Slavery at South Carolina College, 1801–1865:

Harper College, 1884 Sanborn Map, SCL

In 1848, the college contracted J. N. Scofield for two new buildings—now known as Harper and Legare Colleges—for a combined cost of $20,542.82. Campus enrollment, which had increased to 221 in 1848, served as the impetus for the new buildings. The college expected these additions to accommodate sixty students. Local reaction was generally negative: the Columbia Daily Telegraph considered the building plain and unappealing. The third floor became the new hall of the Euphradian Society. As with other tenements in which students lived, students and slaves crossed paths regularly in Harper. During the Civil War, Harper served as a Confederate hospital. In 1865, the Federal army used four interior rooms as a military prison.