Turtle Mountain Community College history

In 1977 the college moved into an abandoned tribal building and a BIA facility that had been moved to Belcourt’s main street by a tribal member who had converted the building to a café and dance hall.

In 1981, a group of Morongo Basin residents decided to build a campus with funds raised by community volunteers.

Upon completion of its first phase in 1984, the new campus quickly attracted a host of first-generation college students, including a large population of Marines and their dependents stationed at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms.

Anishinaabe Cultural and Wellness Center is the home of the 1994 Land Grant programs.

By a 90 percent vote in November 1999, Morongo Basin residents endorsed their new college.

As a final step, in June 2001, CMC was granted full accreditation status by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

In 2002, Anishinaabe campus was purchased and consists of 102.5 acres of land along the shores of Belcourt Lake.

A new auditorium with seating capacity for 1000 opened in 2003.

Anishinaabe also has a Straw Bale building equipped with solar panels built in 2004.

The former Interpretive Center was remodeled and expanded in 2010 to house the Allied Health Programs.

In 2012, a demonstration kitchen classroom was added to the main building at the Anishinaabe campus, which also includes a root cellar below the kitchen.