Due to dire financial straits, the City of Charleston assumed responsibility for the College’s support, making the College of Charleston  the first municipal college in the U.S. The city provided funds, for example, in 1850 to enlarge the main academic building, construct Porters Lodge and fence in the Cistern Yard, the block that is still the core of the campus. CofC remained a municipal college until the 1950s, when the College again became a private institution.