“W” is for Wannamker, John Edward (1851-1935). Agriculturalist, civic leader. Born at Poplar Spring in what is now Calhoun County, Wannamaker graduated from Wofford College. He was keenly interested in agricultural improvement, and applied his considerable resources to agrarian research and innovation. He practiced crop rotation, scientific livestock breeding, and seed development. Dismayed that many farmers continued to grow cotton, he sought to break dependence on the old staple. In the 1930s he experimented with soybeans, seeking to develop a seed stock suitable to South Carolina soils and climate. A leading advocate of comprehensive agricultural education, Wannamaker lobbied for the establishment of an agricultural college in South Carolina. When Thomas Green Clemson bequeathed his land to the state for that purpose in 1888, John Edward Wannamaker was appointed one of the life trustees of Clemson College.
“W” is for Wannamker, John Edward (1851-1935)
