O.C. Britton opened Cisco’s first college in 1909 on a 212-acre campus established on the Houston and Texas Central Railroad Survey. That school closed after the onset of World War I, and the site was used by three later colleges that had all opened and closed by 1938. Recognizing the importance of higher education, Cisco residents urged the Texas Legislature to establish Cisco Junior College as part of the Cisco Independent School District in 1939. The college operated as a branch of the school district until 1956, later flourished, gained a free-standing Abilene campus in 2003, and was renamed Cisco College in 2009, remaining a vital part of the local and regional community.