Mason City Junior College
Mason City, Iowa
1918-1965
E-Travel
Gretchen Carlson provided an early history of M.C.J.C. in the October 1930 issue of Palimpsest. The 1960 Barron’s Guide to Two-Year Colleges gave statistics and programs of the school before it became North Iowa Area Community College. Internet Archive has the 1958 Troyannum, the school yearbook. Football history comes from Dr. Roger Sayer’s Football Records Collection. The Mason City Globe-Gazette provided coverage of school events.
History
The history of Mason City Junior College began in 1915 when the city’s public schools shifted to a twelve-month schedule: four quarters of three months each. As a result, some students began to enter (and finish) high school one to two years early. The creation of a junior college gave these students a place to continue their schooling.
Classes began for 28 mostly female students in fall of 1918, with six instructors teaching five basic fields of study. Thus, M.C.J.C. became the first public junior college in Iowa and nineteenth in the nation.
Carlson points out that M.C.J.C. was very successful. In 1919 it achieved accreditation by the North Central Association. And the school began adding programs and activities. A School of Music was added in 1923, along with programs in mechanical drawing and psychology. In 1931 M.C.J.C. established the first pre-medical program in the state. By 1924 the school had a glee club and a literary society. It began publishing a twice-monthly newspaper and had chapters of the Y.W.C.A. and Y.M.C.A. The Wig and Mask drama group began performing plays. The first Homecoming was celebrated in 1923.
According to Carlson, debate became the major student activity in the early years. By 1924 M.C.J.C. was fielding successful debate teams in competition with other colleges in the state. The 1931 team was undefeated, and the 1933 team had only one loss, finishing among the top five colleges in the state tournament.
M.C.J.C. had an enrollment of 194 in 1950 and grew rapidly after that. The 1958 Troyannum shows 346 students, taught by a faculty of 35. The Barron’s Guide shows 471 full-time students in 1960. Terminal programs included elementary education, drafting and medical secretarial training. 60% of graduates went on to pursue four-year professional programs. The Globe-Gazette shows that by 1965 enrollment had passed one thousand students, with 285 graduates.
In 1965 the Iowa legislature reorganized the state’s 16 public junior colleges into eleven regional community colleges. Mason City Junior College became the center for the eleven-county North Iowa Area Community College which today has more than 3,000 students.
Bricks and Mortar
Junior college classes began in the new Mason City High School, a large four-story brick structure on North Georgia Avenue. Built in Collegiate Gothic style, it featured a tower and a 1000-seat auditorium. In 1955 with enrollment approaching 300, the college began to look for more space to expand programs and to create an identity separate from the public high school. That year it moved into the old Memorial University building. That two-story brick building measured 155 x 80 feet. It contained twenty classrooms, an assembly room, a library, and laboratories. These rooms allowed the college to begin adding more courses in business and to increase its extracurricular and social activities.
In 1970 N.I.A.C.C. moved to a new rural campus to provide space for its increased enrollment, courses of study, and student activities. The old Memorial University building was razed in 1979.
Sports
Team name: Trojans
School Colors: Orange and Blue
Carlson notes that M.C.J.C. quickly made a name for itself in sports—especially football. In 1922, even without a coach, a team was organized that lost to Waldorf College 8-0. As more junior colleges created, the North Iowa Junior College Conference was formed in 1925, Through the years until the merger, M.C.J.C. suited up against conference rivals from Waukon, Ellsworth, Emmetsburg, Fort Dodge, Estherville, and Burlington—as well as Waldorf. Between 1933 and 1939, Trojan teams compiled a 38-3-3 record, with two undefeated teams in 1934 and 1938.
M.C.J.C. began basketball and baseball at the end of World War I. Newspapers also show early teams in track, tennis, and golf. A women’s basketball team was formed in 1931.
The 1923 Orange and Blue basketball team. Imaage from the Troyannum.
The play cast from the 1958 performance of Blithe Spirit. Image from the Troyannum.
Note: Images are used in accordance with their “terms of use,” as I understand those terms. Recopying or reproducing may be restricted or forbidden.