Historic Spring Tour to feature exclusive experience, historic TXST architecture

The Heritage Association of San Marcos' 46th annual Historic Spring Tour is fast approaching and is on May 20 from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m.

Enjoy exploring the buildings and the campus of Texas State University. Rest and relax in the gardens of the Richard A. Castro Undergraduate Admissions Center whilst enjoying complimentary mimosas provided by Palmer’s from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and listening to SMART Orchestra Siren Strings Trio from 10 a.m. till noon. At midday the music of Texas State Bobcat Country Band will be heard across the campus as they play at the Undergraduate Admissions Center Arch from noon till 2 p.m. Cody’s will be serving complimentary cocktails from noon till 5 p.m. also in the Castro House Gardens. Each Tour ticket includes two complimentary drinks. In the afternoon Kelany and the All-nighter’s will play in the Castro Garden’s from 2 p.m. till 5 p.m.

Lemonade stops will be available along with cafes that the university will open for the day. Maker-Spaces at both the Alkek Library and the Bruce and Gloria Ingram Hall will be open for tours, which will run every 30 minutes. More information and registration is available at the heritage website.

Following the Tour join us for the “Welcome To and Welcome Home Party for GJ Kinne and David Bailiff” at the Dan and Cindee Diepenhorst Champions Club from 5:30-9 p.m. The evening will include complimentary mimosas, wine & beer, a silent auction, heavy hors d’oeuvres & music by Texas State Jazz Trio. Tickets are $45 per person, limited and selling fast. They are available for purchase at heritagesanmarcos. org.

The tour will feature multiple locations on Texas State University.

Located on the plaza of Texas State University’s Bruce and Gloria Ingram Hall, the expanding spiral vortexes of Alice Aycock’s Texas Twister sculpture provide a fitting intro to this energetic hub of research and innovation.

The 166,000-squarefoot, five-story Ingram Hall opened in 2018 as the new home of the Ingram School of Engineering. Along with electrical engineering, industrial engineering, and manufacturing engineering programs, the building houses biology, computer science, mathematics, and physics programs.

A vast foyer filled with natural light and a striking glass-sided staircase leads to active-learning classrooms and state-of-the-art labs that bustle with all manner of STEM exploration.

On the first floor, the Ingram Hall Makerspace provides 11,000 square feet of workshop space and machinery for students to bring their design ideas to life in metal, acrylic, vinyl, and wood. The space’s four zones — rapid prototyping, industrial, welding, and woodworking — hold equipment ranging from 3D printers to laser engravers, CNC mills, and lathes.

Engineering and design students frequent the Makerspace, but it’s open to any student so long as they complete the required training. In one of the Makerspace’s design studios, the Bobcat Racing Team is building a formula- style racecar for a competition based on rigorous design rules and speed.

“We pretty much live and breathe this,” said Victor Hernandez, a senior manufacturing engineering student who’s designing the racecar’s pedal assembly. “The Makerspace is very important. There’s a wide range of machines here, and we try to make everything we can in here.”

Next door to Ingram Hall, the 1908 Thornton International House conjures a markedly different atmosphere. In the conference room, a black-andwhite photograph above the fireplace shows the Martindale family posed in the very same room, next to the same fireplace, over 90 years ago.

The 1933 photo — taken in what was then the parlor — underscores the historical ambiance of the three-story house. Today, the building welcomes students from near and far as the offices of Education Abroad and International Student and Scholar Services.

The house served as a residence for three families before Texas State acquired the building in 2005. The university renovated the space for business purposes, but the house retains numerous historical features, from wavy pouredglass windows to an unusual split staircase with landings that lead to the front and back doors.

Dr. Laura Rodríguez Amaya, interim assistant vice president and director of International Affairs, said the home fosters a tangible connection to the past.

“We have a kitchen with very tall cabinets, tiny closets everywhere, and bathrooms with tubs — I doubt you will find many of these features in more modern buildings around campus,” she said. “Visitors are always curious about the house. Inevitably we start our conversations with historical information, facts, and rumors about the house.”

The home’s first occupants were James Milton Carroll and his wife, Sudie. J.M. Carroll, a Baptist theologian and educator, was the first president of the San Marcos Baptist Academy. In 1921, George Norman Martindale Sr. and his wife, Bonnie — part of a family with large cotton farms in Caldwell and Hays counties — acquired the home. After the Martindales died, their heirs sold the home in 1951 to banker J.R. Thornton and his wife, Mary Louise Cape Thornton.

Throughout its history, the home was known as a place for entertaining — from the Carrolls’ fundraising for the San Marcos Academy to the Martindales hosting music recitals to the Thorntons’ political prominence as friends of Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson.

“It is a beautiful home,” Clara Cape said in an oral history interview in 1974, when she was living in the house with the Thorntons, her daughter and son-inlaw. “It was sold several times, but it has never been rented, and it’s never been abused. The floors and the walls and everything else are in absolute perfect condition.”

The Heritage Association of San Marcos’ Historic Spring Tour covers some 20 iconic sites across the TXST campus, from its oldest building — the 1903 Old Main building — to one of its newest — the 2018 Bruce and Gloria Ingram Hall. Highlights include historic houses such as the Thornton International House and the Richard A. Castro Undergraduate Admissions Center; as well as a range of academic buildings that have evolved over the years, including the Comal Building, Centennial Hall, Flowers Hall, Taylor-Murphy History Building, Alkek Library, Emmett and Miriam Mc-Coy Hall, and the Undergraduate Academic Center. The tour also features artworks including The Wittliff Collections, LBJ Statue, Bobcat Statue, Vaquero Statue, Memorial Garden, and Buck Winn’s History of Ranching and Flowers Hall murals.

Each week watch for more articles on the Tour in the San Marcos Daily Record.

Presale tickets for Town & Gown: The Art and Architecture of Texas State University Tour tickets are $25 through May 19, $30 day of the event. Tickets to the “Welcome To and Welcome Home Party for GJ Kinne and David Bailiff” are $45. Go to heritagesanmarcos.org for tickets, MakerSpace registration, parking information, check-in locations, and tour maps. For any questions or sponsorship interest please call Tour Chair Bronwyn Sergi on 512-757-0730.