Laredo Community College

Laredo Community College was established as Laredo Junior College by voting citizens in the Laredo Independent School District on September 28, 1946. Classes began in September 1947 with an enrollment of 800. The school grew rapidly as World War II veterans entered and reached a peak of 1,745 students in 1950. The main 146-acre campus was at the western edge of Laredo on the south portion of the site of Fort McIntosh. By 1965 the physical plant included thirty-two buildings. Library holdings grew from 5,600 volumes in 1949 to 30,000 volumes in 1969. During the first years of the school's operation the curriculum was grouped into four divisions: liberal arts, adult education, vocational education, and terminal education (an accelerated elementary and high school program). As veterans completed their studies, the vocational and terminal departments were assimilated into the adult-education division, or evening school. When the liberal arts division increased in enrollment, faculty, and course offerings, overcrowding of library, science, and gymnasium facilities resulted. A master building plan for a new 1,500-student college to be constructed on the same site was completed in 1964. By the 1974–75 term student enrollment totaled 3,925. W. J. Adkins served as the first president of the college and was succeeded by Ray A. Laird and Domingo Arechiga.

In 2001 the main campus comprised approximately 200 acres. Students could earn associate degrees in thirteen departments: Computer Information Systems, Nursing, Reading and Speech, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Allied Health, Electronics, English, Math, Music, Science, Honors Program, Distance Education, and Continuing Education and Community Services. The school's name was changed to Laredo Community College in 1993. In the spring of 2000, 7,317 students were enrolled at LCC, full-time faculty numbered 177, and the president was Ramón H. Dovalina.