A Brief History
The Aggie Barn located off of Highway 6 in Reagan, TX has become a landmark know to many students and former students at Texas A&M. As a student, we knew when heading to College Station from the north that we were almost there when we saw the Maroon and White barn greeting us back to Aggieland.
The barn was originally the building for the First State Bank of Reagan, TX, but was moved to a farm in the 1940s or 1950’s by an Aggie alumni named Mr. Thagard Kilpatrick, Class of 1924. In 1980, Mr. Kilpatrick painted the barn Maroon and White and a tradition was born. The barn has been repainted every years and has been taken care of. But in 2006, a highway project threatened the survival of the barn. The highway was scheduled to go right through where the barn stood and a resident of Reagan, Joe Swinnea, just wasn’t going to let that happen. Mr. Swinnea had the barn moved to his property which is adjacent to the expanded highway and he and his wife have kept the tradition alive in the Aggie family.
Today, the barn is a popular place for graduation photos and is instantly recognized by most students of Texas A&M. If you would like to read more about the history of the Aggie Barn, you can visit their website at http://aggiebarn.com/id18.html
The Story Behind the Photoshoot
My friend Betty Gaw and I were looking for a place to shoot the Neowise comet. We don’t want to wait another 6,800 years for the comet to return, so we figured it would be best to try to find some clear skies to shoot in a dark area. I have been wanting to go get some night shots of the Aggie Barn, so the two of us drove up there to see what we could get.
The clouds were obscuring the comet when we arrived, but the barn was just begging to get into my camera. Betty and I shot for several hours and then headed back to Houston. By the time I got home, I didn’t even try to sleep, I just had to edit the photos that I had gotten that night. By the time I went to work, the above photo was processed and completed.
I couldn’t be happier with the results, we were just blessed to have some clear skies and a beautiful night to shoot.
