On Mar. 4, 1896, the South Carolina General Assembly enacted legislation establishing the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina.

Thomas E. Miller, a former Congressman from South Carolina, became the first president (1896-1911). During Dr. Miller’s tenure, and that of his initial faculty of thirteen South Carolinians, the College plant consisted of 135 acres, eight small buildings, a minimal dairy herd, and a few other farm animals.

Because of the meager facilities, academic instruction was given primarily on logs hewn from the campus forest—logs that were later made into lumber for the first dormitory and classroom buildings