College Station Railroad Depots
College Station, Brazos County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1871 Texas governor Edmund Davis appointed three commissioners to select a site for the newly established Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M College). The commissioners chose this location in large part because of the existence of the Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) Railroad line which began in southeast Texas and extended through this area to Bryan (5 mi. north). Although no railroad depot existed here at the time of Texas A&M's formal opening in 1876, the H&TC made regular stops here for incoming and outgoing college students and faculty. H&TC railroad conductor announcements referring to to this stop as "College Station" gave rise to the name of the surrounding community. The H&TC Railroad constructed a depot at this site in 1883 which it replaced with a new depot about 1900. The H&TC depots and another built by the International & Great Northern (I&GN) Railroad just east of this site in 1900 were for many students who attended Texas A&M the first remembrance of their collegiate experience. Railroad depots owned by the H&TC (later named Southern Pacific) and I&GN (later named Missouri Pacific) maintained passenger service at this location until 1959. In 1966 the last of the depot structures was razed. (1993)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The commissioners who chose this spot for Texas A&M in 1871 did so largely because the Houston and Texas Central rail line already ran past it. Though no depot yet stood here when the college opened in 1876, conductors calling out the stop as "College Station" gave the surrounding town its name. Depots built by the H&TC and the International & Great Northern carried generations of cadets to and from campus until passenger service ended in 1959.
Why it matters
It captures how the railroad literally named and made an American college town, shaping where an institution—and a whole community—would rise.
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Related people
- · Edmund Davis
Themes & tags
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