In 1871 Texas Governor Edmund Davis appointed three Commissioners to select a site for the newly established Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M College). The Commissioners chose this location in large part because of the existence of a Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) Railroad line which began in Southeast Texas and extended through this area to its terminus in Bryan (5 mi. north). Although no railroad depot existed here at the time of Texas A&M's formal opening in 1876, H&TC made regular stops here for incoming and outgoing college students and faculty. H&TC railroad conductor announcements referring to to this stop as College Station gave rise to the name of the surrounding community. H&TC constructed a new depot about 1900. The H&TC depots and another built by the International & Great Northern (IGN) Railroad just east of this site in 1900 were for many students who attended Texas A&M the first remembrance of their collegiate experience. Railroad depots owned by the H&TC (later Southern Pacific) and IGN (later Missouri Pacific) maintained passenger service at this location until 1959. In 1966 the last of the depot structures was razed.