Although Canton and the surrounding area had utilized the services of Kent State's extension programs since 1912, the real growth of Kent State in Stark County began in 1946, with an unprecedented surge of college students utilizing the new GI Bill. In order to accommodate the large number of people seeking a college education during the postwar years, Kent State created the "Canton Division" of the university and located it in the McKinley High School building on Market Street. From the beginning, this new branch was intended to be more than simply an expanded version of the existing extension program. Under the leadership of Clayton M. Schindler, a former McKinley speech teacher, Kent State University Canton (or KSUC as it came to be known) offered local students the opportunity to take both day and evening classes that satisfied the requirements for the first two years of many Kent baccalaureate degrees. In its first quarter, KSUC employed nearly forty faculty members and enrolled over 650 students; by the Fall Quarter of 1947, the student population had topped the 900 mark. Although it was forced to share space and equipment with the high school, KSUC managed to give its students a quality college education close to home at an affordable price.

The most remarkable thing about KSUC was its determination to create a real college atmosphere in the midst of this unusual setting. In 1947, the University rented a house on Market Street and converted it into a Student Union. This facility gave the students a place to study and socialize, and was essentially "the only place that KSUC could call its own." In the course of its four year existence, KSUC spawned a student newspaper (The Canton Kent Stater), a yearbook called The Kentonian, a band, a chorus, and a campus radio station. Student organizations included foreign language clubs, Future Teachers of America, Pre-law, Engineering, and Premed clubs, a camera club, and two fraternities. In 1949, the Astronomy Club, under the guidance of full-time KSUC professor Richard Emmons, designed and built a working planetarium that was one of only a few in the whole country (he wrote his Ph.D. dissertation, "A Report on a School Planetarium" on it in 1950). Kent State Canton's theater department put on several plays a year in the McKinley auditorium, while its sports teams played a full slate of games (in borrowed or rented facilities) against other schools and local teams. In many ways, KSUC was functioning as a full-service college in part-time facilities, and doing it very well.

The end of KSUC came rather suddenly when the State of Ohio cut funding for the Canton Division and forced the Kent State University Trustees to close the facility at the end of the Spring Quarter in 1950. This turn of events spurred a local campaign to convert KSUC into a municipal university, using land and buildings donated by the Timken Foundation specifically for that purpose. Unfortunately, in spite of a great deal of support from local schools and businesses, a special election held in February 1950 failed to pass the levy that would have funded the proposed municipal college, and the plan had to be abandoned. Irregardless of this rather sad and sudden end, most people considered Kent State University Canton a remarkable success that set the stage for Kent's future involvement in the community.