July 6, 1964

Crowley’s Ridge College (CRC) in Paragould (Greene County) opened its doors as a Christian junior college. Until it became a four-year institution in 2008, it was the only two-year college in the nation affiliated with the Churches of Christ. CRC’s founder, Dr. Emmett Floyd Smith Jr., had a strong desire to bring college-level Christian education to northeast Arkansas. Eleven years earlier, in 1953, Smith had established a Christian secondary school, Crowley’s Ridge Academy, and found that there was support for other Christian endeavors such as the Children’s Homes of Paragould and Crowley’s Ridge College.