The city of Bryan has a population of 76,201 and is presently the county seat of Brazos County. It is located in the Brazos Valley and shares its southern border along with College Station. The two of these cities together comprise the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area, which contains approximately 190,000 people. This makes it the 16th largest metropolitan area within the state.
The city of Bryan sits in the middle between three of the nation's largest cities. The city of Dallas lies approximately 170 miles north, the city of San Antonio is situated around 166 miles southwest, and the closest Houston is situated approximately 92 miles south-southeast. Austin, that is the state capital of the state of Texas, is situated 104 miles to the west. Around 75% of the populations of the state of Texas and the state of Louisiana live within 3.5 driving hours of the city of Bryan.
The land area initially belonged to Moses Austin and was part of a Spanish land grant. Stephen F. Austin, Austin's son, was the first to bring settlers to the area. The city was at first established in the year 1821 and was incorporated in 1871. Bryan began to quickly increase in size in 1860 the time the Houston and Texas Central Railroad was constructed.
Bryan boasts many interesting attractions situated nearby, including: Travis Park, Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History, Children's Museum of the Brazos Valley, Haswell Memorial Park, Bronco Stadium and Carnegie Center of Brazos Valley History.
The city of Bryan is littered with numerous parks and recreational areas. The Ridgecrest Shopping Center and the Townshire Shopping Center are two of the most popular shopping places within Bryan.
Downtown Bryan is a unique, vibrant collection of locally-owned restaurants, technology-based businesses and historic architecture. The region has a rich past that adds to the ambiance created by the stunning old buildings. Assortments of diverse companies are attracted to this area, such as disaster recovery spaces for numerous Fortune 500 companies and several music and art venues. Deep within the centre of the city of Bryan lies a 24,000 square foot data centre. The numbers of creativity and technology businesses are slowly increasing.
Bryan's Bio-Corridor has been developed along the intersection of Highway 60 and Highway 47. Responsible for the developments is the Research Valley Partnership, a group which has a unique vision to incorporate a full-cycle approach to biotechnology by incorporating preclinical studies, research, manufacturing and clinical studies. Several of the buildings needed are already in place: The Project GreenVax, the Texas A&M Institute for Genomic Medicine and the National Center for Therapeutic Manufacturing.