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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 266/340

A History of Columbia County, Florida
leum Corporation located in Hamilton County and engaged in
phosphate production.7
Columbia County again had a role in higher education after
the war with the establishment of the Lake City Junior College,
now Lake City Community College. This accomplishment was the
result of a joint desire by the State of Florida and the people of
Columbia and adjacent counties. When he became governor in
1955, Leroy Collins gave high priority to the establishment of a
system of two-year community colleges in the state. Collins esti­
mated that more than 100,000 students would be starting college
in Florida by 1970, and a community college system would greatly
augment the developing state university system. Collins also hoped
that a community college system would place a school within easy
commuting distance—not more than thirty miles—for every stu­
dent in the state. The Board of Public Instruction of Baker,
Columbia, Gilchrist, and Union counties promoted Lake City as
the site for an area community college. It was anticipated that the
Forest Ranger School, which had been established in 1948 and
operated as a branch of the University of Florida, would serve as
the nucleus for a community college. The Forest Ranger School
offered a one year course in practical applied forestry and was
located on land of the discontinued Naval Air Station. In February
1961, the state board of education gave priority status to the area of
Baker, Columbia, Gilchrist, and Union Counties. Trouble de­
veloped when Governor Farris Bryant, pushing a "‘no new taxes”
budget, opposed the plan although he favored a similar community
college in Lee County. State Senator G. T. Melton of Columbia
County promoted the bill authorizing the college in the legislature,
and it passed both houses in May 1961. Governor Bryant
threatened to veto, but finally allowed it to become law without his
signature on June 22, 1961. The Forest Ranger School was com-

7Columbia County Resource Development Authority, Columbia County, pp.'
155-56.
202

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