Tucked away in College Station’s Veterans Park and Athletic Complex is a hidden gem – a 12-acre site dedicated to veterans from our nation’s major wars.
Self-Guided Walking Tour
-
The North GateGet DirectionsYou're standing at the reason this whole district has a name. When Texas A&M was a smaller, all-male agricultural and military college, the north gate was the campus entrance across from the new businesses popping up—two wooden structures with a post office, tailor, photography studio and store where customers could buy cold drinks, hamburgers and tamales. Locals just started calling the area "Northgate," and it stuck. Today, the gate is gone but the name has outlived more than a century of College Station history. Look south across University Drive — that's where the original gate stood.
-
Dixie ChickenGet Directions
You're standing at the reason this whole district has a name. When Texas A&M was a smaller, all-male agricultural and military college, the north gate was the campus entrance across from the new businesses popping up—two wooden structures with a post office, tailor, photography studio and store where customers could buy cold drinks, hamburgers and tamales. Locals just started calling the area "Northgate," and it stuck. Today, the gate is gone but the name has outlived more than a century of College Station history. Look south across University Drive — that's where the original gate stood.
-
Chimy’s CerveceriaGet Directions
Chimy's has held down 203 University Drive since 2013, anchoring the eastern end of the front row with margaritas, tacos and one of the best people-watching patios in the district. Before Chimy's, this building was Handy Burger (1962 to the late '70s) and the Deluxe Diner — the kind of greasy-spoon counter joint that fueled four generations of Aggies before the burrito and burger boom.
-
The Front Porch SongGet Directions
In 1978, two Aggies named Robert Earl Keen, Class of '78, and Lyle Lovett, Class of '79, sat on a porch on Church Avenue in Northgate, strumming guitars and writing the song that would become "The Front Porch Song" — the foundation of two legendary careers in Texas country music. Lovett still calls Texas A&M his musical origin story. Keen still tours behind songs that started on that porch. The house is long gone, and the city parking lot behind Dixie Chicken now occupies the site. If you've ever sung along to "The Road Goes on Forever," this is where the road began.
