Walking Tour

White males in the South in the late 19th century lived in a society honeycombed with secret fraternal organizations, some of which were benign and charitable, others highly politicized and violent. They reinforced and perpetuated “Old South” values even as the population moved from the countryside to “New South” towns around courthouses, textile mills and railroad depots. Given the background from which young college students came, it is not surprising that a network of social fraternities, many of which had been founded in the North earlier in the century, evolved to help them adjust to being away from home. Wofford’s first chapter was Kappa Alpha Order, which was founded at Washington University (later renamed Washington and Lee). The college’s first fraternity row was constructed on campus, where the Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts now stands, in the 1950s during the presidency of Dr. Francis Pendleton Gaines. Gaines served as president for five years, from 1952-57. During that time, the college celebrated its centennial.

When Black students and women joined the college in the 1960s and 1970s, respectively, they worked to charter National Pan-Hellenic Council (also called divine nine) and National Panhellenic Conference (sororities for women). The Stewart H. Johnson Greek Village was established in 2016 and features homes for nine IFC/Panhellenic Greek-letter organizations as well as the Meadors Multicultural House for multicultural students and organizations.

Shipp Hall, built in 1963, is named after President Rev. Albert M. Shipp, Wofford’s second president who served from 1859-75. Delete Shipp owned a number of enslaved people and surely used them to support college operations during these lean years, but he resisted letting Wofford students join the Confederate war effort because he believed that the South would need educated men after the war. The college did, however, support the Confederate effort by investing over $85,000 into war bonds, all of which became worthless when the South lost the war.

From here you can also see the Reeves Tennis Center, which opened in 1992, and is named after John E. Reeves, who contributed the funding for the project and served on the college’s board of trustees from 1974 to 1979. The senior village apartments surround the tennis courts. These apartment-style houses, lawns and porches promote community and are designed to help students transition to living independently after graduation. One of the apartments in the village is named for President Benjamin Bernard “Bernie” Dunlap, Wofford’s 10th president who served between 2000 and 2013. Dunlap’s tenure saw the construction of the senior village as well as the Michael S. Brown Village Center. The college also developed the Goodall Environmental Studies Center at Glendale, renovated the Montgomery Music Building and expanded the Roger Milliken Science Center.