Bryan Compress and Warehouse

Just north of downtown Bryan, Texas, a cotton compress and three warehouses occupy three city blocks at 911 N. Bryan. The four buildings are one story tall and combine heavy timber framing with load-bearing masonry. Walls are brick or corrugated metal, and the roofs are low-pitched hip and sawtooth forms covered in tin. Brick and concrete firewalls protect the compress building, and the press and its equipment sit in a pyramidal-roofed tower and brick section on the east side of the southernmost building. The property was assembled beginning in 1907, when the Planters Compress Company started buying the blocks. By 1930 two owners held the land, and by 1932 the Bryan Compress Warehouse controlled all three blocks, about when the existing buildings were put up. The complex was recognized for its role in commerce and the cotton trade. All buildings contribute, and the site is considered a virtually intact industrial complex and the best local example of an industrial enterprise.