75 Years ofProgress

Eighty years ago, thepresent site of A&M College was merely a wild dewberry patchlocated in the flat terrain of the Brazos River bottom near thebooming railroad town of Bryan, at the time only nine years old andalready boasting a "roaring" reputation. The Southern PacificRailroad in 1866 had constructed the town after the old county seat,Booneville, refused to allow the blares of engineers' whistles andthe rumble of boxcars to disturb the tranquil area.

And here to Bryan in 1871,a special committee from the Texas legislature came to investigatesites offered by Brazos County for the newly authorized Agriculturaland Mechanical College of Texas. In spite of the fact that BrazosCounty was considered one of the poorest in the State, commissionerswere pleased and impressed by the centrally located, well-drainedposition about five miles west of the city and, especially, by thefact that a railroad already ran by the site. When the bid of $22,000and 2,416 acres of land, offered by Brazos County, was opened, thecommission quickly awarded the location of the College.

By the Fall of '76, theold dewberry patch was flourishing less and showing definite wear andtear under the feet of contractors and workmen. Something of a campushad been constructed, but not without difficulty. The entire buildingappropriation had been spent on foundations alone, without any bricksbeing laid above ground. As foundations insisted upon sinking intothe quagmire ground, they were condemned and the whole projectstarted over, from a new appropriation. Eventually two permanentbuildings were completed --one, an administration building, boastingtwin towers from the spiked summits of which floated U. S. and Texasflags, and the other, a combination mess hall and dormitory closelyresembling a stucco castle of the modified Italian style.

The first Board ofDirectors of A&M College met in Austin, of all places, on July16, 1875, and elected Jefferson Davis president of the institution.Davis, however, had other plans, noteworthy among them being rest andrelaxation, whereupon he suggested his good friend and fellowMississippian Thomas Gathright for the position. Gathright accepted,and the stucco mess hall was christened with his name.

Along with the presidentwere elected four professors, a physician, and a steward. Plans weremade for four three-year courses to be offered: (1) a course inagriculture, (2) a course in mechanics and engineering, (3) a coursein language and literature, and (4) a course in military tactics.Since no arrangements had been made for any engineering shops, afarm, or an engineering or agriculture professor, these first twocourses amounted close to nothing. In its infancy, the school wasprimarily a literary institution of the old type. The professor ofChemistry, no doubt, burned the midnight oil many times preparinghimself with a knowledge of agriculture, which he had been calledupon to teach.

September 17, 1876, musthave been a disappointing day to those pioneers whose efforts led tothe establishment of the College. Only six students appeared. Theratio of faculty to student body provoked comment that the new "main"would be nothing but a building in which tutoring was done. Theopening of the College was therefore delayed until October 4 whenforty boys enrolled. By January, the student body had grown to morethan 100 cadets. By spring, the number totaled 331.

Accommodations were notsufficient for anything like this number. The second and third floorsof Gathright, and the second, third, and part of the fourth floors ofthe Main Building were used for barracks. So crowded were existingconditions that some students were even placed in the president'soffice, some in the hallways, and a few in the tower rooms.

During cold winter months,students kept these rooms warm with wood fires. Each student had hisown axe, cut his own wood at the common wood pile, and carried it upto room quarters in his arms. Wood piles were kept outside eachbuilding with the owners' names above each, roughly on this order:"This is John Jones' wood pile. Keep your hands off it!"

The water supply, in thosedays, was not "piped-in." When there was a rain, it drained off theroof into cisterns, the ruins of which can still be seen.

The first floor ofGathright was used as a mess hall, and the first floor, only, of theMain Building was available for class rooms.

Robert Smith, an A&Mprofessor in 1915, tells of early rustic conditions on the campus:"The campus was such a wild waste that it was not considered safe forchildren to be out at night. The howling of wolves furnished an everynight and all night serenade. On one occasion, a wild animalwandering over the campus threw the whole community in a frenzy ofexcitement. An alarm was given and the whole battalion of some thirtystudents and professors turned out to kill it, but in the high weedsof the campus, it easily escaped." Other sources explain that deerfrequently were seen on the campus, and that wolves sometimes stucktheir noses in the doors of Gathright at dinner time.

For social life, theStephen F. Austin Literary Society was organized, and in 1878 beganpublication of a literary monthly, "The Collegian." To what extentmeetings were literary is speculatory. Get-togethers of the groupwere of such a nature that members barred their sponsor fromattending meeting lest his presence embarrass them. The group splitin '88, and a Calliopean Literary Society grew side by side with theolder one. Historian of the Calliopean in 1895 states: "Not more thanten years ago, the societies were noted for throwing dead animals ofthe feline species across the hall at each other. But this being aprogressive age, they have discarded cats and now throwbricks."

Military uniforms wereworn, but discipline seems to have been lax. On San Jacinto Day,April 21, exercises were held with the cadet corps in ranks. Whenceremonies had been concluded, the corps immediately broke rankswithout command, and ran furiously for the woods. Arriving at theBrazos, they partook in an unauthorized swim. Later, they returned infear and trembling, but the commandant took a light view of thematter.

President Gathright wasalso taking a light view - of military aspects of the College. Herowed with his commandant. Most members of the faculty had been "tophands" in other institutions and, consequently, there were as manybosses as teachers. Gathright rowed with one of the bosses inparticular, and students took sides. Meanwhile, farmers throughoutthe State were complaining that the school was ignoring itsfundamental purpose of teaching agriculture. The Board of Directorsmet in Bryan and sent word to the faculty to meet with them there. L.L. McInnis, professor of Mathematics, didn't get the word on time. Hedrove by the house of Bernard Sbisa, supervisor of subsistence."Report to the Exchange Hotel in Bryan, Mac," Sbisa called out, "The'Board' is going to fire you all." "I can't be bothered," McInniscalled back. "I'm going fishing." Go fishing, he did , and the Boardforgot to fire him though they dismissed Gathright and all otherinstructors.

After the wholesaleexpulsion of the first A&M faculty, James Garland James waselected second president of the College and served from 1879 to 1882.His administration was marked by a complete reorganization ofcurricula. The State Grange, at the time a powerful farmers'organization, led the fight against the previous curricula. The factthat still no professor of Agriculture had been added to the teachingstaff, no doubt, helped provoke this censure. As a formersuperintendent of the Texas Military Institute at Austin, James iscredited with establishing military tradition at Texas A&M. Butthroughout his administration, despite the actions to reorganize theexisting curricula, James did not escape the ire of the farmers. In1883, he gave up what seemed like a hopeless struggle. The Boarddismissed him with most of his faculty, and despairing of finding anew president, named Professor H. H. Dinwiddie chairman of thefaculty to act in lieu of their selection.

Along with othermisfortunes of this time, the College had acquired the name of a"reform school" for delinquent boys. In vain, the faculty protestedthe sending of "toughs" to school by families who couldn't handlethem. Stories of vicious hazing spread across the State.

The College limped on,despite valiant work of Dinwiddie and, later, McInnis, who becamechairman of the faculty upon Dinwiddie's death. However during theperiod, a construction spree added four new buildings to the campus -the M.E. Building, the Assembly Hall, Austin Hall, and PfeufferHall.

In '87, a company know asthe Scott Volunteers was organized and retained that name until thewinter of '90 when it took the name of Ross Volunteers. The "Stay OutLates" had been organized in 1886 and restricted membership only tostudent inhabitants of Pfeuffer Hall. They existed until about 1910.Their name suggests their possible fate.

Meanwhile, the supposedlydrab future of A&(M College appeared so serious that thelegislature recommended abandonment of the institution as a failure,with the buildings to be used for a Negro insane asylum. GovernorLawrence Sullivan Ross was a bit more optimistic. So he made a dealwith the legislature: "Don't close A&M, and after I finish myterm of office, I'll take the presidency. If I can't make it work,then close the College!"

So in 1890, the Boardreestablished the office of president and called to its occupancyRoss, Texas' foremost citizen at the time. Texas Ranger, Confederatesoldier, planter, and chief executive of the State for four years,Ross was just the man to command complete respect from Texascitizens. It is said that parents, in many cases, sent their sons toSul Ross, not to college.

When he came on the campus, he held individualinterviews with all students. From them he got the pledge todiscontinue hazing of "fish." In a few years, Ross had A&M on aneven keel, had given the college a good name for the first time, andset a pattern for life epitomized by his own epitaph, "Soldier,Statesman, Knightly Gentleman."

Inventoried for the firsttime in 1893, College property had reached the value of $389,502.64.Also in that year, The Battalion and the Oleo, the first yearbook,began publication.

In May of '95, the cadetcorps launched its first corps trip - to Houston for the ConfederateReunion, a gala affair, at which the students were to act as bodyguards of the veterans.

Ross died January 3, 1898,and R. H. Whitlock, professor of Mechanical Engineering, acted aspresident pro tempore until the vacancy was filled by L. L. Foster,State Commissioner of Agriculture. Foster was successful in buildingup agricultural features of the school, especially in theestablishment of branch experimental stations and the first summerschool.

Intercollegiate footballhad begun in 1892 with a team which wore peppermint striped jerseysand received little support from the student body. Two years lateroccurred the first football game with the University of Texas, whichA&M lost. In 1902, A&M was named "Champion of the South"after beating Tulane. Football fever took hold. Texas University wasalready chief rival and was played two or three times a year. First"home field" for the Aggies was Bryan Fair Grounds. Later the fairground blea0chers, capacity 500, were moved to the campus and thename "Kyle Field" was applied to the ground on which they werere-erected.

Foster died in 1901 andwas succeeded by David Franklin Houston of the University of Texas.An educator by profession, he instituted a minimum age requirement ofsixteen years for entering students, and established educationrequirements for entrance.

The Kala Kinasis (gracefulmotion) Dancing Club was organized in the session of 1904-05 for thepurpose of fostering a fraternal spirit among its members and thegiving of lavish social entertainments in the forms of "hops" and"Germans." Several other dancing clubs, the Swatiskas being the mostimportant, were organized during the period, and for years thereafterpromoted and controlled social life of the College. About 1904sentiment in the State became so pronounced against hazing thatstudents voluntarily agreed to restrain from it. This action wastaken partially to rid A&M of the reputation it still retained ofbeing a reformatory school.

The first T's awarded tooutstanding athletes were handed out in 1905. The Collegeadministration had become more interested in athletics in general,and better facilities were offered. V. M. "Choc" Kelly made his sportdebut in A&M College as well as in the whole athletic world aboutthis time.

In January, 1906, a canerush between freshmen and sophomores occurred, and during the firstfew years of the new century, such an occasion was generallyconsidered quite an event. It started in this way. One morning,mysterious notices had been tacked up at various places forbiddingany freshman to carry a cane past the band stand between 4:30 and4:45 p. m. At the blast of a bugle on the proper hour, groups offreshmen and sophomores emerged from every hall, clad in old clothes.A freshman, attended by a bodyguard, attempted the feat, and thestruggle was on. After a few minutes, the sophomores were successfulin getting the cane to the guardroom, but then decided to givenfreshmen a second chance. Reinforcements arrive and the battle ragedon for two hours, but without further success on the part of eitherside.

In the later part ofHouston's administration, three more courses were added:Architectural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and TextileEngineering. President Houston resigned at the end of the 1905-06session to accept the presidency of the University of Texas. He laterwent on to become United States Secretary of Agriculture in WoodrowWilson's cabinet.

And in 1905, H. H.Harrington, son-in-law to Sul Ross, was named president. Three yearslater, the College exploded with a roar heard all over the State. Forquite a time, Harrington had been at odds with the College physicianand one of the senior professors, apparently over trifles. Thechaplain was dismissed for keeping a stallion. The gray-beardedsenior professor was quarantined in his campus home on orders fromHarrington. Suddenly, the student body went on strike, and afterseveral days most of them had left for home, taking their baggagewith them. One student, crossing the Brazos on his way home, was metat the river by his father with a shotgun, and ordered to return tothe campus. An investigation by the Board of Directors having provedunsatisfactory, the exes association held a full-scale investigationof its own. The Board had upheld and exonerated Harrington, but a fewmonths later, he resigned. In the meantime, the scandal had putA&M almost back to where it was before Ross took over. Strangelyenough, the College kept growing. In the midst of the 1908 squabbleboth sides declared a truce long enough for Harrington to lay thecornerstone of Goodwin Hall. An hour later, students laid thecornerstone of a mythical "Harry Hall" in burlesqueceremonial.

Colonel R. T. Milner wasHarrington's successor. And in 1913, there was another studentstrike, this time over the dismissal of twenty-seven students forhazing and the subsequent suspension of 466 for insubordination. Onceagain, there was state-wide notoriety. Legislative investigationswere proposed, but never undertaken. The Board upheld the presidents'stand, but a few months later Milner resigned as Harrington had donea few years previously. Despite the revolution under Milner'sadministration, there occurred the most remarkable period ofexpansion the College had ever known. Despite the fact that a newdormitory had been erected, there was not sufficient room forincoming students and a number of tents had to be set up to take careof the overflow. This was the beginning of the celebrated "Tent Row,"which later grew to large proportions and extended from the groundnow covered by the YMCA Building to and including that area nowcovered by the tennis courts on the west and as far back as MitchellHall on the north. Tent row was removed in 1912. Previous to the fallof 1909, sentinels guarded dormitories during meals, and the oldguard met the new guard every morning. In 1909 A&M was classed bythe War Department as a Distinguished Military College. The samesession, it became the largest strictly military college inAmerica.

In 1910, the facultyissued a regulation forbidding the existence of dancing clubs, thussuppressing the Swatiskas and K.K's. These two clubs, however, merelycontinued their existence in secret and became more political andless social in their purposes. At this time, the A&M campus beganto look something like the one we know today. The old mess hall - notGathright, but a huge wooden structure - burned down one night in1911. For some time, students were fed from Army field kitchens keptfor use on camping trips. Next year, in 1912, that architecturalgargoyle, Old Main, was completely gutted by fire. The skeleton wallswere shortly afterward knocked down by a cannon fired point blank byartillery students, an inexpensive way of demolition. It was amiracle that Old Main lasted as long as it did. A cannon stood in thelobby, just for looks. Several cadets decided to fire it off, andloaded it. The only thing that saved the building from being knockedto bits was the warning by a Mexican student who knew from experiencein a revolution what the concussion of a cannon would do to a brickbuilding. With the erection of Sbisa Mess Hall and the AcademicBuilding to replace the burned structures, the campus became quiteimpressive in appearance. Shortly afterward, Guion Hall was erectedat the opposite end of Military Walk from Sbisa.

Succeeding Milner was Dr.William B. Bizzell in 1914 after serving as president of CIA, today'sTSCW. He left in 1925 to become head of the University of Oklahoma.One feature of his administration is startling: enrollment soaredfrom 888 boys in 1913 to 2,363 in 1925. During his regime also, NorthTexas and John Tarleton Agricultural Colleges were added to thesystem, and Prairie View tied in more closely. These were good timefor the A&M football team. The athletes had a field day in 1917 -undefeated, untied, and unscored upon.

World War I was the firstreal test of A&M as a military school. During the first fortyyears of A&M's history, graduates had been eligible forcommissions if they enlisted in the Army after graduation. Quite afew of these had taken part in the Spanish-American War; a fewslipped away from the campus to get into the Boer War. Aggies foughton both sides in that one. In 1917, the entire senior class enlistedas a body. And in April, they were sent to Leon Springs trainingcamp, where they were given their diplomas in special commencementexercises. More than 2,000 A&M graduates served in the war;fifty-five of them died. After the war, the Reserve Officers TrainingCorps was established and A&M became a part of that system. Onesteadfast tradition was immediately discarded - cadet greys. The Armyswitched to khaki and olive drab, and so did the cadet corps. Olderwomen of Texas swear that A&M cadets of today only have half theglamour and "flash" of early Aggies in their greys.

In '22, the Twelfth Manoriginated. On January 1 in Dallas during a New Year's Day game withCenter College, a man from the stands went in as a substitute for theAggie gridsters. That same your brought about tragedy on a corpstrip. It was the Baylor trip, and oldtimers still claim it was therowdiest in the history of the College. But rowdiness was not enough.It became a mob battle - students fighting with boards and clubs. Asa result, an Aggie was killed. According to a local merchant whorecalls the tragic, the cadet corps started en masse on its waytoward Baylor after the student's death. The state militia was calledout to stop impending disaster.

T.O. Walton, Director ofthe Extension Service, was raised to the presidency to succeedBizzell. His inauguration was time to coincide with thesemi-centennial of the College in 1926. Meanwhile the physical plantspread across more acres of the campus. Highway Six having been builtthrough the back pastures of the campus, a new series of buildingwere erected to face east instead of the traditional west. Amongthese were the new Administration Building, the Animal Husbandry, andAgricultural Engineering Buildings, and Veterinary Hospital in theagricultural group; the Chemistry and Petroleum-Geology Buildings inthe engineering group.

For years after World WarI, the College lacked dormitory space. A large part of the studentbody slept in shack-tents, in front of the YMCA, and the area wasnicknamed "Hollywood" and "Shiek City" after the Rudolph Valentinomovie. Law and Puryear were erected on the site of "Shiek City,"Walton was put up at North Gate, and Hart replaced the tiny chapel onMilitary Walk. Then the old cemetery at the South End of the campuswas dug up, the bodies being removed to make way for a new dormitoryarea. These building were erected on an RFC loan as part of the NewDeal work-making program. A few years later, a similar dormitorygroups was built at North Gate. By 1933, the building program hadbeen partly completed. At that time, the Griffenhagen Company ofChicago promptly dropped an explosive in the lap of the Collegeadministration. The company reported to the Texas legislature thatthe College had overbuilt so badly that it had accommodations fortwice as many agricultural students, ten times as many veterinarystudents, and three times as many petroleum engineers as wereenrolled. The report also advocated a general break-up of the A&Msystem, with divorce of junior colleges and the Forest Service,moving of some of the engineering work to Texas University, and abracketing of A&M with the teachers colleges under the StateBoard of Education instead of under a separate Board of Directors.However, a possible storm subsided. "Bryan and Hearne Girls SeekEntrance to College by Court Action" scream a headline from theBattalion of September 27, 1938. In 1933, the prior years, girls hadgone to school here. The permission had been granted daughters ofCollege employees residing in Brazos County. When this happened, apetition was drawn up and signed by twelve girls and Bryan and twofrom Hearne, demanding the same privilege. Judge W. C. Davis of theEighty-fifth Judicial District ruled that the College had authorityto deny enrollment to girls on the grounds that they were not"biologically adapted" to enrollment in the College or the jobs forwhich graduates were fitted.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt reviewed the cadetcorps and spoke in Kyle Field stadium in 1937, while on a tour of theSouthwest. A twenty-one gun salute greeted him on his train arrival,the first time in the history of the College that such an honor hadbeen accorded. His son, Elliott, was a director of the College at thetime. National fame came to A&M in 1939, when a football teamsparked by "jarring Jawn" Kimbrough was undefeated for an entireseason, including a Sugar Bowl game. Football fame and apreparation-for-war program boomed attendance. The additionalbuildings condemned by the Griffenhagen report were soon jam-packed.

Meanwhile, a little four-footed creature had descendedupon the A&M campus and captured the fancy of the entire cadetcorps. Her name was Reveille. In her heyday, she would romp in frontof the Aggie Band as it played during halftime and would be accordedmore special privileges than many whose seniority was unquestionable.If she entered a cadets room and decided to lay herself down on hisbunk to take a nap, he was duty bound to let her lay and find his ownplace to sleep. She later became official mascot. Her death came onJanuary 19, 1944, and the ceremony was not spared military honors.Time Magazine described ROTC activities of A&M College, andWalter Wanger came from Hollywood to make a moving picture on thecampus featuring cadet life. Sbisa Hall was converted into a soundstage, and the campus was soon cluttered with prop men, cameramen,sound track experts, make-up artists, and the usual paraphernaliaaccompanying such trips. Classes were cut and exams were failed. Thepresence of movie queens, actors, and technicians had been todisconcerting. The company returned to Hollywood to finish thepicture.

The war had begun, and SanJacinto Day acquired a new solemnity for Aggies all over the world.A&M exes met on Corregidor under the leadership of General GeorgeF. Moore for a San Jacinto Day reunion a few days before "The Rock"surrendered. The same thing happened on such battlefield as Anzio andGuadalcanal. On the campus, the business of turning out officers wasunderway more than ever. Units of Navy, Air Force, Marines, and thecorps of cadets combined in a special dress parade, the likes ofwhich has never been seen on this campus again.

In 1944, the Board of Directors announced theresignation of Dr. Walton as president, due to ill health. Dean F. C.Bolton served as acting president for a year, and then Dean GibbGilchrist of the Engineering School was named head executive of theCollege. After the ware, a San Jacinto "homecoming" was held on KyleField. General "Ike" Eisenhower, the main speaker, paid tribute tothe dead servicemen of Texas A&M. And also on that Easter in1946, six congressional medals of honor were awarded to formerA&M students. Returning veterans swamped the campus, and for thefirst time the cadet corps was outnumbered by "civilian" students,most of whom, however, had been cadets before the war. At thebeginning of the spring term in 1947, new and stricter rules were putinto effect concerning hazing as applied to "room service" byfreshmen. At midnight the day the rules were issued, the cadet corpsofficers marched to President Gilchrist's home and surrendered theircommissions. A few weeks later, the Veteran Students Associationasked the famous "six question." The "A&M Story" became top newsfor Texas papers for weeks thereafter. The unsavory situationincluded such inglorious highlights as cadet trials, publicdenouncements, mass meetings, and state investigations. A question ofhazing soon became a question of the future status of the corps.Anti-administration charge broke down when a witness in thelegislature hearing, a former student discharged for academicfailure, confessed that he and six others had planned the affair. TheCollege before this unpleasant incident had reached in zenith insize, facilities, and enrollment. The program designed for veteranswas outstanding.

In '48, the Board ofDirectors formed a Texas A&M College System, with the A&MCollege as one of its component units. Gibb Gilchrist was namedChancellor of the new System, with responsibilities for all collegesand services. F. C. Bolton, Dean of the College for many years,became president. The eleventh president of the College wasundoubtedly one of the most popular to be inaugurated. His two-yearterm included further scholastic and physical development of thecampus, the Memorial Student Center being a noteworthy example in thelatter category. Besides being one of the smoothest and mostefficient administrations in the history of the College, it climaxedBolton's forty-one years of service to A&M.

This year has been a big one. College has celebrated itsbirthday and in so doing has tried to give citizens of the state anopportunity to examine the institution. The year saw A&M gettingits first former student as president. Tom Harrington was inauguratedin the fall. Educators from all over the nation were present for theoccasion. General Dwight Eisenhower, president of Columbia, deliveredthe inauguration address. President John A. Hanna of Michigan StateCollege, delivered an address at a luncheon for all the delegates tothe inauguration. A&M began another educational practice that isdestined to be copied by many other schools in the Southwest. For thefirst time the Basic Division for our freshman was organized. Thepurpose of this division was to help the student tackle hisschoolwork in an intelligent manner. A comprehensive testing andguidance program was set up to help the freshmen to make wise choicesin the matter of vocations and professions. This was the first timethe freshmen had all been enrolled in only one school of A&MCollege.

April 21st found membersof the faculty, staff, and student body celebrating the AnnualMuster. On that same day the new Memorial Student Center wasofficially dedicated to the memory of those A&M men who had paidthe supreme sacrifice in World Wars I and II. This year has seen theCenter take on a prominent place in the lives of every individualclose to the College. Completion of the work on the Center marked theend of the first milestone in a new building program designed to giveA&M adequate classroom, laboratory, and teaching facilities. Thenew Biological Science Building was complete this year, as were thelaboratory facilities for the Animal Husbandry Department on the westside of campus. Work and plans for other buildings were started.Construction on the new Administration Building began. Plans weremade for the new Engineering Library, the new Engineering Building,and even some whispering was done about a new Field House. One thatwould seat the entire student body at one time.

This has been thephenomenal culmination of especially the last twenty-five years'growth. We are comparatively a young College. If this much can bedone in seventy-five years, it will be a thrilling occasion to bepresent at the next College celebration of this kind in 1976 - theCentennial. If we're wise, we shouldn't miss it for the world.

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