Temple College

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Temple College, over there in Bell County. Now, some institutions come into the world smooth and easy. Temple Junior College was not one of those.

It took two attempts, two separate runs at securing a location for higher education, before the city's leaders finally banded together and made it happen. The year was 1926, and when that college finally opened its doors, it did so on the strength of civic, business, and educational leaders all pulling in the same direction. That's a coalition worth noting.

That's the kind of thing that either works or it doesn't, and in Temple, it worked. In those early years, the college kept things practical. It was operated by the public school system, and classes met right there in the city's high school building.

No grand campus, no sweeping quad. Just students showing up, sitting down, and getting to work. But student bodies have a way of growing, and growing student bodies have a way of making their needs known.

By 1955, a separate junior college district was established, and with that came the ability to build something new. Two years later, in 1957, the college moved to its present location in South Temple. From the beginning, Temple Junior College offered the kinds of courses that could set a person on a path toward medicine, law, education, engineering, and similar fields.

It also offered general academic courses for students looking to transfer on to four-year institutions and earn baccalaureate degrees. Pre-professional, transferable, practical. That was the mission.

And then, over time, the mission got broader. Credit classes, non-credit classes, programs, workshops, business education, community education, stretching out across Bell, Milam, and Williamson Counties. The college wasn't just serving Temple anymore.

It was serving a whole region. Then came 2004, and a new health sciences center and a clinical simulation center opened their doors. That move turned Temple College into a genuine leader in education for the health professions.

And by the time this marker was put to stone, enrollment had climbed to more than six thousand one hundred students. Big enough to be flexible. Big enough to be varied.

In 1996, the name changed too. Temple Junior College became simply Temple College, a name chosen to reflect what the institution had grown into: a comprehensive college offering transfer programs, technical education, community education, career and workforce training, and cultural activities. Two failed attempts, one determined coalition, and then decades of steady, deliberate growth.

That's not a straight line. That's a Texas story.

What the marker says

After two attempts to secure a location for higher education, city leaders banded together to create Temple Junior College in 1926. Thanks to joint efforts of civic, business and educational leaders, the need for a post-secondary institution in Temple was met. In the early years, the college was operated by the public school system and classes met in the city's high school building. As the student body grew, so did the need for a larger campus. A separate junior college district was established in 1955, enabling the college to build a new facility. The college moved to its present location in South Temple in 1957. Temple College has traditionally offered pre-professional courses leading to degrees in medicine, law, education, engineering and similar fields as well as more general academic courses that enable students to transfer to four-year institutions for baccalaureate degrees. In recent years, a wide variety of credit and non-credit classes, programs and workshops have been offered through business and community education in Temple College sites in Bell, Milam and Williamson Counties. Temple College became a leader in education for health professions with the opening of a new health sciences center and clinical simulation center in 2004. With an enrollment of more than 6100 students, the college is large enough to maintain a flexible and varied program. In 1996, the name of the college was changed to Temple College to reflect its role as a comprehensive college, offering transfer programs, technical education, community education, career and workforce training and cultural activities.