Elgin Community College turns 60

Elgin Community College may seem, to some, a permanent fixture in the Fox Valley. It wasn't always that way.

This month, ECC kicks off its 60th anniversary celebration. Here's a look back on the institution's major milestones.

1949: After the University of Illinois closes its Elgin extension center, Elgin Area School District U-46 votes to establish Elgin Community College. The college, then located in the west wing of the old Elgin High School, first opens its doors that September, with 18 faculty members, one administrator, and 97 students.

1965: ECC breaks from U-46 and becomes an independent community college.

1966: Community College District 509 is established by the state.

1967: District 509 purchases a 100-acre site off McLean Boulevard for new college campus from the city of Elgin for $51,050.

1971: The new campus is dedicated.

1974: The college begins tuition for retired citizens who take credit courses. Also this year, the community college district doubled its size when St. Charles District 303 and Central Community Unit School District 301 join U-46 as districts whose residents are part of Community College District 509. The boundaries of the district - a 360-square-mile district serving residents from Kane, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage and McHenry counties - still define ECC's community today.

1980: ECC offers its first "telecourses" - college credit courses on videocassette.

1983: The college opens its Fountain Square Campus in downtown Elgin.

1983: A union representing college faculty is established.

1985: ECC begins its Middle College program where ECC instructors and courses were offered at area public schools.

1987: The Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution named ECC a Bicentennial Campus from 1987 to 1991.

1988: The college's hospitality management program gets accredited by the American Culinary Federation Educational Institute accrediting commission, the only school in the state to earn the designation.

1991: Enrollment increases by more than 40 percent since 1987.

1996: ECC becomes the first college in Illinois to offer credit classes over the Internet.

1997: The college begins entering partnerships with four-year colleges and universities for baccalaureate degree completion, dual admission, and transfer options to four-year schools.

2004: The multimillion dollar Culinary Arts Center, which includes a working lab for students, Spartan Terrace Restaurant, and Elgin's Culinary Arts and Hospitality Institute opens.

2005: The college opens its Spartan Events Center, a multipurpose athletic stadium.

2006: Voters reject ECC's request for a 5-cent tax increase to its education fund.

2008: ECC drafts $178 million referendum request.

Source: Elgin Community College communications department; www.elgin.edu.