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September 21, 2021
Today in Texas history
By Bandera Spirits of Texas
On this day in 1925, San Antonio College formally opened as University Junior College with an enrollment of 200 students. It is the oldest public two-year college in Texas still in operation.
Classes were first conducted in San Antonio's old Main High School building. Under the administration of the University of Texas and in the absence of an appropriation to support the junior college, fees were charged on a quarterly basis.
The state attorney general ruled in December 1925 that operation of a junior college by the University of Texas violated the state constitution; thus, supervision of the college, renamed San Antonio Junior College, passed to the San Antonio board of education for the second year of operation.
In 1926, the college was assigned part of the building on Alamo Street formerly occupied by the German-English School. James Otis Loftin, president from 1941 to 1955, oversaw the period of the college's greatest growth.
San Antonio College was adopted as the official name in 1948, and shortly thereafter the school moved to a 37-acre campus on San Pedro Avenue. The Alamo Community College District, consisting of San Antonio College, St. Philip's College, and two other campuses, enrolled nearly 49,000 students in the spring of 2003.
Classes were first conducted in San Antonio's old Main High School building. Under the administration of the University of Texas and in the absence of an appropriation to support the junior college, fees were charged on a quarterly basis.
The state attorney general ruled in December 1925 that operation of a junior college by the University of Texas violated the state constitution; thus, supervision of the college, renamed San Antonio Junior College, passed to the San Antonio board of education for the second year of operation.
In 1926, the college was assigned part of the building on Alamo Street formerly occupied by the German-English School. James Otis Loftin, president from 1941 to 1955, oversaw the period of the college's greatest growth.
San Antonio College was adopted as the official name in 1948, and shortly thereafter the school moved to a 37-acre campus on San Pedro Avenue. The Alamo Community College District, consisting of San Antonio College, St. Philip's College, and two other campuses, enrolled nearly 49,000 students in the spring of 2003.