Montgomery College - History

History

The college was organized in 1946 as "Montgomery Junior College," with its campus located at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. In 1950, the college moved to Takoma Park, absorbing the Bliss Electrical School, a private, for-profit institution formed in 1893, and that had occupied the site since 1908. During World War II Bliss had the distinction of being selected by the United States Navy as one of six engineering schools to give Primary School in the Electronics Training Program and graduated over 3,000 students.

The Rockville Campus opened in 1965; the Germantown Campus opened in 1975 and has occupied its present permanent site since 1978. Montgomery College also offers learning opportunities through its extensive Workforce Development and Continuing Education programs.

The Takoma Park Campus began expanding into neighboring Silver Spring, with the opening of a new Health Sciences Center in January 2004. The campus expansion in Silver Spring included the addition of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Arts Center, which opened in fall 2007. The building houses the campus visual arts programs and the School of Art + Design, formerly the Maryland College of Art and Design, which merged with Montgomery College in September 2004. To reflect the campus expansion into Silver Spring, the Board of Trustees officially renamed the Takoma Park campus as the "Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus" in June 2005.