| |
Type | Junior college |
---|---|
Active | 1854–2012 |
Affiliation | United Methodist Church |
President | Vacant |
Students | 1,000 |
Location | , , |
Campus | Urban |
Colors | Green and White |
Mascot | Bearcat |
Website | www.lonmorris.edu |
Lon Morris College (LMC) was a private junior college located in Jacksonville, Texas, United States, and was the only school affiliated with the United Methodist Church that was owned by an individual conference and not the denomination as a whole. Lon Morris was an accredited two-year institute of higher learning, which provided instruction in the arts and sciences with a core curriculum emphasizing liberal arts. While Lon Morris taught as many as 350 students [1] in a semester, enrollment reached more than 1,000, a new record, in the fall of 2009. [2] The school was 30 miles (48 km) south of Tyler. [3] The person who last held the title of college president was Dr. Miles McCall; he resigned effective May 24, 2012.
Lon Morris College filed for bankruptcy on July 2, 2012. [4] The 112-acre campus was auctioned on January 14, 2013, in Dallas, Texas; the primary purchasers were a local school district and an office supply company. [5]
Founded in 1854 as the New Danville Masonic Female Academy near Kilgore, Lon Morris College was the oldest existing two-year college in Texas [6] until its closure in 2012. 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 early Texas educator. [7]
The Texas Annual Conference acquired the Alexander Institute in 1875. Chartered on January 15, 1887, the Institute moved to Jacksonville in 1894 and to its final 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. [8]
When it closed, Lon Morris was the only two-year Methodist college west of the Mississippi River, and it had held membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools longer than any other two-year college in Texas. It was the only surviving pre-Civil War school in East Texas. [8]
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. [9]
In 2009, the campus of Lon Morris grew 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. [10]
Students participated in a variety of sports including men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's golf, volleyball, cheer leading and dance. In 2009, football was added as a varsity sport in an attempt to increase revenue, [11] but this effort was unsuccessful and all athletics programs were disbanded in 2012. [12]
In February 2010, Lon Morris announced a new agriculture curriculum, begun in the fall of 2010. [13] In March 2010, the college acquired a 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 under 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. [14] [15] [16]
By March 2010, a new dormitory, Cooper House, opened on the campus, with room for thirty-two students. Another new dormitory was called The Lodge. [17]
On May 23, 2012, all college employees, with the exception of 11 core employees, were furloughed indefinitely. [18] Over 100 individuals were furloughed. The furlough occurred after the school missed three pay periods. [19] Miles McCall, the president, submitted his resignation notice via e-mail. McCall's resignation was effective May 24, 2012. [18] The affected individuals were notified via email. [20] 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. [21] 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. [22]
Residence halls included Brown Hall, Clark Hall, Craven-Wilson Hall, and Fair Hall. Other student housing facilities included Cooper House, LMC Cottages, and LMC Lodge. [23]
Alumni of the Lon Morris College Theatre Arts Department include:
Other Lon Morris alumni include:
Cherokee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 50,412. The county seat is Rusk, which lies 130 miles southeast of Dallas and 160 miles north of Houston. The county was named for the Cherokee, who lived in the area before being expelled in 1839. Cherokee County comprises the Jacksonville micropolitan statistical area, which is also included in the Tyler–Jacksonville combined statistical area.
Jacksonville is a city located in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. The population was 13,997 at the 2020 U.S. census. It is the principal city of the Jacksonville micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Cherokee County.
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the 38th most populous city in Texas and 289th in the United States. It is the principal city of the Tyler metropolitan statistical area, which is the 198th most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. and 16th in Texas after Waco and the College Station–Bryan areas, with a population of 233,479 in 2020. The city is named for John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States.
Kilgore is a city in Gregg and Rusk counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas. Over three-fourths of the area within city limits are located in Gregg County, the remainder in Rusk County. The population was 12,975 at the 2010 census and 13,376 at the 2020 census.
Longview is a city in, and county seat of, Gregg County, Texas, United States. Longview is located in East Texas, where Interstate 20 and U.S. highways 80 and 259 converge just north of the Sabine River. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a population of 81,638. Longview is the principal city of the Longview metropolitan statistical area, comprising Gregg, Upshur, and Rusk counties. The population of the metropolitan area as of 2021 census estimates was 287,858.
East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consists of the Piney Woods ecoregion. East Texas can sometimes be defined only as the Piney Woods. At the fringes, towards Central Texas, the forests expand outward toward sparser trees and eventually into open plains.
Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a private research university in University Park, Texas, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South—now part of the United Methodist Church—in partnership with Dallas civic leaders. However, it is nonsectarian in its teaching and enrolls students of all religious affiliations. It is classified among "R-2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity".
Northeast Texas is a cultural and geographic region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Texas. Geographically centered on two metropolitan areas strung along Interstate 20—Tyler in the west and Longview/Marshall to the east, the areas of Greenville, Mount Pleasant, Sulphur Springs, Paris, and Texarkana in the north primarily along Interstate 30, and Jacksonville and Palestine to the south are also major cities within the region. Most of Northeast Texas is included in the interstate region of the Ark-La-Tex.
LMC may refer to:
Tyler Junior College (TJC) is a public community college in Tyler, Texas. It is one of the largest community colleges in the state, with an enrollment of more than 12,000 credit students and an additional 20,000 continuing education enrollments annually. Its West campus includes continuing education and workforce training programs and TJC North in Lindale, Texas offers general education classes, nursing programs, and the veterinary technician associate of applied science. The college also operates locations in Jacksonville and Rusk. TJC offers Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science and Associate of Arts, specialized baccalaureate degrees, and certificate programs.
Dobyns-Bennett High School is a high school in Kingsport, Tennessee, United States. It typically educates around 2,400 students, although enrollment for the 2022–23 academic year exceeded 2,500 students.
John Wesley Hardt was an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1980. He also distinguished himself as a preacher and a pastor of Methodist Churches, as a district superintendent, and as an author and biographer.
Earl Wesley Bascom was an American-Canadian painter, printmaker, sculptor, cowboy, rodeo performer, inventor, and Hollywood actor. Raised in Canada, he portrayed in works of fine art his own experiences of cowboying and rodeoing across the American and Canadian West. Bascom was awarded the Pioneer Award by the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2016 and inducted into several halls of fame including the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1984. Bascom was called the "Cowboy of Cowboy Artists," the "Dean of Rodeo Cowboy Sculpture" and the "Father of Modern Rodeo." He was a participant member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
George Edward Cumby is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1980s. He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners, thrice earning All-American honors, including a unanimous selection in 1979. A first-round pick in the 1980 NFL Draft, Cumby played professionally for the Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills, and Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL. He was an athletic director and head football coach for Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Catholic School in Tyler, Texas. In 2016, he served as director of recruitment at Jacksonville College (TX).
John Calvin Box was a U.S. Representative from Texas. Box was born on the family farm at Hammond's Creek east of the present day Latexo community in northern Houston County, Texas to John Jasper Wesley Box and Susan Adeline Morris Box. He attended the country schools, and United Methodist Church-affiliated Alexander Collegiate Institute in Jacksonville, Texas. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1893 beginning his practice in Lufkin, Texas Angelina County, Texas. His father, J.J.W. Box was a confederate army veteran and farmer. His mother a home maker and devoted wife and mother. His son, John C. Box, Jr. followed his father in the practice of law continuing the firm's work in Jacksonville, Texas.
The Southwest Junior College Football Conference is a football conference for National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) teams located in the Southwestern United States. The conference formed in 1963 with nine junior colleges located in Texas, and began operation in 1964. It was known as the Texas Junior College Football Federation (TJCFF) prior to 1976 and then as the Texas Junior College Football Conference (TJCFC) until 1996 when Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College joined as a member.
Martha Josey is an American professional rodeo cowgirl who specializes in barrel racing. She has been in active rodeo competition since 1964. She won the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) barrel racing world championship in 1980. She has earned numerous other titles at competitions such as the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) and events sanctioned by the National Barrel Horse Association (NBHA), and WPRA. She also competed in barrel racing as an exhibition event during the 1988 Calgary Olympics, and is the founder and co-owner of the Josey Ranch Barrel Racing Clinic.
The East Texas Bombers is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Lufkin, Texas. Founded in 2005, the league currently consists of a single team which competes against teams from other leagues.
The Neches River National Wildlife Refuge is a 7,000-acre (28 km2) protected area of Texas managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. It is located in the rolling hills of East Texas near Jacksonville.
{{cite web}}
: |last2=
has generic name (help){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)