Limestone University, formerly Limestone College, was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Christian university in

Gaffney, South Carolina Gaffney is a city in and the county seat, seat of Cherokee County, South Carolina, United States, in the upstate South Carolina, Upstate region of South Carolina. Gaffney is known as the "Peach Capital of South Carolina". The population was 12,53 ...

, United States. Established in 1845 by Thomas Curtis, a scholar born and educated in England, Limestone was the first

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male st ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and one of the first in the nation. It was the third-oldest private college in South Carolina. Ten buildings on the campus, as well as the Limestone Springs and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

itself, are on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. In addition to its traditional campus in Gaffney, the university provided online degrees and previously had physical locations in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, and

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. In 1970, Limestone became fully coeducational. In 2020, its name was changed from Limestone College to Limestone University. In 2025, the Limestone University Board voted to permanently terminate both on-campus and online operations at the end of the spring semester, citing significant financial challenges.

Academics

Over 80% of the faculty at Limestone held the

terminal degree A terminal degree is the highest-level university degree that can be achieved and awarded in an academic discipline or professional field. The term "terminal degree" is also used to refer to a degree that is awarded because a doctorates, doctoral-le ...

in their field, and the student/faculty ratio was 14:1. Limestone offered students 57 majors in four different divisions of study: Arts and Letters, Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Professional Studies. Additionally, in addition to free, reasonable accommodations through the Accessibility Office, Limestone University offered a comprehensive support program, LEAP (Learning Enrichment & Achievement Program), for Day Campus students with learning and attention challenges. Limestone College

The Hines-Riggins Center was completed in 2021 and housed the campus library, campus store, student center, art gallery, meeting and study rooms, and dining options. It served as the academic and social hub of the campus. Limestone offered an online Master of Business Administration, as well as an MBA concentration in Healthcare Administration. A Master of Social Work degree was also available online, along with an RN-to-BSN Nursing Program. In December 2019, Limestone announced an articulation agreement with the

Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) is a private osteopathic medical school on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, with branch campuses in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama, and Monroe, Louisiana. ...

(VCOM), which is a doctoral-level osteopathic medical college with a nearby campus in Spartanburg. Limestone's partnership with VCOM provides its Pre-Medical students an opportunity to receive a Guaranteed Admissions Interview, as well as take part in an Early Admission Program. In April 2025, the university's board of trustees decided that the university would close at the end of the spring semester due to ongoing financial challenges. A final fundraising effort was made prior to the decision which raised $2.143 million, but that was not sufficient.

Athletics

Limestone played sports in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC). Limestone offered competitive opportunities at the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

level for men in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

, cross country,

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

and for women in golf, volleyball, basketball,

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

, tennis, soccer, cross country, lacrosse, cheerleading, track and field, acrobatics/tumbling, and

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

. Limestone had an indoor Olympic-size pool for intramural and recreational use, along with a Physical Education facility containing classrooms, offices, locker rooms, Athletic Training Education facilities for the school's fully accredited Athletic Training program, a fitness center, and a wrestling practice facility. Gaffney - Limestone College

Clubs and organizations

Clubs and organizations at the university included academics, religious, leadership, musical, theatre, and special interest affiliations. Students also contributed to a yearbook and a literary magazine of poems, essays, short stories, and art. The college had a

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

program for students interested in serving in the military or reserves.

Notable alumni

Jay Byars ''Survivor'' is an American reality television show, based on the Swedish program '' Expedition Robinson''. Contestants are referred to as "castaways", and they compete against one another to become the "Sole Survivor" and win one million U.S. do ...

, '09, reality TV show contestant, '' Survivor: One World'' *

Lois Collier Lois Collier (born Madelyn Earle Jones; March 21, 1917"Salley"
''

, actress * Alphonza Gadsden, bishop of the

Reformed Episcopal Church The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) is an Anglican Church. It was founded in 1873 in New York City by George David Cummins, a former bishop of the Episcopal Church (United States), Protestant Episcopal Church. The REC is a founding member of the ...

Mark Mathabane Mark Mathabane (born Johannes Mathabane, 18 October 1960) is a South African author, lecturer, and a former collegiate tennis player and college professor. Early life in South Africa Mathabane was born in Alexandra, South Africa, an area tha ...

, South African author * Ann Gordon McCrory, former First Lady of North Carolina *

Bob Peeler Robert Lee "Bob" Peeler (born January 4, 1952) served as the 86th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from January 1995 to January 2003. He was the first Republican Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina since Richard Howell Gleaves served du ...

, '74, former

Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina The lieutenant governor of South Carolina is the second-in-command to the governor of South Carolina. Beyond the responsibility to act or serve as governor in the event of the office's vacancy, the duties of the lieutenant governor are chiefly ce ...

Gaylord Perry Gaylord Jackson Perry (September 15, 1938 – December 1, 2022) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for eight teams from 1962 to 1983, becoming one of the most durable and successful pitchers in histor ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

Major League Baseball player, was the LC baseball program's first coach * Kevin Pucetas, '06, minor league baseball player * Eleanor P. Sheppard, first female mayor of

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

Vyncint Smith Vyncint Smith (born June 9, 1996) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Smith was born in Germany while his U.S. Army parents were stationed there, but he grew up in S ...

, football wide receiver

References

External links

*
Official athletics website
{{Authority control Private universities and colleges in South Carolina Education in Cherokee County, South Carolina Universities and colleges established in 1845 Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Buildings and structures in Cherokee County, South Carolina 1845 establishments in South Carolina Educational institutions disestablished in 2025