Originally known as South Carolina College, the University of South Carolina was founded on Dec. 19, 1801. In the original plan, the campus would be made up of a total of 11 buildings. Over the next few years, those 11 buildings formed the historic Horseshoe.

To really put that significant and unique history in perspective, here are some things that Carolina preceded.

1. The Louisiana Purchase, which began westward expansion for the United States.
2. The crowning of Napoleon as Emperor.
3. Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony".
4. The trumpet.
5. The War of 1812.
6. Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice".
7. The discovery of Antarctica.
8. The first electric motor.
9. Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species".
10. The telegraph.
11. New Zealand.
12. The word "dinosaur".
13. Anesthesia.
14. Big Ben in London, England.
15. The first device to record sound.
16. The Pony Express.
17. The Civil War.
18. The 14th Amendment.
19. The Periodic table.
20. Blue jeans.
21. Telephones.
22. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.
    
23. Sewing machines.
24. The Statue of Liberty.
25. Coca-Cola.
26. The Eiffel Tower.
27. Aspirin.
28. Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night".
29. Women's suffrage.

And last, but certainly not least:

The admittance of the state of California. Oh yeah, and the founding of the University of Southern California, which came 71 years after the original USC.