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Vol 8, No 183

July 2, 1862

Wednesday Evening

Law Enables Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges

Today in Sports
Austin's Don Baylor hits 3 Homers for Baltimore
DETROIT MI   (1975)    On this date in 1975, Austin's Don Baylor hit 3 home runs to help propel the Baltimore Orioles to a 13-5 win over the Detroit Tigers. Baylor hit a total of 25 homers in 1975, and 338 for his career. He is the only player in major league history to play in three consecutive World Series on three different teams, the Red Sox (1987), the Twins (1988) and the A's (1989).   

Born This Date
Luci Baines Johnson born
WASHINGTON DC   (1947)    On this date in 1947, Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson had a baby girl. Luci Baines Johnson was born.
Architect, Alfred Charles Finn born in Bellville
BELLVILLE   (1883)    On this date in 1883, Architect Alfred Charles Finn was born in Bellville.
   Among his greatest designs was the seventeen story addition to the Rice Hotel in Houston (1926), the Galveston Post Office-Courthouse-Customs Building (1937), the 570-foot tall San Jacinto Monument (1939) and the Sakowitz Store in Houston (1951).   

The Morrill Act
WASHINGTON DC  (1862)  On this date in 1862, the Morrill Act was signed into law. The law was created to enable states to establish colleges where agriculture and mechanical arts are taught in additional to other sciences.
   By 1871, the Texas Legislature approved the formation of an Agricultural and Mechnical College, appropriated money, and land was donated for the new College. Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (AMC) would be located on land south of Bryan.
   Over the years the name changed to Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College and in 1963, the name was officially changed to Texas A&M (without any reference to what the A or M stood for).
   Today, Texas A&M is a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant college, one of the only colleges in America to be so designated.

Education Desk
A&M Becomes Diversified
COLLEGE STATION  (1927)   On the 55th anniversary of the Morrill Act enabling states to establish Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges, an article in the Bryan-College Station Eagle illustrated the tremendous gains that AMC of Texas (Texas A&M) had made in the area of diversification.
   According to the newspaper, the college was now attended by students from 8 states and 2 nations. It would, however, be an additional 55 years before Texas A&M admitted its first women and blacks.
   Diversity had a different meaning in 1927.   

Military Desk
Hoods Texas Brigade joins the Battle at Gettysburg
GETTYSBURG PA  (1863)   On this date in 1863, the Texas Brigade (unofficially known as Hood's Texas Brigade), joined the confederate forces fighting at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
   Assigned to take Devils Den, Hoods Brigade, including the 1st Texas, 4th Texas, 5th Texas and 3rd Arkansas, were successful despite being greatly outnumbered.
   The confederacy eventually lost the Battle of Gettysburg, taking heavy losses. The loss was the turning point of the Civil War, eventually leading to the South's surrender in 1865. Of the 5353 men who enlisted in the Texas and Arkansas regiments, only 617 remained at the time of the surrender.
   Hood's Brigade is one of the most celebrated units of the Civil War. Years later, veterans of the brigade would meet for a reunion, a tradition that carried on for years after the death of the last member of the original Hood's Brigade.