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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Historian-scholar Dr. Frank Dudley Jones, himself a minister who served on the PC faculty from 1919 to 1944, wrote in 1929 these words regarding the colleges early relationship with the Synod of South Carolina:

The courage and determination of the founder of this school appear most admirable in view of the fact that the Presbyterians in South Carolina had been unable after many efforts to maintain a school of higher learning within the bounds of the state. The influence of such men as Dr. Thornwell, whom young Jacobs admired greatly, but who was opposed to the churches engaging in secular training, did not deter him from these aims which are now so harmonious with the spirit of the entire church. Certainly, this was a vision attended with great hope and faith. The singlehanded contest of this young minister cannot be too greatly admired. Many minor changes and adjustments were made and expedients were employed necessary to accommodate the enterprise to indifference, opposition and misunderstandings.

Nevertheless, the Presbyterian College as it stands today in its widest enlargement and with the fruitage of so many good and devoted men who have given themselves to its wonderful development lay germinally complete in the dreams of its founder.

The glimmering and yet radiant hopes expressed in the little catalogs of the first ten years are an illuminating and delightful record of fears, yet also of determinations to formulate and solidify a school of learning worthy of the Presbyterian Church and of the citizenship of South Carolina. The skeptical smiles over the pathetic beginnings in feeble days have all been forgotten in the great satisfaction of recent achievements.

Joseph Whitner Kennedy, another Davidson graduate, succeeded Smith in 1888 to become the colleges third president. A man of vision and energy, Kennedy had wide church connections throughout the state and a considerable reputation as an educator. He taught Bible, English and philosophy and strengthened the faculty by bringing in three promising young graduates from his own alma mater. One of these, W. J. Martin, taught mathematics and natural sciences here for one year before going on to study medicine and eventually to become president of Davidson. Another, D. M. Frierson, remained for several years and later became dean of Arkansas College.

The administration of J. W. Kennedy extended over just a little more than two years, cut short by his untimely death at age 36 in February, 1891. Even so, he left behind at least three landmark developments that greatly advanced the program of this college:

1. A new charter in 1890 changed the name to Presbyterian College of South Carolina and extended control to include the six presbyteries of the Synod. Seeking a statewide constituency, the local governing body reduced its own representation from the Clinton Presbyterian Church to nine members while providing for the addition of two trustees from each presbytery.

2. Changes were initiated to modify the older classical and literary curriculum, to inject the freshness and vigor of youthful ideas of modern education.

3. This administration also saw the beginnings of the present PC campus and the initiation of a broader fund-raising concept. J. N. Copeland and R. N. S. Young set things in motion by donating 16 acres of land in December, 1890. The tract was farther south on Broadway and across the street from the Recitation Hall. And this gift of land immediately sparked the first really productive action on the part of the fledgling Alumni Association, which endorsed the plan to raise $2,500 to build an Alumni Hall dormitory on the new site.

J. Ferdinand Jacobs, son of the founder and an 1887 graduate, was named financial agent (as well as professor of Biblical and religious literature, ethics and Hebrew). He went right to work canvassing different parts of the state-raising funds among some of the churches as well as the small alumni body. In behalf of this effort, the trustees noted:
Believing as we do that the Presbyterians of South Carolina need a college located within their own borders, and we being willing to endure the labors incident to the establishment of the College on a permanent basis, we lay the methods we have adopted before the public, believing that they will regard our past in the light of a guarantee of the future and will come up manfully with their gifts, patronage and words of encouragement to this rapidly growing work for the Lord.

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