On a windy Friday afternoon, Beaufort’s campus of the Technical College of the Lowcountry officially changed its name to Technical College of the Lowcountry Beaufort Mather Campus during the Mather School’s annual bell-ringing ceremony.

The ceremony was a part of the annual Mather School Founder’s Day. Honored guests included S.C. State Representatives Shedron Williams and Shannon Erikson, as well as Mather School graduates, including two of the oldest –<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp; </span>Eleana Green Wiley and Johnnie Bampfield James.

The Mather school was created in 1868 by Rachel Crane Mather to educate the daughters of liberated slaves.

In 1901, the school graduated its first students from elementary school, and in 1932, the school’s high school program was approved by the South Carolina State Department of Education as Mather Industrial School.

By 1954, the Junior College Department, allowing male students, was added. Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools followed in 1955, and one year later, Mather Junior College graduated its first class.

In 1968, the Beaufort campus was given to the State of South Carolina as an area trade school.

In 1970, The Mather School became known as the Beaufort Regional Training Center, which later joined the State Technical College System and eventually became Beaufort Technical College. In 1988, the name changed to the Technical College of the Lowcountry.