SwCC was founded in 1948 by the educator and minister G. P. Bowser under the name Southern Bible Institute in Fort Worth, Texas. The initial class consisted of 45 students. Initially the school intended to buy property in Fort Worth to erect a permanent school plant. However, in the summer of 1949, the school had the opportunity to purchase the property of the closed Texas Military College in Terrell, which it did and relocated the campus that fall, at which time it took its current name. The campus houses two locally historic facilities: