on the St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas ("Cotton Belt") to Dallas, Sherman, and Texarkana and on the Texas Midland Railroad to Paris, Ennis, and Houston.
ETNC was renamed East Texas State Normal College in 1917 after it was acquired by the State of Texas and transformed into a public college. In 1923, it was renamed East Texas State Teachers College to define its purpose "more clearly", and in 1935, it began its graduate education program.
The institution was renamed East Texas State College in 1957, after the Texas Legislature recognized its broadening scope beyond teacher education. Following the inauguration of the institution's first doctoral program in 1962, its name was changed to East Texas State University (ETSU) in 1965. It integrated in 1964 when ordered to do so by the board of regents. ETSU obtained a separate board of regents in 1969, and the approval to open a branch campus in Texarkana in 1971.
While the student body shrank in size in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it became increasingly …
