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Preservationists HATE Her! This 140-Year-Old Campus Only Looks 50!

By Ring Chunks , in Campus Life , at April 13, 2020 Tags: , , , ,

Preservationists HATE this local campus for looking so young! Keep reading to find out how you can destroy the only beautiful thing about the inevitable march of time.

Texas A&M University was founded in 1876 but looks like it was built in the late 20th century due to its brutalist campus design. Old Main, the very first building on campus, was built in 1875 and burned down in 1912. The oldest building currently standing on campus is the State Chemist (Analytical Services) Building, which dates from 1909. Despite a supposed love of all history, preservationists lament the fact that many beautiful pieces of architecture are gone while the Analytical Services building still stands.

Some demolished or heavily remodeled buildings include Assembly Hall (1889-1929), Chemistry and Veterinary Building (1902-1929), Gathright Hall (1876-1933), Foster Hall (1899-1951), Assembly Hall (1923-1953), Pfeuffer Hall (1887-1954), Austin Hall (1888-1955), Ross Hall (1892-1955), Science Hall (1900-1963), Aggieland Inn (1925-1966), Guion Hall (1918-1971), Bagley Hall (1904-1972), Mitchell Hall (1912-1972), Serum Laboratory (1917-1972), Goodwin Hall (1908-1989), Cain Pool (1962-1997), Charles DeWare Field House (1924-1997), Puryear Hall (1928-1997), Downs Natatorium (1932-1997), Law Hall (1928-1997), Crocker Hall (1942-2011), McInnis Hall (1965-2011), Moore Hall (1942-2011), G. Rollie White Coliseum (1954-2013), Old Zachry (1972-2015), and the recently demolished Bizzell Hall (1918-2017).

For a university so rooted in tradition, the architectural artifacts of two centuries ago seem to be dispensable. When new visitors set foot on campus for the first time, they are not reminded of a 140-year-old establishment but instead of the floors at Home Depot.

Texas A&M stays so youthful after all these years by getting rid of buildings as soon as they become inconvenient. Unravaged by time, the sleek concrete surfaces of most campus buildings cement Texas A&M’s place as a modern university untethered to history.

 

— Ring Chunks