MUSC Expands

Sale of the Porter property, 1963
Aerial
Aerial view of Porter Military Academy, circa 1950s

In 1963, the Medical College of South Carolina bought the Porter campus for $1,360,000 in cash after 20 months of negotiations with the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. The Medical College continued to use St. Timothy’s Chapel rather than raze it, after many prominent citizens encouraged the college to keep the chapel. The Medical College renamed the chapel for St. Luke, the patron saint of physicians.

Now St. Luke’s Chapel is utilized frequently as the site for weddings and other ceremony’s for students, faculty, and all members of the MUSC family. Starting in 1971, the Medical University’s College of Medicine established an annual memorial service to honor those benefactors who donated their bodies to science. In addition to its many academic functions, the chapel sponsors a series of musical recitals by individuals and musical groups from the community at large in the Spring and Fall.  Porter Military Academy Alumni Association holds a memorial service in the chapel at least once a year.