El Camino College Compton Center (originally Compton College) operates as a "center" of El Camino College. Under an agreement with El Camino College, Compton Center is open and offers accredited El Camino College courses to residents of Compton, Carson, Lynwood, Paramount and parts of North Long Beach. Compton Center is located in Compton, California; El Camino College is in Torrance, California. Compton Community College was established in 1927 as a component of the Compton Union High School District. In 1933 the campus was devastated by a major earthquake which struck the region, leaving two buildings standing. Fortunately, no one on campus was killed. In the 1940s several thousand Compton College students entered the armed forces and during World War II the campus housed a military unit and a defense plant. In 1950 voters approved a bond issue separating the college from the high school district. The new college campus was then constructed at the college's present site, 1111 East Artesia Boulevard. Classes began on the new campus in the Fall of 1953.