- Lon Morris College
Lon Morris College is a private
junior college located in Jacksonville,Texas ,United States , and is the only school affiliated with theUnited Methodist Church that is owned by an individual conference and not the church as a whole. Lon Morris is an accredited two-year institute of higher learning, which provides instruction in thearts andsciences with a core curriculum emphasizingliberal arts . Lon Morris currently teaches approximately 350 students.cite web | title=Lon Morris College | work=Texas Mentor (XAP Corp. 1999-2006) | url=http://www.texasmentor.org/CampusTour/undergraduate/94/Lon_Morris_College/Lon_Morris_College1.html | accessdate=2007-06-24]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 .cite web | author=Hudson, A | title=Jacksonville | work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association (June 6, 2001) | url=http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/JJ/hej1.html | accessdate=2007-06-24] 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.cite web | author=Snodgrass, C | title=Alexander, Isaac | work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association (June 6, 2001) | url=http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/AA/fal8.html | accessdate=2007-06-24]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.cite web | title=LMC History | work=Lon Morris College (2004), www.lonmorris.edu | url=http://www.lonmorris.edu/lmcHitory-32.php | accessdate=2007-06-24]The only two-year
Methodist college west of theMississippi River , Lon Morris has held membership in theSouthern 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 inEast Texas .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 . [John Andrew Prime, "Ex-pastor of First United Methodist dies", "Shreveport Times", July 15, 2007]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 televisionactor .Other notable Lon Morris
alumni include:
*Russell B. Cummings , member of theTexas House of Representatives from Harris County, 1963-1967
*John Wesley Hardt , a retired AmericanBishop of theUnited Methodist Church , elected in 1980;
*Johnny Horton (April 30 ,1925 –November 5 ,1960 ), an Americancountry music singer;
*Neal McCoy , an award-winning Americancountry 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
External links
* [http://www.lonmorris.edu Lon Morris College] MethodistColleges
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