Texas A&M Corps of Cadets

The plaque says A&M was all-male until the early 1960s, and the Corps stayed that way for years longer. Membership was required until 1965, when the Corps became voluntary after great controversy. Women were admitted in 1974 after a federal court ruling, and a women's drill team formed in 1975. In 1979 cadet Melanie Zentgraf filed a class-action suit to open the Aggie Band, Ross Volunteers, Fish Drill Team and Color Guard to women; a 1985 settlement barred the Corps from blocking their membership. Women first served as Ross Volunteers in 1986.

What the plaque says

Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Soon after its opening in 1876, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M) established the Corps of Cadets to fulfill its mandate to instruct its students (all-male until the early 1960s) in military science. A&M contributed more officers to America's WW II effort than any other institution, includin the U.S. Military Academy. Many of the Corps' traditional activities, such as the Aggie Band, Fish Drill Team, and Ross Volunteers, have gained national and international recognition. A&M's elite Corps of Cadets continues to dominate the University's unique public image. (1993)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum — 1.5 mi
  The library of the forty-first president on the Texas A&M campus, opened in 1997, where George and Barbara Bush and their daughter Robin are buried in a family plot on the grounds.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 20 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.
• Navasota — 21 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 23 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.

More markers nearby

• Early Texas A&M Campus Housing — steps away
• Early Play-By-Play Radio Broadcast of a College Football Game — steps away
• Main Drill Field, Texas A&M University — 0.3 mi
• Texas AMC and WWI — 0.3 mi