Slavery at South Carolina College, 1801–1865:

First Professors House, 1884 Sanborn Map, SCL

The First Professors House, now known as the Presidents House, was built in 1810 for faculty housing. The house, possessing a western and eastern wing, accommodated two professors’ families. Francis Lieber occupied the eastern wing during the first two years of his professorship, and James Thornwell resided there from 1837 to 1839. By 1853, the faculty tenants complained about the unsafe condition of the house: the walls were about to cave in because of water damage. Builder Clark Waring commenced in tearing the original house down in 1853 and finished constructing a more attractive and comfortable house on the original foundation in 1854. In the twentieth century, three of the college presidents extensively renovated the house, adding extra space and creating a single-family dwelling, among other alterations.

Contractor Thomas Wade constructed two brick kitchens, a wooden kitchen, and a wooden slave quarters in the 1840s behind the house. The wooden slave quarters and wooden kitchen disappeared long ago. One of the brick kitchens, a two-story building covered with ivy, was featured in an article of The State in 1937 as one of two slave quarters behind the First Professors House, but was razed soon afterward.

The second two-story brick kitchen / slave quarters is still extant on the eastern side of the garden at the current Presidents House. It was repaired during the 1970s renovation project of the Horseshoe. This structure is still in good condition and visible from the Horseshoe. It is the only extant outbuilding for slave accommodation on the University of South Carolina campus today.