The Lake Tahoe Community College campus is seen in 2008. Jim Grant / Tahoe Daily Tribune

Duke used a closet in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District building for his office back then, said LTCC board member Frederick "Fritz" Wenck, who was on the original college board as well.

Mason and Wenck have served on the board continuously since its inception.

 

A photo of the college's opening day is shown on the front page of the Tribune on Sept. 18, 1975.

Duke then moved into a basement on Ski Run Boulevard. The basement now is part of the building that houses Wenck's dental office.

The college opened on Sept. 18, 1975, in Gerken's Lodge, which now is the Value Inn, at 2659 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

Two days before classes started, workers were busy knocking down walls to enlarge the classrooms, recalled Steve Adams, LTCC history and political science instructor. People were smashing the walls with sledgehammers and carting away the remains, he said.

Adams was part of the original staff hired in 1975. He began teaching history.

 

The first schedule of classes for Lake Tahoe Community College ran as a supplement in the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

"We were the college with the most bathrooms per student," Wenck said, referring to the building's motel accommodations. "We were short on everything else, but we had a lot of bathrooms."

Adams said teaching in the motel was challenging for some instructors who needed labs, but it wasn't crucial for his history students.

"I can teach my classes under most conditions," Adams said.

Officials purchased land for a permanent college site from Shell Oil Co. in December 1979. Construction on the college began in July 1986 and opened at its present site off Al Tahoe Boulevard in October 1988.

Over the years, the college has become a strong academic center for the community as well as a cultural point, Wenck said.

"That's what a college brings to a town," Mason said. "We want to continue to expand."

 

LTCC instructor John Perry is shown in 1975.

Lake Tahoe Community College timeline:
1964: A citizen's committee investigates forming a community college district.

March 5, 1974: Voters approve the formation of a community college district and elect the first board of trustees.

Sept. 18, 1975: Lake Tahoe Community College opens in a converted motel, which is a temporary campus.

 

John Perry, who today oversees the college's antiquities collection, unpacks a 5,500-year-old Egyptian terra cotta beaker used for drinking beer.

Dec. 27, 1979: LTCC purchases 164 acres off Al Tahoe Boulevard from Shell Oil company.

July 8, 1986: Groundbreaking ceremony takes place for constructing the permanent campus.

1988: The college moves to its present location at One College Drive.

June 30, 1990: Founding president James Duke retires. Guy Lease is selected to be his successor.

2006: The new library and Haldan Art Gallery open.

September 2007: Guy Lease announces his retirement, beginning the search for a new president