South College Avenue, a road that connects Downtown Bryan to Texas A&M University, has been home to gas stations, local businesses, small restaurants, bungalows, and families over the last 100 years. The combination of buildings and greenspace along this thoroughfare also serves as the inspiration for a series of digitally enhanced photographs taken by Tim Gregg, currently on public display at Zachry Engineering Education Complex on the Texas A&M campus and on the website, southcollegeavenue.com. The title of the exhibit, “Time, Circumstance, and History,” reflects the photographs’ sentimental as well as historical value, he says.
Gregg had the idea to photograph South College Avenue for a couple of years and finally decided to grab his camera. The words of Rod Stewart, ‘70s rockstar, spoke to him: “Every picture tells a story.”
Initially, Gregg took photographs along South College Avenue for his own pleasure, without any particular intent. However, the images of the quirky establishments had too much potential to ignore, he thought. “I wondered what they’d look like as paintings,” Gregg remembers. Not being an artist, he found an app to modify the images. “I was just amazed at the end result,” he says.
His work shines a spotlight on South College Avenue, an area that has been a fundamental avenue for the residents of Bryan College Station over the years. He says it’s easy to take these establishments for granted when you drive by them. “But when you're forced to look at them and study them, there's this dash of nostalgia thrown in,” he says. “It really makes you feel like you're stepping back in time.”
The explanation of the historical background that accompanies the exhibit is credited to Henry Mayo and Bill Page. These two local historians helped Gregg create a map that links the images with their history. The road itself dates back decades. Many of the trees on South College Avenue were planted over 100 years ago as a memorial after World War I, Gregg says. The Chicken Oil Company, Farm Patch Produce Market, and a handful of other small businesses were previously gas stations. “The road that is known today as South College Avenue, which didn't go all the way down to a university as it does today, was kind of a mix of South College Avenue, the Old College Road, and College Main,” Gregg says. “It would ultimately take you from Downtown Bryan to the main campus area before the campus expanded South.”
Gregg’s second exhibition will take place in nearby Navasota, another town with a rich history. “Navasota is a whole town of the South College [Avenue] vibe,” Gregg says. “It was actually there before the city of Bryan really grew and before College Station or even Texas A&M was ever a gleam in anyone's eyes.” Some of the familiar Navasota sights that will be displayed in the exhibit of Gregg’s enhanced photographs include Horlock Art Gallery and History Museum and Martha’s Bloomers Tea Room.
Gregg’s images enable passersby to see these buildings in a different way. “I want [people] to know the story behind these places,” Gregg says.
For more information, visit southcollegeavenue.com.
