Wofford College

Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was founded in 1854. The campus is a national arboretum and one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the American Civil War that still operates on its original campus. Wofford was founded with a bequest of $100,000 from Benjamin Wofford (1780–1850), a Methodist minister and Spartanburg native who sought to create a college for "literary, classical, and scientific education in my native district of Spartanburg." The college's Main Building is the oldest structure on campus and was designed by the noted Charleston architect Edward C. Jones. In 1941, the college was awarded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest academic honor society, and the Beta of South Carolina chapter was the first at a private college in South Carolina. Wofford College Historic District The Wofford College Historic District consists of the Main Building, which was designed by Edward C. Jones in the Italianate style, and six two-story brick residences. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The Wofford campus has been landscaped, developed, and designated as a national arboretum.