Clemson University began because of one couple’s gift, and during the month of November, we celebrate Clemson’s legacy of philanthropy. Legacy Day has become a beloved tradition each fall that allows the Clemson family to honor our University’s history together and consider the importance of giving back.
What will your legacy be? Come leave your mark.
Legacy Day
Join us to kick off Legacy Month at Fort Hill, the home of Thomas Green Clemson that still stands at the center of Clemson’s campus today. Get your free t-shirt by completing a scavenger hunt through Fort Hill, and enjoy candy apples, cider and cotton candy with your Clemson family in the place where our University was born.
At 3:00 pm under Second Century Oak, we will recognize Henry and Peggy McConnell with the dedication of a bronze leaf and induction into the Fort Hill Legacy Society, a prestigious honor for those whose visionary generosity leads to a gift of $1 million or more to the University upon their passing.
1 - 3 P.M.
FORT HILL
Anna Maria Calhoun and Thomas Green Clemson are married in the parlor of Fort Hill.
Thomas Green Clemson signed the final portion of his will, ensuring that Fort Hill and the surrounding property would be given to the state of South Carolina for the establishment of an agricultural college.
By signature of Governor John P. Richardson, the State of South Carolina accepts the terms and conditions of Thomas Green Clemson's will, which provided 814 acres of land and $80,000 in other assets for the establishment of an agricultural and mechanical college.
At the call of President T.H. Tuten, 26 of Clemson's first graduates meet in Columbia to organize an alumni association.
With John Heisman in his initial year as the Tigers' head coach, a 35-0 win over Alabama caps the Clemson football team's first undefeated season, a feat not to be repeated until Frank Howard's 1948 squad goes 11-0.
Armistice Day brings the end of World War I; shortly thereafter, Clemson President Walter M. Riggs goes to France for six months of postwar service, during which engineering department head Samuel B. Earle serves as acting president.
The first Tigerama is held; during the same semester, the student radio station, WSBF, goes on the air.
A new chemical engineering building, named for Samuel Broadus Earle, is dedicated; the $800,000 provided for the building by the Olin Foundation represents the largest grant yet to the Clemson Agricultural College.
Vice President of the United States George Bush helps break ground for the Strom Thurmond Institute at Clemson University.
Scientists at Clemson's Edisto Research and Education Center begin a landmark field test of a genetically engineering microbial tracking system, focusing national attention on the University's work in biotechnology.
1952 Clemson alumnus George J. Bishop III of Myrtle Beach and a group of his friends and business associates announce a $650,000 gift to endow a Distinguished Professorship in ceramic engineering.
Clemson announces its largest, most diverse and most ambitious fundraising project ever: "The Campaign for Clemson: A Partnership for Academic Excellence."
Fluor Daniel employees and the Fluor Foundation pledge more than $2.75 million for the Fluor Daniel Engineering Innovation Building, moving The Campaign for Clemson to $76.4 million.
Clemson announces that alumnus Robert Brooks has committed $2.5 million for an interdisciplinary academic institute to study sports-related topics in engineering, management, marketing and communication.
The Board of Trustees establishes the Commission on the Future of Clemson University.
The nation's only National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center dedicated to materials research, and the first national engineering research center in South Carolina, is established at Clemson.
Officials break ground on a 400-acre site off I-85 in Greenville for development of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research, to be anchored by a graduate engineering center that subsequently will be named for the late South Carolina Governor Carroll A. Campbell Jr.
Before kickoff of the Clemson vs. University of South Carolina football game, the "world's largest groundbreaking ceremony" is held in Clemson Memorial Stadium to launch construction of the stadium's WestZone complex to house the football program and provide approximately 1,000 club seats and various amenities.
On the 123rd anniversary of the day Thomas Green Clemson signed the final draft of his will, the first Legacy Day celebration is held at Fort Hill, including the dedication of the first seven Fort Hill Legacy Society leaves.
The Clemson University Restoration Institute and its partners are granted $45 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to combine with a $53 million match to build and operate a large-scale wind turbine drive train testing facility at the institute's research campus on the former Navy base in North Charleston. The total $98 million package is the largest single grant ever received by the University.