the Wilkes-Barre Business College building. By 1934, the business college moved out of the building and BUJC had taken it over and continued to grow over the years, acquiring old mansions for student housing, classrooms, and administration offices along the streets of South River and South Franklin. By 1945, the board of trustees formally moved to develop the junior college into a four-year institution.
In 1947, "Wilkes College" was instituted as an independent, nondenominational four-year college, with programs in the arts, sciences, and a number of professional fields, as well as numerous extracurricular activities. The student body in the postwar period was primarily composed of Luzerne County residents, especially G.I. bill recipients. In the 1950s, increasing numbers of students elected to live on campus, which led to a rapid expansion in on-campus student housing. Increased federal funding for science and engineering in the 1950s led the college to develop academic programs in those areas, build the …
