The RELLIS Campus
In 1962, having served the nation during two wars, control of Bryan Air Force Base was annexed to Texas A&M. The university quickly established the site as home to research work done by the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Texas Engineering Extension Service, Texas Transportation Institute as well as various activities within the A&M College of Agriculture.
Through the years, agency work and research studies took root at the venue. Airplane hangars were repurposed, barracks were converted to office and laboratory space and a few new buildings were constructed. In 1988, the locale was given a new name, the Riverside Campus, and a long-term vision. Some change took place, but for the most part, the status quo was maintained.
A second master plan for the Riverside Campus was created in 2013 through the Center for Heritage Conservation. In the report, University Architect Lilia Y. Gonzalez saw the locale as a “21st century model for research and (an) education destination.”
Three years later, Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp determined the time was at hand for the Riverside Campus to enter the new era envisioned by Gonzalez. Control of the venue was transferred to the System and Sharp gave it a new name: RELLIS.
Thanks to Sharp's vision, construction work quickly began at the RELLIS Campus. New buildings, unlike anything seen on the site before, sprung from the Brazos River bottomland on which the original Bryan Field was built.
Dreams were finally becoming reality.
Click on a link below to learn more about this period of RELLIS Campus history.
Center for Infrastructure Renewal
