HomeMy WebLinkAboutMap Your Way through B-CS Architecturew
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being, we can buy a tank
of gas without having to
in a CD, so let's crank up
ie and take a different
of arts tour of the Brazos
'y -one you can navi-
with ajust alocal road
I've only been in residence
here since 1984, which makes
me still a newbie compared to
many, if not most. It's long
enough to know that there is
gobs of architecture and his-
tory just in Brazos County
that's worth adrive-by.
It's a Sunday outing that
will bore the kids to tears, but
it's just an hour or two out of
their lives and they'll eventu-
ally either forgive you or for-
get it ever happened.
Did you know that Bryan
has what's called an East Side
Historical District? It's home
to about three dozen struc-
tures that the Brazos Heritage
Society includes in its Guide
to Historic Brazos County.
This remarkably handy
brochure will educate and
navigate you through the var-
ious building styles that date
to the Victorian and Neo-
classical Revival of the late
1800s, on to the Dutch
Colonial and the transitional
styles of the early 1900s and
then the eclectic brick of the
Roaring 20s. (Let the kids
read that last sentence a cou-
ple of times just to build the
excitement.)
So get your map (or better
yet, go to brazosheritage.org
and download the latest
guide), drive to the corner of
Texas Avenue and 27th Street
in Bryan and turn east. On
27th, there's the 1917
McDougal-Jones House at 600,
then the 1892 Edwin Jenkins
Home at 607. Charlie Jenkins
built it for his brother, the
mayor, who ran Jenkins
Drugs on Main Street.
Go to Baker Street, turn
right to 29th Street and take
another right, slow down and
enjoy the next two blocks of
architectural overload.
Jenkins built the house at 614
E. 29th for banker A.W.
Wilkerson in 1912, the same
year W.O. Sanders built his
own house at 610 29th.
At 611 29th, the Dansby
House has stood for 106 years,
built for another banker,
Edwin Hall, and later occu-
pied by Bryan mayor Roland
Dansby. At 600 29th is the
Astin-Porter House, another
Jenkins original, built for
Onah Astin in 1901. The next
block features the Wipprecht
House at 500 and James
House at 501.
That's just two streets of
one section of only Bryan.
The magic guide will take you
on to 30th, 31st and 32nd
streets, and back to Baker
Street, where in 1880, Fannin
School was the first public
school built in Bryan. It's
been rebuilt twice, in 1918 and
1990.
At 609 S. Ennis St., the
Eugene Edge House was built
in 1920 but previously was the
site of Texas Women's College
and Bryan Baptist Academy.
Only a post from the
Academy remains.
The Hudson-Harrison
House, at 616 E. 31st, was
another Jenkins offering,
built in 1896 at the corner of
Houston and 28th and moved.
in 1984 to escape the wrecking
ball.
While Bryan beat College
Station to incorporation by
some 71 years, the Brazos
Heritage Society guide says
College Station was "born" in
1871 with what was called the
Agricultural and Mechanical
College of Texas. A&M, the
guide says, was placed five
miles south so as to not
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expose students to the
"immoral influence of
Bryan's saloons and gambling
halls."
Although a few decades
more modern, College
Station's older buildings have
unique charm and even more
intriguing stories.
The building where Cafe
Eccel stands on Church Street
was College Station City Hall
until 1970. The house at 1004
Ashburn was Coach Homer
Norton's home when he led
A&M to the 1939 national
title. The house at 210 Lee St.
has light fixtures from the
original Aggieland Inn on the
A&M campus.
Texas A&M's
Administration Building was
built in 1932 for $50,000 by
Work Progress
Administration workers.
That was a program FDR
introduced as part of the New
Deal to help millions of
Americans climb out of the
Great Depression.
You can tour all that the
Brazos Valley offers without
this official guide, but at y
own risk.
The Brazos Heritage
Society Web site is at
www.brazosheritage.org,
that's where you can fmd
how to get or download yo
own Guide to Historic Bra:
County.
Arts Watch
Tom Turbiville