The idea of a citizens education center at Clemson originated with local residents. As early as 1950, the Clemson Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) laid the groundwork for a Clemson Citizens Education Center. In the fall of 1951, this group invited various clubs, organizations, and churches to send representatives to a meeting of the campus at which Marguerite Tolbert, Directory of Adult Education of the State Department of Education, told of the value of adult education to the community. Later in the year the Parent Teacher Organization of the Calhoun-Clemson School held an open meeting to consider the topic further. The AAUW continued this project by having an open meeting at the Clemson House in early 1953 at which two teachers from the Greenville Citizens Education Center told what their program had accomplished. This was followed by a PTC-AAUW community meeting in the spring of 1953 with Ms. Tolbert again presenting Adult Education Centers.

In July of 1953, Dr. R.F. Poole, President of Clemson College, was approached about the possibility of Clemson College giving support to a Clemson Area Citizens Education Center. He recognized the merit of such a project and suggested a meeting of interested citizens with W.H. Washington, Dean of the School of Education, and his staff. As an outgrowth of this meeting on July 13, 1953, a steering committee was named as follows: Dr. James F. Miles, Chairman, Mrs. R.G. Carson, Jr., L.R. Booker, J.L. Brock, Ms. Frances Holleman, H.G. McGraw, and Mrs. John T. Bregger.

The Steering Committee secured the approval of President Poole to allow Clemson College to co-sponsor the center along with the State Department of Education. Classes ran for five nights, one night a week, two classes per night. There were no entrance requirements, no examinations, and no course credits. Information sheets were distributed to interested citizens at the first general meeting (September 25, 1953) to help the steering committee determine preference of courses, locations, and times. Following this meeting, publicity on proposed classes was distributed through various agencies, civic clubs, and public schools. Adults came from the counties of Pickens, Oconee, Greenville, Anderson, Laurens, Greenwood, Abbeville, and parts of northern Georgia.

Teachers were provided for any class maintaining an average of ten people. In addition to hiring Clemson faculty members, the steering committee contacted many out-of-town and out-of-state instructors in order to provide the center with leading teachers in their respective fields of study.

The Adult Division of the State Department of Education, which had already co-sponsored at least fifteen citizens education centers, agreed to help defray the cost of the Clemson center partly by providing $2.00 per fifty-minute period as token remuneration to the teaching staff. By having Clemson College classrooms, heat, lights, water, janitor service, and the College faculty to draw upon for teachers, a citizens education center became a reality.

In 1957 the steering committee changed the name "The Clemson Area Adult Education Center" to "The Clemson Continuing Education Center." During its first ten years, the center had an average enrollment of over 1,000 persons a year. In 1979, however, enrollment dropped to 739 and in 1980 it dropped again to 488. The director Myra Bregger attributed the drastic drop in enrollment to higher gas prices and an increased number of adult education classes in the area. The registration fee for one or two courses in 1954 was $1.00; in 1979, $12.00. The first session offered eighteen classes and by 1980 the center offered forty-three classes. Courses covered a wide range of topics - from art, history, science, business and public affairs to various crafts and hobbies. When enrollment dropped, so did the source of money, and the Center discontinued its annual spring session in 1981 after twenty-seven years of serving the Piedmont area.