Quick Facts

Founded in 1824

When the Medical College of South Carolina was chartered by the South Carolina legislature on December 20, 1823 it became the tenth medical school in the United States and the first in the Deep South. Founded as a private, proprietary institution by members of the Medical Society of South Carolina, the college’s early faculty bore full financial and curricular responsibility for the institution until 1913 when the state assumed ownership of the school. The Medical College opened in 1824 with a faculty of seven Charleston physicians and 30 students. The first students graduated on April 4, 1825. The institution has served continuously since its founding, except for a four-year cessation during the Civil War, 1861-1865. Following the Civil War, the college was reorganized and continued to operate, at one point with as few as two students. The 1909 Flexner Report noted that there were 34 faculty, all part time, and 213 students whose fees were the only source of financial support for the school. In late 1913 the state legislature was successfully petitioned to transfer ownership of the school to the state. Incorporation of the medical college as a state institution brought public funding and allowed teaching and service roles to expand steadily.