The Early Campus

From the inaugural address of Governor Richard Coke upon the dedication of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas on October 4, 1876:

“The magnificent college building with the capacity for the accommodation of 600 students, and around it commodious residences for professors and a steward’s hall all constructed in the best style of architecture with the trace of 2,400 acres of land otherwise improved, in which they stand, attest to the liberality of the state as well as her earnest purpose to make this institution worthy of its grand mission.

“The leading object of this college is to be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts.”

Enrollment of the new college at the time of dedication was six students, but by the end of the school’s first years its rolls grew to include 106 young men, aged fifteen and older, and of “good moral character.”

As the former director of Texas A&M’s Center for Historic Conservancy, former Architecture professor David Woodcock has studied the history of the college, from its beginnings to today. He is the co-author of the book Architecture That Speaks: S.C.P. Vosper and Ten Remarkable Buildings at Texas A&M

Professor Emeritus David Woodcock served as a Fulbright Teaching Fellow in Architecture at Texas A&M University from 1962-66. He returned to the school in 1970 and remained there until his retirement in 2011. During that time, he served a total of 11 years as head of the department, earned numerous awards and established the Center for Heritage Conservation. He received his professional degree in Architecture and post-graduate diploma in Town and Country Planning from the University of Manchester, England.