From the diary of the founder of Presbyterian College Sept. 22, 1878- May God Speed the work Monday afternoon, the 11th was a bright day in the annals of Clinton, inasmuch as it gave to this city the beginning of a college. Prof. Lee was directed to organize the first of his college classes, ... We propose to get up a regular college charter and to start with the intention of educating our young people to the best we can do. (W.P. Jacobs had also started an orphanage at that time) ... While we want a college good enough for anybody's children, it is especially for our own that our little college is set on foot. May God speed the work.

"Surprise at our own audacity"

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Clinton in the early 1880s was a village of less than 500 population, with muddy streets and scarcely a dozen buildings altogether. Its virtues were extolled in the 1882 catalog in these words:

The health of the town is unsurpassed. It is not subject to malarial diseases, is remarkably free from pulmonary complaints, has a dry atmosphere, excellent water and is the highest point on the railway from Greenville to Columbia; the mountains 50 miles distant, being visible from the College building.

The morals of the village are the best. No liquor is sold within the limits of the town, a special law forbidding its sale within three miles of the Clinton depot ... There are three churches, the Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist, and the community is almost without exception a church-going. Sabbath-keeping community.

William States Lee stepped down from the presidency in 1885 but remained for four more years as professor of mathematics and mental philosophy and as manager of the boarding department. He was succeeded as president by the Rev. Robert Perry Smith, a Davidson College graduate who had served the previous nine years as president of Reidville Female Academy.

Smith, like all of the early presidents, combined administrative duties with teaching. He was professor of natural science and English literature on the three-man faculty. The other teacher, in addition to Lee, was Edwin L. Barnes, who handled Latin, Greek and German as well as being bursar and clerk.

During this time, work had been underway on a new college building on the southern edge of Clinton. Trustees M. S. Bailey and J. W. Copeland, Sr., in 1883 agreed to give $1,000 ($500 each) if the remaining $5,000 could be raised by subscription in the town. Four acres of land were ac-quired adjacent to the Thornwell Orphanage campus, and the slow process of raising the money began.

One of Dr. Jacobs solicitations got directly to the point. He wrote to his fellow citizens:

While this is a Presbyterian school, my Baptist and Methodist brethren, this College is going to put hundreds of dollars into your pockets, enhance the value of your property, throw trade into your store, and bring visitors to our town. $2,000 more is needed to complete our building. Dig deep into your pockets and write down what you will give.

Occasional references carried in the churchs session minutes record the gradual progress: "July 28, 1884: A College mass meeting was held and $1,350 subscribed to the building... April 9, 1885: The corner-stone was laid today in the presence of the Presbytery of Enoree... December 27, 1885: The Ladies Aid Society gave an entertainment which netted $104 for the College building. The roof to be put on... March 15, 1886: The College building was this date occupied, being formally opened with dedication exercises."

These simple entries fail to convey the enthusiasm that accompanied the erection of this building. As replacement for the old wood-framed academy building, the new structure truly looked like a college and pro-vided a classic atmosphere for ambitious little Clinton College, struggling to get on its feet.

Designed by New York architect A. Page Brown, this building called Recitation Hall was a brick and stone structure of 3 1/2 stories with large granite pillars which supported the triple-arched recessed portico. The ground floor was equipped as a residence for the presidents family. The second and third floors housed a chapel, literary society hall, five class-rooms, a laboratory and office. In the top 1/2-story was a small gymnasium. Its cost amounted to $7,000-an impressive sum in those days and the first of many large Clinton commitments that have sustained Presbyterian College over the years.

Robert P. Smith was president in 1886, when the college closed the old academy building and moved down Broadway (Broad Street) to the Recitation Hall. He resigned in 1888, returning to the ministry to become widely known for his home mission work in the mountains of western North Carolina.

At the time Clinton College was organized, the Presbyterians of South Carolina had an institution for young men at Walhalla known as Adger College. Already declining fast, this school closed its doors for the last time in 1886. Dr. Jacobs, one of its trustees, noted that Adger was not hurt by the local work of Clinton College. On the other hand, after it did close, he felt this development gave his own Clinton College both the opportunity and responsibility to fill the void and secure state-wide support. His hope was not easily realized.

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