North Central Texas College, originally Gainesville Junior College, became one of the earliest municipal junior colleges in Texas when Randolph Lee Clark received authorization from the Gainesville City Council to create the college as part of the Gainesville school system on May 20, 1924.

Lee Clark had established the second municipal junior college in Texas two years before when he had been superintendent at Wichita Falls. Wichita Falls Junior College eventually became a four-year college, Hardin College in 1946; ultimately, Midwestern (State) University in 1961. The first municipal junior college in Texas was El Paso Junior College, established in 1920. It, however, was absorbed by the College of Mines and Metallurgy, a four-year branch of the University of Texas in 1927. Ultimately, it became the University of Texas-El Paso.

When Lee Clark, Vice President of the Texas Junior College Association, gave an address on "The Place of the Junior College in Educational Reorganization" at the TJCA convention in 1928, he attributed the recent growth of public junior colleges to the "friendly attitude and encouragement given by the University of Texas."

One of the interesting revelations from the membership list of the Texas Junior College Association in 1928, are the now defunct private junior colleges: Carr-Burdette College, Sherman; Clifton College, Clifton; Gunter College, Gunter; Wesley College, Greenville. Weatherford College, one of those private members of the 1928 Association, accurately calls itself the oldest junior college in Texas, dating back to 1869. It was originally a Masonic institution, and was later a Methodist school. In the late 1800's it attempted to become a four-year college. It did not become a public two-year college until 1949.

North Central Texas College (GJC), as a municipal college originally, was like other public two-year colleges: a "step-child" of the high school. Our college survived basically by separating from the public school system. It gained its "independence" by the creation of a county-wide junior college district coterminous with Cooke County on May 7, 1960.

What was the fate of those other 1920's era, public junior colleges? John Tarleton Agricultural College, originally Stephenville College, dates back to 1893. It became a public college in 1898, but its financial struggles resulted in becoming a two-year branch of Texas A & M College in 1917. It became a four-year branch of Texas A & M in 1959; now, Tarleton State University.  South Park Junior College (Beaumont) opened in 1923 as a creation of the South Park Independent School District. In 1949, it became Lamar State College of Technology; later, Lamar University. Hill College, originally Hillsboro Junior College, operated as an extension of Hillsboro High School from 1923 until 1950. However, Hillsboro Junior College was closed from 1950 until 1959. Paris Junior College was a created by the Pans Independent School District on June 16, 1924. Therefore, the May 20, 1924, founding date of North Central Texas College preceded Paris Junior College by less than one month.

Hence, North Central Texas College is the oldest, continuously operating two-year public college in Texas—and we have the official Historical Marker to prove it.  The photo below is of the ceremony dedicating the historical marker designating NCTC as Texas’ oldest continuously operating public two-year college. Persons in the photo, left to right, are Ron Melugin, NCTC faculty member and college historian who played a key role in obtaining the marker (one of more than a dozen he has helped get for Gainesville and Cooke County); Ona B. Reed, president of the Cooke County Historical Society; Dr. Milton Dickson, chairman of the NCTC Board of Regents; and Dr. Ronnie Glasscock, NCTC president.

Sources for this article are documents in the possession of the author and information derived from entries concerning college and university histories other than North Central Texas College in The New Handbook of Texas (Texas State Historical Association: Austin, 1996).