local history
THE NAME GAME
— A bit of history about East Texas A & M University and its many past monikers
WORDS BY TRAVIS HAIRGROVE
In November , the Texas A & M University System Board of Regents officially gave then-Texas A & M University-Commerce its current moniker – East Texas A & M-University .
FOUNDER WILLIAM LEONIDAS MAYO
While one of the main reasons for the name change was to broaden the university ’ s image and name association by making it more inclusive regionally , it was also a nod to the first 107 years of its history , through which it changed its name four times , but each name started with “ East Texas .”
That history began with the institution ’ s founder , William Leonidas Mayo , who got his start as an educator in Indiana but soon traveled to Pecan Gap , Texas in 1886 , where he taught for three years before becoming superintendent of the public school system in Cooper . In 1889 , he purchased land from that school system and founded East Texas Normal College at its original location in Cooper – with “ normal college ” being a term used for teachers schools in those days .
EAST TEXAS NORMAL COLLEGE ( 1889-1917 )
Unfortunately , only five years after its founding , the original Cooper site was destroyed by a fire . When looking for a new location , Commerce ’ s railway connections enticed Mayo to move the college there .
While the operation in Commerce started small in 1894 with only 35 students who were taught in a rented downtown store space , a two story building was soon built and enrollment grew from 132 students in 1896 to 212 in 1897 .
By the time the 1910s came around , Mayo began lobbying the state legislature to make the then-private college a stated-funded one . Ironically , on March 14 , 1917 , Mayo died the same day that a telegram arrived announcing that the Texas House of Representatives had passed the necessary bill to make the college a state institution .
EAST TEXAS STATE NORMAL COLLEGE ( 1917-1923 )
After Mayo ’ s death , Texas Assistant State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randolph B . Binnion came on board as president to oversee its transition into a state college .
During Binnion ’ s time at ET , the faculty size increased and multiple buildings were renovated or remodeled . The improvements helped attract more
26 GREENVILLE LIFE