Family patriarch and farmer James Hugh Astin first arrived in Texas in 1854. Sometime later, he briefly went to California to mine for gold but returned in 1861. After serving in the Civil War (as a Confederate), he married a woman named Celia Allsbrook in 1864 and they moved to Bryan the next year. James worked a variety of jobs before buying a renting a small property in the Brazos Valley in 1867. Sadly, Celia passed away in 1874 but they did have four sons together. James was able to buy his first piece of land in 1877 and the next year married his second wife, Onah, who was the mother of Roger Astin. Gradually, James became a successful cotton farmer; by the time he died in 1897, he owned more than 7,000 acres which made him one of the wealthiest farmers in Texas. Not much information is readily available about Roger Astin, but, it appears he became a cotton farmer himself. He only lived in the mansion for a few years as he passed away in 1926 when he was just 39 years old, leaving his wife, Nina, and a son and daughter (they had another daughter but she died when she was two years old). Nina lived in the mansion for the rest of her life and she bequeathed it to the city after she died (her two surviving children died before she did, so there were no heirs). The mansion became an event venue in 1998.

The Astin Mansion was built in the early 1920s and is now an special event venue.

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The Astin Mansion is perhaps Bryan's most famous historic home. Built by Roger Q. Astin in the early 1920s, its design is a mix of Renaissance and other architectural styles. The two and a half-story building features a portico at the main entrance, two chimneys, French doors, and other notable design elements. The Astin family was one of the area's prominent families and it played an integral role in developing the region. The mansion, which is now a wedding and event venue, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.  

Astin Mansion

This short walk begins at the Astin Mansion and moves east to Bryan's historic downtown with stops at the Queen Theatre, Carnegie History Center, La Salle Hotel, and several historic churches, synagogues, and other landmarks. Be sure to also visit the Brazos Valley African American Museum, located about half a mile north and east of the downtown area. 

The church was established in 1864 as a mission of the Diocese of Texas in the town of Millican. The congregation moved to Bryan in 1867 as a result of yellow fever epidemic, which drastically reduced the population in Millican. Also, railroads had been built from Houston to Bryan, which made relocating to Bryan much easier. The congregation's first church was built in 1868 and was located at 25th and Parker Streets. Construction of the current church building began in 1912 and was completed two years later. The first service was held on Palm Sunday in 1914. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Erected in 1914 on the highest spot in downtown Bryan, Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church is significant for its architecture and the fact that it is the oldest, continuously used church in Bryan. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style and features lancet-arched, stained glass windows, a large tower, and ornate interior woodwork. 

Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church

Although the theater was built in 1939, it is not the original Queen Theatre. That very first theater at this location, called "Princess Theater," was established in 1913 in a three-story hotel called the Stoddard Hotel. However, the theater was soon renamed Queen Theatre and that name has remained ever since. The hotel was eventually torn down, allowing the current building to be built. At the time, the new theater had modern amenities including air conditioning and indirect lighting.The Queen operated for 30 years or so before eventually closing. As more people moved to the suburbs, business activity in downtown declined and fewer people went to the Queen, which inevitably fell into disrepair. Efforts to restore it in the 1990s and early 2002s never materialized. However, restoration finally did get underway in late 2010 after the Downtown Bryan Association bought it. The work finished about a year later and on October 7, 2011, the new lighting was turned on and the crown started to rotate once again. In 2018, the theatre reopened as a single screen and performance venue.

Queen Theatre is a historic movie theater located in downtown Bryan. It was built in 1939 and is a fine example of Streamline Moderne architecture. It features a somewhat plain appearance with a marquee and a vertical sign topped by a crown, which lights up and rotates. In addition to the theater, the building also houses the offices of the Downtown Bryan Association and a Downtown Bryan visitor center.

Queen Theatre

The library's origins began in 1895, when a group of 25 women established an organization called the Mutual Improvement Club of Bryan. Its purpose was to plant trees in the city, establish a park, and open a free public library. In 1902, a local financier, whose father was Carnegie's friend, wrote to Carnegie requesting funds. Carnegie agreed and sent $10,000 on the condition that the city provide a site, purchase books, and agree to pay $1,000 per year for the library's maintenance. The library opened on December 17, 1903.The auditorium on the second floor became an important social and political gathering space. The club, which became the Women's Club in 1909, met here as did Confederate veterans. The auditorium was later used by the Red Cross during World Wars I and II. It was then converted to the children's library in 1953. When a new library was built in 1963, the Carnegie building became the location of the Bryan City Planning and Traffic departments. In the late 1990s, the building was restored and became, presumably, the Carnegie History Center at that time. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The Carnegie History Center is a local history and genealogy research center that is part of the Bryan and College Station public library system. Built in 1903 and originally known as the Carnegie Public Library, it is named after steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), who donated money to communities all over the country to build libraries. The two-story building is a fine example of Classical Revival architecture, featuring a portico on the east side with Corinthian columns. Inside, the building features two original matching hand-carved pine stairways. The center houses a special collections, which contains three collections: the fire department collection; the Cavitt collection (the personal records of a local prominent family); and the Van Riper Collection (records of a local professor of political science). The second floor houses the center's genealogical research records.
 

Carnegie History Center

To understand the history of the La Salle hotel, one must first understand the historical provenance of the name La Salle itself. Robert La Salle was born into a wealthy merchant family on November 22, 1643 in Rouen, France. Best known for his expeditions around the Great Lakes and Mississippi River, La Salle became a very prominent explorer and was able to develop a number of important trading posts along the waterways and coastlines he visited. These explorations eventually led to France claiming the territory surrounding the greater Mississippi River Basin that they called Louisiana, which later became a large portion of the United States. La Salle made his final voyage to North America, in parts of what is now the United States, in July of 1684, where he was met with a wealth of misfortune. During this voyage he lost two of his ships, which marked the beginning of the end for the explorer and his crew. The first of his ships was captured and ravaged by pirates, and the second decided to abandon La Salle and head back to France. The last remaining ship in La Salle’s fleet landed at a place close to what is now Matagorda Bay along the gulf coast of Texas, which was almost 500 miles from their intended location the Mississippi river. In order to get back to the Mississippi, La Salle and his crew traveled up the Lavaca River on March 19, 1687 where the voyage was abruptly ended by the brutal murder of La Salle.1 At the turn of the 19th century, Bryan was a small agriculture-based town that benefited from the fertile soils of the Brazos River. As a result of the cotton trade, Bryan had a central railroad station that would eventually face the La Salle hotel from across the street. Robert Wistar Howell, who was a savvy businessman during the early 1900’s in the Brazos Valley area, saw an opportunity to open a new hotel in downtown Bryan to accommodate visitors. After coming up with this idea, Howell contacted George Walling, an architect from Austin, Texas, to discuss plans for a hotel that would be unlike any other in the area. Walling, who was born in 1901 in Austin, Texas and attended Kemper Military Institute, was educated at the University of Texas as well as the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts in Paris, France from which he used his degrees to open his own Austin-based architecture practice at the age of 24.2 But it wasn't until his construction of the La Salle Hotel that he truly made a name for himself, as the hotel was and still is one of Walling’s most significant architectural accomplishments. The La Salle was completed in 1928, and at the time the seven-story hotel would be the tallest building in Bryan. The first floor had a reception area, restaurant, and coffee shop, and the second floor had a ballroom and convention center. The remaining five floors had about 100 guest rooms. The La Salle went on for decades as the premier hotel in and around the Bryan area. However, due to the decline in tourism along with the movement of the railroad station, the La Salle was transitioned to a nursing home in 1959 and remained that way until 1975.3 After the nursing home was shut down it was converted into an apartment building until 1980. In 1990, a town developer by the name of Reid Monroe looking to revive the La Salle bought the hotel and began renovating. Unfortunately, Mr. Monroe was helping someone fix the marquis sign outside the hotel when he fell to his death. To this day, guests as well as employees say that Mr. Monroe along with the numerous people that have died in the nursing home haunt the hotel.4 Another historical tribute that the hotel is known for is that until 1934, the La Salle was the preferred meeting place for the remaining survivors of General Hoods’ Civil War cavalrymen who would annually meet in Bryan.5 In the early 2000’s, Bryan went through a campaign to revitalize the town back to its original glory and with it, the La Salle hotel went through a major renovation creating the beautiful historical hotel that it is today. The most recent transition that the hotel has gone through is the renovation and renaming of its restaurant to Downtown Elixir and Spirits. Interior renovations as well as a new menu have transformed the old restaurant into a New Orleans style atmosphere as well as an elevated Cajun menu. This change is without doubt a nod to the hotels French namesake.6

Located in the center of Bryan’s historical downtown, the La Salle Hotel has been and remains to be one of the most significant architectural features of the city.
The hotel was named after the infamous French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or more commonly known to many as Robert de La Salle.  Built for prominent businessman of the early 1900’s Robert Wistar Howell, the La Salle was designed and constructed by Austin Native architect George Louis Walling to finally be completed in 1928.  It is unknown exactly why the La Salle was named after the French explorer with the same namesake, but the affinity between the pioneering hotel that was unmatched for its time and the distinguished traveller who conquered land to put his country on the map is not to be overlooked.


La Salle Hotel

A small group of Jewish immigrants—mainly from Poland, Russia, England, and Prussia—arrived in the Bryan area in the mid-1860s. They officially established a Jewish congregation in 1890 and worshipped in the homes of members before the temple was built. The property on which the building stands was donated by a woman named J.W. English on the condition that it only be used for religious purposes. Donations to build the temple came not only from the Jewish community but from other Bryan residents as well. This collective effort was represented when community members of all faiths attended the temple's dedication ceremony. As mentioned above, the temple was named after the president's wife; not only was this unusual, naming a temple after a person was rare as well.After Texas A&amp;M established a Hillel (a nationwide Jewish college campus organization) in 1958, the Jewish community started to use Temple Freda less and less. Then in 1968, Congregation Beth Shalom was established. Over the years, Temple Freda was used by other local faith communities but it eventually fell into disrepair. It was renovated in the 1980s and is undergoing restoration work now.

One of the oldest religious buildings in Bryan, Temple Freda is a historic Jewish synagogue erected in 1912. It is also significant in that it is the only Jewish temple in the country named after a woman, Ethel Freda, who was the wife of the congregation's president (she passed away before the temple was completed). The one-story building was designed in the Classical Revival style and has been an important landmark since its construction. The building features a portico with Corinthian columns, stained glass windows, and a simple interior floor plan. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and, as of 2019, is currently in the process of restored.  

Temple Freda

Like other immigrants who arrived in American during the 19th century, Italians were attracted to the idea of starting a new life. Those who settled in Bryan and the Brazos Valley in the 1880s were from Sicily, which was very poor at the time. Over time, they became successful and acquired land of their own in valley. It is believed that by the late 19th century there were between 2,400 and 3,000 Italians living in the Brazos. Some time after the congregation was founded, the first church was built. Unfortunately, a fired destroyed it in 1926, which prompted the construction of the present church.

Saint Anthony's Catholic Church is a historic Catholic church built in 1927. It is historically significant for its Romanesque Revival architecture and association with the local Italian community, which founded the congregation in 1896. In terms of architecture, the church is two-stories tall and features stained glass windows, a two-tiered bell tower, round-arched recessed openings above the main entrance, and other decorative elements. 

Bryan Texas Walking Tour

Astin Mansion

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information