HISTORIC REFLECTION … One of the features of Bryan during its early “Fountain City” period was wide unpaved streets that were leveled using a horse-drawn street scraper. This circa 1901 historic photograph shows a steam traction engine moving a wooden frame building on West High Street before the thoroughfare was paved with brick. Pasted on the front of the struc-ture is a poster advertising “Buffalo Bill’s Rough Riders,” who performed in Bryan on July 26, 1900. The building is shown passing the Hotel Williams (later known as the Hotel Elder), constructed at the southeast corner of High and Beech Streets in 1892. The Williams County courthouse tower can be seen through tree branches on the left. This vintage image was probably taken during the summer of 1901 by Rush B. Morrow, an amateur Bryan photographer. This historic image is from the Williams County Public Library Huffman Photographic Archives and was printed from a glass plate negative.
