The history of Texas A&M University, the first public institution of higher education in Texas, began in 1871, when the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas was established as a land-grant college by the Reconstruction-era Texas Legislature. Classes began on October 4, 1876. Although Texas A&M was originally scheduled to be established under the Texas Constitution as a branch of the yet-to-be-created University of Texas, subsequent acts of the Texas Legislature never gave the university any authority over Texas A&M. In 1875, the Legislature separated the administrations of A&M and the University of Texas, which still existed only on paper.
For much of its first century, enrollment at Texas A&M was restricted to men who were willing to participate in the Corps of Cadets and receive military training. During this time, a limited number of women were allowed to attend classes but forbidden from gaining a degree. During World War I, 49% of A&M graduates were in military service, and in 1918, the senior class was mustered into military service to fight in France. During World War II, Texas A&M produced over 20,000 combat troops, contributing more officers than both the United States Military Academy and United States Naval Academy combined.
Shortly after World War II, the Texas Legislature redefined Texas A&M as a university and the flagship school of the Texas A&M University System, making official the school's status as a clear and separate institution from the University of Texas. In the 1960s, the state legislature renamed the school Texas A&M University, with the "A&M" becoming purely symbolic. Under the leadership of James Earl Rudder, the school became racially integrated and coeducational. Membership in the Corps of Cadets became voluntary.
In the second half of the 20th century, the university was recognized for its research with the designations sea-grant university and space-grant university. The school was further honored in 1997 with the establishment of the George Bush Presidential Library on the western edge of the campus.
Early years
The United States Congress laid the groundwork for the establishment of Texas A&M with their proposal of the Morrill Act. The Morrill Act, signed into law July 2, 1862, was created to enable states to establish colleges with the following tenet which may be found in Section 5 of the legislation: ...leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanical arts ... in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life... The Morrill Act did not specify the extent of military training, leading many land-grant schools to provide only minimal training, Texas A&M was an exception. The only mention of military training is in Section 4. The military tradition of Texas A&M was greatly influenced during the first four administrations with the presence of four alumnus of the Virginia Military Institute; Robert Page Waller Morris, John Garland James, Hardaway Hunt Dinwiddie and John Waller Clark.
States were granted public lands be sold at auctions to establish a permanent fund to support the schools. Both the Republic of Texas and the Texas State Legislature also set aside public lands for a future college. The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, known as Texas A.M.C., was established by the state legislature on April 17, 1871, as the state's first public institution of higher education. The legislature provided US$75,000 for the construction of buildings at the new school, and state leaders invested profits from the sale of received under the Land-Grant College Act in gold frontier defense bonds, creating a permanent endowment for the college. A committee tasked with finding a home for the new college chose Brazos County, which agreed to donate of land. Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States of America, was offered the presidency of the college but turned it down. He recommended Thomas S. Gathright, who was the Mississippi Superintendent of Public Instruction, instead. Gathright was the first president of the college.
The college officially opened on October 4, 1876, with six professors. Forty students were present on the first day of classes, but by the end of the school year the number had grown to 106 students. Only men were admitted, and all students were required to participate in the Corps of Cadets and receive military training. The campus bore minimal resemblance to its modern counterpart. Wild animals roamed freely around the campus, and the area served as a meeting point for the Great Western Cattle Trail.
Despite its name, the college taught no classes in agriculture, instead concentrating on classical studies, languages, literature, and applied mathematics. After four years, students could attain degrees in scientific agriculture, civil and mining engineering, and language and literature.Dethloff (1975), p. 18. Local farmers complained that the college was abusing its mission, and, in November 1879, the president and faculty were replaced and given a mandated curriculum in agriculture and engineering.
During these early years, student life was molded by the Corps of Cadets. The Corps was divided into a battalion of three companies, and rivalry among the companies was strong, giving birth to the Aggie spirit and future traditions. No bonfires, yell practices, or athletics teams existed as yet, and social clubs and fraternities were discouraged.Dethloff (1975), pp. 21–22.
Enrollment, which had climbed as high as 500 students, declined to only 80 students in 1883, the year the University of Texas opened in Austin, Texas. Although the Texas Constitution specified that the Agricultural and Mechanical College was to be a branch of a proposed University of Texas, the Austin school was established with a separate board of regents. Texas A.M.C. continued to be governed by its own board of directors.
The two Texas schools quickly began to battle over the limited funds that the state legislature made available for higher education. In 1887, the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station was established at Texas A.M.C., enabling the college to gain more funding. Many residents of the state saw little need for two colleges in Texas, and some wanted to close the agricultural and mechanical school.
Sul Ross era
Texas A.M.C. president Lawrence Sullivan Ross, known affectionately to students as "Sully", is credited for saving the school from closure and transforming it into a respected military institution. Ross, the immediate past governor of Texas, had been a well-respected Confederate Brigadier General and enjoyed a good reputation among state residents.
When Ross arrived at the school, he found no running water, a housing shortage, a disgruntled faculty, and many students running wild. As Ross began to make improvements, parents began to send their children to the school in the hopes that they would learn from Ross's example. Although enrollment had always been limited to men, in 1893, Ethel Hudson, the daughter of an A&M professor, became the first woman to attend classes at the school and helped edit the annual yearbook. She was made an honorary member of the class of 1895. Several years later her twin sisters became honorary members of the class of 1903, and slowly other daughters of Aggie professors were allowed to attend classes.
Under Ross's tenure, many enduring Aggie traditions formed. These traditions include the first Aggie Ring, the first yearbook, and the formation of the Aggie Band. Ross's tenure also saw the college's first intercollegiate football game, played against the University of Texas.
Program expansion
TAMU college/school/center founding College/school/center Year founded College of Agriculture and Life Sciences 1911 College of Architecture 1905 Bush School of Government and Public Service 1997 Mays Business School 1961 College of Education and Human Development 1969 College of Engineering 1880 College of Geosciences 1949 Health Science Center 2013 School of Law 2013 College of Liberal Arts 1924 College of Science 1966 College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences 1916 By 1910, the school listed , including agriculture, architecture, agricultural engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and textile engineering. later the state legislature, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture, established the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, organized the Texas Forest Service, and authorized a School of Veterinary Medicine at the college. The college was unprepared for the growth, and for the next lived in tents in a field in the middle of campus.
During this time, women were also given a more official standing. The Texas Legislature in 1911 refused to give A&M permission to hold a summer semester unless women were also permitted to attend. For the next several decades during the summers cadets were not required to be in uniform and women could attend class and participate in intramural activities.
Texas A&M graduates were called to use their military training during World War I, and by 1918, 49% of graduates of the college were in military service, a larger percentage than any other college or university. In early September 1918, the entire senior class was mustered into military service, with plans to send the younger students at staggered dates throughout the next year. Many of the seniors were fighting in France when the war ended two months later. In total, over 1,200 former students served as commissioned officers during World War I.
Texas A&M Hillel, the oldest Hillel organization in the United States, was founded in 1920. The organization occurred three years before the national Hillel Foundation was organized at the University of Illinois.From Christian Science to Jewish Science: Spiritual Healing and American Jews Oxford University Press p. 160
After the war, Texas A&M grew rapidly and became nationally recognized for its programs in agriculture, engineering, and military science. The first graduate school was organized in 1924, and, in 1925, Mary Evelyn Crawford Locke became the first female to receive a diploma from Texas A&M, although she was not allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony. The following month the board of directors officially prohibited all women from enrolling. In 1926, they codified that women in summer school had an unofficial status and could not pursue a degree. By 1930, however, over had attended classes at A&M.
In the late 1920s, following the discovery of oil on university lands, Texas A&M and the University of Texas negotiated a settlement for the division of the Permanent University Fund which enabled A&M to receive one-third of the revenue. This guaranteed wealth enabled A&M to expand. Enrollment increased even during the Great Depression, as student cooperative housing projects enabled the students to attend the school at low costs. During the Depression, as professors were forced to accept a 25% pay cut, the board of directors partially rescinded its order against female enrollment, allowing no more than at a time to enroll in the school, and further restricting the group to daughters of professors.
Texas A&M expanded its degree offerings in the late 1930s and awarded its first Ph.D. in 1940. Other programs at the college likewise began offering doctoral degrees throughout the next few decades.