When Texas A&M University started out as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, 12 miles outside of Bryan, there wasn’t much to see besides the countryside. The roads weren’t paved, and the best way to get there was by train or horseback. So, the faculty and administration lived on campus. When the college decided it didn’t want to be in the rental business anymore, these homes were either burned, torn down, or moved. Those that were moved went to College Station’s historic district.
Today, the historic district — or Southside or “the histy-disty,” as it is sometimes called — is a mix of these old campus houses, a variety of 20th-century homes, and newly built student housing. Though not a federally or state-recognized historic district, the area just south of Texas A&M’s campus — including the College Park, Oakwood, and Dulaney subdivisions, as well as part of the Woodson Village subdivision — has come to be known by this name because of its collection of 50- and 100-year-old homes. With houses being torn down and developments nibbling away at its edges, the neighborhood has made a concerted effort to preserve itself. For many residents, this has given them a mission: to build and solidify the character of the neighborhood, says Fred Dupriest, Southside resident and member of the College Station Zoning Board of Adjustment.
“When you live in a neighborhood like this, you’re really enveloped in the historical character of what the neighborhood is and what it’s been,” Dupriest says. “When my wife, Shirley, and I retired 9 years ago and moved to College Station, into this neighborhood, we found that this was such a different and more engaging experience than any of the planned communities we had lived in previously.”
Canopied by 100-year-old live oak trees, the neighborhood draws in both locals and visitors. “It’s quiet, but there are always people out meeting people,” Dupriest says. “You see an incredible number of people out walking their dogs, and students in surrounding areas come to our neighborhood to walk and enjoy that character.” On game days, thousands of visitors come into the neighborhood to watch the Texas A&M Aggies play football in Kyle Field. “All day long, people stream by, and the atmosphere is amazing with such high energy and so many young people,” Dupriest describes. “It’s cowboy boots and getting dressed up and coveralls and whooping!”
But, even more than the atmosphere, the neighborhood’s character comes from its living history. Many of the historical homes have housed Texas A&M professors, deans, and presidents; Corps of Cadets commandants and military officers; and directors of The Association of Former Students. Other notable residents include M. L. “Red” Cashion, a well-known professional football official, and Frank G. Anderson, former mayor of College Station, says Katherine Edwards, Southside resident and former member of the Historic Preservation Committee.
Given the proximity to campus, many students rent in the family-friendly neighborhood, whose available real estate has been snapped up by those who purchase the homes as investments for students to live in. Unfortunately, this has caused neighborhood taxes to spike, and many homeowners have been forced to sell to long-distance buyers. These investors, in turn, have torn down many historical homes to build larger, newer dwellings for students, Edwards says. “It’s expensive to refurbish … it’s cheaper to knock it down and put something in its place, even though the aesthetics and history cannot be replaced.” Liana Vincent, Edwards’ neighbor, explains.
This trend, combined with a 2017 decision to rezone two lots for commercial business, prompted historic district residents to take action. Because some residents desired to retain the ability to maintain diverse housing, they couldn’t agree upon the requirements for a historic district designation, Dupriest says. So the group chose to take advantage of a city zoning tool, called an overlay, which would allow them to make more specific rules in the neighborhood to preserve its character. Given the diversity of the architecture, the neighborhood would have been hard-pressed to apply the overlay to its houses. So, instead, they chose a neighborhood conservation overlay (NCO) to preserve their historical trees, Dupriest says. “You can’t knock trees down during construction anymore — so long as they’re outside the buildable area,” he explains.
“The NCO got us thinking about what our purpose is in College Station,” Dupriest says. “The motivation originally was concern with the loss of character, but once we got the NCO, it shifted pretty rapidly to ‘We are going to conserve ourselves; now, what better thing can we become?’” For different people, this question has many different answers.
Some, like Edwards, focus on recording the stories about the historical homes. “I wanted to do something to help people remember and know that these homes existed and what their background was because so many of them have been destroyed,” Edwards says. She assembled a booklet primarily from information she found at Cushing Memorial Library, compiled in the 1980s by David Woodcock, professor emeritus in the College of Architecture, and Paul P. VanRiper, founding head of the Department of Political Science. Published in September 2017 by the Historic Preservation Committee, the booklet lists historical homes by address and includes residents who significantly contributed to Texas A&M or the city. This same booklet, given to Vincent and her husband last August when they moved into the neighborhood, inspired Vincent to start an Instagram account for the remaining historical houses. “I wanted to walk around the neighborhood and take pictures for the younger generation,” Vincent explains. “It’s a beautiful neighborhood, and I just think it’s a little bit underappreciated.”
Having new residents move in that already feel the same need to preserve the historic district is key to further strengthening its purpose and identity, as well as the identity of College Station, Dupriest says. “Part of any city has to be some kind of historic heartbeat, or you just don’t have a complete identity,” he says. “Our question is, how do we become that? Can we contribute to the renovations of the park on campus? Can we bring better bike paths into Brison Park?”
“It’s not so much ‘How do we stop something from happening?’ as it is ‘How do we make our role more and more valuable to the city?’” Dupriest continues. “That will serve us best, if the citizens of College Station find value in our history and our character and can feel a sense that we’re the beating heart that their city needs.”
To access the Historic Campus Homes booklet, visit bit.ly/historicalheartbeat.
