History of the Blinn College District
Blinn College, the Junior College District of Washington County, is located in Brenham, Texas, and serves a 13-county service area with additional campuses in Bryan, Schulenburg, and Sealy.
The school was founded in 1883 by the Southern German Conference of the Methodist denomination under the name of Mission Institution. The Rev. William Pfaeffle made a donation to help found the college and served as its financial agent until his passing. The institution originally was founded for the purpose of training young men for the ministry, but in the course of time, to meet the demands of the public, academic courses were added. After operating for five years as an institution for men only, Blinn College was made coeducational in 1888.
In 1889, the name was changed to Blinn Memorial College in honor of the Rev. Christian Blinn of New York, who donated a considerable sum of money to make the school possible.
Until 1927, the school was of academy rank. That year, the Board of Trustees, under the leadership of President Philip Deschner, organized a junior college. In 1930, the school was merged with Southwestern University (Georgetown, Texas). In 1934, a new charter was procured by the citizens of Brenham, and a private nonsectarian junior college under the name of Blinn College, was organized with nine regents as the board of control. In February 1937, all connection with Southwestern University and the Methodist denominations were severed.
An election held in Washington County on June 8, 1937, for the purposes of creating a public junior college district and for levying a small tax, was successful. Blinn thus became the first county-owned junior college district in Texas.
In 1970, after Allen Academy closed its junior college division, Blinn opened a new location in Bryan. In 1997, the College’s programs in Bryan and College Station were consolidated at the Bryan Campus on Villa Maria Road. Blinn opened its Schulenburg Campus in 1997 and its Sealy Campus in 2005.
In August 2018, Blinn celebrated the grand opening of its new academic facility at Texas A&M-RELLIS in Bryan. At RELLIS, Blinn provides the freshman- and sophomore-level courses from students earning their bachelor's degree from the regional universities also located on campus.
Blinn continues to operate as one of the largest of the state’s 50 public community college districts.