Most Presbyterian College students have heard the story about a Presbyterian minister named William Plumer Jacobs who founded an orphanage and a college in what was once a rough post-Civil War railroad town. They may even have learned that his efforts to do so were derided by some townsfolk and labeled “Jacobs’ Folly” before he succeeded in founding both their alma mater in 1880 and Thornwell Orphanage (now Thornwell Home and School for Children) in 1875. (“Founder’s Library”). – Read more –