The Aggie Bonfire was a long-standing annual tradition at Texas A&M University as part of the college rivalry with the University of Texas at Austin. For 90 years, Texas A&M students—known as Aggies—built a bonfire on campus each autumn, known to the Aggie community simply as "Bonfire". The event symbolized Aggie students' "burning desire to beat the hell outta t.u.", a derogatory nickname for the University of Texas.
Aggie Bonfire as it burned in 1989
The Aggie Bonfire in 1928, pictured on the Drill Field with the Academic Building in the background.
An Aggie Bonfire under construction in the late 1950s
Yell Leaders and the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band follow the Redpots around the bonfire prior to Burn in 1992.
Texas A&M University is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. Since 2021, Texas A&M has enrolled the largest student body in the United States, and is the only university in Texas to hold simultaneous designations as a land-, sea-, and space-grant institution. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and a member of the Association of American Universities.
Statue of Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross located in front of the Academic Building
Texas A&M in 1902
Staff at Texas A&M entering data for punch cards for new computers in the 1950s
George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
