A description of how public colleges and universities became important to American higher education is presented by tracing their origins, development, and evolving missions. In the past three decades, the people of the United States have created the comprehensive public state college and university by the conversion of over 200 existing institutions, mostly professional schools, and the establishment of almost 150 new comprehensive institutions. These comprehensive institutions: are publicly established and controlled by state government systems; are primarily comprehensive institutions emphasizing professional programs; award predominantly baccalaureate and master's degrees; emphasize meeting the diverse needs of different states; have the primary faculty obligation to teach and remain at the cutting edge of knowledge in their field; are predominantly open-access institutions; and have primary funding from state taxes with a tradition of low or moderate tuition charges. Three sections focus on: origins and early developments (with a few specific examples); changing missions (e.g. increasing student attendance, a drop in faculty-student ratios, and a change in internal administrative patterns); and emergence of a new type of institution during and after the 1960s (recent changes in institutions and programs, changes in state coordination and governance, and changes in American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) institutional activities). (SM)