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History
Founded in 1854 as the New Danville Masonic Female Academy near Kilgore, Lon Morris College is the oldest existing two-year college in Texas.2 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 outstanding early Texas educator.3
The Texas Annual Conference acquired the Alexander Institute in 1875. Chartered on January 15, 1887, the Institute moved to Jacksonville in 1894, and to the present 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 school's name was changed once more, in 1924, to Lon Morris College.4
The only two-year Methodist college west of the Mississippi River, Lon Morris has held membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools longer than any other two-year college in the Texas, and it is the only surviving pre-Civil War school in East Texas.4
One of Lon Morris' presidents was John E. Fellers, a prominent Christian writer and Methodist minister, primarily in the Houston area, but also in Alexandria and Shreveport, Louisiana.5
Variety of sports include Girls/Boys Basketball, Baseball and softball, girls/boys soccer, girls/boys golf, cheerleading and dance.
Notable alumni
Lon Morris College is widely known for its Theatre Arts Department, which boasts many successful alumni including:
- Sandy Duncan;
- Margo Martindale;
- K.T. Oslin;
- Tommy Tune;
- Edwin Neal, an American actor, best known for his role in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974); and
- Alan Tudyk, an American stage, film, and television actor.
Other notable Lon Morris alumni include:
- Russell B. Cummings, member of the Texas House of Representatives from Harris County, 1963-1967
- John Wesley Hardt, a retired American Bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1980;
- Johnny Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960), an American country music singer;
- Neal McCoy, an award-winning American country music artist;
- Carl Reynolds, major league baseball player and member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame; and
- Mike Lee, an award-winning correspondent for ABC News.
References
- ^ "Lon Morris College". Texas Mentor (XAP Corp. 1999-2006). Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
- ^ Hudson, A. "Jacksonville". Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association (June 6, 2001). Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
- ^ Snodgrass, C. "Alexander, Isaac". Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association (June 6, 2001). Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
- ^ a b "LMC History". Lon Morris College (2004), www.lonmorris.edu. Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
- ^ John Andrew Prime, "Ex-pastor of First United Methodist dies", Shreveport Times, July 15, 2007
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