Early History of Port of Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi spent about seventy years trying to get a deep harbor before it got one. The turning point came after the hurricane of September 14, 1919, which convinced civic and business leaders that a deepwater port was the way to recover. A rivers and harbors act approved under President Harding in 1922 authorized the ship channel, and dredging began in 1923. The port opened on September 14, 1926, the storm's seventh anniversary. The city grew from 10,522 people in 1920 to 27,741 in 1930, and by 1969 the port ranked second in Texas.

What the plaque says

Early History of Port of Corpus Christi Protected by offshore islands, the shallow waters of Corpus Christi Bay were a haven for smugglers before the Texas Revolution (1836). Commercial activity began when Henry L. Kinney (1814-1860) opened a trading post here about 1838. After the Mexican War (1846-1848), Corpus Christi became a departure point for the California Gold Rush (1849) and a main stop on the route between San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. In 1854 the city authorized dredging operations to make the harbor accessible to deep water vessels. In 1857 a circuitous 32-mile long channel was opened from Corpus Christi Bay to Aransas Pass. Blockaded by Federal ships during the Civil War (1861-1865), Corpus Christi remained a major port for Confederate trade with Mexico until the harbor was captured in 1864. The ship channel was widened and deepened in 1874. Elihu Harrison Ropes of New Jersey came to Corpus Christi in 1890 with ambitious plans for development of the city and port. Using a steam dredge, he began digging a 14-mile long, 15-foot deep pass across Mustang Island. The "Ropes Boom" collapsed in the Panic of 1893, but Ropes' efforts laid a foundation for the opening of the Port of Corpus Christi on Sept. 15, 1926, and its success as one of the nation's largest seaports. (1977)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Art Museum of South Texas — 0.2 mi
  Philip Johnson's 1972 museum on the Corpus Christi bayfront, joined in 2006 by Ricardo Legorreta's Miller Wing, holding more than 2,000 works mostly from Texas and the Americas.
• Texas State Aquarium — 0.3 mi
  A nonprofit aquarium on the tip of Corpus Christi Beach built around the Gulf and the Caribbean, with the largest coastal wildlife rescue center in Texas behind the exhibits.
• USS Lexington Museum on the Bay — 0.5 mi
  An Essex-class carrier of 1943 moored off North Beach, the Blue Ghost that Tokyo Rose kept reporting sunk, and the Navy's training carrier for nearly three decades after.
• Mirador de la Flor — 1.1 mi
  Corpus Christi's bayfront memorial to Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the Tejano singer from this city, killed in 1995 at twenty-three, visited by about thirty thousand people a year.

More markers nearby

• Corpus Christi and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway — steps away
• Nueces County — steps away
• Corpus Christi Longshoremen's Unions — 0.2 mi
• Jalufka-Govatos House — 0.4 mi