From 1917 to 1965, what is now the University of Texas at Arlington was a member of the Texas A&M University System. In March 1917, it was organized as Grubbs Vocational College (GVC), a junior college that was a branch campus of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (AMC), which later became Texas A&M University. Open only to white students, the curriculum at GVC centered around the agricultural, industrial, and mechanical trades.

In May 1923, the college was renamed North Texas Agricultural College (NTAC) due to the rapid expansion of its liberal arts curriculum, the fact that it was no longer just a vocational institution, and quickly growing enrollment. During the Great Depression and World War II, NTAC survived major declines in enrollment and multiple attempts by the state government to close it. Beginning in 1937, there was a movement in Arlington to elevate NTAC to four-year college status, but this goal would not be realized for more than two decades. Student life during the NTAC era was vibrant, although there was a cultural split between the students who lived on campus and those who commuted for classes.

In September 1949, the college was renamed Arlington State College (ASC), in part because agriculture was no longer a major course of study. During the 1950s, it was the largest state junior college in the Southwest, and it grew to be the 5th largest state-supported college or university in Texas by 1959. During the 1950s, enrollment in courses in the arts and sciences, business, and engineering grew substantially. The college ended its agriculture program altogether in 1957. Between 1950 and 1965, ASC conducted a major building campaign that built 18 new buildings on campus for $14.225 million. On April 27, 1959, Texas governor Price Daniel signed a bill making ASC a four-year college. After the addition of junior-level courses in fall 1959 and senior-level courses in fall 1960, ASC awarded its first 23 bachelor's degrees in 1961.

In response to a legal challenge to its segregationist admissions policy, ASC announced its racial integration in July 1962 and admitted its first African American students in September. ASC experienced growing disillusionment with the Texas A&M University System. ASC supporters believed that Texas A&M subjugated ASC's interests, was too rigid in administrative style, and did not invest adequately in the Arlington college, as it was growing quickly. ASC lobbied for separation from A&M, and ultimately, admission into the University of Texas System, which occurred when Texas governor John Connally signed Senate Bill 401 into law on April 23, 1965. Athletics at ASC were dominated by the football team, which won back-to-back Junior Rose Bowls in 1956 and 1957, bringing the college national recognition for the first time. ASC also created a men's swimming program during the mid-1960s that featured Doug Russell, a collegiate national champion who would go on to win a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Grubbs Vocational College (1917–1923)

Grubbs Vocational College (GVC) was organized as a junior college in March 1917. It was established as a branch campus of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (AMC), which later became Texas A&M University. The namesake of GVC was Vincent W. Grubbs, a judge from Greenville who was instrumental in the creation of the college. Grubbs was a strong supporter of the state's agricultural, industrial, and mechanical schools, which he believed provided a critical education "for the poor boys and girls of Texas". He was convinced that the existing system of higher education in the state was unfair to poor and rural children, particularly those growing up on farms. Grubbs himself was a native of Kentucky who moved to Texas during his childhood, eventually becoming a lawyer and a newspaper contributor and co-owner. In 1902, he was instrumental in the establishment of the College of Industrial Arts (later renamed Texas Woman's University) in Denton.

In spring 1917, Grubbs lobbied the 35th legislative session in Austin to secure the establishment of what was to become GVC through House Bill 656 and Senate Bill 449. While he was at the capitol, his friend A. D. Jackson recommended the name "Grubbs Vocational College" for the school. On March 20, the parallel bills were passed by both the Texas Senate and House of Representatives, and on March 25 Texas governor James E. Ferguson signed them into law. The bills defined the mission of GVC to be "the education of white boys and girls" in Texas. They also established John Tarleton Agricultural College (JTAC) in Stephenville, likewise as part of the AMC system.

GVC was established with its own advisory "local board of managers", but this body was placed under the direction and ultimate authority of the board of directors at AMC in College Station. Grubbs himself was never selected as dean of GVC, a snub that caused him lasting resentment. From its establishment in 1917 through 1925 (after the college was renamed), Myron L. Williams served as the dean of GVC. He was a colleague and friend of AMC president William Bizzell, and he was given the title of dean instead of president because GVC was a branch campus of the school in College Station. Williams was a native of Oenaville, Texas, who was educated at Sam Houston Normal Institute, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. He had teaching experience in Amarillo, Clarendon, and Miami as well as at the College of Industrial Arts in Denton.

The curriculum at GVC centered around the agricultural, industrial, and mechanical trades. Classes in bookkeeping, commercial law, home economics, and stenography were also taught. The college provided its students with two years of secondary education and two years of college-level education. When GVC first opened, it offered college-level agricultural courses for male students and household arts courses for female students. The curriculum closely resembled that at AMC so that male students could easily transfer to College Station. Students had to be 14 years of age in order to enroll.

The college's cadet program was obligatory for all male students, and it comprised one battalion with four companies and eight platoons. In 1918, GVC established its Student Army Training Corps (SATC), which inducted students into the United States Army as privates. A total of 62 male GVC students participated in the SATC, although none saw active duty in Europe before Armistice Day in November 1918. The campus more broadly supported the war effort by donating to the American Red Cross and United War Work Fund, purchasing Liberty bonds and war savings stamps, and conserving food. In 1919–20, GVC created an entire program for disabled soldiers returning from World War I. In fall 1921, the college established its Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), to which the War Department assigned Captain Carl A. Bishop and Lieutenant L. W. Caine. Captain Bishop also established a rifle team at GVC.

Female students had to sew their own gingham dresses as part of their uniform while all students had to wear their uniforms while on campus and boarding students had to wear their uniforms at all times. Female students who lived on campus also had to cook their own meals and clean their dormitory. Students were given demerits for being out of uniform, being tardy to class, or breaking any of GVC's conduct rules. In 1919, GVC student Rosemary Ribbon complained that "you get demerits for everything you do and for everything you don't do".

In early 1918, GVC survived a proposal by the state's Central Legislative Investigating Committee to abolish it or terminate its college farm, which had been proposed largely due to the high cost of land in Arlington. While the proposal was not implemented, GVC responded to the threat by establishing automobile repair courses and additional commercial courses to diversify itself beyond an agricultural curriculum. GVC survived additional proposals by the state legislature to abolish it in 1921 and 1923.

At first, GVC did not charge its students tuition, while room and board cost students $20 per month and textbooks cost approximately $15–20 per year. Fees increased substantially by the early 1920s, with maintenance fees for a semester reaching as high as $86.40. Students could in live in dormitories on campus, at home, or in approved boarding houses, but by 1922 Dean Williams admitted that the dormitories were in poor condition and needed to be replaced.

During its first semester in 1917, the enrollment at GVC was just 66 students: 40 women and 26 men. Male enrollment was especially low due to American participation in World War I. During the 1918–19 academic year, enrollment grew to 192: 143 men and 49 women. By 1919–20, this number had grown to 444, with students representing 54 of the counties of Texas. During the 1920–21 academic year, GVC had 411 students, by 1921–22 it had 680, and by 1922–23 it had reached 808 students. In 1918, there were no graduates from GVC, while there were only eight in 1919 and five in 1920. The number of graduates grew slowly to 12 in 1921, 13 in 1922, and finally to 23 in 1923.

On its first day of classes in 1917, GVC had a faculty of 14 teachers. By 1920, this number doubled to 28. The faculty tended to be young and fairly inexperienced, and the college had difficulty retaining them due to its non-competitive salary scale. This problem was compounded by the state's 30% reduction in GVC's appropriations throughout its existence between 1917 and 1923, despite the substantial increase in the size of its student body. Nonetheless, state funding for GVC during this time is described by historian and author Gerald Saxon as "relatively stable", noting that it provided a "basic level of support".

By 1923, Dean Williams asked AMC to rename GVC, which had come to see the word "vocational" in its name as limiting to its future growth. Additionally, being named "Grubbs" seemed to incorrectly imply that it was a private school. In July 1923, the Texas Legislature changed the name of the school to North Texas Junior Agricultural College, which was soon officially shortened to North Texas Agricultural College (NTAC). By this point, Arlington's residents and leading citizens had demonstrated considerable support for the college. Saxon argues that, in 1923, "for the first time in the history" of the college, "the future looked bright".

Building development

GVC inherited the campus of the recently defunct Arlington Military Academy. It also purchased an additional of farmland from James Fielder to create a demonstration farm. Fielder's land is where Maverick Stadium and the J. D. Wetsel Service Center were later constructed. Aside from Fielder's farmland, the GVC campus only comprised in 1922. Upon arriving on campus in 1917, Dean Williams wrote that its condition was "badly neglected" and "in a state of decay". At the time, there were seven buildings in total: the academic building, two barracks, a women's dormitory, a mess hall, a gymnasium, and the dean's cottage.

In 1919, GVC completed the construction of its new Administration Building at the cost of $112,500. In addition to administrative offices, it also housed an auditorium, classrooms, laboratories, and a library. Later renamed Ransom Hall, it is still standing on campus. Dean Williams also constructed an automotive shop, a machine shop, and a mess hall during the 1919–20 academic year. In December 1922, five state legislators pledged their support for an unrealized building program at GVC that would have allocated $150,000 for a dormitory with a dining hall and $100,000 for a science building.

Student life