From private primary school to military academy to agricultural junior college to world-class research university, The University of Texas at Arlington has evolved over the past 130 years to become the academic powerhouse and community pillar it is today. Take a look back at the many milestones, triumphs, challenges, and changes it experienced along the way.

Information from founding to 1995 comes from "Transitions: A Centennial History of the University of Texas at Arlington, 1895-1995" by Gerald Saxon.

Historic photos courtesy of Special Collections at UT Arlington Libraries.

students walking up campus stairs corridor

1895

L.M. Hammond and W.M. Trimble receive a Warranty Land Deed to establish Arlington College. The school offers classes from first grade through high school in subjects such as Latin, history, algebra, geometry, grammar, reading, literature, government, art, music, elocution, and penmanship. About 75 students attend during its first year.

1902

The first faculty of the Carlisle Military Academy

The first faculty of the Carlisle Military Academy

Arlington College closes and Carlisle Military Academy opens in its place. The school accepts students ages 10 to 18, and the initial enrollment is four. Tuition for the year was $245 (later raised to $300), plus an additional $30.05 for the uniform.

1904

Carlisle Military Academy adds teams for baseball and football, with track (1907) and basketball (1908) following over the next few years.

1913

Track team from Arlington Military Academy

Track team from Arlington Military Academy

Carlisle Military Academy graduates its last four students before closing. Arlington Training School opens on the campus soon after with an initial enrollment of 32 students. Over the next three years, the school adds a school newspaper, The Reveille; literary societies; forensic clubs; drama groups; and tennis teams for both women and men.

1916

John B. Dodson of Arlington Military Academy

John B. Dodson of Arlington Military Academy

Arlington Training Academy closes due to financial and legal issues. John B. Dodson, former superintendent of schools in McKinney and Oak Cliff and president of Oak Cliff College, makes a last attempt to offer a private primary or military school on the site with Arlington Military Academy. It is open only one year.

Group of male and female students at Grubbs Vocational College

Cooking laboratory, Grubbs Vocational College, early 1920s

1917

After years of lobbying by Arlington leaders, officials, and community members, the 35th Texas Legislature creates a new junior college—Grubbs Vocational College—on the site as a branch campus of what is now called Texas A&M University. Enrollment is 66 in the first year, 192 in the second, and 808 by the 1922-23 school year.

1919

A new fireproof administration building (now Ransom Hall) opens. It features an auditorium “equipped with a moving picture machine and stereopticon for illustrating various kinds of manufacturing processes.”

Grubbs Vocational College, Ransom Hall construction

Grubbs Vocational College, Ransom Hall construction

Students begin publishing The Shorthorn as a monthly magazine.

Grubbs Vocational College *Shorthorn* staff

Grubbs Vocational College *Shorthorn* staff

In 1921, a Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) starts on campus.

Lieutenant L. W. Caine Jr., Grubbs Vocational College, Arlington, Texas

Lieutenant L. W. Caine Jr., Grubbs Vocational College, Arlington, Texas

1923

Grubbs Vocational College changes its name to North Texas Junior Agricultural College (NTAC)—the idea is that removing “vocational” will help the school shed its image as a private institution.

Aerial of North Texas Agricultural College

Aerial of North Texas Agricultural College

The NTAC is innovative in how it delivers courses, offering broader summer school options, holding classes at night, and directly recruiting older and married students.

North Texas Agricultural College student dance

North Texas Agricultural College student dance

1928

The new Science Building (now Preston Hall) as well as the Livestock and Husbandry Building (now the Roundhouse) open.

Junior Aggie Girls Rifle Class

Junior Aggie Girls Rifle Class

Preston Hall and Roundhouse of North Texas Agricultural College

Preston Hall and Roundhouse of North Texas Agricultural College

1943

North Texas Agricultural College war effort

North Texas Agricultural College war effort

During World War II, NTAC adapts many of its classes to better aid in the war effort. This includes opening engineering courses to women for the first time.

Entrance sign to North Texas Agricultural College

Abram Street entrance to Arlington State College

1949

North Texas Agricultural College changes its name to Arlington State College (ASC). Supporters believe having “agricultural” in the old name was limiting the school’s appeal, especially since agriculture is no longer the main area of study available.

1956

The ASC football team wins the Junior Rose Bowl by defeating Compton 20-13 in Pasadena, Calif.

1959

Gov. Price Daniel signs legislation giving ASC four-year status. Enrollment grows to 6,388 that fall. Diplomas are awarded for the first time in 1961 to a four-year graduating class of 104.

1962

ASC becomes first school in the Texas A&M System to integrate. Its athletics teams follow in 1963 when the college joins the Southland Conference.

1965

Gov. John Connally signs the bill to transfer ASC from the Texas A&M System to The University of Texas System.

Arlington State College (A. S. C.)/University of Texas at Arlington (U. T. A.) sign with groundskeeper Frank Bruce

1967

The institution assumes its eighth and final name, The University of Texas at Arlington.

1969

Reby Cary, assistant professor of history and dean of student life, becomes the University’s first African American professor. He would later found the Minorities Cultural Center on campus.

1971

The University changes its Rebel theme to the Mavericks. Sam (and later Samantha) Maverick are the new mascots.

1972

UTA’s first five PhD graduates—all in engineering—graduate.

1974

Future Texas Representative Royce West becomes the first black student body president.

1985

UTA discontinues its football program. While many object, the always quotable Professor Alan Saxe says “If you polled the student body at UTA today, I have a feeling that 70 percent would say they are not heartbroken over dropping football. Ten percent are heartbroken, and the remaining 20 percent did not know UTA even had a team.”

1990

The University opens the first pedestrian walkway over Cooper Street.

1991

The Movin’ Mavs win their first national championship.

2002

University launches an Executive MBA-Asia program in China.

2003

An anonymous donation of $2 million—the largest to that point in UT Arlington history—established the Goolsby Leadership Academy.

UTA also renames its baseball stadium in honor of former player and coach Clay Gould, who died of cancer in 2001.

2004

The Studio Arts Center and Kalpana Chawla Hall open. The latter is named in honor of Kalpana Chawla, an alumna who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.

2007

The Fort Worth Center moves into the historic Santa Fe freight building in downtown Fort Worth.

U T A Fort Worth Center in downtown Fort Worth

Opening of Engineering Research Building

UTA women’s basketball senior Kiara Parker drives for the basket in a game against Utah State on Jan. 23, 2013

2008

The University launches the Maverick Speakers Series with a lineup that includes sociologist Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist Thomas Friedman, and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

2011

The Engineering Research Building opens.

UT Arlington becomes a tobacco-free campus.

2012

College Park Center opens with a basketball double-header featuring both the men’s and women’s teams. The Green at College Park and the larger College Park District open later the same year.

The Automation and Robotics Research Institute changes its name to the UTA Research Institute and appoints General (Ret.) Rick Lynch as executive director.

2013

The Athletics Department joins the Sun Belt Conference, and the Adaptive Sports Program adds the Lady Movin’ Mavs team.

UTA student Mila Hunt works on a project

2014

UTA becomes largest public four-year university in Texas to be labeled a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Department of Kinesiology moves from the College of Education and Health Professions (now College of Education) to the newly renamed College of Nursing and Health Innovation. A year later, the University further reorganizes by combining the School of Architecture and the School of Urban and Public Affairs to form the College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs.

UTA high jumper Alexus Henry cools down after a workout in Maverick Stadium

2016

UTA receives the R-1 “Very High Research Activity” classification from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education for the first time.

2016

The Athletics Department adds a women’s golf program.

2018

Research expenditures top $100 million for the first time. The Science & Engineering Innovation & Research building, West Hall, and The Commons officially open.