A 150-Year Legacy of Aggie Brick & Stone on Display

Since its founding in 1876, Texas A&M University has featured many grand, ornate structures. Many of the buildings Aggies learn in today have a rich legacy and history. They reflect Texas A&M’s ambition to reach the lofty status that it eventually achieved: a globally recognized leader in research and education. 

Some of Aggieland’s historic buildings remain standing, others survive only in photographs. They can be seen in the Texas A&M Libraries’ latest exhibition: “A Legacy Built of Brick & Stone: Remnants of 150 Years at Texas A&M” at Cushing Memorial Library & Archives from Sept. 18, 2026 - May 15, 2027.

“Look at the growth over the last 150 years,” said Ian Muise, university historian. “Look at the change, from two principal buildings on the prairie to one of the biggest campuses in the United States. Our goal here is to impart the story of how much Texas A&M has grown from its early days.”

Old Main, the campus’ first building, was created from clay bricks made on site, quarried directly from the campus grounds. 

“It was a very different lifestyle here on campus (150 years ago),” Muise said. “The expectations of students, the way they lived, the quarters in which they lived were so vastly different from what we experience nowadays. It really makes people recognize Texas A&M has undergone significant change over 150 years.”

For over 150 years students cast campus manhole covers, helped fight fires and built up the essence of Aggieland — transforming empty prairie land into a thriving land-, sea- and space-grant institution.

The story of Texas A&M’s growth, beginning with Old Main, included the humble brick, which has played an important role in the campus’ transformation throughout the years.

A set of bricks initially cast in 1899 in Hearne, a community 25 miles north of campus, was used to build the impressive Agriculture and Horticulture Building. It was renamed Science Hall after a 1924 renovation, then torn down in 1963, but the bricks then found renewed life in a new campus building.

“60,000 of the Science Hall bricks were then used to make the 1965 president’s house,” said Audrey Lloyd, sesquicentennial archival research specialist. “When that was torn down, the bricks were re-used in Aggie Park and we have one of the bricks on display.”

The exhibition also features a historic walking tour that explores the unique architectural gems that help tell the tale of one of the country’s great universities.

More About the Libraries’ Celebration of Texas A&M’s 150th Anniversary

Texas A&M University Libraries are contributing to events celebrating Texas A&M’s sesquicentennial in a variety of ways, drawing on the Libraries’ collections, expertise and programs to support exhibitions, publications, events, digital projects and other initiatives throughout the 150th anniversary celebration. 

What Endures: A Visual History of Texas A&M University commemorates the university’s 150th anniversary and is available for pre-order from Texas A&M University Press.