Architecture
La Salle Hotel
Occupying a prominent corner in the southern end of Bryan's central business district, the La Salle hotel is an architectural landmark representative of the city's early 20th-century commercial development.
History
Main Drill Field, Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University opened in October 1876 and established the Corps of Cadets to fulfill its Congressional mandate to teach military tactics. The students at what was then an all-male institution were required to serve in the corps and follow military discipline.
History
Martin's Place
In December 1924, Martin Kapchinskie purchased land at this site, along a one-lane country road connecting Bryan to Texas A&M University, near the communities of Union Hill and Midway. Here, he opened a store for travelers and named it Martin's Place, where he offered groceries, a public telephone, gasoline and barbecue.
Architecture
McMichael-Wilson House
Constructed in 1904 for lumberman and Brazos County clerk George Washington McMichael (1854-1904), this Queen Anne style home was purchased in 1912 by prominent planter Alfred Flournoy Wilson. It remained in the Wilson family for nearly 60 years. Outstanding features of the Bryan landmark are its corner turret, wraparound porch, pedimented entrance, and corner pavilion with conical roof.
History
Millican Massacre
Following Emancipation, federal Union soldiers arrived in Millican, along with the Freedmen's Bureau, to assist in the transition to Reconstruction. At the same time, the Ku Klux Klan first appeared in Millican, parading through Black neighborhoods and threatening violence. In response, many of the Freedmen armed themselves.
History
Millican, C.S.A.
Millican was Texas' northernmost railroad terminus when the war between the states began in 1861. It became a vital Confederate shipping point for the area extending to the Red River on the north and to be frontier settlements in the west. The products of that region moved over the rails of the Houston and Texas Central Railroads from Millican to Houston, Beaumont, Galveston and Alleyton.
History
Moravian (Czech) Cemetery
Land for this cemetery was sold in 1889 by Josef Stasta (1833-1894) to Joseph Mekeska, president of Moravian Brothers Burial Ground. The deed specified the land would be used exclusively for a Moravian cemetery. The cemetery contains eleven grave markers. All but one of the stones are inscribed in Czech. The one English-language stone marks four graves.
History
Mount Calvary Cemetery
Bryan's St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church began in 1873 with a congregation that drew from the city as well as rural communities in the area. For the next 25 years, the church used existing cemeteries for the burials of parishioners. These included Bryan City Cemetery, Moravian (Smetana) Cemetery and Kurten Cemetery. The Rev. Joseph Pelnar began his tenure at St.
History
Robert Henry
(March 7, 1801 - October 29, 1865) One of victors in Battle of San Jacinto. Born in Ireland; came to America, 1820, and here to Robertson's Colony, 1832. A staunch Presbyterian, kept true to faith at risk of life. In 1836 War for Texas Independence, he served in 2nd Regt., Infantry, Texas Volunteers. Prominent in public life, he held justice of peace court beneath shade trees.
History
Rock Prairie School and Church
German immigrant Adam Royder (d. 1894) donated one acre of land here for school purposes in 1891. A one-room schoolhouse was constructed where area students received instruction through the seventh grade. The Rock Prairie Missionary Baptist Church was organized in the schoolhouse in 1900, and church services were subsequently held there, as well.
History
Santa Teresa Catholic Church
In 1929, Father Frank D. Urbanovsky, known as Padre Panchito, came to Bryan to assist the pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church. He soon began to travel the countryside and minister to the Mexican and Mexican American population living in Bryan, surrounding towns and small, rural communities along the Brazos River, where they worked in agriculture, railroads and service jobs at Texas A&M College.
History
Shiloh Community
Settled in the 1860s by Czech, German, and Polish immigrants, the Shiloh community was an area of large family farms. In addition to homes and farms, the settlement at one time boasted a community center, a two-room school, a vineyard, a mill, and a blacksmith shop.
History
Site of First Public School in Bryan
At the polls on Oct. 29, 1877, the City of Bryan voted to establish a free public graded school--a very progressive step in an era of private schools. Interested citizens immediately bought and donated this block for the site. Financial help came from the George Peabody Foundation, a philanthropic agency devoted to education in the post-Civil War South. Cornerstone was laid in 1879.
History
Site of Odd Fellows University and Orphans Home
Founded 1870 by Odd Fellows lodge. Housed in a 2-story frame building. Taught drawing, English, French, German, Greek, Latin, music, philosophy, geometry, trigonometry, science, surveying, penmanship. Had primary to young adult students, attracted here from an 80-mile area. Records do not show planned orphanage ever operated. Funds came chiefly from tuition fees.
History
Site of the Town of Boonville
Established in 1841 as the county seat of Navasota County by John Millican, John H. Jones, J. Ferguson, E. Seale, and Mordecai Boon whose name it bears. The name of the county was changed to Brazos in 1842. Boonville flourished until 1866 when Bryan was established on the railroad. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
Site of Villa Maria Ursuline Academy
The Ursuline Sisters, founded by St. Angela in Italy in 1535, opened their first girls' school in North America in Quebec in 1639. In 1727, they opened the Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, followed in 1847 with the Ursuline Academy in Galveston. In addition to teaching, the nuns served as nurses during epidemics, hurricanes, fires and the Civil War.
History
St. Joseph Catholic Church
Although Catholic worship services were celebrated in Bryan by 1869, this church traces its history to the early 1870s. The first church building was erected about 1871 for a small active parish. The Reverend John Moore is considered to be the first full-time pastor of St. Joseph Church of Bryan. Fire destroyed the church structure in 1876.
History
St. Joseph School
The Rev. Joseph Pelnar of Bryan's St. Joseph Catholic Church erected a parish school building here in the early 1890s. The children of East European immigrant families dominated student enrollment at St. Joseph's until about the 1930s. Teachers included M. Elizabeth Carr (1890s), Nuns of the Ursuline Order (1901-1930), and Nuns of the Incarnate Word (1930-1981).
History
Steele's Store Community
Anglo settlement in this area can be traced to 1851. Henry B. Steele built a general merchandise store in 1855 to serve residents of the rural community, originally called Mudville because of frequent Brazos River floods. The store became the center of the community, and when a post office was established there in 1878 the settlement was renamed Steele's Store.
Military
Texas A&M Corps of Cadets
Soon after its opening in 1876, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M) established the Corps of Cadets to fulfill its mandate to instruct its students (all-male until the early 1960s) in military science. A&M contributed more officers to America's WW II effort than any other institution, includin the U.S. Military Academy.
History
Texas A&M University
The State Legislature authorized the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas April 17, 1871, under terms of the Federal Morrill Act. Constitutionally a part of a chartered, yet-unorganized state university, A&M gained its own directorate in 1875 with Governor Richard Coke as Board President. Brazos Countians provided its 2,416-acre site. Committed to "teach...branches of learning...
Transport
The CW&BV and I&GN Railroads in Bryan
Bryan was platted on land granted to the Houston & Texas Central Railroad in 1859. In 1900, a second railroad, the Calvert, Waco & Brazos Valley (CW&BV) was built through Bryan by George Gould. The CW&BV built a depot here in 1900; besides train activities, the depot hosted social events until it was razed in 1990.
Civic & Local
The Woman's Club
Founded in October 1895 as the Mutual Improvement Circle, this organization began with twenty members. Initially gathering in individual homes, the club met as a study group to improve members' minds, serve the community, and promote the cause of women's rights. Its program for the first year was a study of Greece.
History
Town Named for William Joel Bryan
(1814-1903) Native of Missouri. Member of prominent family who were Texas statesmen, planters, developers. Grandson of Moses Austin, who obtained from Mexico charter for American colony in Texas, but died before making settlement. Nephew of Stephen F. Austin, "Father of Texas", who actually established the colony. Came to Texas with his mother, Emily Austin Bryan Perry, in 1831.
Architecture
Waldrop House
Designed by Houston architects Jones & Tabor, this home was built for Allister (1877-1936) and Nanne Waldrop in the early 1900s. Waldrop, a prominent area retail merchant, also served as President of the Bryan School Board. The Waldrop house, built in the American Four-Square style, reflects the architectural trend of the times toward simplicity of design.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
