History
1919 Storm
On August 31, 1919, a tropical storm developed in the Caribbean Sea. For two weeks it grew in intensity, undetected, and moved into the Gulf of Mexico. By midnight on September 13, a hurricane was approaching an unsuspecting south Texas coastline. Residents of the thriving resort town of Corpus Christi finally were told to seek higher ground at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, September 14.
History
Alta Vista Hotel, Site of
Colonel Elihu Harrison Ropes (1845-1898) came to Corpus Christi in 1888 with grand ideas for the town's development and promotion. With financial backing from eastern investors, he sought to make Corpus Christi a deepwater port, to build a railroad between the port and the lower Rio Grande Valley, and to develop a large suburb three miles south of what was then the city limit.
Museums & Art
Antonio E. Garcia
(1901-1997) Remembered for his contributions to the art community, Antonio E. Garcia was a talented Mexican American artist who created wood carvings, public frescoes and murals, and impacted generations of artists. Antonio E. Garcia was born in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1901.
Military
Aransas Pass, C.S.A.
Aransas Pass, the natural inlet (3 miles east) to Aransas Bay, separates San Jose and Mustang Islands. These islands are part of a chain of barrier islands which extend along the entire length of Texas' Coastal Mainland.
Nature
Artesian Park and Sulphur Well
After a convention of Republic of Texas citizens accepted terms on July 4, 1845, for annexation to the United States, General Zachary Taylor brought 4,000 men of the U.S. 3rd infantry to Corpus Christi to defend the embryonic state from indians or foreign powers. He remained eight months; more than two months after Texas became a state he marched to the Rio Grande.
History
Arthur Edward Spohn, M.D. and Spohn Hospital
One of three brothers who became doctors, A.E. Spohn (1845-1913) was born in Canada and studied medicine in Michigan and New York. He came to the Texas Gulf Coast in 1868 as a U.S. surgeon in charge of military quarantine. He settled in Corpus Christi after his marriage in 1876 to Sarah Josephine Kenedy (1857-1918) daughter of steamboat captain and rancher Mifflin Kenedy.
History
At the Forks of the Agua Dulce
At the forks of the Agua Dulce fifteen miles southwest of San Patricio fell Dr. James Grant, Major Robert C. Morris, Captain Thomas Lewellen, Dr. Charles P. Heartt, Stephen Dennison, J.T. Howard, Joseph Smith Johnston, H. Obed Marshall, John C. McLanglin, J.W.
History
Banquete Cemetery
In June 1832 the colony of Irish families settled along the Nueces River by John McMullen and James McGloin was linked to Mexico by completion of the Matamoros Road. Mexican officials sponsored a Fiesta near this site as a goodwill gesture to the colonists. The village that later grew up here was called "Banquete", the Mexican name for the 4-day celebration.
History
Banquete, C.S.A.
In the critical civil war years, Banquete meant water, supplies, repairs and defenses to thousands on arid trips along the Cotton Road to Mexico. The Cotton Road was well known, for it followed a segment of the historic "King's Highway" of early explorers. Yet its vital role for 4 years in supplying the confederacy earned it undying fame.
History
Battle of Agua Dulce
During the Texas Revolution, Dr. James Grant (1793-1836), a Scottish-born physician, and Francis W. Johnson (1799-1884) recruited an army of volunteers to invade Mexico and capture the town of Matamoros. After Sam Houston expressed disapproval of the poorly-organized venture, many recruits left the expedition before it reached the settlement of San Patricio along the Nueces River in January 1836.
History
Bishop
The town of Bishop was established in 1910 by F.Z. Bishop on land he had purchased from the Driscoll Ranch. The townsite was staked on both sides of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico railroad line. F.Z. Bishop, who dreamed of building a model town on the prairie, managed construction of the town.
Architecture
Broadway Bluff Improvement
This 40-foot bluff became a distinctive border between uptown and downtown as Corpus Christi experienced rapid growth after 1900. With the encouragement of Mayor Roy Miller, New York engineer Alexander Potter began designing improvements to the Bluff and parallel Broadway streets in 1913. Miller's vision and Potter's plans reflected the "City Beautiful Movement" then popular nationwide.
History
Calallen
The rural Nueces County settlement of Calallen was established by the Calvin Townsite Company on August 18, 1910. The president of the firm was the prominent local cattlemen Calvin J. Allen (1859-1922), for whom the town was named. The area's abundant water supply and the settlement's location on the St.
Military
Camp Scurry
Since 1848, smuggling, rustling and armed incursions by people on both sides of the Rio Grande were common. When the Mexican Revolution began, fear of violent attacks escalated. After Pancho Villa's raid in New Mexico on March 9, 1916, Brownsville, Harlingen, Llano Grande and other locations received national guardsmen.
History
Captain Enrique Villarreal and Rincon del Oso Land Grant
A soldier, colonist, Indian fighter, and explorer, Captain Enrique Villarreal at one time held title to most of the land that now constitutes Nueces County. The Rincon del Oso land grant, encompassing approximately 44,000 acres, was awarded to Villarreal by the Mexican government in 1831, although he had been using it as ranch land since 1810.
History
Casa Blanca Land Grant
The first spanish land grant awarded in what is now Nueces county was the Casa Blanca land grant. Granted in 1798 by the spanish government to Juan Jose de la Garza Montemayor (1765-1816) and his three sons, Juan Manuel, Jose Perfecto, and Jose Agustin, it was located between Penitas Creek and the Nueces River.
History
Cattle Drives from South Texas
By 1840, tens of thousands of wild cattle roamed this vast south Texas region between the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico. The longhorns were almost worthless to Texans, so in 1842, extended cattle drives began with small herds driven to New Orleans and Missouri. Edward Piper, in 1846, drove 1,000 head to Ohio. By 1850 drives began to California and in 1856, a herd was driven to Chicago.
History
Centennial House
Forbes Britton (1812-1861), a Virginian and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, came to Corpus Christi as an army captain in Mexican War, 1846. He returned as a civilian, and with his wife Rebecca (Millard) had this classical revival house built by the contractors Gravis, Berry and Yates, 1849-50.
History
Chapman Ranch
In Jan. 1919, Philip Alexander Chapman (1847-1924) purchased 34,631 acres of the Laureles Division of the King Ranch for development as farm lands similar to others he owned in east Texas and Oklahoma. He sent his son, J.O. Chapman (1883-1953), to supervise operations. Arriving in Sept. 1919, J.O. Chapman began dividing "Nueces Farms" into 160-acre tracts and leasing them to tenants.
Industry & Science
Coastal Hide, Tallow and Packing Industries
Facilities for the rendering of hides and tallow and for meat packing flourished along the Texas coastal bend during the last half of the nineteenth century, when hundreds of thousands of wild longhorns roamed South Texas; packery channel was named for the facilities located along the waterway.
Architecture
Corpus Christi Cathedral
The Corpus Christi Cathedral is the second structure to serve as cathedral for the Diocese of Corpus Christi. It replaced Saint Patrick's, the church which had become the cathedral when the city was elevated to Diocesan seat in 1912. After a 1938 fire damaged Saint Patrick's (originally located at 800 Tancahua), the John G.
History
Corpus Christi College-Academy
IN 1927, THE BENEDICTINE MONKS OF THE NEW SUBIACO MONASTERY IN ARKANSAS ACCEPTED AN INVITATION FROM BISHOP EMMANUEL LEDVINA TO ESTABLISH A CATHOLIC BOYS' SCHOOL IN THE DIOCESE OF CORPUS CHRISTI. EAGER FOR SUCH A SCHOOL THAT HIS GRANDSONS COULD ATTEND, JOHN DUNN OFFERED THE DIOCESE FORTY ACRES OF THE DUNN FAMILY HOMESTEAD ON WHICH TO BUILD THE SCHOOL.
History
Corpus Christi Fire Department
In 1871, a fire at the home of William L. Rogers prompted Corpus Christi citizens to organize a volunteer fire deparment. Felix Noessel and Peter Benson started a subscription list, raising funds for purchasing equipment. City officials helped acquire a small fire engine, and the Pioneer No. 1 Company formed in November 1871.
History
Corpus Christi Longshoremen's Unions
When the deepwater port of Corpus Christi opened in September 1926, area dock workers formed two racially segregated labor union affiliates of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). Caucasian workers formed ILA Local 1224 and African American workers organized ILA Local 1225. These two groups reached an agreement to work opposite ends of each ship entering the port.
Military
Corpus Christi, 1861-1865
Near here on August 16 and 18, 1862, three Confederate artillery pieces held off four attacking Federal ships during the Civil War bombardment of Corpus Christi. The blockading squadron of Lieutenant J.W. Kittredge, U.S.N., had harrassed the southern coastal trade inside the offshore islands since February.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
