Lakeland, Tri-C officials reflect on institutions' early days

Sep. 2—"If Lakeland Community College didn't exist, we'd have to build it."

School President Morris W. Beverage Jr. says that sentiment, shared by a lot of people, including former U.S. Congressman Dennis Eckart, continues to permeate the Kirtland-based institution's spirit and genesis, as the college was the first in Ohio created by the vote of the people.

And to date, and through a cascade of societal, technological, and educational changes and advancements, and peaks and valleys, Lakeland's primary purpose to provide for and serve the community has remained unabated.

"In the days before Lakeland, in the 1960s, fewer people who completed high school went to any kind of (higher) education in Lake County than any other county in the state," said Wayne Rodehorst, founding president.

"As a result of that, a committee was created to study the needs for some kind of higher educational institution, a publicly supported community college, which was in vogue in those days, popping up all over the country," he added.

Establishment and enrollment

Twenty-two Lake County citizens, Rodehorst said, provided the impetus for establishing a community college but met "a stone wall" with the board of county commissioners who would not put it on the ballot.

"So, the same people went door-to-door, street corner to street corner, which led to the generation of a feasibility study, recommending that the creation of a community college district be a serious consideration," he said.

Eager to move forward, the League of Women Voters began a petition drive in 1965 to place the issue on the ballot, and on Nov. 2 of that year, Lake County voters approved the issue by a narrow margin.

"As I recall, the referendum passed by 73 votes," Rodehorst said.

The state further supported the movement in 1966 by authorizing the creation of a community college, with a board of trustees appointed later that year.

In 1967, the citizens of Lake County approved a 1.7-mill levy, thereby giving final approval to the opening and operating of a community college district.

"Lakeland was fully accredited in the shortest possible time and is the only college in the country or world, two-year or four-year, I've been able to determine, created directly by the people, and that has been very important to its history," Rodehorst added.

On Sept. 25, 1967, Lakeland opened its doors to 1,073 students who came primarily from Mentor (205), Painesville (202) and Willoughby (103). Moreover, 57 students transferred to Lakeland from other colleges and were able to complete associate degree programs in the first year.

According to school officials, 89 percent of students attended part-time and 11 percent attended full-time. The average student age was 24 years and 8 days.

Physical plant

Lakeland opened in various, temporary facilities around Painesville, including the two floors of the Cleveland Trust Building, the YMCA, a Mill Street location, and the Painesville Methodist Church. Additionally, the administration was housed in an abandoned mortuary home.

Approximately 400 acres belonging to the Edward W. Moore estate were eventually purchased to house the permanent site of the college. Groundbreaking began in 1969, with the construction of campus facilities occurring in three phases.

In the summer of 1971, the college moved to its present site in Kirtland, Rodehorst noted, with Phase I including general classrooms, laboratories, library, student services, faculty and service areas.

Phase II, providing facilities to support technical education programs, was completed a year later.

Phase III, providing studios, laboratories and a gallery for the fine arts, in addition to a performing arts center — now named for Rodehorst — was completed in 1975.

Lakeland's landmark clocktower, the Raymond Q. Armington Tower, was dedicated on Oct. 28, 1972.

According to officials, the four-sided clock in the pylon once graced the tower of Old Cooley Hall at Cooley Farms in what is now Warrensville Heights.

The clock was built in 1913 by Seth Thomas and was the largest of the Seth Thomas Clock Company's standard tower clocks. When the hall was scheduled for demolition, the clock was "up for grabs and Lakeland was fortunate to get it."

With the help of philanthropist Arthur Holden, funds were raised to build a new tower for the clock.

Early construction also included the Lakeland Gym (1974), nursing wing (1976), additions to the gym, renamed the Athletic and Fitness Center (1977) and an annex to the AFC (1978).

The campus later grew with the construction of the Engineering Building in 1983, T-Building in 1989, Student Center in 1993, Health Technologies Building in 1995, and renovation of the library and AFC in 1997 and 2000, respectively.

The historic Mooreland Mansion also underwent an extensive $3 million restoration in 1998, to serve as a conference center and reception site.

Campus satellite branch expansion followed as Lakeland West opened in Shoregate Shopping Center in Willowick in 1997.

Lakeland East opened at the former Northeast Ohio General Hospital on Hubbard Road in Madison Township in 1994 and later moved to a new location on Water Tower Drive in Madison Village in 2004.

Academic programs

Lakeland's initial class schedule in 1967, "....to serve the people where they are," Rodehorst said, was typewritten and included 72 classes. In addition to English, math, science, business, health and engineering classes, the college offered classes in Fortran (a general-purpose computer programming language) salesmanship and bowling.

The college became the first two-year institution in Ohio to initiate telecourses — "distance learning" — for credit in 1970.

The telecourses (credit courses played over cable television) debuted in 1974. The college established pioneering transfer agreements, with four-year colleges and universities, including Ohio State University, in 1994.

Lakeland's Center for Business and Industry was created in 1989 to reach out to local employers to provide on-site or campus-based training.

In 2000, the academic calendar was converted from quarters to semesters, and a program offering both an honors curriculum and experiential opportunities and programming was launched in 2018.

Major events and distinguished guests

Additionally, detailing the school's past, Beverage recalled the newly established Cleveland Cavaliers using the gymnasium for training camp from 1971 to 1974.

"More people may remember the Browns holding their preseason training camps here, too, on Lakeland's campus from 1982 to 1992," he said.

Rodehorst also recalled the Cleveland Orchestra performing at Lakeland in 1978 at the gym, adding the Ohio Ballet also performed in Lakeland's music hall later that year.

In addition to the Lakeland Jazz Festival launching in 1973 featuring trumpeter Clark Terry, the college also hosted popular acts and artists, including Mac Davis (1971), country-rock band Poco, with special guest the Michael Stanley Band (1974), actor Alan Arkin (1975), country-western singer Dottie West (1975), jazz pianist Count Basie (1977), and comedian Robert Klein (1977).

Before the popular multi-day WonderStruck music festival, Lakeland held a popular spring fest from 1971 to 1989 featuring Todd Rundgren and Utopia in1984.

The student government-sponsored event that began as Spring Fling was later renamed Spring Happening, Mayhem and Springfest.

Held in May to celebrate the change of seasons, the festival featured music, food and beverages, movies, contests, games, sports, magicians, and other activities.

"Lakeland, maybe a second choice in many minds, especially those who couldn't get into four-year schools for whatever reason, was never second-rate," Rodehorst said. "It was always, and remains, quality enough."

Cuyahoga Community College — Early days

On Sept. 19, 1963, more than 3,000 individuals lined up to register for classes at the newly established Cuyahoga Community College — an event dubbed "The Miracle on 14th Street" in a Cleveland Press editorial.

That morning thousands gathered at Brownell Junior High School on the corner of East 14th Street and Sumner Avenue.

The largest initial enrollment in the junior college movement at the time, the turnout set the tone for Tri-C to become one of the most successful community colleges in the nation, according to school officials.

The college opened its doors to 3,039 students four days later, a diverse cohort comprising the children and grandchildren of Cleveland's working class.

Tri-C also enrolled older, nontraditional students beginning or resuming higher education long after high school graduation, noted Anthony Moujaes, manager, public relations, integrated communications department.

Overcoming obstacles

Initial challenges included inadequate funding, a lack of classroom and office space, and uncertainty around student acceptance, he explained. But with the school's early success, founding President Charles Chapman developed plans to triple enrollment and open three regional campuses.

Consequently, enrollment doubled to 6,000 in 1964 and tripled to 9,000 a year later. By 1969, Tri-C had 15,000 registered students.

Booming enrollment and the passage of three levies — for construction, remodeling classrooms, and operating and capital expenses — was a public vote of confidence from county residents, Moujaes added.

Programs and expansion

The first courses offered were traditional freshman- and sophomore-level arts and sciences courses for transfer to four-year institutions, with later offerings concentrating on accounting, business, data processing and sales.

Initial technical and occupational programs included building and construction, nursing, dental hygiene and law enforcement administration.

Tri-C's first permanent home, the "Metropolitan Campus," was dedicated in 1970. The Parma site was remodeled and opened as the "Western Campus" in 1966.

The "Eastern Campus" in Highland Hills became the third site in 1971.

To facilitate managing the rapid growth after he arrived in 1974, President Nolen Ellison sought to update Tri-C's management methods, and through the support of a $300,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation, invested in the school's computer systems, "putting Tri-C ahead of most four-year institutions in the use of technology to manage information."