The 1967 General Assembly authorized the construction of three additional community colleges in Tennessee. At a called meeting of the Tennessee Board of Education on June 13, 1967, officials of the cities and counties in the Elk River Development area asked that a community college be located in Moore County near Tullahoma, Tennessee. The Tennessee Board approved this request.
The 187 acre site for the college was donated by the Motlow family of Lynchburg, Tennessee. Because of this generous gift and because of Senator Reagor Motlow's contributions to education in Tennessee, Governor Buford Ellington and Commissioner of Education, J. Howard Warf, recommended that the college be named Motlow State Community College.
