o much confusion accompanied the construction of the first structure at Texas A&M that no one seemed to have considered where the students and faculty would live.  
   This thought probably crossed the minds of the Commissioners of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in 1874 as they contemplated the nearly completed main building standing alone against the prairie sky.
   The first building, later known as Old Main, was begun in 1871. An inspection of the site in 1873 revealed shoddy workmanship on what little had been accomplished and construction was promptly halted. A second attempt began in the fall of that same year under the direction of the well known architect, Jacob Larmour. This imposing building, completed late the next year or early in 1875, was a testament to Larmour's skill and craft.
   While there were a few "bed rooms" and a small kitchen included within the walls, it was evident that Old Main lacked the facilities to house more than a handful of students. It seems clear that no initial thought had been given to a dormitory until Old Main was either finished or nearly complete.
   On January 12, 1875, Governor Richard Coke relayed a request to the Fourteenth Texas Legislature from the College's commissioners for $25,000 to "erect a boarding hall."  The legislature acted quickly, approving $32,000 to complete "the necessary buildings...of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas." By June 1876, the building was ready for the opening of the school.

   The late architect and University Archivist Ernest Langford '13, a noted authority on the campus' early buildings, described the building as follows: "Gathright Hall was similar in many ways to Old Main. The same kind of bricks were used; exterior walls were load-bearing; interior walls, floors and roof framing were of timber construction. The dormitory portion had a simple gable roof over it while the four story annex, described first as 'the president's residence' had its fourth floor under a mansard roof."
   In reality it was as if two buildings had been glued together; one housing faculty and the other students. The first floor was used in common by both students and faculty and consisted of two parlors, a large dining room, store room, servant's room, pantry and kitchen. The second and third floors of the "president's annex" contained faculty quarters with the fourth floor reserved for the president. From here the president's wife kept watch for the train, as there were no regular stops at the College, sending the buggy to pick up visitors. The second and third floors of the dormitory structure were student rooms arranged on either side of a large central hall. Unfortunately, no original plans of the building exist to reveal more about the interior.
   Mess Hall or Steward's Hall, as the structure was called initially, was named in honor Texas A&M's first president, Thomas S. Gathright, in 1898.
   The building served as a residence for the president until approximately 1883. Records do not indicate where the president lived from this time until the construction of a home for Lawrence Sullivan Ross in 1891. In 1933 Gathright Hall, unsafe and in very poor repair, fell victim to the wrecking crew. Today a small open area north of Legett hallmarks the original site of old Gathright.