1
mm*
Oct. 1, 1893
Volume 1, Number 1 of
The Battalion is published
1900
Spring, 1903 —
Harrington —
- President Grover Cleveland,
22nd & 2-lth President
(1885- 89,1893-97)
The Longhorn, predecessor to The
Aggieland yearbook was first published. The
yearbook was named after the species of cattle
that roamed the Texas prairie — not after the
University of Texas mascot.
A&M College trouble of 1908-
Sevcn members of The Battalion editorial board
suspended on May 20th after running an anicleip
22 disputing a published statement by President
Henry Harrington Harrington said the nunri;
the time had been forgotten and everythingwas
returning to normal. The president had disallowed!
Corps trip to the U.T. game in Dallas on Oct. 12,150'
Page 2
1893 • The Battalion • 1993
Thursday, September30,1
1893 — A look back at A&M College
A&M evolves from humble beginnings
By Margaret Claughton
The Battalion
Just 17 years after A&M began, a
group of students got together and
Began printing a newspaper specifi
cally for the colleges students and
faculty. They decided to call it The
Battalion. But the A&M College
these students were writing about
was much different from the A&M
of today.
In 1893, the entire college con
sisted of nine buildings. Only a few
of them had electricity, and none
had running water. The main
sources of communication between
the students and the outside world
were letters and occasional
telegraphs. The automobile had
not yet been invented, so students
and faculty used bicycles, horses and
wagons to get around.
Old Main Drive was nothing
but a wide grassless strip of dirt
deeply grooved by many wagon
wheel trenches. Any student head
ing east along this road would
eventually encounter Old Main, a
building considered the heart and
soul of A&M in 1893. The Acad
emic Building now stands on the
former site of Old Main, which
burned in 1912.
Old Main encompassed every
thing from the drawing department,
the horticulture and botany depart
ment, and the chemical private lab
oratory to the museum, the book
store, and the laboratory of Veteri
nary Science. Ornate in its design
ana massive in its size, Old Main
could be seen for miles around and
was revered as a fine structure by
many of the architects of its time.
The road that stretched in front
of Old Main led to the Texas Cen
tral Depot. The Houston and
Texas Central railroad was the only
means of mass transportation to
College Station in 1893. Most
A&M students arrived by train and
left campus only twice a year.
Mucn of the A&M campus
consisted of beautiful Texas coun
tryside. Large stretches of prairie
dotted with clumps of trees, and
beds of flowers made up most of
the 2,416 acres of land allotted to
the college.
College Lake sat on the south
west side of the campus surrounded
by cattails and willows. It was
brick
e early
known as a quiet place where stu
dents went to think and be close to
nature. Behind the lake’s dam was a
hideaway known as Lovers’ Retreat.
Lovers’ Retreat was a small con
cealed, cavern-like passage carpeted
with Bermuda grass and hidden by
branches and vines. This was the
place where young lovers went to
escape the drills of early college life
or to just have a little privacy.
A row of five, two-story
houses, known to most of tn<
cadets as “Down the Line,” ran be
hind College Lake. All of the
homes along “Down the Line” were
occupied by faculty members. Each
house had a well-kept grassy lawn
with blooming flowers and large
trees. The houses were arranged in
military fashion, exactly in line with
one another and all facing the same
direction. Some people described
them as “a line of well-drilled cadets
standing at attention.”
Looking “Down the Line,” a
cadet could see Pfeuffer Hall and
Assembly Hall. Pfeuffer Hall was a
two-story dormitory with the capac
ity to accommodate 75 students.
Assembly Hall, two stories as well,
stood surrounded by wild shrubs
and roses and served as the facility
used for presentations and other
ceremonies.
To the tight of Old Main and
across from Down the Line” were
the Ice factory, Austin Hall, Ross
Hall, the Mess Hall and the Presi
dent’s residence. Austin Hall dor
mitory was two stories tall and
could hold 75 students. Ross Hall,
the newest and largest of the dormi
tories, was three stories tall with 41
rooms and could accommodate up
to 82 students.
Behind Old Main were the farm
buildings, stables, growing crops,
die creamery, and the herds. The
farm buildings consisted of two
large barns, a milking shed and a
piggery. The creamery was a large
building outfitted with the latest
equipment for making butter and
cheese. The herds, a mixture of
pigs, Jerseys and Holsteins sporadi
cally dotted the pasture land behind
the main building.
Despite its limited transportation
and obscure location, students came
Inside . . .
Texas A&M in 1893
Page 2
A look at Bonfire
Page 3
The Bonfire that never was
Page 3
Death of Sul Ross
Page 4
Burning of Old Main
Page 4
A&M and World War I
Page 4
A&M and World War II
Page 5
History of The Battalion
Page 6-7
E.L. Bruce: The first editor
Page 6-7
1939: The Aggies’ National Title
Page 8
From College to University
Page 8
The J. Earl Rudder Years
Page 9
Women at A&M
Page 10
Breaking the Racial Barrier
Page 10
The Battalion vs. The Administration
Page 11
-
One hundred years ago, the campus of the A&M College stood in stark contrast to the bustling University
that exists today. The old dirt road leads to Old Main, the original centerpiece of the Texas A&M campus..
from as far away as New York to at
tend the Texas A&M College.
In order to be eligible for admis
sion in 1893, applicants needed to
be at least 15 years old and have no
infectious diseases or deformities.
The younger applicants were re
quired to pass satisfactory examina
tions in mathematics and English.
Upon arriving at A&M, each
student was expected to report to
the president of the college and
state on honor that he had no
firearms or deadly weapons. If he
had them, he was to deposit them
with the president.
Not many students meet the
University president face to face
anymore, and A&M definitely has
more than nine buildings. But the
students of A&M in 1893 had one
thing in common with the Aggies
of today — the same appreciation,
loyalty and outright college spirit.
“How familiar to our view and
how dear to our hearts are these
scenes of our youth. He'aven prosper
our Alma Mater, the dear old A.
and M. C.!”
— the graduating class of 1894
Acknowledgments . . .
—
There have been so many people who have donated their time
and resources to making this issue look top-notch. Thanks
definitely go to the University Archives, whose staff has had to deal
with the onslaught of Battalion staffers for the last three weeks. A
special thanks to head archivist Dr. Charles Schulz and assistant
archivist Dr. David Chapman.
Thanks also go to Dr. Henry Dethloff for his wealth of
historical knowledge and 99-year-old Amber May Threlkeld for
graciously letting us into her home to talk to her about A&M life
at the turn of the century. Also, thank you to John Robinson and
his late uncle John Ehrhardt whose 1900 Corps uniform proudlyis
displayed on the cover.
Special thanks go to the Corps of Cadets Center and curator joe
Fenton for bending over backwards to help us. Their library and
old artifacts were beautiful elements to our cover. Abe and Pat
Messarra from ABE Office Supply provided the L.C. Smith
typewriter from approximately 1910. Juanita Galindo from
Campus Photo lent us the old camera.
Also, thanks goes to Robert Wegener, George Englebretson,
Donna Roth and Darrin Hill.
Finally, and most importantly, thanks goes to the Fall 1993 staff
of The Battalion. The people who worked on this issue pushed
themselves to incredible lengths to see this come to fruition, and
they succeeded. Special thanks go to Mark Evans for his devotion
and his organization, to Mary Kujawa for giving up the last
month of her life to write some incredible pieces for this issue, and
to Kyle Burnett for his incredible cover photo.
To all of the above, thanks for everything.
From the Editor . . .
It started with only a handful of
cadets, just a small group of people
who wanted to publish a
newspaper. Little did they know
that the publication they called The
Battalion would evolve into a Texas
A&M tradition.
On Oct. 1, 1893, these men
published the first edition of Texas
A&M’s newspaper. It was a crude
publication, to say the least.
It was small, about half the size
of a piece of notebook paper. Its
major stories were the decline of the
A&M baseball team and the soon-
to-be built electric light and power
house.
Yet at the top of the page in their
salutatory, these cadets profoundly
commented on their new creation.
“Boys, this paper is yours,” the
section read. “Make it something.
Lend all your assistance possible. It
is your duty, and should be your
pleasure to write something for
every issue.”
Also in the salutatory, E.L.
Bruce, The Battalion s first editor in
chief, was given instmetions that he
and all succeeding editors would
follow.
“He shall do everything in his
power to make these pages lively,
interesting and instructive.”
One hundred years later, the
students are no longer all cadets, the
electric light and power house has
been torn down, and The Battalion
looks far different from the form
used by its founders.
Yet this newspaper has
endeavored throughout the last
century to provide the people of
Texas A&M with information that
is lively, interesting and instructive.
That is the unfailing mission of The
Battalion every time it hits the
stands.
It is in the spirit of E.L. Bruce
and his small group of cadets that
we present this most special issue.
Our goal has been to provide a
glimpse of what The Battalion has
seen over the last 100 years. From
victory to tragedy, through change
and tradition, Texas A&M has
grown with The Battalion since
1893.
Those cadets might never have
imagined that their crude
publication would eventually
become one of the largest and most
recognized college newspapers in
the nation. Still, their original
vision of informing Texas A&M has
endured for 100 years, and no
doubt will endure for 100 more.
— Chris Whitley
The Battalion
100th Anniversary Edition
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Chris Whitley
MANAGING EDITOR
Juli Phillips
SPECIAL SECTION EDITOR
Mark Evans
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS - Anas Ben-Musa, Belinda
Blancarte, Kyle Burnett, Mack Harrison, Stephanie Pattillo, Dave
Thomas
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS - Michele Brinkmann, Margaret
Claughton, Lisa Elliott, Cheryl Heller, Mary Kujawa, Kim
McGuire, Jacqueline Mason, Carrie Miura, Geneen Pipher, Michael
Plumer, Jennifer Smith, Mark Smith, Stephanie Pattillo
RESEARCH — Mary Macmanus
COVER PHOTO - Kyle Burnett
The Battalion
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