York College of Pennsylvania

The history of York College of Pennsylvania begins shortly after the Revolutionary War. The college traces its lineage directly to three ancestral schools. The foundation was York County Academy, an English classical school chartered in 1787. The academy merged in 1929 with York Collegiate Institute, founded in 1873. Under one roof, both schools survived the Great Depression. In 1941, the charter was amended to allow two years of college-level courses and the institution became York Junior College. With an influx of war veterans, York Junior College quickly outgrew its downtown building and in 1956 acquired land for a new campus. By 1968, it was a four-year baccalaureate-granting college with a new name. Through vintage photographs, York College of Pennsylvania celebrates the journey of the school from its humble beginnings to national recognition.

Carol McCleary Innerst grew up in York and received an associate of arts degree from York Junior College and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Maryland at College Park. For four decades she worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance writer, and editor at various publications, including the York Gazette and Daily, Allentown Call-Chronicle, Philadelphia Bulletin, and Washington Times, where she retired as the national education writer and moved back to York.