Organized by the Methodist Church Conference on April 2, 1898, Clarendon College and University Training School was the first college in the Texas Panhandle. It opened in Clarendon on September 5, 1898, and in its early years offered courses for students from first grade through college, graduating its first class in 1904. On February 21, 1903, the Clarendon College Bulldogs played one of the earliest football games in the Texas Panhandle, defeating the Goodnight College Buffaloes 16-10. Under President George S. Slover, the school expanded and became a senior college on September 14, 1926, conferring 28 bachelor's degrees before returning to junior college status under the Clarendon School District in 1927. During the presidency of Kenneth D. Vaughan, it separated from the public school system and a county-wide college district was created in 1965. An endowment from sisters Etta and Ida Harned helped the college leave its historic site and build a modern campus in 1968. It opened a first satellite center in Pampa in 1978 and later added centers in Childress and Amarillo, and it remains a cultural center of Donley County and the region while continuing to provide higher education to students in its service area.