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Project HOLD presents: From the files of Project HOLD, Historic Online Library Database,http://HOLD.cstx.gov A Newsletter On October 19, 1938, the voting was 217 for and 39
against the incorporation of College Station, Texas. College Station marks 70 years of growth and progress since 1938 RAILROAD STATION GIVES BIRTH TO ITS NAMESAKE EARLY COMMUNITY OF
COLLEGE Early settlers in Brazos County came from European communities to escape the religious and financial hardships of their native countries. The fertile soils of the Brazos bottoms
brought farmers and ranchers to the Continued on Page 2 BEGINNINGS OF COLLEGE STATION A station was built along the railroad lines that serviced the new college. It followed that the
most obvious name would be the College station. The name stuck and efforts in the early 1960s to change the name were met with Continued on Page 2 THE HUNT FOR A CITY HALL A suitable
and dedicated City Hall remained just outside the grasp of the City fathers until a small one story building was built at 101 Church Street at Northgate in 1947. Previous locations for
meetings and City business were: Continued on Page 2 The Historic Preservation Committee & Project HOLD are striving to preserve our area history. January 2008 CITY OF COLLEGE STATIONPROJECT
HOLD 1101 Texas Avenue College Station, Texas 77840 TELEPHONE979.764.3491 in OFFICE HOURSM-F: 1 -5 P.M. E-MAIL: aboykin@cstx.gov Children at the College depot, c. 1900 Bill Stasny, c.1910
First City Council, 1938 Mexia News, March 24, 1938
Volunteers are always welcome in Project HOLD. Apply online at: www.cstx.gov EARLY COMMUNITY OF COLLEGE From page 1 area. One small community, Steele’s Store (also called Mudville),
along the Brazos River was settled by Italian immigrants around 1860. It was considered to be the largest inland agrarian settlement of Italians in the nation. Other communities grew
up in the county giving the area a rich heritage of Czechs, Germans, Poles, Africans, and Mexicans. Small one room rural schools were built as the need for education became prevalent.
BEGINNINGS OF COLLEGE STATION From page 1 The establishment of the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas in 1876 further secured the community of College. The once primitive land
saw a burst of growth when the college faculty and staff sought housing and schools for their families. Businesses sprang up all around the College to capitalize on the growing economy.
Before long, the City of Bryan was no longer eight miles down the road. THE HUNT FOR A CITY HALL From page 1 the Agriculture Building on campus, above Aggieland Photo at Northgate, and
the second floor of the Burgess Building at Southside, Over the next 22 years, the City continued to expand making a new City Hall a necessity. A groundbreaking for the current City
Hall took place on April 26, 1969 with former Mayor Ernest J. Langford, City Manager Ran Boswell and Mayor D.A. “Andy” Anderson officiating. The modern architecture of 1101 Texas Avenue
still distinguishes itself even as plans are currently underway to replace it. As the community expanded, so did the need for more housing, roads, utilities, and schools. As the City
of College Station endeavored to provide these necessities, they recently had the foresight to preserve their early history through the work of the Historic Preservation Committee and
Project HOLD. First phase of the current City Hall First City Hall Chemistry Building Aggieland Photo Burgess Building in Mayor Ernest Langford, City Manager Ran Boswell, Mayor Andy
Anderson
We want you on our Oral History Team! Call today! 979.764.3491 Steamboats once travelled up and down the Brazos River. Oct. 4, 1876, Gov. Richard Cole dedicates the Agricultural
and Mechanical College of Texas. In 1910, the Bryan-College Interurban began operation to transport people between Bryan and the College. In 1918, the first telephone was installed
in College Station. During the 1920s, College Station begins developing a shopping area adjacent to the college. In 1935, Lauterstein’s military supplies and tailoring had phone
number 1. The campus steam whistles blew from two tall smoke stacks on campus at 8am, noon, 1pm and 5pm daily. In 1943, the City of College Station electricity was billed at 10¢
for 25 kwh and water was 75¢ for the first 1000 gal. Home mail delivery was twice daily in the 50s. The intersection of Sulphur Springs Road (now University Drive) and South College
was a traffic circle that gave rise to the name of the nearby drive-in, the Circle Drive In Theater. The Hillel Foundation building on Jersey Street (now George Bush) was built with
a Star of David in the eaves that casts a shadow on the front of the building at high noon. Winding Road was once called Taurus Street, the only bull among the cow streets. Several
homes in the Oakwood and Southside neighborhoods have bomb shelters. The last Campus House to be moved off the A&M campus was ousted from two neighborhoods before finally settling
on a lot just outside the city limits at the end of Laura Lane. College Station opened its own Fire Department in 1970, finally separating from Texas A&M. One of the deepest
impulses in man is the impulse to record, -to scratch a drawing on a tusk or keep a diary, to collect sagas and heap cairns. This instinct as to the enduring value of the past is, one
might say, the very basis of civilization. ~John Jay Chapman, Memories and Milestones College Station History Facts and Figures IF YOU KNOW THESE ALREADY THEN CONSIDER YOURSELF A COLLEGE
STATION HISTORY BUFF OR AN OLD TIMER Aerial view of A&M Consolidated Elementary and Junior High, c. 1967 Principal Rowena Creswell in
Help us preserve our history by loaning your documents, photos and memorabilia to be scanned into the Project HOLD database. If you know of someone who has a story to tell, let us record
their oral history. Call 979.764.3491 today! COMING SOON! COLLEGE STATION 1938 -2008 An exhibition CS Conference Center 1300 George Bush Dr. January 2008 FROM: City of College StationPROJECT
HOLD 1101 Texas Avenue College Station, Texas 77845 MAIL TO: First School Building The first children of faculty and staff to attend classes on the campus of the A. & M. College went
to Pfeiffer Hall. By 1920, the first dedicated grade school was built on campus. in