones who was here from 1962 to 1970 for 29 new buildings were added including Carolina Coliseum the Law Center the physical Sciences Center and the College of Business Administration enrollment went from 8,000 to more than 23,000 it was also during this time that blacks were admitted for the first time since reconstruction although there were only a few hundred black students on campus by the early 1970s the attitude of the University played a major role in the successful integration of normal Columbia life today with Columbia's 200th anniversary celebration all around us the capital city and the University are standing on the brink of their proudest moments there is a momentum and vitality in the air that signals excellence the leadership of President Jim Holderman has created the environment for success everyone is eager for the Koger Center to bring new cultural opportunities to the city an expanded engineering facility is about to be launched and Columbia is moving to use its natural assets like the riverfront to its best advantage for the benefit of all like I said I'm not here for any special reason but it's great to salute a city and university on the move moving forward together toward excellence now if they can only solve the parking problem [Music]