Jacksonville College

The Handbook of Texas says the college started as a four-year school and became a two-year junior college in 1918. It was among the first two-year colleges in Texas to offer a continuing-education program for adults. Enrollment was 147 students with 14 faculty in 1962-63, and by 1965 the campus had eight permanent buildings. A Baptist theological seminary opened in Jacksonville in 1957. By fall 1998 the college counted 363 students and 27 faculty members, up from 227 students in 1987.

What the plaque says

Jacksonville College The East Texas Educational Society was formed in the spring of 1899 to establish and maintain a Baptist college in East Texas which would provide academic and cultural training with a religious influence. The group chose Jacksonville for the college because of the convenient transportation offered by three railroad lines and good roads. Property on this site was purchased in July 1899, and work began promptly on the first building. When finished, the structure was the tallest building in Jacksonville. The college opened its doors to 34 students in a temporary space in the fall of 1899, taking up residence in its newly completed facility in November. By the end of the first session enrollment had reached 85. The first Jacksonville College president was the Rev. J. V. Vermillion, former president of East Texas Baptist College in Rusk. Among the first students in the graduating class was future Jacksonville College President B. J. Albritton. The school offered a bachelor of arts degree, placing a strong emphasis on Greek, Latin and math, as well as Biblical and Christian studies. The East Texas Educational Society proposed to transfer control of the college to the Baptist Missionary Association in 1904; in 1908 the transfer was accepted. The school grew steadily throughout the 20th century. The original 1899 structure long referred to as "Old Main" was razed in 1968. New, modern structures were erected as needed. In 1998, Jacksonville College continued to thrive, following in the footsteps of its founders with a program of religious and academic study.(1999)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 23 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.
• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 27 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.

More markers nearby

• Church Founded by Chaplain Nicholas A. Davis, C.S.A. — 0.5 mi
• Site of First Free Public School — 0.7 mi
• Jacksonville Independent School District — 0.7 mi
• Lon Morris College — 0.8 mi