Hillsboro Junior College

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, so take it straight from the source. Now, not every story starts with a bang. Sometimes the most Texas thing you can do is just quietly be first, and that's exactly what Hillsboro Junior College did.

One of the first public junior colleges in the entire state of Texas. Not bragging, just stating facts. It was established in 1923, folded right into the Hillsboro public school system like it belonged there all along, which it did.

Years passed, students came, and then came 1939 and 1940, the peak years, when four hundred and ten students were walking those halls. Four hundred and ten. That was the high-water mark, the moment when everything was humming.

But here's where the story takes a turn. The voters, given the chance to pass a maintenance tax to keep the place running, said no. And then, just so there was no confusion about their feelings on the matter, they said no again.

Twice. Two chances, two defeats at the ballot box. And so on August the thirty-first, 1950, the school closed.

Not with a fire, not with a scandal, just a date on a calendar and a door that didn't open the next morning. You might think that was the end of it. Texas, though, has a long memory and apparently a willingness to reconsider.

Hillsboro Junior College reopened in 1962. One of the first public junior colleges in Texas, closed by the voters, and brought back all the same. Some things, it turns out, are harder to shut down than people expect.

What the marker says

One of first public junior colleges in Texas. Established 1923, as a part of Hillsboro public school system. Peak attendance was 410 students during 1939-40. School closed Aug. 31, 1950, after voters defeated maintenance tax proposal twice. Reopened 1962. (1967)