As Texas A&M University nears its 150th anniversary, a new exhibit at Cushing Library is putting brick and stone front and center in the school’s story.
Legacy of Brick and Stone opened Sept. 18 and runs through May 15. Co-curators Ian Muise, a Texas A&M historian, and Audrey Lloyd built the exhibit around artifacts and photographs that track how campus buildings were constructed, demolished, burned, reused, and remembered.
The exhibit starts with Old Main, the first building on campus. Built in 1875, it stood until it burned in May 1912. Visitors can see bricks from Old Main, which Muise said are the oldest artifacts in the display. Old Main, Gathright Hall, and five faculty houses were made from bricks that were “quarried and fired on campus,” tying the earliest structures to local materials and labor.
Muise noted that many early buildings used load-bearing brick around wood framing. In a fire, that assembly acted like a chimney. Students even doubled as firefighters, and they also helped produce bricks and other construction materials.
The show also highlights how masonry details get preserved in unexpected ways. A veterinary anatomy lab built in 1932 featured stone pig heads at the corners. When the building was demolished in 1985 to make way for the CETTI building, two pig heads and other elements were incorporated into the newer structure, leaving visible clues of what stood there before.
For mason contractors, it’s a reminder that owners value provenance. A single saved brick, a corner ornament, or a repurposed detail can carry decades of meaning. Projects on campuses and historic sites also bring questions about salvage, documentation, and where historic materials end up after demolition.
Alongside the exhibit, Muise and Lloyd completed a map and a walking tour of significant points in Texas A&M’s architectural history. The tour is available at tx.ag/built.
Read the full, original article from My Aggie Nation here.