Community colleges have helped millions of Californians get a college degree. And here in the Central Valley, we have two of the oldest community colleges in the state. The stories of Fresno City College and Bakersfield College today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots.
Back at the turn of the 20th century, it wasn’t easy to access higher education in California, especially if you lived in the Central Valley. Cal, Stanford and USC were far away, and expensive. One idea was to let the first two years of college belong to secondary schools, expanding access to higher education. The idea had already been tried out near Chicago with Joliet Junior College in the 1890s. So it was a big deal when in 1907, California legislators adopted the Upward Extension Act, the first law in the nation to authorize the formation of junior colleges statewide.
One of the biggest backers of this approach was Fresno school superintendent C.L. McLane. In September 1910, the first class of 20 students began studies at Fresno Junior College, which at the time was an off-shoot of Fresno High School. From the 1920s through the 40s, the school shared a campus and faculty with Fresno State. After World War II, the school would eventually acquire the old Fresno State campus, which it still uses today. The school would later become known as Fresno City College. It claims to be the oldest community college in the state.
Further to the south, Bakersfield College has roots that go back almost as far, to 1913. It was created as an offshoot of the Kern County High School, and its first class was comprised of 13 students. From 1917 to 1950, the college was led by Grace Van Dyke Bird, the first woman to lead a California community college. Bakersfield College moved from downtown to Panorama Drive in 1956, which is the main campus of the college to this day.
