I’m feeling grateful today for everyone who hangs out here.
I needed a lot of help from readers to figure this out but I believe we have it. (Special thanks to Bob Swanson and Dan McCormack, whose email made me start thinking in this direction.)
This isn’t Houston at all–it’s the Forty Acres!
Here’s a closer look at the large buildings in the middle of the image:
And here’s an early photograph of the approach to Old Main on the UT campus:
[University of Texas Old Main Building, front exterior], photograph, [1904..1908]; (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth124218/: accessed January 5, 2018), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
Rice football traveled to Austin to play UT in 1914, 1915, 1916, and 1917. A large contingent of students from the Institute took the train up there to see the game each year. I’d be stunned if Elmer Shutts wasn’t among them. Here’s a picture of the Rice band marching in Austin in 1916:
And just for fun here they are again in 1917, the year of Rice’s first win over the Longhorns:
