Enrollment at Texas A.M.C had climbed to…

Enrollment at Texas A.M.C had climbed to to hundred and fifty-eight students before declining to one hundred and eight students in 1883, the year the University of Texas opens in Austin, Texas.

Though originally envisioned and annotated in the Texas Constitution as a branch of the University of Texas, Texas A.M.C., now Texas A&M University, has had a separate Board of Directors from the University of Texas from the first day of classes and will never enveloped into the University of Texas System.

The U. S. Congress had laid the groundwork for the establishment of Texas A&M in 1862 with the adoption of the Morrill Act.

The act auctioned land grants of public lands to establish endowments for colleges where the "leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanical arts... to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life".

In 1871, the Texas Legislature had used these funds to establish the state's first public institution of higher education, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, then known as Texas A.M.C.

Brazos County had donated two thousand four hundred and sixteen acres (ten square kilometers) near Bryan, Texas, for the school's campus.

Classes had begun on October 4, 1876, with forty students and six faculty members.

Admission is limited to white males, and all students are required to participate in the Corps of Cadets and receive military training.