Historical Firsts
First European settlement in South Carolina in 1526 near Georgetown settled by Spanish explorer Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon named San Miguel de Gualdape
First permanent English settlement in South Carolina established at Albemarle Point in Chareleston in 1670
First indigo planted, 1671
First free library established - Charleston, 1698
First mutual fire insurance company - Friendly Society for the Mutual Insurance of Houses against Fire, 1735
First opera performed in America - Charleston, February 18, 1735
First building to be used solely as a theatre - Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, constructed in 1736
First slave insurrection - Stono area near
Charleston, 1739
First cotton exported to England, 1764
First Black Baptist Church established, Silver Bluff, 1773
The Charleston Chamber of Commerce was the first city Chamber of Commerce in this country - 1773
First public museum - Charleston Museum, organized January 12, 1773
First business publication - South Carolina Price Current in Charleston, 1774
The first time a British flag was taken down and replaced by an American flag was in Charleston in 1775
First independent government formed among American colonies, March 1776
Golf was first played in the city limits of Charleston. The South Carolina Golf Club was formed in 1786 - this was the first golf club.
First cotton mill built -
James
Island, 1789
First tea planted - Middleton Barony, 1802
First fireproof building built -
Charleston, 1822
First steam locomotive built in the United States to be used for regular railroad service - "Best Friend of Charleston," 1830.
First municipal college -
College of
Charleston, opened April 1, 1838
First state to secede from the
Union, December 20, 1860.
First shot fired in Civil War on
Fort
Sumter in
Charleston
Harbor, April 12, 1861.
First Medal of Honor awarded to a Black recipient - W. H.Carney (Army), July 18, 1863.
The first submarine ever to sink an enemy ship was the H.L. Hunley used by the Confederates on February 17, 1864 in Charleston Harbor against the U.S.S. Housatonic.
First Black Associate Justice of a state supreme court - J. J. Wright, February 2, 1870
The first state intercollegiate football game took place on December 14, 1889 with Wofford defeating Furman
First commercial tea farm - Summerville, 1890
First black woman to practice medicine in the state was Dr. Matilda Arabelle Evans in 1897
First textile school established in a college - Clemson, 1899
The first car was manufactured in Rock Hill by John Gary Anderson in January 1916
First woman lawyer in South Carolina - Miss James M. Perry of
Greenville was admitted to practice on May 4, 1918
First national historic preservation ordinance passed by Charleston city council on October 13, 1931
First television station WCSC broadcast from Charleston June 13, 1953
First U.S. Senator elected by a write-in vote - Strom Thurmond, November 2, 1954
First nuclear power plant dedicated at Parr Shoals on October 24, 1963
First Spoleto Festival held in Charleston May 1977
First black federal judge in South Carolina's history - Matthew J. Perry - appointed September 22, 1979
First governor Richard Riley elected November 6, 1984 to serve two consecutive four-year terms
Jean Toal - first woman elected to state supreme court in 1988 and later elected chief justice 2000