In each issue of the Western Magazine between now and our centennial year, 2015, we will offer tidbits and trivia from our history.
Dr. Frances Flanagan ’35, was a faculty member at the St. Joseph Junior College when the vote passed in 1965 to create the district of five counties (Andrew, Buchanan, Clay, Clinton and Platte) that would support the junior college. Prior to the vote, the junior college was totally funded by the St. Joseph School District.
She served on the committee to come up with a name for the college, since it now had support from a larger area than only St. Joseph. “I remember someone suggested ‘Missouri Western,’ and we all rather liked it.” So Missouri Western Junior College it was.
Frances, who noted that she was four months old when the St. Joseph Junior College began, said that it was only a few weeks after the vote passed that people started talking about making the junior college a four-year institution. Faculty members began working on a four-year curriculum.
“The University of Missouri (in Columbia) was kind of a godmother to us; they helped a lot,” she said.
The same year the vote passed, ironically, was the 50th anniversary of the St. Joseph Junior College, and an open house and reception was held to commemorate the event. A Golden Anniversary Banquet was also held for faculty, students and alumni, and President-elect Milburn Blanton and his wife were the honored guests.
The 1965 Griffon Yearbook noted, “On this important stage in the life of a junior college, progress has stepped in and dealt a blow that we accept with mixed emotions. We are happy to be a part of St. Joseph Junior College and its fine educational standards. Yet we realize that a change is needed and must take place if these standards are to continue.”
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