Collegeport

What became of Collegeport is told in dates after the plaque stops. Missouri Pacific service ran from 1911 to 1933. The Handbook records an ice storm in December 1924 that killed hundreds of cattle and closed the packing house, a population of 200 in 1936, and consolidation of the schools with Palacios by 1948. The plaque puts the damaging freeze in 1914, which the Handbook calls an agricultural crisis. A local timeline has the Gulf Coast University of Industrial Arts running from 1909 to 1915, while the Handbook lists the college among institutions closed by 1952.

What the plaque says

Collegeport Jonathan Edward Pierce and Abel Brown Pierce hired land developer Burton D. Hurd to sell off 9,000 acres of their ranch lands in 1908. The agreement with Hurd called for the development of a town that would include a college and a port on Trespalacios Bay. Advertising the venture in newspapers of northern states, Hurd promoted the area's mild climate and promising farming opportunities. A number of families relocated to Collegeport to purchase land, establish farms, and build new homes. The Gulf Coast University of Industrial arts, the college promised by the town's developer, opened in 1909. Served by the Missouri Pacific (MoPac) Railroad, Collegeport grew quickly and by 1912 included a bank, post office, school, two churches, retail stores, and other commercial businesses. It boasted the county's first free public library, its first Boy Scout troop, and the Women's Club, founded in 1910. In 1914 a heavy freeze killed most of the farmers' crops. The following year the area experienced a drought and a disease which devastated the livestock herds, causing many families to move away. The railroad depot, known as Mopac House, was dismantled and rebuilt as part of the public library in 1935. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Indianola — 24 mi
  The site of Texas's second port, where Morgan's steamships, Army freight and the first refrigerated beef passed until the hurricanes of 1875 and 1886, now mostly under Matagorda Bay.
• Half Moon Reef Lighthouse and Linnville — 27 mi
  The last screw-pile lighthouse of the Texas coast, brought ashore at Port Lavaca, a town founded by refugees from Linnville, the port Buffalo Hump's Comanches burned in August 1840.

More markers nearby

• First Presbyterian Church of Collegeport — steps away
• Pilkington Slough Ranch — 1.6 mi
• Palacios Preparatory School — 2.4 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Palacios — 2.5 mi