The State Legislature authorized the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas April 17, 1871, under terms of the Federal Morrill Act. Constitutionally a part of a chartered, yet-unorganized state university, A&M gained its own directorate in 1875 with Governor Richard Coke as Board President. Brazos Countians provided its 2,416-acre site. Committed to "teach...branches of learning...related to agriculture and mechanic arts...to promote liberal and practical education," A&M opened Oct. 4, 1876, as the first state institution of higher learning actually operating in Texas. Thomas S. Gathright was President. Its original six students in seven academic departments grew to 28,038 students in eleven academic colleges by 1976. Initially an all-male, all-white school, it was desegregated as to color in 1963 and made fully coeducational in 1971. The Legislature recognized its diversified programs and international leadership in education and research by awarding the new name, Texas A&M University, on Aug. 23, 1963. On Sept. 17, 1971, the U.S. Congress made this one of America's first four Sea Grant Colleges. National defense has drawn from Texas A&M thousands of ROTC men, including 29 general officers for World War II.

This school originated as Madison Academy, founded in 1886 in Madisonville by John Hodges Allen (1854-1920), an educator from Mississippi. When his brother Rivers O. Allen (1865-1925) joined him in 1896, the institution became Allen Academy, a private boarding school for boys. During the summer of 1899, the Allens moved the school to Bryan. In the early years of the 20th Century, enrollment steadily increased. The campus was enlarged and new buildings erected to accommodate the students. During World War I, military training was introduced. In 1925 John Allen's son Nat Burtis Allen (1892-1946) became director of the school. During his tenure, the academy continued to grow and gained national recognition. When he died in 1946, the campus contained over 300 acres, including a farm and dairy. His son Nat Burtis Allen, Jr. (1919-1973) guided the institution until 1973 and led in establishing broader curriculum. Allen Academy is the oldest accredited, non-sectarian preparatory school for boys operating in Texas. Its graduates include leaders in government and business. Today the institution is coeducational and offers a broad range of scholastic programs for boarding and day students.

Bryan was platted on land granted to the Houston & Texas Central Railroad in 1859. In 1900, a second railroad, the Calvert, Waco & Brazos Valley (CW & BV) was built through Bryan by George Gould. The CW & BV built a depot here in 1900. Besides train activities, the depot hosted social events until it was razed in 1990. In 1901, when tracks were extended to Waco, the CW & BV merged with the International & Great Northern Railroad (I & GN). The trains helped Bryan become a center of commerce, as the railroads were used to ship goods, particularly cotton, to larger markets for sale. Passengers also used the trains for travel. Railroad use declined after World War II, through resurgences occurred in the 1970s and 1990s.

A movie theater has been at this location since 1913 and named “The Queen” since 1914. It was originally located in the three-story Stoddard Hotel built here in 1889.* The Schulman family purchased the theater business in 1926 and the building in 1938. It was replaced by a modern structure with steel framework, air conditioning and indirect lighting designed by Pettigrew and Worley of Dallas. The tall, white façade was topped with a revolving, neon-lit crown. It reopened on Nov. 21, 1939 and continued for over 30 years. Vacant and in disrepair, the building was purchased by the Downtown Bryan Association in 2010 and restoration began. The Queen is the only example of Streamline Moderne architecture on Main Street. *Editor's Note: The Stoddard Hotel was built in 1884; it was renamed "The Exchange Hotel" in 1889. Further information is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxFLu8F1xCg

Founded in October 1895 as the Mutual Improvement Circle, this organization began with twenty members. Initially gathering in individual homes, the club met as a study group to improve members' minds, serve the community, and promote the cause of women's rights. Its program for the first year was a study of Greece. Among the club's early civic projects were the establishment of the city's Carnegie Library in 1903, downtown beautification efforts, and landscaping of the courthouse grounds. Club members planted a row of live oak trees along the College Avenue approach to the Texas A&M University campus. In 1909 the name of the organization was changed to The Woman's Club. Meetings were held in the Carnegie Library building until 1929, when the first clubhouse was built. Due to increases in membership, the club met in a number of different locations before the present facility was constructed in 1972. The white rose serves as the organization's symbol and appears on club publications and awards. The Woman's Club continues to be active in the civic affairs of Bryan and College Station.