South Carolina firsts
• First town to use electricity; - Anderson, The Electric City
• First European settlement in South Carolina in 1526 near Georgetown settled by Spanish explorer Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon named San Miguel de Gualdape
• First permanent English settlement in South Carolina established at Albemarle Point in Charleston in 1670
• First indigo planted, 1671 by Moses Lindo, a Portugese Jew fleeing the Inquisition
• First free library established — Charleston, 1698
• First mutual fire insurance company — Friendly Society for the Mutual Insurance of Houses against Fire, 1735
• First opera performed in America — Charleston, February 18, 1735
• First building to be used solely as a theatre — Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, constructed in 1736
• First slave insurrection — Stono area near Charleston, 1739
• First Jewish synagogue in South Carolina (Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim) - Charleston, 1750
• First cotton exported to England, 1764
• First Black Baptist Church established, Silver Bluff, 1773
• The Charleston Chamber of Commerce was the first city Chamber of Commerce in this country - 1773
• First public museum — Charleston Museum, organized January 12, 1773
• First business publication — South Carolina Price Current in Charleston, 1774
• First time a Jew was elected to public office in America, 1774. Francis Salvador was elected to the General Assembly
• The first time a British flag was taken down and replaced by an American flag was in Charleston in 1775
• First independent government formed among American colonies, March 1776
• Golf was first played in the city limits of Charleston. The South Carolina Golf Club was formed in 1786 - this was the first golf club.
• First Roman Catholic Church - St. Mary's August 24, 1789, Charleston
• First cotton mill built — James Island, 1789
• First tea planted — Middleton Barony, 1802
• First Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston, Most Rev. John England - 1820, Charleston
• First fireproof building built — Charleston, 1822
• First steam locomotive built in the United States to be used for regular railroad service - "Best Friend of Charleston," 1830.
• First municipal college — College of Charleston, opened April 1, 1838
• First Roman Catholic cathedral in South Carolina Cathedral of Saint John and Saint Finbar - Charleston, April 1845
• First state to secede from the Union, December 20, 1860.
• First shot fired in Civil War on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, April 12, 1861.
• First Medal of Honor awarded to a Black recipient — W. H. Carney (Army), July 18, 1863.
• The first submarine ever to sink an enemy ship was the H.L. Hunley used by the Confederates on February 17, 1864 in Charleston Harbor against the U.S.S. Housatonic.
• First Black Associate Justice of a state supreme court — J. J. Wright, February 2, 1870
• The first state intercollegiate football game took place on December 14, 1889 with Wofford defeating Furman
• First commercial tea farm — Summerville, 1890
• First black woman to practice medicine in the state was Dr. Matilda Arabelle Evans in 1897
• First textile school established in a college — Clemson, 1899
• The first car was manufactured in Rock Hill by John Gary Anderson in January 1916
• First woman lawyer in South Carolina — Miss James M. Perry of Greenville was admitted to practice on May 4, 1918
• First national historic preservation ordinance passed by Charleston city council on October 13, 1931
• First television station WCSC broadcast from Charleston June 13, 1953
• First U.S. Senator elected by a write-in vote — Strom Thurmond, November 2, 1954
• First nuclear power plant dedicated at Parr Shoals on October 24, 1963
• First Spoleto Festival held in Charleston May 1977
• First black federal judge in South Carolina's history — Matthew J. Perry — appointed September 22, 1979
• First governor Richard Riley elected November 6, 1984 to serve two consecutive four-year terms
• Jean Toal — the first woman elected to state supreme court in 1988 and later elected chief justice in 2000
• First State to have a Nuclear Bomb dropped By the US Air Force — Due East of Florence — Nuclear part was unarmed 1950's or 1960's
