History
San Patricio County
Spanish exploration and activity in the area dated from 1519, through 1821, when Mexico won its independence. In 1828, James McGloin and John McMullen received a Mexican land grant here, to which they brought Irish colonists. County was created in 1836; named for St. Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland. Organized in 1837, with San Patricio as county seat.
History
San Patricio de Hibernia
Founded in 1830 by John McMullen and James McGloin as the seat of their Irish colony under an empresario contract dated August 17, 1828 which was fulfilled by the empresarios 1830-1835. Named in honor of Saint Patrick the Patron Saint of Ireland.
History
Sharpsburg and Borden's Ferry
Named for an early area sheep rancher, the town of Sharpsburg grew into a regional trade center in the 1870's when Sidney Gail Borden (d. 1908) operated a general store, cotton gin, grist mill, and grape vineyards; bought a meat packery; and expanded an existing ferry business on the Nueces River.
History
Site of Bay View College
An important school of the coastal region, founded for scattered South Texas ranch children, by Thomas M. (1856-1943) and Alice Yantis Clark (1857-1913), of the family that founded Texas Christian University. The Clarks utilized 2-story "Hotel Portland", opened 1891 but soon idled by national business recession. With Mrs. Mollie Allen Turner as associate, they opened Bay View College in Sept.
History
Site of the Home of James McGloin
Born in County Sligo, Ireland - With John McMullen he secured a contract to settle 200 families August 17, 1828 - Landed his colonists at El Copano, 1830 - In 1834 laid out the town of San Patricio - His house on this site was built in 1855 - Died here, 1856
History
Site of West Portland
The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad was built through this area in the late 1880s. In 1908 the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company decided to encourage settlement in the area by giving 14,000 acres in its Picatche pasture to the George H. Paul Company of Iowa to sell. Paul already had established a record of bringing settlers to Texas from other parts of the United States and Canada.
History
Site of White Point Mass Graves of 1919 Hurricane Victims
On Saturday, September 13, 1919, the last swarms of vacationers who packed the Corpus Christi beaches were warned that a massive hurricane, which had gathered strength in the Gulf for two weeks, was approaching the shore. Most ignored the warnings in favor of the last weekend of the summer season.
History
St. Paul
The town of St. Paul began in 1910, the result of a land promotion operation by developer George H. Paul and the Shary Land Company. George Paul purchased 70,000 acres of land from local rancher J.J. Welder and divided the acreage into farm lots. The townsite of St. Paul was platted in December 1910, and Adolph, Robert, and John Shary formed the Shary Land Company to promote the new town.
Industry & Science
Taft Agricultural Industrial Complex
The Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company laid out the town of Taft on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad line in 1900. The intention of the company directors was to present Taft and surrounding farms as a model community to attract Northern investors. By 1904 a post office and a company commissary had opened near the rail line, and soon other businesses and homes were built nearby.
Transport
Terminal Railroad
Built in 1892, the Aransas Harbor Terminal Railroad ("Old Terminal Railroad") provided a means for transporting rock from mainland quarries to jetties under construction in the pass. In 1909 the Aransas Pass Channel and Dock Company was chartered to build a channel from the first south Texas deep water port at Harbor Island to Aransas Pass.
History
Thomas Henry Mathis Ranch
In 1879, following the dissolution of the Coleman, Mathis, Fulton Cattle Company, Thomas Henry Mathis (1834-1899) established a ranch he called the Henry Bend Ranch, named for a combination of his middle name and its location on a bend in the Nueces River. The ranch covered some 24,000 acres of land in southwestern San Patricio County.
History
White Point/Rosita
Native American tribes occupied land in this vicinity before Spanish explorers claimed the region in the 18th Century. Anglo American settlers began arriving in the area in the 1830s, and in 1856 brothers, Frank and Eddie White purchased land here for a cattle ranch.
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.
