Founding Clemson University
Outliving his wife and his children, Clemson drafted a final will in the mid 1880s. The will called for the establishment of a land-grant institution called "The Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina" upon the property of the Fort Hill estate. He believed that education, especially scientific education, leads to economic prosperity. He wanted to start an agricultural college because he felt that government officials did not appreciate the importance of agricultural education.
Although the college was an all white, all male college when it opened, Clemson did not explicitly ban women or African Americans from attending Clemson, unlike the founders of Vanderbilt, Tulane, Rice and other southern universities.
The military college, founded in 1889, opened its doors in 1893 to 446 cadets. Clemson Agricultural College was renamed Clemson University in 1964. A statue of Thomas Green Clemson and the Fort Hill house are located on the campus. The town of Calhoun that bordered the campus was renamed Clemson in 1943.
Read more about this topic: Thomas Green Clemson
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