McLennan Community College

Since the nineteenth century, Waco has been renowned for the quality and number of higher education institutions in the city and surrounding area. Despite this reputation, the Waco area did not boast its own junior college until the 1960s.

The idea of starting a junior college in Waco originated with Waco Chamber of Commerce member Paul Marable. When Marable joined the chamber, one of his initial concerns was the lack of a junior college for the Waco community. Senior members of the chamber hesitated to bring up the discussion of a junior college, as they feared Baylor University would feel threatened by the possibility of a new institute for higher education in Waco. Marable, unfazed by these worries, went to Baylor administration and presented his idea to President Abner McCall. Rather than being offended, McCall supported the idea wholeheartedly. With this endorsement, the Chamber began to discuss the feasibility of a new junior college.

 In November 1964, a steering committee appointed by the Waco Chamber of Commerce met for the first time to begin planning the creation of a new junior college. One year later, local voters approved the creation of the McLennan County Junior College Tax District and elected a seven-member governing board. The college was christened McLennan Community College (often shortened to MCC) in early 1966, making it the first junior college in Texas to incorporate as a community college. That same year, the board hired Dr. Wilbur Ball as the college's first president. Ball was well-suited to the position, having previously worked in the registrar’s office at Del Mar College and served as dean and vice president at Wharton College.

A great deal of consideration went into the selection of the college’s site. The board initially considered putting the new college downtown in an effort to promote business there, but MCC administrators, including President Ball, quickly decided that none of the buildings available downtown were suited to hold a college. School administration decided early on that the college should be in or near Waco proper, as that was the population center of the district. The college’s original temporary location was the deactivated James Connally Air Force Base, which it shared with the newly opened Texas State Technical College (then called the James Connally Technical Institute).

MCC held its first day of classes in September 1966. When the college opened, it boasted twenty-two faculty and had an enrollment of 858 students. MCC was open enrollment, and in its first year of operation a significant portion of the student body were minority students. In order to reflect this, MCC sought out minorities when hiring faculty as well. Ms. Ezra Henderson, a Waco native and one of the college’s original faculty members in 1966, was the first African American faculty member at MCC.

The board approved the selection of the historic William Cameron property, comprising 200 acres, for MCC’s permanent site in 1966. They acquired the land for $290,000. Construction on new, permanent facilities on the Cameron property began in 1967 and finished in 1969, with classes began at the new location that January. The next year, legislature approved a $4,000,000 bond issue to build additional facilities.

MCC became the first community college in Texas to run its own police academy in 1977. In 1987, MCC bought the old Waco High School campus, which stood empty after Waco High merged with Richfield High School. The purchase added 40 acres, four tennis courts, and new school facilities to the existing campus. The old school building became the Community Services Center. The college grew quickly, expanding to 5,750 students and 165 full-time faculty by 1990. At that point, the school had become a member of the American Association of Junior Colleges, the Texas Public Junior College Association, and an affiliate member of the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities. Into the 2020s, McLennan Community College’s enrollment and number of faculty have grown to almost ten times their original size. It has made a name for itself in academic excellence and holds true to its commitment to offering a high-quality education while remaining affordable.