Paris Junior College
Paris, Lamar County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Henry P. Mayer, a member of the Paris Independent School District Board of Education, proposed the establishment of a junior college in Paris in 1992. He quickly gained the support of the community, as many leading citizens and local civic organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Lions Club, and the Rotary Club, promoted the junior college movement in Paris. The PARIS MORNING NEWS published favorable ads and editorials, and citizen support was overwhelming. On June 6, 1924, the board of education passed a resolution formally establishing Paris Junior College and approved six areas of study: english, math, history, and foreign languages, education and science. Plans called for the college to be housed in the renovated post office building downtown, but because work on that structure was delayed, the new institution was housed in a wing of the high school for it's first year. Ninety-one students registered for the first session in september 1924, and the college quickly attained accreditation. Enrollment grew to 424 within a decade. By 1940 Paris Junior College occupied a new campus on the east side of the city, made possible by a bond election, federal works progress administration funds and financial gifts form local citizens. Many students left to serve in the military during World War ll, and the college instituted a number of programs for returning veterans after the war. The school continued to grow in the second half of the 20th Century. With expanded facilities in Paris and satellite campuses in several surrounding counties. Enrollment Topped the 3,000 mark in 1998. As Paris Junior College prepared to enter a new century with service to its students and community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Paris Junior College began with a 1924 proposal by school-board member Henry P. Mayer and rode a wave of enthusiastic community backing from the Chamber of Commerce and local civic clubs. Ninety-one students enrolled that first September, meeting in a wing of the high school; the college quickly earned accreditation, grew to its own east-side campus by 1940 with WPA help, and served returning veterans after World War II. Enrollment topped 3,000 by 1998.
Why it matters
Paris Junior College reflects the twentieth-century American faith in accessible local higher education as an engine of community advancement.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Henry P. Mayer
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Central Presbyterian Church
Paris, TX
Organized in 1844 during the Republic of Texas as the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, this Paris congregation was founded by circuit-riding minister Samuel J. Corley. It grew through the long pastorate of Dr. Charles Manton, whose 1908 funeral drew flags to half-mast across town. After the devastating 1916 Paris fire destroyed its 1891 sanctuary, the congregation raised this Gothic Revival church in 1917, rich with stained glass and known for its music and education programs.
First Baptist Church of Paris
Paris, TX
The Rev. Willis M. Pickett and six charter members organized the Union Baptist Church of Paris in 1854, and it grew into First Baptist Church. Among its pastors was the Rev. Robert Cooke Buckner, whose concern for orphans while at Paris grew into the wide-reaching Buckner Baptist Benevolences. The congregation lost its 1895 building to the great Paris fire of 1916 but rebuilt and continued a long record of local and foreign mission work.
Robert Cooke Buckner
Paris, TX
Robert Cooke Buckner arrived in Texas in 1859 and became a leading Baptist minister, pastoring this Paris congregation and helping charter the first Ladies' Aid group in the state. In 1877 he founded a Baptist orphans' home, giving the first dollar himself under a shady oak in Dallas. That seed grew into the sprawling network of charities known today as Buckner Benevolences.
Paris Public Schools
Paris, TX
Paris organized its modern public school system in 1884 after earlier efforts, when civic leaders and Mayor John C. Gibbons appointed a board of trustees. Three schools opened that year, among them a school for Black students that later became Gibbons High School. Under long-serving superintendent J. G. Wooten the system expanded, even absorbing Paris Junior College from 1924 to 1949.