Aggieland Through the Ages: Explore 150 Years of Notable Campus Moments

35* (1876)

* The number of students rose rapidly during the first academic year, starting at 6 on the first day of classes, growing to 35 by Dec. 25, 1876, and ending the spring semester with 106.

First faculty members appointed. Thomas Gathright named first president (1876).

Classes begin (1876) with emphasis on agriculture, engineering and military science in keeping with land-grant status.

Four-year curriculum adopted (1887).

Old Main Building, Gathright Hall and five faculty residences (1876).

First electric lighting system (1890) and first power plant (1893).

Texas Collegian becomes the first student newspaper (1878). This later evolved to The Battalion; its first issue (1893) includes the earliest known use of the word “fish” as a reference to a freshman.

Ross Volunteers form under the name Scott Volunteers (1887).

Singing Cadets trace their origins to the Glee Club (1893).

Now forming in Aggieland: the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band (1894).

Olio debuts as first yearbook (1895).

Oldest known Aggie Ring (1889).

Dress parade begins after graduation (1897), which later becomes Final Review.

Postal Service dubs the area “College Station” (1877).

Legendary bootmaker Holick’s opens for business as a shoe store (1891).

Texas Agricultural Experiment Station begins improving farming techniques through research (1888). First focuses? Cotton blight and Texas tick fever.

Wacky: Join the Redheaded Club (1895). The redder your hair, the higher your status.

Did you know Texas A&M predates 12 U.S. states?

432 (1901)

New schools: Agriculture (1911); Engineering (1911); Veterinary Medicine (1916); Arts & Sciences (1924).

Graduate programs begin (1924).

Old Main succumbs to fire (1912). Academic Building erected on the site (1914).

Sbisa Dining Hall (1913).

Original water tower (1920).

First March to the Brazos, dubbed “the Hike” (1909).

Senior boots appear (1920).

Whoop for the Yell Leaders (1906) and the first Yell Practice (1913).

First recorded Bonfire before a Texas A&M vs. UT game (1907), adapting the Bonfire tradition that had begun in the late 1890s.

“Gig ’em” appears in a Yell Book; first Block T formation (1915).

First recorded mention in The Batt of Silver Taps being played for a student’s death (1918).

“The Aggie War Hymn” (1918) and “The Spirit of Aggieland” (1925).

E. King Gill ’24 begins the 12th Man tradition (1922).

First Elephant Walk (1925).

Interurban Railway announces daily service between Bryan and Texas A&M College (1910).

A&M Consolidated School opens (1920).

Texas Engineering Experiment Station begins conducting engineering research (1914). Texas A&M Forest Service and Agricultural Extension Service take root (1915).

Wacky: Lions, tigers and bears? Oh my! A short-lived zoo opens on campus (ca 1920).

Campus becomes a military training site for World War I (1917). Nearly half of all living Aggies join the fight.

2,395 (1926)

College recognized by Association of American Universities (1934).

Construction begins on first permanent concrete stands at Kyle Field (1927).

Jack K. Williams Administration Building (1932).

Duncan Dining Hall (1939).

Aggies start enjoying summer nights at the Grove (1942).

Fish Drill Team forms (1947).

Ross Volunteers named military honor guard and escort to Texas governor (1950).

First Midnight Yell (1931).

Cadets adopt Reveille I (1931), who becomes first mascot.

Aggie Ring adopts a standard design (1934).

First Ring Dance (1934).

Northgate’s roots take shape as the central business district (1930s).

Ol’ Army Lou ’32 launches a legacy with Loupot’s Trading Post/Loupot’s Bookstores (1932).

City of College Station is incorporated (1938).

President Franklin Roosevelt visits campus to review the Corps and speaks at Kyle Field (1937).

BTHO everyone! Football team wins national championship (1939-40).

Easterwood Air Field dedicated (1941).

The Texas A&M University System is established (1948).

Liberty Bell replica comes to campus (1950).

Wacky and wonderful: Campus life marches onto the silver screen in the World War II film “We’ve Never Been Licked” (1943).

More than 20,000 Aggies serve in World War II. Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder ’32 leads the capture of Pointe du Hoc (1944) and famous Musters occur on Corregidor Island (1942, 1946).

6,583 (1951)

African Americans and women permitted to enroll on a limited basis (1963).

Texas A&M University at Galveston’s Mitchell Campus dedicated after a gift of 100 acres from George Mitchell ’41 (1968).

New colleges: Business Administration (1968); Education (1969); Architecture (1969).

Sea-grant status (1971).

Memorial Student Center dedicated (1951).

All Faiths Chapel (1957).

Rudder Tower (1973).

Arches complete the Quad (1975).

New orgs: Fish Camp (1954); SCONA (1955); OPAS (1972); Parsons Mounted Cavalry (1973).

Aggies all scream for ice cream at the new Creamery building (1957).

Corps membership optional (1965). Women join the Corps (1974).

Bonfire sets record as world’s tallest at 107 feet, 10 inches (1969).

Traditions Council forms (1975).

City receives first federal grant (1966). Modern-day groundwork laid with encouragement of light industry and focus on city services.

Dixie Chicken opens (1974).

Texas A&M receives deed to Bryan Air Force Base (1962), which later becomes Texas A&M Riverside Campus.

Name changes to Texas A&M University (1963).

Elvis Presley plays at G. Rollie White, a year before entering the national mainstream (1955).

Wacky and wonderful: Cadet Slouch starts amusing Aggies with comical antics in The Battalion (1953).

Student leaders cancel Bonfire as a tribute to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Head Yell Leader Mike Marlow ’64 said, “It’s the most we have. It’s the least we can do.” (1963).

28,038 (1976)

College of Medicine admits first class (1977).

Space-grant status (1989).

Santa Chiara Study Center opens in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy (1989).

Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas merges into Texas A&M System (1996).

Bush School of Government and Public Service (1997).

Albritton Bell Tower (1984).

Rec Center (1995).

Reed Arena (1998).

The Big Event begins giving back (1982).

Corps special units and band open to women (1985).

T-Camp welcomes transfer students (1987).

Student Senate designates the first Tuesday of the month for Silver Taps (1979).

Spirit of ’02 cannon fires at a march-in (1982) and football game (1984), becoming a game day staple by 1988.

Maroon Out begins (1998).
 

Westinghouse Electric Co. becomes the first major industrial corporation in College Station (1980).

City pursues its own utilities and water supply (early 1980s) and focuses on encouraging quality of life and economic growth.

Post Oak Mall opens (1982).

Fan favorites Koppe Bridge (1992) and Layne’s Chicken Fingers (1994) open.

Ross Volunteers march in President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration parade (1981).

Bill Pailes ’81 becomes the first Aggie in space (1985).

Four U.S. presidents and six first ladies attend the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Complex dedication (1997).

Bonfire stack collapses (1999), killing 12 and injuring 27. 

Wonderful: Aggie Ring of World War II Medal of Honor recipient Turney Leonard ’42 returns to campus 56 years after being found on a European battlefield (2000).

Centennial Olympic Games torch crosses campus (1996).

Red, White and Blue Out at Kyle Field honors 9/11 victims and raises funds for New York police and firefighters (2001).

Campus shelters thousands of evacuees after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (2005).

44,701 (2001) and 81,354 (2025)

Texas A&M achieves membership in the Association of American Universities (2001).

Texas A&M Health Science Center joins Texas A&M University and Texas A&M School of Law debuts (2013).

Engineering Medicine program launches in Texas Medical Center (2019), grows into the School of Engineering Medicine (2021).

College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts takes the stage (2022).

WSJ ranks Texas A&M No. 1 in Texas for Best Colleges in U.S., No. 11 among public universities nationally (2025).

52 National Academy faculty members (2026).

Bonfire Memorial (2004).

The Veteran Resource & Support Center (2012).

Renovated Kyle Field (2015).

Riverside Campus becomes RELLIS Campus, an acronym reflecting the core values (2016).

The Gardens (2018).

BUILD forms to convert shipping containers to medical clinics (2013).

In our “Johnny Football” era (2011-13).

Junior class introduces Legacy Night as a lasting tradition that includes burying a 50-year time capsule (2022).

Rapid growth and focus on hospitality and tourism.

Prime location in “Texas Triangle” makes city a hub for new business, manufacturing and high-tech industry.

New City Hall (2021).

Texas A&M earns Military College of Texas designation (2002).

George R.R. Martin visits for the opening of his exhibit at Cushing Library (2013).

Aggie ACHIEVE, a program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, graduates first four students (2023).

“The King at Kyle Field”: George Strait breaks record for the largest ticketed concert in U.S. history at the time (2024).

Wonderful: CC, the world’s first cloned cat, is born at Texas A&M (2001).

Wacky: RIP to feral cat and unofficial campus mascot Bisbee (2012).

Five living former presidents gather at the One America Appeal Concert, a relief fundraiser for Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (2017).

Former First Lady Barbara Bush and former President George H.W. Bush are laid to rest at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum (2018).