Archives West Finding Aid

Farragut College occupied the former site of Farragut Naval Training Center. The training center had been hurriedly built after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Located on the south shore of Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho, the $75 million dollar facility was base to almost 300,000 recruits from 1942 to 1946. Named for Civil War hero, Admiral David G. Farragut, the center played an enormously important role in the deployment of troops to the Pacific Front.

At the close of WWII, the naval training camp was decommissioned. The idea of a college occupying the site led to the emergence of Farragut College and Training Institute. The institution opened its doors in 1946 offering such classes as English, history, art, psychology, mathematics, and biology. The vision was to build the college into a four-year institution. The University of Idaho worked with the college in establishing accreditation standards.

Initial registration statistics were favorable as 200 students enrolled for the fall quarter in 1946. The winter quarter of 1946 saw an increase to 1,000 students and fall 1947 saw another jump to 1,164. By the fall semester of 1948, however, enrollment plummeted to 432. With the drop in enrollment, coupled by other financial setbacks, the college closed in 1949.

John Zeazeas lives in Athol, Idaho. He had avid interest and spent over two years researching in the Museum at the Brig at Farragut State Park archives, other museums, and libraries in the region.