The college, named for the famous black intellectual Booker T. Washington, shared facilities and administrator with Booker T. Washington High School, in Pensacola, Florida. Its founding and only president and dean, and principal of the high school, was Garrett T. Wiggins, the only educator in northwest Florida with an earned doctorate,[1] described as "the smartest man in Escambia County".[2] Its first class, with 23 students, graduated in 1951.[citation needed] At its peak the college enrolled 361 students. In 1965, in response to the pressures for integration, Washington Junior College was closed. It is often said that the college was merged with Pensacola Junior College (now Pensacola State College),[3] but like Roosevelt Junior College and other Florida black junior colleges, it is more accurate to say it was closed. None of the faculty got similarly paying jobs,[4] and black student enrollment did not transfer en masse to PJC, where students found, at best, an indifferent reception.[5]