Texarkana College

Texarkana College, in Texarkana, was founded in 1927 as a public junior college and a branch of the local public school system. Dr. Henry W. Stilwell served as both the superintendent of schools and president of the college, which was housed in a single building at Sixteenth and Pine streets; the laboratories and gymnasium were used jointly by the college and the high school. After an election in 1941 the Texarkana College District was established, and a tax was assessed for the support of the college. In 1948 twenty acres was purchased to serve as a new campus. Construction of administration and gymnasium buildings was begun in 1950, and the college was moved to this location the next year. In 1954 construction of an auditorium and classrooms was begun. In 1957 the members of the board of the Texarkana Independent School District, who had also been serving as a board of regents for the college, voted to separate the two boards. Shortly thereafter Stilwell resigned his post as superintendent of schools, but he remained president of the college until his death in November 1959. Enrollment increased from 109 students in 1927 to 3,801 in 1985. In 1963 the library contained 13,000 volumes. By 1986 it contained more than 139,000 volumes and 1,300,000 microforms. In 1971 an agreement was reached with East Texas State University that allowed East Texas State University at Texarkana, which became Texas A&M University-Texarkana in 1995, to share the facilities of the junior college, where the university offered upper-level and graduate courses. Texarkana College curriculum includes the first two years of all basic college courses and a number of terminal courses in business and data processing. The college also offers programs in licensed vocational nursing, medical technology, and an associate in science degree in conjunction with two local hospitals. The college enrolled 4,500 students in the fall of 1990. The college completed a new Business Administration and Computer Technology and Information Systems building in 2000. In the fall of 1999 enrollment at Texarkana College was 3,446 and the faculty numbered 169. Carl M. Nelson was president in 2001.