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Lamar
State
College–Port
Arthur is a
two-year,
lower division
institution
located on
twenty-two
acres of land.
The school was
founded in
1909 as Port
Arthur College
by John Warne
Gates.qv
Port Arthur
College was a
city-owned,
nonprofit,
vocational
school
specializing
in business
and
electronics
education,
offering
training in
stenography,
secretarial
work,
bookkeeping,
accounting,
and radio. by
1925 the
college owned
a fifteen-acre
campus; in
1933 radio
station KPAC
was
established.
In 1947 the
school had
twenty-five
faculty
members and an
average annual
enrollment of
800. A new
$800,000
classroom-administration
building was
occupied in
November 1967,
and two new
buildings were
erected to
house
vocational
programs in
1973 and 1974.
The 1974-75
regular term
enrollment was
409 students.
Port Arthur
College joined
Lamar
University in
1975 and was
designated as
a component of
the Lamar
University
System in
1983. It
received
degree-granting
status from
the Texas
legislature in
1991. The
school now
provides
courses
leading to an
associate of
arts or
science degree
as well as
academic
courses
preparatory to
pursuit of a
baccalaureate
degree.
Vocational and
technical
courses are
offered in a
variety of
fields. The
branch campus
comprises
fifteen
buildings,
including the
A. J. M.
Vuylsteke
home, the
former
residence of
the Consul of
the
Netherlands
now used as a
campus meeting
site, and
Gates Memorial
Library, which
houses over
29,000
volumes. In
1991, with 102
full and
part-time
faculty and an
enrollment of
2,039, the
university was
accredited by
the Southern
Association of
Colleges and
Schools. In
1995 the
school became
part of the
Texas State
University
System, and in
1999 its name
was changed
from Lamar
University–Port
Arthur to
Lamar State
College–Port
Arthur.
Enrollment in
the spring of
2001 was 3,086
with a faculty
of 144. W. Sam
Monroe was
president.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Ray Asbury, The
South Park
Story,
1891-1971, and
the Founding
of Lamar
University,
1923-1941
(Beaumont:
South Park
Historical
Committee,
1972).
Diana
J. Kleiner
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