Northgate History tells a story

By Erica Pitman

When Northgate is mentioned, the modern strip of bars comes to mind. However, the bar scene is relatively new to the history of Northgate. In fact, the first bars did not make their appearance until 1974.

Up until 1974 the city of College Station was apart of a dry county, and liquor by the drink was not available.

“When the city was dry, students had to sign up to be members of a club to have alcohol within the city limits,” Anne Boykin of the City of College Station Heritage Program Department said. “The only place in College Station where you could get liquor by the drink was at the Ramada Inn, which is now the Plaza, otherwise you had to go over to the next county.”

The area north of the Texas A&M campus known as Northgate became a busy shopping area long before the town of College Station was even incorporated. In 1912, Texas A&M set aside some land off of campus for businesses. On Northgate, some of the first businesses included Boyette butchers shop, a shoemaker, a tailor, a photo shop and Hollicks boot store Boykin said.

Northgate was essentially the downtown of College Station, and it experienced some of its major growth when Texas A&M opened its doors to women and when the college quit requiring its students to participate in ROTC. But still, the area was predominately a business district. A drug store, Loupot’s book store, A.M. Waldrop men’s clothing store, A&M Grill and CW Varner’s Jewelers joined the mix in the 1930s along with a number of churches.

Some original buildings are still standing and are in working condition Boykin said. Café Eccell, for example, occupies College Station’s historical building marker one. Although it is not still being used for its original purposes, Café Eccell’s building dates back to 1947.

“It was the first city hall building and jail, it was abandoned in 1984 and Café Excell leased it in 1999,” Boykin said.

Being so close to campus, Northgate has always been within walking distance to students living in the dorms.

“Northgate was always meant to be pedestrian oriented,” Lauren Hovde of the City of College Station Planning and Development Department said. “Buildings must face towards the public street, University, and must have a secondary entry.”

Ordinances have been put in place to accommodate pedestrians and to improve the ascetics of the area. Sidewalks have been added or widened, street trees were added when sidewalk were redone, benches and bike racks along the street have also been added Hovde said.

When bars started making their appearance in College Station, the Northgate area made an optimal location not only because of the ordinances in place, but because of special accommodations and exceptions made for businesses in this location.

Fast food chains and restaurants are not allowed to build new buildings on Northgate, but they are allowed to set up shop in already existing spaces Hovde said. And this is just what the food chain FREEBIRDS WORLD BURRITO did.

Freebirds is one of the restaurants the city of College Station is known for. However, contrary to common belief, Freebirds did not originate in College Station. The first Freebirds opened in Santa Barbara, California in 1987, and only came to College Station when the founders separated and one ended up in the Brazos Valley.

Even though it did not originate in College Station, Freebirds has been an icon of the city and of the Northgate area.

“Freebirds first location in College Station helped to propel the brand in generating the first Freebirds Fanatics.  The loyal fanatical following Freebirds now has is over 30,000 Facebook Members large,” Freebirds spokesperson Linda Duke of Duke Marketing said.  “Today the company currently operates 36 restaurants in Texas and plan to have over 50 by the end of 2010. This year is the 20th anniversary since Freebirds came to Texas.”

Every place has a story behind it, and in this case, Northgate has many. Business have come and gone, as they will continue to do, but Northgate’s history will remain and continue to grow.