The 1963-64 school year brought a change to the Paris school system creating two new junior high schools. The student body for the junior high schools included 7th and 8th grades which had been transferred from the elementaries, and the 9th grade from high school.

The board of trustees named the school on the west side Travis Jr. High, while its sister school on the east side was named Crockett Jr. High. The area where Travis was built had been purchased from the Boy Scouts of America a year earlier.

Since the school was named for the famous Texan William B. Travis, the students were called the Travis Texans. Red and white were selected as the school colors. "Hail to the Texans," the school song, was written by Miss Stella Mae Crain reflecting the school's fighting sprit. Dick Jones designed the mascot, a bow-legged Texas cowboy complete with guns, holsters, boots, and a 10-gallon hat.

Travis was renamed Travis Middle School during the 1970s serving grades 6 through 8. When Paris ISD consolidated its middle school population in the early 1990s, Crockett became a 6th and 7th grades campus for all PISD students, while Travis was again renamed Travis Jr. High as an exclusive 8th grade campus.