Montgomery College
Montgomery College is a public community college in Montgomery County, Maryland.
The college has three campuses, the largest of which is in Rockville. Its other campuses are in Takoma Park/Silver Spring and Germantown. Its off-campus sites include the Business Training Center in Gaithersburg and Westfield South in Wheaton, which are operated by the college's Workforce Development and Continuing Education Division.
The school was founded in 1946 as Montgomery Junior College. Four years later, it absorbed the 57-year-old Bliss Electrical School, which became the junior college's electrical program.
History
Bliss School of Electricity
The Bliss School of Electricity was a private, for-profit institution which claimed to be the oldest school teaching electricity in the world. Established in 1893 and named after its founder Louis D. Bliss, its first class was held on October 15, 1893, in a single room on the third floor of the Warder Building at Ninth and F streets NW in Washington, D.C. It started as a night class with 26 students, including Thomas E. Robertson, who would later go on to be the United States Commissioner of Patents. The capital investment in the school was $400, representing an advance payment of $20 each from 20 men. During the eight-month session of 1894–1895, about 75 men enrolled and paid $50 of tuition each. In 1895, Charles Francis Jenkins, of motion picture and television fame, enrolled as a student. The school later moved to 219 G Street NW in Washington, D.C.W. B. Connelly, a 1904 graduate of Bliss, worked for the General Electric Company at Schenectady, N.Y., where he led the inspection of some two miles of switchboards for the Panama Canal. Before going to General Electric, Connelly taught at Bliss; his student Skipwith B. Cole would later become dean of the school's faculty.
Move to Takoma Park
In July 1908, the Bliss Electrical School bought the four-story North Takoma Hotel and its 4.5 acres of land from Thomas H. Pickford. Located on Takoma Avenue between New York and Chicago avenues, the hotel had originally been built by Benjamin F. Gilbert in 1892. Bliss intended to remodel the four-story hotel building into space for classes.Fire
Eight weeks after classes were first held in the new building, the school building burned to the ground around 2:45a.m. on November 6, 1908. The fire forced almost 200 students in the second floor dormitory to escape the building. As there were no fire escapes, the students climbed out of windows using ropes intended for that purpose. The fire was caused by gas leak in the first-floor kitchen. At the time, Takoma Park did not have a fire station; the closest one was located nearly two miles away in Brightwood.Afterwards, many Takoma Park residents allowed the students to stay in their homes, many of whom had come from elsewhere in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Brazil, and Japan. The City of Takoma allowed the Bliss School to use Takoma Hall for classes temporarily, as did Takoma Park Presbyterian Church. A new two-story building of brick and reinforced concrete was built at the same site, opening for classes in September 1909. A bungalow across the street was acquired to be used as a dining room.
On June 3, 1914, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan addressed the school's graduating class in the auditorium of the Calvary Baptist Church. Bryan said, "No one can set a limit on the growth of the electrical profession. There are greater opportunities for greater discoveries than in any other department of activity. Before you lies a field in which any one of you may be a pioneer."
World War I
In 1917, the United States entered World War I. By special permission granted by the War Department, the Bliss Electrical School organized a searchlight company of engineers consisting of 57 men from the 1917 class, headed by Lt. Clyde K. Krisee of the faculty, and under Major John C. Gotwals of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This company went overseas with the First Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. These men were used for instruction purposes in a searchlight school in Paris. All returned safely to the United States after the war except one, who was killed in an automobile accident in Paris. The captured German searchlight, which adorns the campus, was presented to the Bliss School of Electricity by the War Department as a tribute to the work of the Bliss Searchlight Company of Engineers.At the request of the War Department in 1918, Bliss School prepared an intensive training course in the fundamentals of electricity for drafted men entering the Army. This course was adopted by the War Department, and was the first course used in all the colleges throughout the country, giving instructions along this line to army personnel in the Student Army Training Corps. The school contracted with the War Department to house, feed, and instruct selected groups of soldiers for this course. Beginning June 15, 1918, the school trained 700 soldiers in three detachments. The contract called for training these men at cost. This cost was determined by the auditors in the War Department at $2.00 for the first detachment, at $1.80 for the second detachment, and $1.62 for the third detachment per man per day for housing, feeding, instruction, and supplies. The school was under military control following instruction hence, following the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918. The third and last detachment of the Student Army Training Corps was mustered out and disbanded on December 6, 1918, and the school was released from military control. In 1919, Bliss returned to civilian training. The first edition of the Bliss School textbook, Theoretical and Practical Electrical Engineering, was published in September 1921.
World War II
During World War II, the Bliss School was selected by the U.S. Navy as one of six engineering schools to give Primary School in the Electronics Training Program and it graduated over 3,000 students. Bliss Electrical School's building was sold to Montgomery County for $350,000.Montgomery Junior College
The current college was organized in 1946 as Montgomery Junior College, with its campus located at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. Its first dean was Hugh G. Price. The first day of class was held on September 16, 1946. During its first school year, it had about 175 students.In 1950, the college moved to Takoma Park, absorbing the Bliss Electrical School
Previously, Montgomery Junior College could only hold evening classes because the high school used the building for its classes during the day, but with the acquisition of Bliss School of Electricity's building, Montgomery Junior College began holding daytime classes as well. The first day of classes at the new location began on October 2, 1950. At the time, it was segregated, with an enrollment of over 500 students. The newly established Carver Junior College in Rockville was expected to have 40 African-Americans enrolled, but only 19 managed to show up, due both to problems in finding transportation to school and the cost of tuition.
The Rockville campus of Montgomery College opened in September 1965, and the Germantown campus opened in early 1970s, occupying its present permanent site since 1978. Montgomery College also offers learning opportunities through its extensive Workforce Development and Continuing education programs.
21st century
In 2010, DeRionne Pollard assumed leadership of Montgomery College and its three campuses. She spearheaded the development of a new Montgomery College mission and strategic plan. She has partnered actively with Montgomery County Public Schools and the Universities at Shady Grove in the creation of Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success, a support program designed to help disadvantaged students transition from high school to college completion. The program now has 1,700 students enrolled. Montgomery College is also a member of Achieving the Dream network, a non-governmental reform movement for student success at community colleges.In 2016, NBC 4 investigated frivolous spending claims made by students and staff against Pollard. NBC 4 had received letters from staff throughout the summer asking the news organization to investigate the president. In response, the school released a statement supporting Pollard and claiming that none of the charges were justified and that there was no inappropriate use of college funds. The matter was dropped.