1. On October 27, 1785, South Carolina ratified the United States Constitution, becoming the eighth state to do so. The Constitution went into effect the following year after the ratification of the ninth state, New Hampshire.

2. In 1864, during the American Civil War, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard ordered his troops to abandon the city of Charleston, which had been under siege by Union forces for over a year. The evacuation of Charleston marked the beginning of the end of the Confederacy.

3. On October 27, 1897, the town of Rock Hill, South Carolina, became the first in the country to institute a uniform electric light system powered by hydroelectricity. The system was developed by W.J. Roddey, a local banker and businessman.

4. The Columbia International University was founded on October 27, 1923, by Charles E. McQuilkin. The school, located in Columbia, South Carolina, was originally known as the Columbia Bible School and later became a four-year college and graduate school.

5. In 1965, South Carolina native Ron McNair became the second African American astronaut to enter space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. McNair was tragically killed in the 1986 Challenger disaster along with his fellow crew members. His legacy is honored with the establishment of the Ronald E. McNair Aerospace Center in his hometown of Lake City.