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COLLEGE HISTORY
COLLEGE HISTORY
LOCAL HISTORY OF THE
VICTOR VALLEY
Long before the valley became homesteaded, clean
water pools along the Mojave River offered all sorts of
weary travelers a life sustaining opportunity to halt their
journey and set up camps at a place that would later
become known as the Victor Valley (named after railroad
engineer, Jacob Nash Victor in the late 1800). Lush
green vegetation, access to water, and indigenous
wildlife attracted Native Americans, Spanish
missionaries, settlers in wagon trains coming from Utah
and other points of departure, miners seeking their
fortunes in the gold fields to the north, early explorers,
cowboys herding cattle, and later railroad workers.
The next natural step was the arrival of merchants who
set up shop out of their wagons to feed, supply and outfit
these wayfarers. As the stream of travelers increased,
the first trading post was established in a place that later
became known as Oro Grande. In time, the railroad
completed laying track through the mountains and over
the desert and people began to settle in the region. It
didn’t take long before enterprising land developers and
businessmen and women saw the opportunity to profit
from this influx of people and the region began to grow.
Eventually, the cities of Victorville, Hesperia, and the
Town of Apple Valley incorporated between 1962 and
1988. With the commerce, came a need for schools.
The first high school (Victor Valley High School) was
established in 1915 and served as the only high school
for the next 65 years. Since the mid-80s, more than 20
diploma granting institutions were chartered to facilitate
the needs of an ever expanding population. The next
logical step for the people of the High Desert was to
establish a college to serve the needs of the region. It
was on the campus of Victor Valley High School that
Victor Valley College began its Tradition of Excellence 50
years ago.
COLLEGE HISTORY
The College was originally chartered in 1960 and began
operations in 1961. Classes were held in a small building
that sat on an upper tier of classrooms at the rear of the
high school campus. Only 15 staff, faculty and
administrators were employed to meet the needs of
approximately 500 students. In 1963, it became evident
that the college needed its own space. Valley officials
secured the funding through a local bond to purchase
land and begin the construction of a new campus that, at
the time, would be located at the far reaches of the
surrounding communities. Today it is centrally located to
the three major cities in the region. The site contained
260 acres of land, formerly known as the Kalin Ranch,
and featured river valley bottom land and a mesa rising
above the bluff and running parallel to the river. It is on
the mesa that the former cattle ranchers maintained a
large stock pond that would become the focal point of the
campus as it exists today.
The original six buildings still serve students and can be
identified by their signature block design and burnt red
roofs. The campus opened to students in 1965. Since
that time, the campus expanded to include nine new
facilities and a vocation/technical complex.
A wider transformation is taking place at Victor Valley
College because of the passage of the first local bond
measure to be approved by the voters since an initial
capital bond was passed in the early 60s. In November
2008, the voters approved a bond measure (Measure JJ)
dedicated to the elimination of past debt, the upgrade of
college infrastructure, the purchase of land for a future
campus sight on the westside of the Victor Valley, and
funding for the construction of an Eastside Public Safety
Training Center. (See story on page 5.) Additionally,
Victor Valley College completed a one megawatt solar
power generating plant that supplies more than a third of
the campus’ energy needs.
CHANGING EMPHASIS
Today, the College is a major institution of higher
learning offering a complex schedule of educational
opportunities to meet the changing needs of this growing
region. The college serves between 14,000 and 17,000
students per semester. This translates into an annual
FTEs of more than 10,000.
Current curriculum includes all the basics for transfer,
degrees, certificates and job training. New areas of
study include innovative programs in solar panel
installation, maintenance and repair; hybrid car
maintenance and repair; GPS studies; land restoration;
digital animation and much more. Nursing still remains
one of the most sought after areas of study offered by
the College.
6 2012-2013 Victor Valley College Catalog