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"Honoring Our Mayors"
for College Station's 70th
Anniversary
By NIKA HANCOCK
n 1938, twenty-three signatures were submitted to the A&M Board of Directors requesting
the incorporation of College Station. Those names began the formation of a city now
1 celebrating its 70th birthday. In honor of the occasion, an exhibit will open this month at
the College Station Conference Center offering a retrospective on both the history of College
Station and the city's leadership with the "Honoring Our Mayors" display.
Anne Boykin, Heritage Program Coordinator and main organizer of the exhibit, brainstormed
about what could be done during the year to commemorate the city's birthday. She was inspired
one afternoon when walking through City Hall past the succession of mayors' portraits. Boykin
says, "I just glanced up I've passed by the mayors' pictures a million times and I thought, you
know that would really be cool to display all of these with a little bit of history."
Boykin says that each of College Station's twelve elected mayors will be spotlighted, along with
a time line of milestones important to the city's history and a display showing the progression of
city hall buildings. Artifacts, such as the original petitions to incorporate and to hold an election
see Mayors page 6
Page 14&15
for mayor, will also be exhibited. Citizens listed on these petitions will
sound familiar, as many of these "founding fathers" now have streets look at that exhibit. It is a gift to go to
named in their honor in town. This historical arrangement will be set up one location to see the history of our
in the center foyer area of the College Station Conference Center and is city relative to the various mayors and
council members who have served."
open to the public at no cost.
As part of the Heritage Program's work, the purpose of this exhibit is to
educate and commemorate. However, Boykin hopes the display might
also help preserve a close-knit community that makes educated decisions
when voting on city issues. She says, "We want to take care of it, we want
to protect it, we want to kind of keep the same atmosphere we've had for
so many years. The more we educate people about the history of [the
city], the better off we are because people then have a sense of belonging
and a sense of `This is my town too."'
The exhibit is the work of the Historical Preservation Committee,
which is charged with aiding in the collection and preservation of the
city's history and providing citizens with education on that history. The
committee has created programs such as the Historic Marker Program,
the Exploring History Lunch Lecture Series, and the award-winning
Project HOLD (Historic Online Library Database). HOLD provides an
Internet-based archive where citizens shape history by providing their
photographs and historic documents to be digitally stored and made
available for public use, research and education.
Mayor Ben White says, "I would like to personally extend an invitation
to every citizen of College Station and the community to come by and
Peggy Campbell, 1938
tO E GE STATION
t L.. E ~ 7 3 IN/17
POP 7184
1938-1940 John H. Binney
1940-1942 Frank G. Anderson
1942-1966 Ernest K. Langford
1966-1971 David A. Anderson
1971-1974 James B. Hervey
1974-1976 Oris M. Holt
1976-1980 - Lorence Bravenec
1980-1986 Gary Halter
1986-1996 - Larry J. Ringer
1996-2002 Lynn Mcllhaney
2002-2007 - Ron Silvia
2007-2010 Ben White
For more information about Heritage Programs:
visit h is lie>l .c stx gf;<v
or call the Heritage Programs Office in their new
location at the College Station Conference Center,
979-764-3491.
N
Peggy Campbell, 1938
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COLLEGE STAT 3N
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1938-1940 John H. Binney
1940-1942 Frank G. Anderson
1942-1966 - Ernest K. Langford
1966-1971 - David A. Anderson
1971-1974 James B. Hervey
1974-1976 Oris M. Holt
1976-1980 - Lorence Bravenec
1980-1986 Gary Halter
1986-1996 Larry J. Ringer
1996-2002 Lynn Mcllhaney
2002-2007 Ron Silvia
2007-2010 - Ben White