The KHOU-TV Collection - Gary Job Corps Center (1965)

Duration: 10:11

Year Published: 1965

Sound: sound

Description: This unedited news footage from Houston’s KHOU captures a tour of Camp Gary in San Marcos in January or February 1965. The site was essentially abandoned in 1963 after previous use as an Army airfield and Air Force base. On November 20, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that Camp Gary would become a Job Corps facility. After converting barracks and buildings into dormitories and classrooms, the Gary Job Corps Center received its first group of students in March 1965. In this footage, Dr. Oscar Baker, director of the Gary Job Corps Center, takes KHOU reporter Nick Gearhart on a tour of the facility as construction crews complete the transition. In the interview that follows, Baker explains the purpose of the center and how individuals can apply to the training program. The Job Corps was created as part of President Johnson’s War on Poverty. The purpose of the program was to provide job skills and vocational training to youths who had dropped out of high school. Situated on 775 acres, the Gary Job Corps Center remains the largest Job Corps facility in the United States.