History
Santa Margarita Crossing
Ranchers occupying the 1804 Spanish land grant of Jose Herrera established this crossing of the Nueces and named the scattered settlement Santa Margarita. In 1828, John McMullen and James McGloin received a land grant from the Mexican government for an irish colony north of the river and founded the town of San Patricio. This site soon became a major crossing on the Matamoros Road into Texas.
Architecture
Sidbury House
Charlotte Scott (Mrs. Edward D.) Sidbury (1830-1904), the builder of this house, was born in north Carolina and came with her parents to sterling Robertson's colony before the Texas Revolution (1836). She married John Wesley Scott in 1848; they moved to Nueces county, where he died in 1867. In 1875, she was married again to builder Edward D. Sidbury. A civic leader and bank Director, Mrs.
Architecture
Sidbury-Savage House
Edward D. Sidbury (1838-1881), a native of North Carolina, migrated to Corpus Christi in 1867. Soon after his arrival, he opened a lumber business. He later built a commercial wharf at the end of coopers alley, served by a line of the Texas-Mexican railroad.
Architecture
Simon Gugenheim House
This structure was built at 1101 North Chaparral for Simon and Lila Belle (Soloman) Gugenheim. Simon Gugenheim (1861-1942) was a native Texan who came to Corpus Christi in 1882 with forty dollars in his pocket and remained to become wealthy. He and a friend formed the Gugenheim and Cohn Drygoods Co.
History
Sisters of the Incarnate Word
In 1871 the Brownsville congregation of the Incarnate Word, at the request of Bishop Claude Dubuis, sent four sisters to Corpus Christi. They moved into a run-down adobe building at Leopard and Carancahua Street. H.L. Kinney had given the site to the church for a convent and school. Immediately the sisters recognized the need for a Spanish-speaking teacher.
History
Site of Kinney's Trading Post
Henry L. Kinney, born in Pennsylvania in June 1814, came to this area about 1858 and established a fort-like trading post (across Broadway). The building, enclosed by a stockade, contained his home, store, and quarters for armed men. The bulk of Kinney's trade was with Indians and smuggling for Mexican Federalists who were in constant conflict with Centralist forces.
Industry & Science
Site of Old Salt Mill
One of the earliest industries in Corpus Christi was a mill erected at this site by Captain John Anderson (1813-1898), a Swedish-born seafarer who brought his family to Texas in 1852. Anderson built a house here in the 1850s, when this property was on the waterfront. The mill may have been constructed at that time, although some sources claim that it was not in operation until the 1870s.
History
Site of Santa Petronila Ranch
Appointed in 1764 by the governor of the Spanish colony of Nuevo Santander, Captain Blas Maria de la Garza Falcon (1712-1767) established an outpost and way station (8 miles east), the first in present-day Nueces County. He was commissioned to explore the coast and establish a mission for Christianizing the Indians.
History
Site of the Corpus Christi Lighthouse
In the late 1850s, Col. John M. Moore began dredging operations in the bay to create a large harbor for Corpus Christi. The U.S. Lighthouse Service purchased this site from J. Burnside and Co. on March 13, 1857, and soon built a brick lighthouse to serve as a beacon for vessels approaching the new port. The outbreak of the Civil War interrupted plans for harbor construction.
History
Site of the Nueces Hotel
As railroad lines made travel easier for the people of the state, a group of South Texas businessmen developed plans to attract vacationers to Corpus Christi. The construction of the Nueces Hotel in 1912-1913 was part of this development. Prominently sited on the waterfront, the hotel featured a banquet hall, two private dining rooms, a sun parlor, and 205 guest rooms.
History
Solomon Coles (1844-1924) and Solomon Coles School
A former slave, Solomon Melvin Coles was born in Petersburg, Virginia. Before the Civil War, a sheriff disobeyed the law by teaching Coles to read. He worked his way through college beginning at Guilford Institute, Connecticut, as the first black student. He earned a bachelor's and a master's degree at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Divinity at Yale.
History
Stanley L. Kostoryz
The Bohemian Colony Lands, a vision of Sanley L. Kostoryz, changed the landscape of the Coastal Bend and drew Czech immigrants from central Texas and Nebraska to south Texas. Stanislav l. Kostohryz was born in 1866 in Jemnice, Strakonice district, Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1886, he immigrated through New York.
History
Stout Jackson & The Carpa Theaters
Thomas Jefferson Jackson was born in 1890 in North Texas to a rancher and Baptist minister and his wife. Raised to value physical labor and good health, Jackson grew up with enough physical strength to be a professional strongman at age 17. He took his act on the road, performing in Texas, Oklahoma, Central and South America.
History
Sunshine Cemetery
From the late 1800's until the early 1940's, the Sunshine Community encompasses this part of what is now Corpus Christi. The small farming and ranching settlement, also known as encinal, boasted a school, union church, and post office. The sunshine school was in operation from 1887 until 1942, when it was consolidated with the Aberdeen School.
History
Tarpon Inn
In 1886 Frank Stephenson, a boat pilot and assistant Aransas lighthouse keeper, opened an inn at this site in an old barracks. He called the facility "Tarpon Inn" for the abundant trophy fish in nearby gulf waters. The Inn served as a landmark for sailors, and Port Aransas was known for a time as "Tarpon". In 1897 Mary Cotter and her son J.E. Bought the two story inn from Stephenson.
Architecture
Temple Beth El
Jewish settlers came to Corpus Christi shortly after the city's founding in 1852. Several became prominent business owners and community leaders. In the 1870s, the Jewish community formed a Hebrew Benevolent Society. In 1912, they formed a congregation, which included both Orthodox and Reform families.
History
The American G.I. Forum
World War II provided Latino and Latina Americans with opportunities to fight for freedom around the world. Hundreds of thousands served in the U.S. Armed Forces, returning with hope and renewed idealism but often facing entrenched prejudice. While treating servicemen for the Veterans Administration in Corpus Christi, Texas-raised Dr.
History
The Corpus Christi Caller-Times
The first issue of the Corpus Christi "Caller" was published on January 21, 1883. It was established by Eli Merriman, owner of the Corpus Christi "Free Press", Ed Williams, co-owner of the "Semi-Weekly Ledger", and W.P. Caruthers, who is credited with naming the "Caller". One of the original stockholders was King Ranch founder Captain Richard King. W.E.
History
The Mercer Family on Mustang Island
THE MERCER FAMILY ON MUSTANG ISLAND ROBERT AINSWORTH MERCER (1799-1875) ARRIVED ON MUSTANG ISLAND CA. 1855. AFTER STARTING A SMALL SETTLEMENT, MERCER WAS APPOINTED NUECES COUNTY'S WRECK MASTER, WITH OVERSIGHT OF THE DISPOSITION OF VESSELS LOST CROSSING ARANSAS PASS. HIS SONS, JOHN (1840-1896) AND EDWARD (NED) (1842-?), SERVED AS ARANSAS PASS BAR PILOTS.
History
The Ranchero
The Ranchero was a newspaper published in Corpus Christi and elsewhere in south Texas during and after the Civil War. The publication's editors were ardent supporters of the Confederacy and they later used the newspaper to express their opposition to federal military rule in Texas during the period of Reconstruction.
History
Theodore Merchant Lawrence (January 16, 1861-August 10, 1941)
A grandson of one of the city's first physicians, Dr. David Henry Lawrence, Theodore Merchant "Buddy" Lawrence was born in Corpus Christi. He left home at an early age and found employment on the King Ranch, where he participated in cattle drives. He later worked as a professional hunter. In 1880 Lawrence married Cora Eugenia Garrett. They became the parents of six children.
History
Thomas S. Parker
Born in Philadelphia in 1817, Thomas S. Parker came to Texas at the age of twenty. In 1839 he and his parents William W. and Hannah Parker were awarded large land grants in the vicinity of present-day Corpus Christi; they used the land to raise cattle. About 1845 Parker joined forces with his friend Henry L.
Military
U.S. Coast Guard on Mustang Island
The Aransas Pass has significantly influenced the economic development of the region. The natural waterway also has included treacherous navigational hazards. In 1878, the U. S. government addressed this situation when it established the first Aransas Life Saving Station on Mustang Island, at Cotter and Station Streets.
Military
World War II Coastal Defenses at the Aransas Pass
In the late 1700s, the U.S. began a coastal defense system to protect ports and strategic points. Texas, which became a state in 1845, featured several gulf coast sites that would prove important in U.S. Military engagements in the 19th century and later. In March 1941, before the U.S.
History
Wynn Seale Junior High School
This property was outside the city limits in 1934 when acquired by the Corpus Christi Independent School District for a new junior high. The school board voted to name the planned facility for Edmund Wynn Seale (c. 1887-1934) shortly after his death.
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.
