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Home My WebLink AboutBlinn-125yrs2Page A4 The Bryan•iCollege Station Eagle Friday, March 28, 2008 n, 1~#il,l~~ ~ `"~ f'<~! P~ ~ ~ ~, ~~~~ _ .~~~~ ,~ ~ ~~ .~~ ~~ ~~ ~= r ~~ _ l~a`~~~ ttt name was changed to Blinn Memo- First Class rial College in honor of the Rev. Christian Blinn of New York who donated a consid- erable sum of money to the institution. The institution was originally founded for the purpose of training men for the ministry, but in the course of time, to meet the demands of the public, aca- the Rev. Blinn demic courses were added. After operating for five years as an institu- tion for men only, Blinn was made coedu- cational in 1888. The school was of academy rank until 1927 when it was organized into a junior college under the leadership of President Philip Deschner. In 1930 the school merged with Southwestern University in George- town. In 1934, a new charter was procured by the citizens of Brenham _and a private, nonsectarian junior college, under the name of Blinn College, was organized with nine regents as the board o~'control. Iri February 1937, all connection with • ~ ~ ~ March 28, 1883 ', Opens in Brenham as Mission Institute. 19os - ----- Old Main building dedicated on Brenham campus. _. 193 ____ _-----------f-___--- ____-----__. ____-- - Merges with Southwestern University (Georgetown, Texas). 1937 ------ _ ______._-___ Election held in Washington County creates public junior college district. t3ryan campus Southwestern University and the Methodist denominations was severed. An election held in Washington County on June 8, 1937 for the purpose of creating a public junior col- lege district and for levying a small tax was successful. Blinn thus became the first coun- ty-owned junior college district in Texas. A request to assist in meeting the edu- cational needs of Brazos County was an- swered by Blinn in 1970 when it opened its first campus in Bryan. A continued growth in enrollment led to development of the Col- lege Station campus in 1982 and the Blinn College Occupational Education Center in Bryan in 1991. A new unified campus in Bryan opened in January 1997. A campus .in Schulenburg in Fayette County was opened in August 1997. The newest campus, in Sealy in Austin County, opened in the spring of 2005. 1889 Name changes to Blinn Memorial College. 1927 Organizes as junior college. 1934 Becomes Blinn College, private, nonsectarian juniorcollege. 1970 Begins offering night classes in Bryan and College Station. 1972 __ ----- ---- --- - -- Moves to the Kraft Building in downtown Bryan; begins day classes. :.~n ~ ~r~' - °~ ,,~ 1689 ._..__ _ __ - . Moves from Kraft Building ', into Townshire Shopping Center r ~ ,~ in Bryan. ~ ' 1997 - __ _ _~_.._ .~~___~ _._ .. _~ Blinn and the city of Bryan build main Brazos County campus on 75 acres near Villa Maria Road at East 29th Street. 2005 ..._. _ _ Establishes campus in Sealy in Sealy Mall at 37010utlet Center Dr. 1882 , `~ ~ z~ ~ _. Now-defunct law limiting branch ~~ I~ ~ " `~ campuses to 1,000 students prompts expansion to Woodstone Shopping Center in Colle a Station. ~_~ __ _ _: _. _. g 1991 Converts the old Bryan Post Office building into Allied Health Center. ~'~ ;.~ 1997 Establishes campus in Schulenburg on ~~ , ~,,y~ the former Bishop Forest High School campus at 100 Ranger Dr. ~~ 1 March 28, 2008 /~"~ Celebrates 125th birthday with celebrations ~./ on each of the four campuses. Bryan Campus History In 1970, Blinn College opened a branch in Brazos County with 236 students. Now, 38 years later, Blinn's Brazos County operations encompass more than 80 acres, 10 buildings to serve 10,000 students. The Brenham-based college ventured ,into Bryan when Allen Academy closed its ju- nior college division. Bernard Massie, dean of that division, and J.B. Carrington, Allen's headmaster, approached Blinn about provid- ingthese classes. After consulting with Texas A&M University president Earl Rudder and the superintendents of the Bryan and College Station school districts, Blinn officials began offering night classes at Allen Academy and A&M Consolidated High School. By fall 1972, requests for daytime classes set in motion the college's massive develop- ment and the college moved into the Kraft Building in downtown Bryan and for the first time established its own library. As en- rollment continued to blossom, a state rule mandating no branch campus could have an enrollment of more than 1,000 students prompted Blinn to operate separate facilities in Bryan and College Station. Rental space at the Townshire Shopping Center in Bryan and the Woodstone Center in College Sta- tion sufficiently accommodated the need for classrooms until Texas A&M began manag- ing its enrollment in the late 1980s. The more students Texas A&M turned away, the more students turned to Blinn College as their step- ping stone to the flagship institution. From 1987 to 1997, Blinn enrollment doubled from 5,000 to 10,000 with the majority of that growth coming in Brazos County. Thanks to a cooperative agreement with the city of Bryan, Blinn was able to build a new consolidated campus on Villa Maria Road. The new campus opened in January 1997 with more than 7,000 stu- dents. The next decade saw steady growth for the Bryan campus as its academic pro- grams added more classes and its technical programs expanded. In 2002, the campus enrollment topped 10,000. ~~' rti• ;~ Blinn College Presidents Carl Urbantke ..:................................................1883-1899 Gottlieb Dosdall ................................................1899-1901 John Pluenneke ........................ .........................1901-1909 J.L. Neu .................................... .........................1909-1924 B.E. Breihan ............................. .........................1924-1927 Philip Deschner ........................ .........................1927-1929 A.A. Grusendorf ....................... .........................1929-1935 Charles F. Schmidt ................... .........................1935-1947 Thomas M. Spencer ................. .........................1947-1957 James H. Atkinson .................... .........................1957-1984 Walter C. Schwartz ................... .........................1984-1994 Donald E. Voelter ..................... ...........1994 -June i, 2008 President-elect Daniel J. Holt ............effective June 1, 2008 Blinn College Chancellors Walter C. Schwartz ............................................1994-2003 Donald E. Voelter ..............................effective June 1, 2008