Texas A&M University
College Station, Brazos County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The State Legislature authorized the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas April 17, 1871, under terms of the Federal Morrill Act. Constitutionally a part of a chartered, yet-unorganized state university, A&M gained its own directorate in 1875 with Governor Richard Coke as Board President. Brazos Countians provided its 2,416-acre site. Committed to "teach...branches of learning...related to agriculture and mechanic arts...to promote liberal and practical education," A&M opened Oct. 4, 1876, as the first state institution of higher learning actually operating in Texas. Thomas S. Gathright was President. Its original six students in seven academic departments grew to 28,038 students in eleven academic colleges by 1976. Initially an all-male, all-white school, it was desegregated as to color in 1963 and made fully coeducational in 1971. The Legislature recognized its diversified programs and international leadership in education and research by awarding the new name, Texas A&M University, on Aug. 23, 1963. On Sept. 17, 1971, the U.S. Congress made this one of America's first four Sea Grant Colleges. National defense has drawn from Texas A&M thousands of ROTC men, including 29 general officers for World War II.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Authorized by the Texas Legislature in 1871 under the federal Morrill Act, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas opened its doors in 1876 on 2,416 acres donated by Brazos County residents—the first state institution of higher learning actually operating in Texas. Beginning with six students and a mandate to teach agriculture and the mechanic arts, it grew into a vast university, desegregating in 1963, admitting women fully in 1971, and taking the name Texas A&M University. Its Corps of Cadets sent thousands of officers into national service.
Why it matters
As a founding land-grant college, Texas A&M embodies the nineteenth-century American ideal of practical, public higher education open to the working classes and tied to the nation's agricultural and industrial growth.
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Related people
- · Governor Richard Coke
- · Thomas S. Gathright
Related events
- · Morrill Act land-grant founding
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Texas AMC and WWI
College Station, TX
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas — the ancestor of today's Texas A&M — threw itself into the war effort with remarkable intensity. More than 2,200 Aggies served, some enlisting with Allied armies even before America joined, and the campus was designated a U.S. Army training base where soldiers learned radio mechanics, auto and carpentry trades, and meteorology for aviation and gas warfare. The Signal Corps meteorology school here was the only one of its kind among the Allied nations, and as male faculty left for service, women joined the teaching staff for the first time in the college's history.
Texas A&M Corps of Cadets
College Station, TX
Almost as soon as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas opened in 1876, it created the Corps of Cadets to meet its mandate to teach military science to its then all-male student body. The Corps sent more officers into World War II than any other institution in the country, including West Point, and spawned enduring traditions like the Aggie Band, Fish Drill Team, and Ross Volunteers.
Early Texas A&M Campus Housing
College Station, TX
When Texas A&M opened in 1876 four miles from the nearest town of Bryan, the college had to house its own faculty and staff, and the first five brick homes went up along Throckmorton Street that year. By 1938 more than a hundred houses—from Queen Anne mansions to modest bungalows—dotted the campus. After College Station was incorporated that year, the college sold the homes off for a few hundred dollars each and cleared the rest; none remain on campus, though forty-one have since been located nearby.
Main Drill Field, Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
When Texas A&M opened in 1876, its federal mandate to teach military tactics gave rise to the Corps of Cadets and this central parade ground, where cadets drilled before and after class. The Main Drill Field also hosted horse-drawn artillery, early pilot training, the university's first football games, and decades of Aggie Bonfires. In 1920 the school planted oak trees ringed with markers to honor former cadets killed in World War I, and the field later took the name of Lieutenant General Ormond R. Simpson, a decorated alumnus who served in three wars.