Calhoun, South Carolina

Calhoun, South Carolina was the original name for the community that grew up around the train station on what would become the current Norfolk Southern freight railroad, the depot closest to the John C. Calhoun estate.

Railroad service first reached the future Clemson area in September 1860, with the construction of the Blue Ridge Railroad along what is now known as the Z-line of the former Southern Railway, now Norfolk Southern branch from Belton, South Carolina, to West Union, South Carolina via Pendleton and Seneca. This was the pre-Civil War project that left unfinished the Stumphouse Tunnel above Walhalla when construction funding ran out. The point where Cherry Road crossed the rail line was known as Cherry's Crossing, and was the closest stop to Fort Hill.

In 1873, after three years of construction, the Atlanta & Richmond Air Line Railway opened the Charlotte and Atlanta Division of their five-foot gauge rail line, later the Southern Railway, and which has been merged into what is now the Norfolk Southern freight railroad's main route through Clemson. The station stop was named Calhoun for the area's most prominent family, that of former United States Vice President John C. Calhoun, whose plantation lay one mile away. So it was natural for the small community that grew up around the depot to be chartered on December 18, 1892 as the town of Calhoun. The original charter forbade taverns in the town.