 ithin
the deep recesses of the Texas A&M University Archives stands
an old battered wooden map case. From its appearance one can see
that it has endured the trials and tribulations of heavy use and
many a none too-careful mover. Inside are treasures. Layers
and layers of splotched yellow linen drafting sheets bearing the
original plans to buildings long gone from the campus. Buildings
that rose, proudly served their purpose and were then taken down.
Now they exist only in these old drawings, a few yellowing
photographs and the fond memories of an ever dwindling number of
former students. In a drawer, simply labeled "F", is one
such building.
Constructed in 1899 at a cost of $26,186.47,
Foster Hall was essentially three smaller dormitories connected
together. This well designed facility was badly needed to
fill a severe housing shortage on the campus. The prestige and
respect former governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross brought to Texas
A&M in 1891 had greatly increased the student enrollment. The
little school was literally bursting at the seams and something
had to be done. Foster Hall was a part of the
solution.
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Noted Texas A&M architect Professor F. E.
Giesecke designed Foster with a four story central section
containing nineteen dormitory rooms. The three story units
on the ends had eighteen rooms each. As was the custom of the day,
the interior and exterior walls were solid brick. Floors and
framing systems were made of wood. The individual rooms were
exceptionally large for the period, averaging about 13'x15'. They
included another rarity for the time, built-in closets. The
rooms were heated with wood burning stoves. As was typical for the
time, toilet and bathing facilities were non existent within the
original building. Not until 1912 would Foster have such luxuries
as indoor bathrooms and steam heat.
According to the late architect and
A&M Archivist Ernest Langford '13, the building
"reflected much of the character of the buildings which
preceded it. Bricks were of a cherry red color. Full and segmental
arches of brick and stone defined all openings. A belt course
accented spring lines of arches in the first story; another ran
under the windows of the second story, while the cornice of the
three-story end units was continued as a belt course under windows
in the fourth floor of the central unit. The roofs of the
three units were steep tripped roofs with small pediments over the
projections which defined the principle entrances."
The building was named for the popular Lafayette
Lumpkin Foster, president of the Agricultural and Mechanical
College of Texas from 1898 until his untimely death on December 2,
1901. Foster holds the distinctions of being the only president of
the school buried on the campus. The building named in his honor
stood until 1951, when the Board of Directors ordered the badly
deteriorated building razed. It is interesting to note that the
contractors paid for the privilege of tearing down the old
dormitory. Indeed, it was torn down carefully brick by brick. The
old cherry red bricks were scraped and sold for $60 to $70 per
thousand. Somewhere, a little bit of Foster Hall lives on as a
patio, sidewalk or garden wall.
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