Lon Morris College - History

History

Founded in 1854 as the New Danville Masonic Female Academy near Kilgore, Lon Morris College was the oldest existing two-year college in Texas. In 1873, the academy moved to Kilgore and became property of the Kilgore Methodist Church, changing its name to the Alexander Institute in honor of its president Isaac Alexander, an outstanding early Texas educator.

The Texas Annual Conference acquired the Alexander Institute in 1875. Chartered on January 15, 1887, the Institute moved to Jacksonville in 1894 and to the present location in 1909. After R.A. "Lon" Morris of Pittsburg, Texas, gave his estate to the school, and with approval of the Texas Annual Conference, the name of the institution was changed again, in 1924, to Lon Morris College.

The only two-year Methodist college west of the Mississippi River, Lon Morris has held membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools longer than any other two-year college in Texas, and it is the only surviving pre-Civil War school in East Texas.

One of Lon Morris' presidents was John E. Fellers, a Christian writer and Methodist minister, primarily in the Houston area, but also in Alexandria and Shreveport, Louisiana.

In 2009, the campus of Lon Morris would soon grow to the west, with a gift from the city of Jacksonville of a municipal activity center (formerly a Texas National Guard armory), a rodeo arena, and land surrounding both. The college allowed annual events for the Tops-in-Texas Rodeo at the rodeo arena without any financial outlays from the city. Lon Morris had plans for construction of new dormitories, which is timely, as there were many students enrolled for the fall of 2009 housed in two Jacksonville motels. Another addition coming to the campus will be a self-supporting tower in order to access wireless Internet signals; this will assist students in connecting to the web. It will reach 100 feet in height.

Students could participate in a variety of sports including men's/women's basketball, baseball and softball, men's/women's soccer, men's/women's golf, volleyball, cheerleading and dance. In 2009, football was added as a varsity sport, although no official games will be played until 2010.

In February 2010, Lon Morris announced a new agriculture curriculum, with classes having begun in the fall of 2010. In March 2010, the college acquired a prominent downtown Jacksonville building that originally had housed the city post office for many decades. A local family had owned and operated the building for a time as a hotel and restaurant using the name "The Landmark". Lon Morris announced it would use the acquired property for its new hospitality administration program, for which classes would start in the fall of 2010. This is likely the first time in the recent history of Lon Morris that any part of its operation and curriculum has occurred in a venue away from the main campus on College Avenue.

By March 2010, a new dormitory, Cooper House, opened on the campus, with room for thirty=two students. Another new dormitory is called "The Lodge."

On May 23, 2012, all college employees, with the exception of 11 core employees, were furloughed indefinitely. Over 100 individuals were furloughed. The furlough occurred after the school missed three pay periods. Miles McCall, the president, submitted his resignation notice via e-mail. McCall's resignation was effective May 24, 2012. The affected individuals were notified via email. The decision to furlough was made by the Bridge Point Consulting Company. On May 5, 2012 the board of trustees had asked Bridge Point Consulting Company to make recommendations on how to proceed with a planned restructuring of the school. Later that month Tyler Junior College sent an outreach team to help Lon Morris students register for summer classes at Tyler Junior College. It also allowed LMC students to live at the junior college residence halls at discounted rates.