Presbyterian College was founded in 1880 by William Plumer Jacobs. He had served as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Clinton since 1864 and founded the Thornwell Orphanage. Originally called Clinton College, its first class (including three women) graduated in 1883. In establishing PC, his “tree of knowledge,” Jacobs’ goal was to educate young people for lives of service to church and society, and thereby be, in his words, “epistles to Christ’s honor and glory.”

By the time of Jacobs’ death in 1917, the college had grown considerably in size and resources, and had six major buildings. Neville Hall, PC’s most recognized structure, was constructed in 1907. The tenure of President Davison McDowell Douglas (1911–1926) saw the tripling of the size of the faculty and student body, the construction of four new buildings, and growth in the college’s assets from $150,000 to over $1 million. After weathering the storms of the Great Depression and Second World War, Presbyterian has continued expansion on many fronts through the second half of the twentieth century. It became fully coeducational in 1965 (and in so doing dropped its previous motto, “Where Men are Made”). In 1969, it began admitting African-American students.