A Short History of UTA
The University of Texas at Arlington began with the establishment of Arlington College in 1895. Arlington College, Carlisle Military Academy (1902), Arlington Training School (1913), and Arlington Military Academy (1916) were all former names of UTA, and all came into existence as a result of the efforts of enterprising headmasters and civic leaders of Arlington during the early years of the 20th century.
Carlisle Military Academy’s 1910-1912 baseball team
Clarence P. Derman Collection
The Student Army Training Corps practices a bayonet drill on
the parade grounds of Grubbs Vocational College
UTA Photograph Collection
As the first state-supported institution of higher education in Arlington, the school was chartered in 1917 and called Grubbs Vocational College. Under Texas Governor James Ferguson it was created as an “extension” of what is now The Texas A&M University System. Grubbs Vocational College eventually became North Texas Agricultural College in 1923, then Arlington State College (1949), and achieved four-year status in 1959.
According to the 1923 Bulletin, all young women at Grubbs were required to take one hour of physical training a day.
UTA Photograph Collection
Courses in livestock were conducted just west
of the main campus in the early 1950s.
UTA Photograph Collection
The Association of Texas Colleges and Universities accredited Arlington State College in 1962, and it was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1964. A 1963 reorganization of the Texas A&M University System focused on the College Station campus, even though the enrollment at Arlington State College exceeded enrollment at the College Station campus at the time. That 1963 decision by the Texas A&M University governing board to focus on the College Station campus, even though it had a lower enrollment than Arlington State College, led officials of ASC and citizens of Arlington to enlist the support of Governor John B. Connally and the Texas Legislature to separate ASC from the Texas A&M University System. On April 23, 1965, Arlington State College officially became a part of The University of Texas System. Its name changed in 1967 to The University of Texas at Arlington.
By the late 1940s, the North Texas Agricultural College Campus had assumed a familiar look. Centered on west Second Street, the main campus occupied eight city blocks.
Gordon Smith, student 1945-1946, W.D. Smith, Inc.
Part of ASC’s graduation was the traditional march across campus. Students graduating in 1958 were reminded of the school’s recent football championship by the two goal posts that were taken from the Rose Bowl and erected
in front of the student center.
UTA Photograph Collection
From 1972 until 1991, enrollment grew from 14,028 students to approximately 25,125. During that same twenty-year period, 20 bachelor’s degree programs, 23 master’s degree programs, and 17 doctoral degree programs were approved. In 1999, The University had a total of 140 degree programs, including 58 bachelors, 60 masters, and 22 doctoral programs. In the Fall of 2002, there were a total 23,821 students from 150 nations (6,171 of those were graduate students) and a total of over 100,000 alumni.
As the ASC campus expanded south and west along Cooper Street in 1962, a wood framed house stood in front of the construction beside the Science Building.
UTA Photograph Collection
When Texas A&M proposed renaming ASC Texas A&M University at Arlington in 1964, students, faculty, and alumni opposed the change and advocated a separation from the A&M system.
UTA News Service Photograph Collection
