Texas A and M University - Aggieland Yearbook (College Station, TX)

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Chemistry Building

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Old Agricultural Building

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Texas A. and M. THEN we think of our College we do not realize that it represents a comparatively recent experiment in education and that it is the result of only a few years of growth and de¬ velopment. We are prone to accept things as they are, benefit by them, and pass on and are too little concerned with the past as it bears on the present and future. Since the “Longhorn” is intended to be representative of A. and M., it can do no better than to give us all the best possible understanding of the problems and the achievements of the men who built this College. A deeper appreciation of their work and a greater love for our school should be the result. This history is written with the hope that a knowledge of the past will lead to a better grasp of the present and a greater interest in the future. Hon. Justin S. Murrell, an able Vermont Congressman, first conceived the system of land grant colleges, of which we are a part. In 1853 he introduced a congressional bill providing for the establishment of such a system upon a land grant basis. His plan involved the granting of 20,000 acres of public land to each member of Congress for the purpose of promoting technical education in this state. Evidently President Buchanan considered the step as too great a de¬ viation from the then accepted classical ideals of education, for he vetoed the bill after it had received congressional approval. The matter was not resumed under Buchanan’s administration. On July 2, 1862, however, Congress passed a very similar bill appropriating 30,000 acres of public land for each congress¬ man to apply in the interest of education in his state, a bill which Lincoln approved. The col¬ leges thus established were to be primarily for the benefit of the agricultural and mechanical sciences, as they were then known, though it was understood that the liberal arts were not to be totally excluded. In the beginning the greatest stress was laid on agriculture. After the Cen¬ tennial Exposition in Philadelphia, however, practical shop work gained increasing popularity because of a valuable exhibition of such work which Russia made at the Exposition. On November 1, 1866, the Texas Legislature formally approved the Congressional Bill and agreed to abide by its provisions. Shortly thereafter Congress issued land scrip for 180,000 acres to Texas. This was sold for 8174,000 and invested in Texas gold frontier bonds to form the fund whose interest is helping to maintain our College today. Little further action was taken until the spring of 1871. The Legislature then added 8187,000 to the congressional ap¬ propriation and named a commission which it entrusted with the task of locating the proposed Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. After a lengthy consideration of offers from various parts of the State, the commission decided on the divide between the Navasota and Brazos rivers as the best site for the new institution. The citizens of Brazos County had agreed to add 2,416 acres of land there located to the endowment of Congress and thus secured the location of the College. Five years later the Constitutional convention designated the College as a technical branch of Texas University, a measure which entitled it to share a land grant of one million acres with that institution. The body then vested in the Legislature the right to levy such taxes as might be necessary to fill the needs of the Institution, and everything was in readi¬ ness to make the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas a reality. On October 4, 1876, our College was formally opened. According to Professor R. P. W. Morris, the first commandant, six students reported on that memorable day and, as there were six professors, each student received all the personal attention that he needed. Difficult prob¬ lems were not long in presenting themselves. The Board of Directors, composed of Governor Coke, Lieutenant-Governor R. B. Hubbard, Guy M. Bryan, Speaker of the House, B. H. Davis, and C. S. West were inexperienced and had no precedents to govern them. They had found it Pane l 7