The College Timeline
| 1770 | College of Charleston founded. |
| 1785 | College of Charleston chartered. |
| 1790 | Classes begin at the College of Charleston. |
| 1794 | First graduating class (six students). |
| 1828 | The cornerstone is laid for Randolph Hall, the College’s main academic building. |
| 1837 | College of Charleston becomes the first municipal college in the United States. |
| 1855 | Construction begins on the first campus library (now known as Towell Library). |
| 1857 | The Cistern is constructed as a reservoir to provide water for fighting fires in the days before the city installed a water system. It was later filled in and covered with grass. Today a stage is built over the Cistern to seat the graduating class for May Commencement. |
| 1864 | Charleston is under siege during the Civil War. College of Charleston closes. |
| 1866 | Classes resume. |
| 1900 | President Harrison Randolph introduces the bachelor of science degree. |
| 1904 | Pi Kappa Phi founded at the College (now a national fraternity with more than 125 active chapters). |
| 1917 | Women are admitted to the College. |
| 1922 | Pierrine St. Claire Smith Byrd becomes the first female graduate. |
| 1967 | College of Charleston admits its first black students. |
| 1970 | College of Charleston is incorporated into the S.C. State College System. |
| 1971 | Robert Scott Small Library opens (holding capacity of 500,000 volumes). Eddie Ganaway is the first African American to graduate from the College of Charleston. |
| 1972 | First graduate program established. |
| 1975 | The College completes the Grice Marine Laboratory on James Island; the laboratory serves as the center for the marine biology curriculum. |
| 1978 | The Simons Center for the Arts, home to the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art and the School of the Arts, opens. |
| 1985 | The Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture opens. |
| 1990 | College of Charleston is one of six colleges chosen to serve as a space research facility and partner with NASA. |
| 1992 | College of Charleston formally establishes The Graduate School of the College of Charleston. |
| 2005 | The College opens two new facilities: the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library, with a holding capacity of 1 million volumes, and the Beatty Center, home to the School of Business and Economics. |
| 2007 | The College opens two new residence halls, the George Street Apartment Community and the Liberty Street Residence Hall. The complex also contains the Liberty Street Fresh Food Company dining hall. |
| 2008 | The Carolina First Arena, home to men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball, opens. |
| 2009 | The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art opens in its new location on the first floor of The Marion and Wayland H. Cato Jr. Center for the Arts. |
