Gateway's History | Gateway Technical College

Gateway Technical College laid the cornerstone of career training when Racine Continuation School began classes Nov. 3, 1911 as the first compulsory, publicly-funded school in Wisconsin - and, in doing so, also became the first in America. Although Gateway wasn’t named “Gateway” until 1972, it nevertheless has a history in Southeast Wisconsin that stretches back to the beginning of the 20th Century. From its beginnings in three different counties, Gateway’s story maps the changes and shifts in education, labor, technology and commerce.

Wisconsin's Legislature led the way in creating technical education schools in 1911, but this educational concept spread quickly to the rest of the United States. Technical education continues to write the future of our country's employers and the careers of its workers.

From its inception, Gateway has provided students with education and training to pave the way for their careers and their futures. Its tailored training met the needs of the industry of the day – addressing traditional and emerging, in-demand career fields. Gateway continues to serve its communities by supplying local industry with trained workers and residents with opportunities to gain solid paying careers.

Gateway looks forward to the next century of meeting the needs of the industries, the communities and the students it serves each year in Kenosha County, Racine County and Walworth County.

1911

Classes begin at Racine Continuation School, marking the first publicly funded technical college in America. The first apprenticeship programs also begin there. A total of 325 students attend the first year and receive training in pattern-making, cabinet-making, molding, cooking, dressmaking and drafting.

1912-13

Kenosha Continuation School opens, with its first location in Frank School auditorium. Promotional material is printed in English, Polish and Italian and one instructor teaches only Armenian students.

1920-29

Kenosha Vocational School (a name picked up after a surge of WWI veterans began attending) moves into its own building at 18th Avenue and 62nd Street.

1930

Construction finishes at 800 Center Street for what will become the Racine Vocational School headquarters for the next 42 years. High enrollment at the Kenosha Vocational School forces administrators to use temporary class “portables” at schools and other locations.

1940-49

During WWII, enrollment spikes and Racine Vocational School operates 24 hours a day to train workers for defense jobs such as pilot training and ground aeronautics courses. In 1949, Kenosha Vocational School breaks ground at 52nd Street and 6th Avenue and becomes the first vocational school to offer one-year practical nursing program.

1959

Gateway offers its first associate degree programs in business education, transforming the vocational school into a post-secondary institution of learning.

1960-69

Kenosha Vocational School completes construction of its new 190,000-square-foot, 50-acre campus in 1967 and captures the nation’s attention as two-year programs such as Pilot Training, Aviation Mid-Management, Data Processing, Court and Conference Reporting, Fluid Power, Horticulture, Interior Design, Library Technical Assistant and Police Science resulted in a surge of students. In 1968, Walworth County joins the Kenosha Vocational District.

1970-79

In 1971, the Racine Technical Institute merges with the Kenosha Technical Institute and its Walworth County campus in Elkhorn, first as Kenosha-Racine-Walworth Technical Institute, then as Tri-County Technical Institute. In 1972, Tri-County Technical Institute changes its name to Gateway Technical Institute and moves the Racine Campus to its current location at 1001 S. Main St.

1987

Gateway’s official name changes to Gateway Technical College in 1987, when classes in Instructional Television, Horticulture, Aviation, Accounting, Court and Conference Reporting and Data Processing are offered.

2000-2019

Gateway reaches historic full-time equivalent student enrollment in 2011 of 6,000 and ramps up transfer agreements with four-year colleges throughout Wisconsin and in other states in 2007, it opens the nationally recognized Horizon Center for Transportation Technology in Kenosha, a model facility that has since been visited and replicated by colleges across the globe.Two years later, in 2009, it opens the Health and Emergency Responder Occupations (HERO) Center in Burlington, a hub for firefighter, EMS and leadership training. In 2012 and again in 2019, the SC Johnson iMET Center sees a multi-million-dollar expansion and renovation to become the first facility in the region to offer training in high skilled IT and manufacturing careers.

2020-Present

SC Johnson makes a $5.5 million donation to the college in 2021, the largest the college has received in its history. The donation will help to pay for education and resources to women and people of color, who have historically been underrepresented in STEM industries, and those with limited means the opportunity to gain a four-year degree in STEM-related career fields.

Early in 2022, Gateway Technical College President Bryan Albrecht announced his retirement. He served the college for 16 years, bringing it to national prominence in the area of technical and workforce training.

The college opened the Lincoln Center for Health Careers on its Racine Campus in Spring 2022. The center was created when the college renovated and added to the original Lincoln Building, creating a center for advanced nurse training the Nursing and Practical Nursing programs.