The Weatherford Democrat (Weatherford, Tex.), Ed. 1 Sunday, October 3, 1993 Page: 4 of 4
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PAGE 4D THE WEATHERFORD DEMOCRAT, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1993
Weatherford College
Continued from page ID
ready reported.
During the 1937 football season,
special trains for the fans were run
to Hillsboro and Stephenville for
the games with the college teams in
those towns. The fans contributed
to Weatherford College winning
both games. The Weatherford Mun-
icipal Band also accompanied the
fans. The college team won the con-
ference championship in 1937.
Up to November of 1939 the col-
lege had been owned and operated
by the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South. Prior to 1844, there was only
the Methodist Episcopal Church,
but the question of slavery in the
United States and because many
menbers of the Methodist Episcopal
Church were slaveowners, the
Methodists in the southern states
withdrew and formed the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, which
continued until 1939. Prior to the
division of the Southern Church,
there had been another branch of the
Methodist Church which seceded
and named their branch of the
Methodists, the Methodist Protes-
tant Church.
Therefore, in May of 1939, the
three branches of Methodists de-
cided to again unite and laws were
passed at the General Conference,
titled the Uniting Conference,
which all three agreed upon. In
1939, Weatherford College became
the property of the Methodist
Church.
The college was in need of a bet-
ter science lab and classroom, re-
sulting in Boswell recommending
to the board that it be proposed to
the city of Weatherford commis-
sioners that they request a federal
grant to build a two-story brick
building to house the college library
on the lower floor with the science
department to use the second floor
for classes and lab. The commis-
sioners agreed to apply for the grant
provided the college would allow
the citizens of Weatherford to use
the library also. The grant was ap-
proved and construction began in
early summer of 1940. Phoenix
Lodge No. 275 was asked to request
the Officers of the Grand Lodge of
Texas to conduct Masonic ceremo-
nies in laying the cornerstone and
this was done in August of 1940. On
Dec. 30, 1940, the Weatherford
College Library was completely
moved into the lower floor of the
new building.
Because of the involvement of
the United States in World War II
and the building of Fort Wolters in
Parker County east of Mineral
Wells, the board offered the ser-
vices of the coaching staff to the of-
ficers at the fort to assist in their ath-
letic program. This was to be hand-
led by George Fant, J.B.
Witherspoon and Bert Rawlins,
members of the board.
The board met July 21, 1941, at
which time President William
Bryan McDaniel recommended the
reorganization of the Weatherford
College Band which was organized
several years previously. He sug-
gested Witherspoon, also a member
of the Weatherford Gold Medal
Band, be appointed to work with
students who were interested. He
was to lend the students such instru-
ments as were available, which had
been purchased for the original
band of the college. He was also to
secure the services of a competent
band director.
Following the surprise attack of
the Japanese on Pearl Harbor and
declaration of war by Congress, the
board’s executive committee voted
to eliminate football beginning with
the fall semester of 1942 and lasting
for the duration of the war.
During the fall semester of 1943,
the board decided to ask for a meet-
ing with the presidents of Texas
Wesleyan College of Fort Worth
and Southwestern University of
Georgetown, both Methodist col-
leges to discuss possible merger
with one of them in order to con-
tinue Weatherford College’s opera-
tion after almost 75 years.
Following lengthy discussion,
the board of Weatherford College
accepted the proposal of South-
western University, provided trus-
tees of Southwestern would accept
amendments proposed by trustees
of Weatherford College. It was
agreed, copies of the resolution and
proposed merger were presented to
the Board of Education of the
Methodist Church and later pre-
sented to the Central Texas Annual
Conference with both approving the
merger. Therefore, the church rela-
tionship of Weatherford College
was broadened.
Although the action of the board
of Weatherford College to consoli-
date with Southwestern University
was passed in December of 1943,
the deed to all the property of the
college was not executed or signed
until Aug. 8,1946. Then, after hold-
ing the deed for two and a half
years, it was not filed for record
with the Parker County Clerk until
April of 1949, the day before the
trustees of Southwestern University
notified the citizens of Weatherford
that the property would be turned
back to them if they so desired.
Southwestern University rein-
stated football in the athletic prog-
ram of Weatherford College in the
fall of 1947.
With World War Et having ended
in 1945 and many veterans return-
ing to college, a Veterans Club was
organized and veterans were pro-
vided special housing through le-
gislation called the Lanham Act for
Veterans.
On April 30, 1949, the day after
the trustees of the college had given
Southwestern University the deed
to the property owned by the col-
lege, the trustees of Southwestern
notified the citizens of Weatherford
that they would no longer continue
the operation of the college. They
asked the city of Weatherford or
Parker County to accept Weather-
ford College according to the origi-
nal proposal of merger. This dissol-
ved the merger of these colleges.
When Southwestern University
announced it would no longer own
and operate the college, the Weath-
erford Chamber of Commerce, in
cooperation with the Parker County
Commissioners Court and many in-
terested citizens, began to make
plans to accept the college. The tax
base of the city was insufficient to
allow it to own the college so city
AN AERIAL VIEW shows the campus layout of Weatherford College as it exists today, on the
“new” grounds away from the heart of Weatherford.
( i
THE WEATHERFORD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE financed construction of the gymnasium
(not to exceed $5,000) provided it could be used to house the Parker County Fair and other
civic organizations’ programs. The gym was built in 1925 and on June 15,1925, a "May Fete”
was held there with approximately 1,000 persons in attendance and as many turned away
due to lack of space.
officials offered to help ensure the
continued operation of the college.
The Parker County Comissioners
then voted to call a special election
on Aug. 6, 1949. More than 1,000
citizens signed a petition to the
State Board of Education to create a
junior college district for Parker
County. This was approved by the
board of education enabling the
county to hold the election with
three propositions: create a Parker
County junior college district; pro-
vide for an assessment of 30 cents
per $100 tax for operation of the
college and elect a board of trustees
consisting of seven persons from
different parts of Parker County.
The total vote in the election was
1,099 in favor with 413 opposed.
The transfer of property from
Southwestern University back to
Weatherford College was author-
ized by the board of the university
and signed in January of 1953, al-
most four years after Southwestern
notified the college they were re-
turning the property.
When Weatherford College be-
came a public junior college, the
question of the segregation of white
and black students was beginning to
be a real problem with public
schools. At their August, 1949
meeting, the board discussed the
policy of admitting black students
for the fall semester. The decision
was that black students could attend
night classes under proper
segregation.
The building which housed the li-
brary and science department was
built in 1940 especially for the use
of Weatherford College by the city
of Weatherford from money de-
rived from a grant from the federal
government, on property owned by
the city. Weatherford College could
not qualify in this construction for
federal grants but the city could, re-
sulting in it becoming the property
of the city instead of the college.
The parking situation for stu-
dents coming to the college in their
cars was becoming a serious prob-
lem. This was one of the reasons the
board was faced with the necessity
of moving the college from its al-
most 100-year location to its pre-
sent 90-acre campus.
On Feb. 10, 1966, Roy Grogan,
Bill Bowden, Dr. Loyd Ripley and
president Vernon D. Parrott were
appointed as a building committee.
C.T. Duncan, a local real estate
broker, had notified the college that
the Bass brothers of Fort Worth had
agreed to sell the college 89.191
acres of land adjacent to the Rose-
lawn addition in the southeast part
of Weatherford for a future site for
the college. Duncan charged no fee
for his services in the transaction.
Paul Fuller had been employed as
business manager of the college and
placed in charge of the education
center at Fort Wolters. He had made
arrangements with the Army Edu-
cational Office to offer courses to
the Army personnel at the fort and
application had been made for fed-
eral grants for the purchase of addi-
tional equipment for the expanded
federal programs there.
Albert Komatsu, architect, was
employed to make drawings for a
master plan for the new campus
which was adopted.
With the dramatic increase in en-
rollment from 260 to 953 during the
16-year administration of Parrott,
and the board’s decision that a lar-
ger campus was needed, Parrott res-
igned as president and was followed
by Dr. J.C. Nichols as president on
March 28, 1966.
Ground breaking for the new col-
lege campus was held April 29,
1967 and signaled the beginning of
a new era for the college.
The summer of 1968 was filled
with anticipation of the move from
the downtown campus.
As the final date, which had been
tentatively set to leave “Old Main”
and move into the new and larger
campus approached, excitement
was running high. With an antici-
pated 1,000 students expected, the
board, administration and faculty
were ready to welcome students to
the new campus.
The thought of moving “Old
Sam,” the bell, which had been
placed in the tower pf the main
building to call students to classes,
was almost abandoned when the
size of the task was seriously con-
sidered. However, members of the
Weatherford Junior Chamber of
Commerce decided it was worth the
effort. The bell and its cradle were
estimated to weigh possibly 2,000
pounds. Lowering the bell from the
three-story building was solved
when, after much planning and fig-
uring, Larry Young brought in his
winch truck to be used in lowering
the bell through an enlarged trap
door into the auditorium.
Some weeks later, after the five
foot foundation was built from
stones from “Old Main,” and lo-
cated on a knoll among several live
oak trees, the Ex-Students Associa-
tion finished the job of placing “Old
Sam” on the “Old Main Memorial”
at a cost of $7,500.
Formal dedication of the new
campus was held Sept. 27,1968 in
the new gymnasium. An open
house for the public was held Sept.
29, 1968.
The college athletic department
began a custom which has been
continued almost every year since
1968 in sponsoring a basketball
tournament for high schools in the
Weatherford area lasting for two
days, usually on Friday and Satur-
day afternoons and evenings.
Weatherford College became a
participating member of the Texas
Junior College Athletic Association
and as such was eligible to compete
with other junior colleges which
were members of the conference.
In December, 1968, the board au-
thorized a feasibility study for an
expanded comprehensive voca-
tional and technical curriculum;
construction of a vocational and
technical building; construciton of a
student center; establishment of a
commuter bus service; conversion
of the old science building into a
dormitory and construction of an
auditorium and classroom building.
Elaborate plans had been made
for the 100th anniversary comme-
moration which would culminate
Saturday following homecoming.
Date set for the entire celebration
was April 21-26, 1969.
The concluding event of this
week-long commemoration was
held on Saturday when scores of ex-
students came from far and near to
enjoy meeting old friends and re-
counting events which made them
friends while in Weatherford
College.
Weatherford College, in its new
location, had become a college with
a friendly atmosphere where stu-
dents were not just a number but
their teachers knew each student by
name and a close association had
developed between them. The col-
lege was neither too large nor too
small, yet large enough that the col-
lege could offer courses which
could please students and prepare
them to enter the junior year at a
university.
The resignation of Dr. J.C. Ni-
chols as president of the college be-
came effective Nov. 1, 1970. How-
ever, before that date, the board had
begun to seek a replacement for him
and on Nov. 15, 1970, elected Dr.
E. W. Mince who was then president
of Ranger Junior College.
At the meeting of the board on
April 13, 1971, Mince recom-
mended Larry Hunt be elected Dean
of Student Personnel Services and
Arthur Stockstill elected as Counse-
lor and Instructor of Psychology.
Before April, 1973, rumors had
been voiced that Fort Wolters might
be closed as a base for the Army he-
licopter training. In view of this, the
board authorized Dr. Mince to write
letters to Texas’ U.S. Senators and
Representatives requesting them to
continue to allow Weatherford Col-
lege the use of facilities at Fort Wol-
ters in the event the base was closed.
Paul Fuller, Dean of Occupational
Education, was coordinator of ac-
tivities at the West Campus (at the
fort) and in 1974 the courses offered
there grew out of academic courses
earlier offered to military personnel
stationed at the fort. When the base
was closed in 1974, the General
Service Administration offered the
facilities to Weatherford College
for instructional purposes only for a
period of 30 years, beginning in
1975. After 30 years, Weatherford
College might use the facilities for
any purpose it might desire.
In 1975, bids for sale of the sci-
ence building on the old campus
were given to the Safeway Stores.
Safeway then sold the south half of
the block to Bob Perkins, owner of
the Gibson store. This gave Safe-
way and Gibsons the entire block
that was originally the campus of
Weatherford College.
The 1976 homecoming was aug-
mented by the construction of a
large sandstone base, the stones be-
ing left from the Old Main building,
on which was placed a large coyote
made especially for this occasion
with its head held high in the air as if
to yell. This addition to the campus,
which was located in front of the li-
brary, was the gift of the Homecom-
ing Host and Hostess Committee of
1976.
In September, 1984, the college
purchased 92 acres of land located
two miles west of Weatherford on
Highway 180 as an agriculture cen-
ter for lab work in the various agri-
cultural classes. Previously these
classes had been held on property
leased from the county at the Parker
County Farm.
One of the many highlights of the
Sesquicentennial of Texas indepen-
dence celebration was presentation
of the plaque in the administration
building containing names of the
presidents of Weatherford College
from its beginning in 1869 to the
present.
Other events occurred after 1984
and enrollment increased with new
class offerings made available.
However, there is not space to de-
lineate all that has occurred be-
tween then and now in addition to
what already appears in this Herit-
age feature.
Joe Witherspoon’s book “Weath-
erford College” is highly recom-
mended to any and all who want
more detailed information on deve-
lopment and history of the college.
i
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Wood, Tim. The Weatherford Democrat (Weatherford, Tex.), Ed. 1 Sunday, October 3, 1993, newspaper, October 3, 1993; Weatherford, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1099770/m1/4/?q=waco+tornado: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting East Parker County Genealogy and Historical Society.