Originating as East Texas Normal College in 1889, today’s Texas A&M University-Commerce provides services for both rural and urban students. It is located a mere 50 miles from Dallas metroplex in northeast Texas’ heartland.
It was William Leonidas Mayo who was behind the foundation of the institute. Mayo opened a one building campus in Cooper way back when, but it was five years later in 1894 that (what was then better known as Mayo’s College,) moved to Commerce. Texas state took over the campus some years later when it then became known as East Texas State Normal College.
A graduate program was added and then a doctoral program. The name was then changed to East Texas State University. The mission of the institute is “achieved through teaching, scholarship, and service activities on its campuses, and in the community and region.” In 1996 it entered the Texas A&M University System and became Texas A&M University-Commerce.