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History of EVC

50 Decades of EVC

Step back five decades and experience 50 years of Evergreen Valley College's history.

Once situated in RURAL San Jose, it opened up its doors to classes on September 3, 1975, alongside a two-lane country road known as San Felipe. The College has grown from 2500 day students in its first semester to over 9000 today.

Relive our history with a look back

Stock Cortez, one of EVC's original faculty members from the mid-1950s with the Automotive program (then at SJCC), talks about his experience at 105-years-old

 

Senator Dave Cortese grew up next door, literally. His family farm and fruit stand was amongst the farmland in and around EVC's current location.

""campus from 1975""

How it Started

In 1967, the District paid $1.35M for 155 acres to build the future college. The campus was officially named in 1970. In the late 1950s, the site was one of many recommendations for a new UC San Jose campus (which ultimately went to UCSC and was built in 1965).

Initial Offerings: Initially, 87 instructors at SJCC were asked to come over to EVC to make up the first faculty. Other faculty were added afterward to complete the staff.  SJCC faculty included: Administration of Justice, Art, Biological Sciences, Black Studies, Business, Speech, Home Economics, Engineering, Foreign Languages, Music, Mexican-American Studies, Nursing, PE, Physical Science, Psychology, Social Sciences, and Math. 

The Nursing and Automotive programs were each brought over from SJCC. Nursing started in 1960, and Auto in the mid-1950s.

As the Mercury News wrote in 1975, a "rural" college opened in East San Jose on September 3, 1975. Route 71 took students to the new campus for $10 for a monthly pass.

The average cost to attend community college was $263, compared to $2,781 for a private university.

On the first day of class, San Felipe Road was a two-lane country road featuring cars backed up to Aborn Road as students waited to enter the 101st California Community College.

The original College, at an initial cost of $50 million, to be built over a decade, was situated in five clusters, taking UC Santa Cruz as its example. The clusters were a combination of classrooms, labs and vocational shops.

Historical Timeline

Take a look at the history of EVC from its founding in 1975 to today. We'll provide a historical timeline from the Disco-laden 1970s to today's Artificial Intelligence.

Timelines

Newspaper Articles

Photo Galleries