Rudder Tower & Guion Hall
Eleven stories high, Rudder Tower stands tall in the heart of Texas A&M’s campus. Before the tower and theater complex were constructed, an auditorium called Guion Hall stood on the same site from 1918 to 1971, serving as an early hub for Aggie entertainment. The structure was named for Judge John I. Guion, the president of A&M’s board of directors from 1914 to 1918.
Following Guion Hall’s demolition in 1971, construction on Rudder Tower began and was completed in 1974. The building is named for Gen. James Earl Rudder, Class of 1932, who went on to become one of the university’s most famous presidents. Rudder led A&M from 1959 until his death in 1970. Just a short walk away from the tower, at the foot of the steps to the theater complex, a bronze statue of Rudder stands, facing north down military walk.
Cushing Library and Archives
Texas A&M’s first dedicated library space, the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives building was built in 1930 and provided a more permanent home for the books previously stored in Old Main and later the Academic Building. Included in the library’s first collections were the engineering books bequeathed by the building’s namesake, Col. Edward Benjamin Cushing, Class of 1880 and former president of the Association of Former Students. Cushing became a member of the Texas A&M Board of Directors in 1912 and was named president of the board in 1913.
Cushing served on the staff of Gen. John J. Pershing during the later part of World War I and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre medal, an honor often bestowed upon soldiers of France’s foreign allies in the world wars.