Women's Army Corps School

Stephen F. Austin State's president Paul Boynton sought a military installation in 1942 to offset feared losses in male enrollment. The school, designated WAAC Branch Number 1, Army Administration School, was described as the nation's first women's administration school. Recruits came in groups of about 200. Classes met five and a half days a week with 30 to 40 students, on filing, military finance, correspondence, typewriting and service records. Enlisted women lived on campus, one group in the former band building nicknamed the WAC Shack, while officers boarded in private homes on North Street.

What the plaque says

Women's Army Corps School Founded in 1942 in response to the overwhelming need for volunteers for service in World War II, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) became a regular unit of the U.S. Army as the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. By 1945 the Corps reached its peak enrollment of about 100,000, with women serving both at home and abroad. In early 1943, at a time when enrollment at Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College (now Stephen F. Austin State University) had dropped to fewer than 500 because of the war, the U.S. Army established Army Administration School No. 1 here on the campus to train Women's Army Corps members in noncombatant duties. Similar schools were located at colleges in Alpine and Canyon. The WACs were housed in campus dormitories and attended six-week training courses taught by army personnel in the Austin and Rusk buildings. In a show of homefront solidarity, upon graduation each WAC class presented a variety show for the community at the Nacogdoches High School Auditorium. The WACs then left East Texas for postings throughout America and abroad. By the time the school closed in March 1944 about 3,000 women had trained here. (1994)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Birdwell Field, Aikman Gym and the Women's Recreation Center — steps away
• Pioneering Higher Education in East Texas — steps away
• Paul Lewis Boynton — steps away
• The University Tradition in Nacogdoches — steps away