Navy Landing Airfield (NALF) Cabaniss
In support of the base’s training mission are two nearby outlying landing fields owned by the Navy: Navy Landing Airfield (NALF) Waldron, which is 3.5 miles from the Air Station; and NALF Cabaniss, which is 8.0 miles from the Air Station.
Cabaniss was an auxiliary field for Corpus Christi Naval Air Station during World War II and the Korean War. It closed in 1958 and is now used for "touch and go" training for T-34 turboprops from the Naval Air Station. The former NAAS now an OLF to NAS Corpus Christi.
In addition to waterside force protection, IBU 15 routinely practices combat skills in a field environment. In November 2001, the unit held training and a battle exercise at Cabaniss Air Field in Corpus.
Cabaniss is an airport course located in Corpus Christi, Texas, which is occasionally used for non-spectator Sports Car Club of America [SCCA] events.
Cabaniss Field was dedicated 9 July 1941, in honor of Commander Robert W Cabaniss, Naval Aviator No. 36, killed in a plane crash in 1927. Cabaniss served on the Asiatic Station and on the Pacific Coast until 1915, when he took flight training at Pensacola and became qualified Naval Aviator No. 36. During World War I, he had duty at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola; command of the aviation detachment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and in 1918, he was overseas in Paris. later he commanded the NAS, Moutchie-Lacanau; then served at Pauillac and at Bordeaux. After the war, he commanded NAS, Rockaway Beach, Long Island; had duty at NAS, Pensacola; in 1921, Executive Officer, aircraft tender, USS Wright; and in 1926, he took command of the aircraft tender, USS Aroostook. While on this duty he was killed in the crash of a PN-9 plane he was flying on 31 March, 1927, near Navassa Island in the West Indies. He was then in the rank of Commander.
On 11 May 1997 a Continental Airlines pilot misjudged the location of Corpus Christi International Airport Sunday and landed a Boeing 737 on a World War II-era auxiliary landing strip 4 1/2 miles away. It essentially was pilot error and he landed on the wrong runway. the jet, which took off from Houston with 59 people aboard, landed around 10:40 a.m. at Cabaniss Field. The runway at Cabaniss is about 3,000 feet shorter than the strip at Corpus Christi International. Passengers had to wait on the plane for almost three hours before buses arrived to take them to the right airport
15 comments:
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD)
Under the current US Navy organization, NAS Corpus Christi and NAS Kingsville are part of the Navy Region South Texas. Unlike some Navy facilities elsewhere in the country, the command relationship remains coherent, as the Region and Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) leadership structures are essentially identical.
NAS Corpus Christi is in the Flour Bluff area, ten miles southeast of the city of Corpus Christi and twenty-five miles south of NAVSTA INGLESIDE across Corpus Christi Bay. Corpus Christi Army Depot is a major tenant on the Naval Air Station. Other tenants include Chief of Naval Air Training; U.S. Coast Guard/Air Station; Drug Enforcement Agency; Medical Naval Hospital; Mine Warfare Command; and Defense Distribution Depot (sub-organization to Defense Logistics Agency).
The mission of NAS Corpus Christi is to provide the best possible service and facilities for customers. The function is to maintain and operate facilities, provide service and material to support operations of aviation activities and units of the Naval Air Training Command and other tenant activities and units.
As a training base, NAS Corpus Christi emphasizes basic flight maneuvering and traffic pattern operations. As a result, the installation supports some 400,000 operations per year, virtually all VFR. These are accommodated at the main base and at outlying fields (OLF) Waldron and Cabiniss. Each of the OLFs is controlled served by a Navy control tower, and offers other essential services (e.g., firefighting). They offer VFR services only; only NAS Corpus Christi is equipped with has a full set of NAVAIDs, ILS and PAR. Neither the main base nor either of the OLFs has a significant record of noise concerns, although local commanders work aggressively to control both real time dissatisfaction and to assist the communities in managing growth to ensure the viability of the airfields.
The base is recognized as vital to the community’s economy; however, some encroachment concerns are reported (the unprecedented movement of American population to the southern states and to the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts has put pressure on many Navy installations, despite solid political and economic backing from state and local leaders). Published data indicate that the impending arrival of twelve heavy lift minesweeping MH-53 helicopters (from helicopter squadron HM-15) would complicate the installation’s community relations picture somewhat; however, there is no documentation of negative impacts to date. While these fly primarily over water or sparsely populated terrain, their departure from and return to home station has been a contentious issue at some other locations, especially MCAS Miramar, where they have recently been stationed. However, NAS Corpus Christi does have the advantage of direct access to its overwater operating areas.
There are some concerns for interactions with the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, which lies along the Gulf Coast north of NAS Corpus Christi. The two facilities have coexisted for many years (the 70,000 acre refuge dates from 1937, the base from 1941). Navy spokespersons note an excellent and candid working relationship at the local level, and indicate that any serious disagreement regarding overflight of the refuge would occur only as a result of fundamental disagreements at a higher level. However, the refuge is indicative of a more systemic problem. This is one of the highest bird strike potential areas in the nation. Large birds, including sandhill cranes and pelicans, are present in considerable numbers, while the endangered whooping crane exists in small numbers, but with very high level of ecological concern.
Truax Field
On August 6, 1986, the station's airfield was named Truax Field in honor of Lt. Myron Milton Truax, United States Navy. This is a bit confusing, since the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison WI -- home of the Wisconsin Air National Guard 115th Fighter Wing -- is also known as Truax Field.
Currently, Training Air Wing FOUR produces approximately 400 newly qualified aviators each year. The training program is approximately 18 months long, due to the complexity of today's aircraft. The general command assignment is pilot training. Training Air Wing FOUR consists of four squadrons. VT-27 and VT-28 handle primary training in the T-34C Mentor, a single engine turboprop aircraft. VT-31 provides advanced training in the T-44A Pegasus and TC-12B aircraft. VT-35 is a joint Air Force and Navy squadron. They fly the TC-12B aircraft. Both the C-12 and the T-44 are equipped with twine-engine turboprops. The Naval Air Station is also home to Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron FIFTEEN, flying the MH-53E Sea Dragon. These massive helicopters search the seas for mines by towing the most advanced minesweeping packages available. Other aircraft found at NAS Corpus Christi include the UH-1N Huey, a helicopter used primarily for Search and Rescue. The station employs officer, enlisted and civilian personnel serving the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, Army and Customs Service.
In support of the base’s training mission are two nearby outlying landing fields owned by the Navy: Navy Landing Airfield (NALF) Waldron, which is 3.5 miles from the Air Station; and NALF Cabaniss, which is 8.0 miles from the Air Station.
Additionally, the Navy has leased landing rights at the Aransas County Airport, 26.0 miles from the Air Station. These outlying fields reduce the need to use the runways on the Air Station to complete programmed training requirements; therefore, the additional fields allow a much greater Pilot Training Rate to be achieved.
Toward the end of the 1930's, the United States was becoming more involved with the war in Europe. More pilots were needed for what seemed an inevitable second world war. The Navy saw a need for a new and larger pilot training facility and its eyes fell on Corpus Christi. The Official Step leading to the construction of the Naval Air Station was initiated by the 75th Congress in 1938. A board found that a lack of training facilities capable of meeting an emergency demand for pilots constituted a grave situation. They recommended the establishment of a second air training station, and further that it be located on Corpus Christi Bay.
NAS Corpus Christi was commissioned by its first skipper, Captain Alva Berhard, on March 12, 1941. The first flight started on May 5, 1941. Following four weeks of ground training, the first of the original class of 52 students took off at 0947 on 5 May, 1941 in a Stearman trainer to log the first training flight. Former President George Bush was in the third graduating class, June 1942, and the youngest cadet ever to graduate. In 1941, 800 instructors provided training for more than 300 cadets a month. The training rate nearly doubled after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. During World War II the station was used to train aviation cadets as flyers, navigators, aerologists, gunners, and radio operators. By the end of World War II, more than 35,000 aviators had earned their wings here. Corpus Christi was the only primary, intermediate and advanced training facility in existence in the United States. At one time, it was the largest pilot training facility in the world.
In 1972, Naval Air Training Command Headquarters moved to Corpus Christi from Pensacola, Florida, and established Training Air Wing Four. Since the 1940's, NAS exerted a strong and lasting influence on Corpus Christi and on South Texas.
Corpus Christi Army Depot
Beginning in 1961 as a relatively small maintenance facility for fixed wing aircraft, the Corpus Christi Army Depot has grown to become a leader in Army repair, overhaul and maintenance of helicopters. There are over 2,700 civilians, seven military personnel, and 175 contractor personnel. The Depot's current annual payroll is $162.6 million, and utilizes 140 acres, controls 1.9 million square feet of floor space. The mission of the facility is to perform depot maintenance on Army aircraft and aeronautical equipment, to training military personnel in aeronautical depot maintenance for assignment worldwide and to prepare aircraft for overseas shipment. The depot also is responsible for distribution of overhauled items and for maintaining a mobilization base capable of rapid expansion in the event of a national emergency.
Corpus Christi Army Depot is the Army's only organic facility for the repair and overhaul of rotary wing aircraft. The Depot is a major contributor of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force readiness through repair, overhaul, and maintenance of a wide variety of helicopters as well as related engines and components. The Depot seeks and meets the challenges of global military demands through three major areas:
Corpus Christi Army Depot performs overhaul, repair, modification, retrofit, and modernization for Army and numerous Department of Defense rotary wing aircraft. Corpus Christi Army Depot provides hands-on training for Reserve, National Guard, active duty, and friendly foreign military personnel. Corpus Christi Army Depot provides additional depot maintenance support including on-site maintenance teams; crash damage analysis; and chemical, metallurgical, and technical support.
Corpus Christi Army Depot overhauls Army and other services' helicopters. The Depot provides for receipt, storage, overhaul, repair, modification, retrofit, maintenance, and other functions to aircraft and related aeronautical items. In support of these programs, the Depot purchases commercial supplies, repair parts, materiel, and equipment. In 1997, the Depot locally procured supplies and services totaling $23.9 million.
Corpus Christi Army Depot possesses extensive manufacturing capabilities that utilize conventional and advanced technology processes including Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing. This provides rapid, economical machining of a wide variety of ferrous and nonferrous materials. The Depot uses computer-aided manufacturing systems to create Computer Numerically Controlled programs in both conventional and Binary Cutter Location formats. The Depot fabricates aircraft parts that are not currently available from standard sources, enabling the Depot to provide timely aviation maintenance service to customers.
In 1961, ARADMAC (Army Aeronautical Depot Maintenance Center) came into being. Today it is known as Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD), and is the largest tenant command at NAS Corpus Christi. CCAD occupies nearly 140 acres leased from the station and is the largest industrial employer in South Texas. Established as a relatively small maintenance facility for fixed wing aircraft, CCAD evolved into the Army's largest helicopter repair, overhaul and maintenance center.
Established in 1961 as the United States Army Aeronautical Depot Maintenance Center, Corpus Christi Army Depot began as a depot-level maintenance facility for fixed and rotary wing aircraft. The Depot was tasked with repair and maintenance of three engines and four airframes. The first Bell Helicopter UH-1 (Huey) was overhauled in 1962. In 1967, Corpus Christi Army Depot's mission to overhaul and repair fixed wing aircraft was phased out due to increased demand for helicopter airframes, engines, and components. By 1968, the Facility was in full operation providing repair and overhaul services to approximately 400 helicopters annually. The name was changed to Corpus Christi Army Depot in 1974.
Today, Corpus Christi Army Depot provides helicopter repair and overhaul capability to all the U.S. military services, as well as numerous foreign military organizations. Thirty percent of the Depot's workload is obtained from other services and includes the SH-60 Seahawk, AH-1W Super Cobra Attack Helicopter, MH-60 Pavehawk, and UH-1N Huey Helicopter.
Corpus Christi Army Depot is a full-service facility with the ability to restore airframes, engines, and components to like-new condition including crash-damaged aircraft. Since it began, the Depot has overhauled or repaired more than 12,922 aircraft. The average total funded workload, based on 1997 history, is $307 million.
Coast Guard Air Station
The Coast Guard Air Station and the Coast Guard Group Office are located together in Hangar 41 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi Texas. There are presently 31 officers and 66 aviation enlisted personnel assigned to the Air Station. The Commander of Coast Guard Group Corpus Christi also serves as commanding officer of Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi.
USCG Air Detachment Corpus Christi was established on 20 November 1950, and was later re-designated USCG Air Station Corpus Christi. Following extensive personnel and equipment changes in the operations department, Group Corpus Christi became fully operational on October 15, 1980. The Air Station now operates as one of thirteen Coast Guard Group units between Port O’Connor, Texas and the Mexican border. Group Operations is manned 24 hours a day with personnel trained to handle all Coast Guard missions.
Among the many missions handled by the Coast Guard Air Station, search and rescue missions always have the highest priority. The Air Station, which maintains the 24—hour capability to quickly launch an HH—52A helicopter or an HU—25A fanjet, averages over 400 rescue cases a year. The station operates a total of three HH—52A helicopters and three HU—25A fanjets. Typical rescue missions include: searches for overdue vessels; assisting boats on fire, sinking or disabled; and medical evacuations from offshore oil rigs and vessels.
The Station’s aircrews frequently fly throughout the Group area on many missions other than search and. rescue. These missions include marine environmental protection, federal fisheries law enforcement and drug interdiction.
Air Station crews enforce federal fisheries laws by flying frequent patrols throughout the U.S. fisheries conservation zone, which extends 200 miles offshore. Close coordination is maintained with the Air Station’s resident special agent from the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Marine drug interdiction is a joint mission of the Coast Guard Air Station, other federal agencies and the vessels assigned to time Group. In addition to local drug interdiction patrols, Air Station aircraft and crews also frequently deploy outside the South Texas area as far away as Florida and the Caribbean Sea to work with other Coast Guard units on law enforcement missions.
Air Station Corpus Christi uses three HH-65A Dolphin helicopters and three HU-25B Falcon jets to provide air support for Coast Guard missions in Group Corpus Christi and the Eighth Coast Guard District. The HU-25B has unique AIREYE surveillance system that is the only system of its type operating in the United States. These aircraft deploy nationally to track oil spills and plot winter ice floes.
Surveillance Support Center (SSC)
The Surveillance Support Center (SSC), located in Corpus Christi, Texas, at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is home for the United States Customers Service (USCS) Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft. The aircraft are used to detect, identify, and track aircraft used to smuggle drugs into the United States. Because of the diverse capabilities of the USCS P-3s, the aircraft are deployed on long-range patrols in support of global interdiction efforts.
Beginning P-3 operations from USCS New Orleans Air Branch in 1984 and Tucson Air Branch in 1985, the P-3As supported the Air Branches along the southern border of the United States. The SSC was established in June 1987 when the four P-3As and two E-2Cs (on loan from the U.S. Navy) were transferred to Corpus Christi. Initial operations were conducted from a facility constructed of trailers, with no hangar to perform aircraft maintenance. Construction of the hangar and office that is the current SSC was completed in December 1988. The SSC employs 104 U.S. Custom’s aircrew and support employees, and a maintenance support staff of 75.
In response to the increasing amount of drugs being smuggled into the United States, the Congress approved the purchase of a prototype Lockheed P-3 AEW aircraft. The first aircraft was accepted in June 1988. The demonstrated success of the P-3 AEW justified the purchase of additional P-3 AEW aircraft. Currently operating three P-3 AEWs and four P-3A Interceptors, the SSC supports the Office of National Drug Control Policy and augments the Department of Defense in the detection and monitoring of air and marine smugglers.
While the primary mission is to interdict drug smugglers, the SSC maintains an active public relations program. The P-3As have been called upon to transport emergency food and medical supplies to victims of hurricanes and earthquakes in Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Mexico. The SSC sponsors an active Law Enforcement Explorer Post. Facility tours are encouraged and SSC personnel routinely address local civic organizations to inform them about the "War on Drugs."
BRAC 2005
In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to realign Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. As part of this recommendation, DoD recommended to relocate Commander Mine Warfare Command and Commander Mobile Mine Assembly Group from Corpus Christi to Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Center, Point Loma, CA; relocate Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 (HM-15) and dedicated personnel, equipment and support to Naval Station Norfolk, VA; disestablish Commander Helicopter Tactical Wing U.S. Atlantic Fleet Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Detachment Truax Field at Corpus Christi, TX and relocate its intermediate maintenance function for Aircraft Components, Fabrication & Manufacturing, and Support Equipment to Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic Site Norfolk, VA.
This recommendation would move mine warfare surface and aviation assets to major fleet concentration areas and reduce excess capacity and would remove the Mine Warfare community from a location remote from the fleet thereby better supporting the shift to organic mine warfare. This recommendation would also support mission elimination at Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Detachment Truax Field at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and reduce excess repair capacity. The relocation of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 (HM-15) to Naval Station Norfolk would single site all Mine Warfare Aircraft in a fleet concentration area. This location would better support the HM-15 mission by locating them closer to the C-5 transport Air Port of Embarkation for overseas employment and mine countermeasures ship and helicopter coordinated exercises. Assuming no economic recovery, DoD estimated that this recommendation, along with recommended closure of Ingleside Naval Station, could result in a maximum potential reduction of 6,864 jobs (3,184 direct jobs and 3,680 indirect jobs) over the 2006-2011 period in the Corpus Christi, TX, Metropolitan Statistical Area (3.1 percent).
DoD also recommended to realign NAS Corpus Christi by consolidating Navy Region South with Navy Region Midwest at Naval Station Great Lakes, IL and Navy Region Southeast at Naval Station Jacksonville, FL. In conjunction with other recommendations that would consolidate Navy Region Commands, this recommendation would reduce the number of Installation Management regions from twelve to eight, streamlining the regional management structure and allowing for opportunities to collocate other regional entities to further align management concepts and efficiencies. Consolidating Navy Regions would allow for more consistency in span of responsibility and would better enable Commander, Navy Installations, a position this recommendation would help to create, to provide operational forces support, community support, base support, and mission support to enhance the Navy’s combat power. Assuming no economic recovery, DoD estimated that this recommendation could result in a maximum potential reduction of 144 jobs (59 direct jobs and 85 indirect jobs) over the 2006-2011 period in the Corpus Christi, TX, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which would be less than 0.1 percent of economic area employment.
DoD would realign Corpus Christi Army Depot, TX, by disestablishing storage and distribution functions for tires, packaged petroleum, oils, and lubricants, and compressed gases. This recommendation would achieve economies and efficiencies that would enhance the effectiveness of logistics support to forces as they transition to more joint and expeditionary operations. This recommendation would disestablish the wholesale supply, storage, and distribution functions for all tires; packaged petroleum, oils and lubricants; and compressed gases used by the Department of Defense, retaining only the supply contracting function for each commodity. The Department would privatize these functions and would rely on private industry for the performance of supply, storage, and distribution of these commodities. By doing so, the Department could divest itself of inventories and eliminate infrastructure and personnel associated with these functions. This recommendation would result in more responsive supply support to user organizations and would thus add to capabilities of the future force. The recommendation would provide improved support during mobilization and deployment, and the sustainment of forces when deployed worldwide. Privatization would enable the Department to take advantage of the latest technologies, expertise, and business practices, which translates to improved support to customers at less cost. It centralizes management of tires; packaged petroleum, oils, and lubricants; and compressed gases and eliminates unnecessary duplication of functions within the Department.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/corpus-christi.htm
Naval Air Station Kingsville
Under the current US Navy organization, NAS Corpus Christi and NAS Kingsville are part of the Navy Region South Texas. Unlike some Navy facilities elsewhere in the country, the command relationship remains coherent, as the Region and Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) leadership structures are essentially identical. NAS Kingsville’s operation is the natural complement of NAS Corpus Christi. NAS Kingsville operates higher performance single engine aircraft, generally over land (distance, rather than safety or capacity concerns, limits Kingsville use of overwater areas.
Naval Air Station Kingsville is one of the U.S. Navy’s premier locations for jet aviation training. Located just east of Kingsville, TX, population 25,000, the Naval Air Station’s primary mission is to train tactical jet pilots for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. To accomplish its mission, NAS Kingsville is home to Training Air Wing TWO and several tenant commands, military as well as civilian, with a total complement of approximately 300 officers, 200 enlisted, 350 civilian personnel, and 625 contract maintenance personnel.
The Operations Department operates the airfield and provides services to support operations of activity, tenant, and transiting aircraft; provides firefighting functions, both structural and fire and rescue; provides air traffic control; operates air terminal; schedules administrative and proficiency flights; repairs and maintains station ground electronics equipment; stores, maintains, and issues assigned ordnance and munitions; operates firing ranges; operates aerial targets, bombing ranges, and auxilliary landing fields.
Escondido Ranch is a hunting ranch located 90 miles from Kingsville, Texas and is managed by the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department of Naval Air Station Kingsville. The ranch lodge has accommodations for over 50 guests, a cookhouse, and nearly 6,800 acres of prime Texas hunting land. : Escondido boasts a 17 room lodge with an adjacent cookhouse that contains 4 large barbecue pits, 2 electric stove and a electric grill. The lodge has a large lounge with sofas, tables, electronic dart game, a TV, VCR, pool table, and a microwave. Although, each room is furnished with beds, refrigerator, alarm clock, an air conditioner/heater, limited availability of water prevents the Ranch from providing linen service.
There are 192 active housing units in Texas Terrace and 2 Senior Officer units located on base at Kingsville. The units are broken down into categories of 51 Officer and 143 Enlisted Quarters. The officer units consist of 21 - 2 bedroom units, 20 - 3 bedroom units, and 10 - 4 bedroom units. The remaining 143 enlisted units are divided into 37 - 2 bedroom units, 86 - 3 bedroom units, 19 - 4 bedroom units, and 1 - 6 bedroom unit. In response to a test program for Public Private Venture Housing, The Department of Defense has selected NAS Kingsville as one of the sites for a PPV. The most recent apartment construction is a 128 unit apartment complex built in 1997 known as HAWKS LANDING. Housing Referral also maintains the listings for Community Housing. Most of the community housing is available in Kingsville, Bishop, Ricardo, and Riviera.
The famous King Ranch which sprawls across 825,000 acres of South Texas with land that varies from fertile black farmland to low lying coastal marshes to pastures with numerous mesquite trees that mark the beginning of the great Texas brush country. Covering more than 1,300 squares miles, it is larger than the entire state of Rhode Island, and it is the home of 60,000 Santa Gertrudis cattle and 300 registered Quarter Horses. Kingsville was founded in 1904 and occupies land that was once part of the Rincon de Santa Gertrudis Spanish land grant purchased by Captain Richard King in 1853. King, a steamboat operator on the Rio Grande, became interested in the area while riding horseback from Brownsville to Corpus Christi. Attracted by the lush, grassy coastal plains, King built his ranch on the Santa Gertrudis Creek. Mrs. King later deeded more than 40,000 acres for townsite and Kingsville was founded. King Ranch also gave land for the development of the railroad in South Texas.
Naval Auxiliary Landing Field (NALF) Orange Grove
The BRAC decision to close Chase Field led to an increase in Pilot Training Rate (PTR) and the physical number of aircraft stationed aboard NAS Kingsville. Currently 70 T-45 trainer aircraft have arrived. In recognition of the increased congestion at Kingsville, the Navy made a significant investment in improving the facilities and capabilities of the Auxiliary Landing Field (ALF) at Orange Grove. The terminal airspace at Kingsville was expanded to include Orange Grove and the ALF serves as an overflow relief from the primary airfield.
Hunting and fishing aboard the station, NALF Orange Grove and Escondido Ranch is authorized in accordance with station directives and state and federal laws. Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville's gesture is a great example of how the United States Navy gives a hoot. Located in Kingsville, TX, NAS Kingsville has decided to play seasonal host to the burrowing owl. The South Texas Naval air station, in a partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey's Texas Gulf Coast Field Research Station, the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend Ambassadors, will offer an open field with artificial burrows for the burrowing owls, which are anticipated to stay there over the winter, beginning in October. The Naval Auxiliary Landing Field (NALF) in Orange Grove, TX, also will have artificial burrows. NAS Kingsville has 18 artificial burrows, as does NALF Orange Grove. The burrows are done in three groups of six sets, with each group being about 100 yards apart.
R-6312 McMullen Target Site/Range
The Navy's mission of training aviators uses the range in McMullen County, variously known as the McMullen County Range or the McMullen Target Site/Range. In 1966 the Padre Island ranges were decommissioned, and crews are dispatched to remove remaining ordnance. Later that year, bombing operations were moved to McMullen County. The Navy, Air Force and Texas National Guard continue to use the facility.
NAS Kingsville manages the McMullen County Range, (often referred to as Yankee/Dixie range, identifying its Yankee and Dixie target complexes). This range and its restricted airspace R-6312 lie approximately 65 miles northwest of NAS Kingsville. The range offers scored training for air to surface gunnery and inert weapons drops. The range serves NAS Kingsville’s assigned training wing (TRAWING 2) and also the Texas ANG 149 th Fighter Wing from Kelly Field, San Antonio, TX.
NAS Kingsville is located 30 miles southwest of Corpus Christi. It is surrounded primarily by ranch land, much of which is the King Ranch. Its unencumbered air space is supported by four 8,000-ft runways at the Air Station, two 8,000-ft runways at Naval Air Landing Field Orange Grove, and the McMullen Target Complex. The ceiling of R-6312, associated with the McMullen Range Complex, has been increased to FL230. The increase will permit high-altitude bomb drops at the range. In recognition of a requirement to support High Altitude Radar Bombing practice a proposal has been submitted to raise the ceiling of R-6312 to FL 240.
McMullen County is located in Southern Texas and is surrounded by Atascosa, Live Oak, Duval, and La Salle Counties. The county was formed in 1858 from Bear, Live Oak and Atascosa Counties and was named for John McMullen, the Irish Impresario. McMullen County was named for John McMullen, the Irish empresario. From the Great Depression and World War II to the 1990s the population of McMullen County dropped slowly but steadily. At the same time, virtually all of the small towns established before the depression disappeared or shrank. In 1940 1,374 people lived in McMullen County; in 1950, however, the census counted only 1,187 people, and by 1970 the number had dropped to 1,095. Crude oil production in 1982 totalled 899,661 barrels; 20,209,632,000 cubic feet of gas well gas, 693,355,000 cubic feet of casinghead gas, and 56,627 barrels of condensate were also produced.
Aransas County Airport
The Navy has leased landing rights at the Aransas County Airport, 26.0 miles from the Air Station. These outlying fields reduce the need to use the runways on the Air Station to complete programmed training requirements; therefore, the additional fields allow a much greater Pilot Training Rate to be achieved.
By resolution dated April 22, 1943 between the Civil Aeronautics Administration(CAA) and Aransas County, through the Commissioners' court, it was agreed to build an airport for military purpose and public use. A total of 700 acres of land had been purchased for the airport and on October 21, 1943 the 700 acres was leased to the U.S. Navy for the duration of the national emergency, plus 6 months, for $1 per year. The exclusive use of the airport facilities was retained by the Navy until March 9, 1948 when it reverted to the county.
On December 5, 1955, the County leased the north 214.8 acres to the U.S. Air Force. The 813th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron dedicated this part of the airport, officially known as the Rockport Air Force Station, on May 16, 1959. The facility was especially active during the Cuban Missile Crisis, because Russian supplied missiles were capable of reaching this coast. The Radar Station was deactivated in 1965 and the land was returned to the county. This land is now available for use as an Industrial Park.
Navy Landing Airfield (NALF) Waldron
In support of the base’s training mission are two nearby outlying landing fields owned by the Navy: Navy Landing Airfield (NALF) Waldron, which is 3.5 miles from the Air Station; and NALF Cabaniss, which is 8.0 miles from the Air Station.
Waldron Field was named 5 March 1943, prior to establishing of station, in honor of Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron, killed in action leading the attack of Torpedo Squadron 8 in the Battle of Midway; 4 June 1942. The former NAAS now an OLF to NAS Corpus Christi.
On August 10, 1941, Waldron became commander of Torpedo Squadron 8, based on the USS Hornet. Waldron was forty-one when he was killed in the Battle of Midway, the turning point of the war in the Pacific. Flying without fighter protection and without sufficient fuel in which to make it back to his carrier, Waldron, leading the rest of his Torpedo Squadron 8, delivered an attack against the Japanese on June 4, 1942. Battling fierce Japanese fire, Waldron’s squadron had little chance. He and others tried to escape their planes as they were hit, but few were successful. Of the fifteen planes and thirty men, only one officer lived to tell of the heroic leadership of Lt. Cmdr. Waldron. It is apparent that Waldron’s outstanding leadership motivated his men to die for him and with him and the cause for which they stood.
An airfield at Corpus Christi, Texas, was named for Cmdr. Waldron in April of 1943. A destroyer, USS Waldron, also became his namesake. In addition, a street in Ft. Pierre, South Dakota is named for John Waldron, WW II hero.
Port of Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi was designated as a new strategic port in December 1997 to replace Galveston as a Gulf strategic seaport. Corpus Christi held a loadout exercise on 20 June 1997 in conjunction with the arrival of the German military vessel M/V GERMANIA. The exercise provided an opportunity to update explosive loading supervision procedures and to examine waterways management issues. On 30 January 1998, the Coast Guard, FBI, Navy EOD, Port of Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi Police Department, and the Refinery Terminal Fire Company teamed up for TTX THREAT 98. The exercise was designed to test a multi-agency response to a maritime terrorist incident, which in this case was a simulated bomb threat on a commercial tankship in the port.
The Port of Corpus Christi is a strategic deployment seaport for U.S. military forces. As an enhancement of that role, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority (PCCA) proposes a partnership between the Port and the Department of Defense to develop and construct a Surge Sealift Homeport on Corpus Christi Bay at a port owned site immediately adjacent to the U.S. Naval Station Ingleside. This location would enhance force protection of these valuable strategic assets as well as provide easy access to designated loading docks at the Port of Corpus Christi and to the open sea. The facility would serve as a combination layberth site for surge sealift ships and deployment training center for the deploying units as well as strategic port operators on the Texas Gulf Coast. Such a facility would enhance military readiness without any additional cost to the Department of Defense.
Corpus Christi Channel is entered from the Gulf of Mexico through Aransas Pass, which passes between San Jose and Mustang Islands. With its entrance protected by jetties, the channel has project depths of 45 to 47 ft in the outer bar channel, and 45 ft in the jetty channel and westward to Corpus Christi. The channel leading from Aransas Pass to NAVSTA Ingleside is afforded limited protection by adjacent, low-lying islands for most of its extent. Outside the channel, the water near NAVSTA Ingleside is relatively shallow with depths less than 5 ft not uncommon.
Tugs of up to 4,000 hp are available at Corpus Christi and serve all of the Corpus Christi Bay area. The Port of Corpus Christi has mobile cranes to 600 tons, a 45-ton floating crane, and one 100-ton stiff-legged derrick. Corpus Christi has limited repair facilities for medium-draft vessels, but none for making major repairs or for dry-docking deep-draft vessels. The nearest such facilities are at Galveston, TX. The largest floating drydock has a lifting capacity of 2,200 tons, with a length of 200 ft, width of 70 ft, and 16 ft over the keel blocks. The largest vertical boat lift has a capacity of 170 tons and can handle 125 ft vessels. A marine railway with a cradle length of 140 ft and a clear width of 52 ft at the top of the keel blocks can handle keeled vessels up to 650 tons and flat bottom craft to 1,000 tons. Several well equipped firms are available for making above-the-waterline repairs to vessels.
The city of Corpus Christi lies on the Texas coast along the sediment-laden bay of the same name. Corpus Christi, with a population of more than 235 000, is a major petroleum and natural gas production center. Heavy industry abounds in the area, with oil refineries, smelting plants, chemical works, and food processing establishments scattered throughout the city and its outlying regions. The city also supports a major fishing industry. Tourist and recreational resorts have become a major business on North Padre Island, east of the city on the Gulf of Mexico. Padre Island, which begins north of Corpus Christi near Port Aransas and parallels the Texas coast southward to near the United States-Mexico border, is the longest barrier island in the United States.
Agricultural field patterns are visible west and northwest of Corpus Christi. West of the city, the Nueces River enters Nueces Bay, which, in turn, empties into Corpus Christi Bay. A dredged shipping channel is visible (dark turquoise water) traversing Corpus Christi Bay to its mouth near Port Aransas. Interstate Highway 37 can be seen running through Corpus Christi, crossing Laguna Madre, and terminating on North Padre Island
Naval Station Ingleside
Ingleside TX
Naval Station Ingleside is located on the northern shore of Corpus Christi Bay, 12 miles northeast of the city of Corpus Christi, about 150 miles south of San Antonio, and approximately 200 miles south of Houston. This region is known as the Coastal Bend. The Naval Station is ideally situated astride the Corpus Christi ship channel, which links the Port of Corpus Christi with the Gulf of Mexico. South Texas Navy is made up of commands and units aboard Naval Station Ingleside, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, and Naval Air Station Kingsville.
A groundbreaking ceremony on February 20, 1988, marked the beginning of Naval Station Ingleside. On April 9, 1990, the Station and the community dedicated Hayden W. Head Boulevard, the main thoroughfare providing access from the community to the Station.
Named for a distinguished citizen of South Texas who played a major role in bringing Naval Station Ingleside to the Coastal Bend, this event symbolized the partnership between the Navy and South Texas in the common enterprise of Naval Station Ingleside. That same month, the Station received its first unit of the Operating Forces of the Navy on-berth when USS LEXINGTON (AVT 16) visited Corpus Christi Bay.
Work on the various military construction projects proceeded to the point where the Chief of Naval Operations established Naval Station Ingleside as an activity of the Shore Establishment of the Department of the Navy in a "development" status as of June 1, 1990. By September 1990, sufficient construction had been completed to permit Naval Station Ingleside's military and civilian "plank owners" to move aboard the Station from temporary office and working spaces in the community.Later that same month, the Naval Station's modern and very capable waterfront was dedicated. The "move aboard" was completed when the Station accepted the Headquarters Building on December 14, 1990.
Although originally planned as the homeport of a training aircraft carrier, USS LEXINGTON, and a battleship, USS WISCONSIN (BB 64) and its surface action group, changes in the Navy's force structure caused these ships to be decommissioned. However, on May 3, 1991, the Secretary of the Navy announced plans to homeport Avenger Class mine countermeasures ships and Osprey Class coastal mine hunters at Ingleside. Construction continued to support what was now designated the Navy's "Mine Warfare Center of Excellence."
The Secretary of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations and the Commander of the revitalized Mine Warfare Command made good on the commitment when USS SCOUT (MCM 8) reported to its new homeport at Ingleside on June 25, 1992. Two weeks later, Commander, Naval Surface Forces, US Atlantic Fleet, placed Naval Station Ingleside in an "operation" status on July 6, 1992, during the same ceremony that marked the Station's first change of command.
The Navy continues the process of consolidating the operations and training of its mine countermeasures forces in South Texas under the leadership of Commander, Mine Warfare Command. Naval Station Ingleside is a vital component of this concept of operations. Currently 25 of the Navy's newest mine countermeasures ships, coastal mine hunters and MCM command and control ship, USS Inchon, call Ingleside home
NAVSTA Ingleside was originally constructed to accommodate a Battle Group composed of a battleship, a large aircraft carrier, and several smaller vessels. These plans led to the construction of a 1,100 ft pier, with additional berthing space provided along two quay walls. Ingleside is now home port to the Navy's Mine Warfare Force, comprised of 14 MCM-1 Avenger Mine Countermeasure Class vessels, 10 MHC-51 Osprey Mine Hunter Class vessels and the Mine Countermeasures Command, Control and Support Ship USS Inchon (MCS-12). The 1,100 ft pier has a deck height of 23.5 ft above mean tide level. The east and west quay walls are 13.5 ft above mean water. Project depths are 45 ft for the east basin and 35 ft for the west basin.
Ingleside, Texas is located near 27°49'N 97°12'W on the north side of Corpus Christi Bay. Corpus Christi Bay is located on the south Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Naval Station (NAVSTA) Ingleside is situated adjacent to Corpus Christi Channel on the north side of Corpus Christi Bay, about 8.5 nmi west of the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
According to US Coast Pilot 5, vessels should anchor off Aransas Pass in the Aransas Pass Fairway Anchorages. There is no suitable anchorage for deep-draft vessels inside Aransas Pass. Shallow-draft vessels of up to 10 ft draft can anchor about 1 nmi inside Aransas Pass in an area just north of Inner Basin. Other shallow-draft anchorages can be found in Corpus Christi Bay in depths of 13 to 15 ft.
A heavy weather mooring system was designed and installed for mooring the US Navy’s fleet of minehunters and minesweepers homeported at NAVSTA Ingleside. The system was based on a modified Mediterranean mooring configuration that allows clusters of vessels to be moored together. Alternative locations for these moorings were not available due to the lack of deep draft areas in the Corpus Christi Bay area. The bows of each vessel cluster tie into a mooring plate that is secured to two chain ground legs. The sterns of each vessel cluster are secured to the Naval Stations berthing pier using a spring-line arrangement. The system can accommodate up to 24 vessels in four clusters of six vessels each. The systems were design to withstand winds in excess of 110 miles per hour and accommodate storm surges of 11 feet. Since the mooring systems were installed in the middle of the Naval Station’s operational basin, the moorings had to be submerged during normal operational periods. So, a modified YC "mooring barge" with a mounted A-frame and winch system is utilized to recover a pick-up line attached to the mooring plate. The mooring plate is brought back up to the deck of the YC to make the connection to the vessel cluster.
BRAC 2005
Secretary of Defense Recommendations: In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to close Naval Station Ingleside. As a result, DoD recommended to relocate its ships along with dedicated personnel, equipment and support to Naval Station San Diego, CA; relocate the ship intermediate repair function to Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity San Diego, CA; consolidate Mine Warfare Training Center with Fleet Anti-submarine Warfare Training Center San Diego, CA.
Assuming no economic recovery, DoD estimated that this recommendation, along with recommended realignment of NAS Corpus Christi, could result in a maximum potential reduction of 6,864 jobs (3,184 direct jobs and 3,680 indirect jobs) over the 2006-2011 period in the Corpus Christi, TX, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which would be 3.1 percent of economic area employment.
Secretary of Defense Justifications: This recommendation would move mine warfare surface and aviation assets to major fleet concentration areas and reduce excess capacity. Gulf Coast presence could be achieved as needed with available Navy ports at Naval Air Station Key West, FL, and Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL. The Minehunter Coastal ships at Naval Station Ingleside were scheduled for decommissioning between FY 2006 and FY 2008 and would not recommended to relocate. Additionally, U.S. Coast Guard presence would be expected to remain in the Gulf Coast region. Relocation of Commander Mine Warfare Command and the Mine Warfare Training Center to San Diego, CA, would create a center of excellence for Undersea Warfare, combining both mine warfare and anti-submarine warfare disciplines. This reorganization would remove the Mine Warfare community from a location remote from the fleet thereby better supporting the shift to organic mine warfare. This recommendation would also support mission elimination at Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity Naval Reserve Maintenance Facility Ingleside, TX and reduce excess repair capacity. The relocation of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 (HM-15) to Naval Station Norfolk single sites all Mine Warfare Aircraft in a fleet concentration area. This location better supports the HM-15 mission by locating them closer to the C-5 transport Air Port of Embarkation for overseas employment and mine countermeasures ship and helicopter coordinated exercises.
Community Concerns: The community expressed concerns that the loss of civilian jobs and high quality military personnel would have a negative economic impact. The Navy would lose synergies from collocating air and surface mine warfare communities. They believe Ingleside’s military value score did not give appropriate credit for the facilities’ unique mine warfare mission and training ranges or modern base facilities (including double decker piers and a one of a kind Electro-Magnetic Roll facility). The recommendation would weaken military presence in an area vulnerable to terrorist threats.
Commission Findings: The Commission found that naval assets in the Gulf of Mexico are important to homeland defense because over 50 percent of imported oil and gas comes into the United States through the Gulf of Mexico ports. Additionally, 50 percent of the US refining capability is located in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Commission also found that DoD has other air and ground assets in the region that can be tasked as needed and that naval assets can also be tasked as required if the seaborne threat conditions escalate. The Commission found that the staff of the Mine Warfare Command, considered the essence of the Mine Warfare Center of Excellence that will relocate to San Diego, will have better access to the various Strike Group Commanders and that the surface minesweepers can integrate more readily with the fleet and participate in exercises to improve the operational effectiveness of the Mine Warfare Force. This is a prelude to the next generation of air and surface Mine Warfare assets that will be organic units assigned to Strike and Expeditionary forces for operations and training.
The Commission found that the original cost savings were overstated by 33.8 percent because of incorrect data submitted by Naval Station Ingleside. Consequently, the cost data was revised by the Department of Defense and recertified with a resulting savings projected in 2025 to be $614.2 million dollars.
In view of the Commission's finding that Department of Defense recommendations to close Naval Station Ingleside and Naval Station Pascagoula are consistent with BRAC selection criteria and the Force Structure Plan, the Secretary of Defense is encouraged, in conjunction with the Department of homeland security, to ensure that there is an adequate response plan in place for Naval forces to respond to threats in the Gulf of Mexico, and that response plan be shared as appropriate with Governors responsible for the protection of their citizens.
Commission Recommendations: The Commission found the Secretary’s recommendation consistent with the final selection criteria and the Force Structure Plan. Therefore, the Commission approves the recommendation of the Secretary.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the men in Corpus Christi were raring to fight back. On Monday morning, Dec. 8, more than 300 men crowded the Army and Navy recruiting offices at the federal courthouse on Starr Street. Most of them were turned down because of age, physical condition, or marital status.
One man was turned down by the Army because he had a trick knee, even though he had played football in college with that knee for two years. He next tried to enlist in the Navy, which also turned him down. "If you sat here in my chair as I have these last few hours and interviewed men like that," said the Navy recruiter, "you would never wonder again how our country became the great nation that it is."
<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://adsremote.scripps.com/event.ng/Type=click&FlightID=2038364&AdID=2049959&TargetID=2024418&Targets=2009209,2001053,2003385,2017031,2004033,2009540,2016958,2006392,2024418&RawValues=&Redirect=http:%2f%2fwww.advertisersite.com"><IMG SRC="http://images.scripps.com/1x1.gif" WIDTH=120 HEIGHT=600 BORDER=0></A>
The city learned about its first casualties of the war. "Billy Jack" Brownlee, a Corpus Christi High School graduate who had been a paper carrier for the Caller-Times, was killed in the Japanese bombing of Hickam Field at Honolulu. Warren Joseph Sherrill, who also attended Corpus Christi High School, was killed on board the USS Arizona.
The war brought new rules from new government agencies created to control prices and ration supplies of critical material. Sugar registration was held in the schools; each person was authorized one pound of sugar every two weeks. Rents were frozen. Unless you were a doctor or had a defense-related job, you had a black "A" stamp on the car windshield that entitled you to four gallons of gasoline each week (later reduced to three). A little ditty expressed the frustration of war-time rationing:
"And when I die, please bury me
'Neath a ton of sugar, by a rubber tree,
Lay me to rest in an auto machine,
And water my grave with gasoline."
A whisky drought lasted from 1942 to 1944. A good portion of everyday conversation was peppered with talk of red tokens, airplane stamps, shoe stamps, sugar stamps. Civilians were allowed only two pairs of shoes a year. Men wore pants without cuffs, coats without lapels. Housewives saved cooking fats to increase the national supply of grease. Butcher shops were the grease collection points. One local shop had a sign reading, "Ladies, Put Your Fat Cans Down Here."
Beginning in 1942, the Navy operated a radar training school on Ward Island, where the university campus is now. A security fence guarded by Marines surrounded the facility, and people in town had no idea what the big secret about Ward Island was until after the war.
Security measures were imposed around Corpus Christi. There were military guards at the port. Cars of tourists were searched for cameras. Some beaches were off-limits and fishing boats were stopped and searched. People were not permitted to take a boat out in the bay or the Gulf without having a photo ID.
The paper carried instructions for the first blackout drill. It was held on Jan. 19, 1942, between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Radio stations KEYS and KRIS were ordered off the air. Navy planes flew over the city, looking for pinpricks of light.
But the next blackout, 10 days later, was not a drill. It was the real thing, prompted by a U-boat sighting in the Gulf near Port Aransas.
U-boats in the Gulf
During 1942 and 1943, U-boats roamed the Gulf at will, sinking some 33 American and Allied ships, mostly tankers carrying oil and gasoline. In the last few days of January, 1942, a U-boat was sighted near the Aransas Pass ship channel. A smoke bomb, used as a danger signal from one U-boat to another, was seen four miles away, suggesting that another U-boat was in the vicinity.
Merchants ships in the Port of Corpus Christi were ordered to remain in port. Navigation lights were doused. Airplanes were grounded. Trains were allowed to run, but coach lights could not be turned on.
To prevent approaching ships from being silhouetted against the background of city lights, a dusk-to-dawn blackout was ordered by military authorities for Port Aransas, Aransas Pass, Ingleside, and Corpus Christi. Air-raid wardens wearing white armbands and carrying billy clubs patrolled the towns, banging on doors and warning the people inside if they saw a speck of light.
On April 21, 1943, President Roosevelt and Mexico's President Avila Camacho arrived to inspect the Naval Air Station and discuss the war. It was FDR's second visit to the area; he came here to go tarpon fishing off Port Aransas six years earlier.
When the president's special train left, a crowd gathered at Port and Agnes, where the rail line from NAS joined the Tex-Mex line. Roosevelt didn't wave to the crowd and people saw him only briefly behind half-closed curtains. Some said he looked very tired. As the train pulled out, one man said, "Well, I've seen the president, even if he didn't see me."
At the time of President Roosevelt's visit to the base, some 20,000 civilians were employed at the Naval Air Station, many of them young women. This was the time when the song "Rosie the Riveter" celebrated women who took over jobs once held by men who were away fighting. Norman Rockwell painted "Rosie" for the cover of Saturday Evening Post, based on the story of Rosie Bonavita, of Long Island, N.Y., who punched 3,345 rivets into the wing of a fighter plane in record time, a riveting story.
During the war, young women from all over the country enlisted in the National Youth Administration for civil defense jobs; here they worked in the Assembly & Repairs Department at the base learning to service and repair Navy planes. A billboard outside the north gate read: NYA/ War Work Shops/ Federal Security Agency/ National Youth Administration for Texas. Throughout the war, young women wearing coveralls, the regulation work clothes, with photo IDs were a common sight in Corpus Christi.
This is the second of three columns on Corpus Christi in World War II. Part three will appear next Wednesday.
Murphy Givens can be reached at 886-4315 or by e-mail at givensm@ caller.com. His radio commentary airs on Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7:30 a.m. and Friday evenings at 6:30 p.m. on KEDT (90.3 FM) and KVRT-Victoria (90.7 FM).
http://www.caller.com/ccct/opinion_columnists/article/0,1641,CCCT_843_4314164,00.html
Eli Merriman was a legendary newsman
Corpus Christi has known some first-class promoters in its history. Henry L. Kinney and Roy Miller are usually put at the top of the list. But next to their names should be that of Eli T. Merriman, who was surely the city's greatest newsman.
The life of Eli Merriman spanned almost a century. He was born the year the city was born, 1852, and he died the year the Naval Air Station opened, 1941. In between, Merriman witnessed and wrote about a lot of history in the making.
He was born in Hidalgo, opposite Reynosa, in 1852, the son of Dr. and Mrs. E.T. Merriman. The family moved to Banquete in 1857, where Dr. Merriman bought a ranch and practiced medicine.
Eli Merriman wrote about growing up in Banquete. The family lived near the notorious horse trader Sally Skull. Eli wrote later that she carried two pistols and "woe to the man" who crossed her for she wouldn't hesitate to use them. Eli watched long trains of wagons filled with bales of cotton pulling through Banquete during the Civil War. This was when Banquete was an important way station on the Cotton Road.
Toward the end of the war, Eli was sent to Corpus Christi to board at John Riggs' home and to attend the Hidalgo Seminary run by Father Gonnard. His teacher was called "Little Carroll."
He was at school one day in 1865 when his father arrived with important news. The war was over, Lee had surrendered, and Lincoln had been assassinated.
Eli went to Dr. Merriman's hospital on the bluff and repeated the news to Confederate soldiers, some of them in the outhouses, so sick they could barely stand. An hour later, Eli and his father rode off to Banquete, where Dr. Merriman had another hospital full of sick soldiers. On the way, they ran into Col. Lovenskiold, a Confederate officer and one of the city's leading citizens. He and two sisters-in-law were surrounded by angry soldiers ready to kill them. Dr. Merriman talked the Confederate soldiers into taking the colonel's money and letting them go.
The city was still recovering from the war two years later when it was hit by yellow fever, which claimed a fourth or more of the town's population. Dr. Merriman died. (Eli would later marry Ellen Robertson, whose father, Dr. George Robertson, was also a victim of that epidemic.)
When he was 18, Eli went to work as a printer's devil for the Nueces Valley. He became shop foreman. In 1874, he took a job with the Galveston News, but soon returned to Corpus Christi to work for the Corpus Christi Gazette.
In 1876, Merriman and William Maltby launched the Corpus Christi Free Press. When Maltby died, Merriman bought his half of the paper and published it for the next three years. He sold the business in 1883 to the Caller, a new paper that had the financial backing of ranchers Mifflin Kenedy and Richard King.
Merriman became one of three owners of the Caller, with W. P. Caruthers and W. H. Williams. Caruthers liked the name of the San Francisco Call. The Corpus Christi Caller was adapted from that name. Merriman's partners soon left the business and Merriman published the Caller for the next 20 years, before selling his interest in 1911 to Henrietta King, Richard King's widow.
During his years as publisher, and later as columnist, he never ceased pushing for a deepwater port for Corpus Christi. He never missed a chance to editorialize on it. Anytime there was anything in the paper about the subject, he instructed the newsboys to yell, "All about deep water!" He also was instrumental in making sure the railroads building their lines across South Texas didn't bypass Corpus Christi.
During the farm era, after the turn of the century, Merriman would tack posters on freight cars full of vegetables as way to advertise Corpus Christi. He once sent a carload of seashells to Fort Worth to erect a shell tower to promote Corpus Christi's beaches. When the city ran out of money to keep street lights going, he visited all the city's businesses and took up collections to keep the lights on. He led the campaign to preserve the old Bayview Cemetery; he encouraged the town's women to band together to build the Ladies Pavilion; and he was a prime mover behind bayfront improvement projects. In his later years, Merriman, with deep blue eyes and snowy hair, became the personification of the Caller.
We often talk of people being legends, although they rarely live up to the billing. But Eli T. Merriman was truly a legendary figure. He was a one-man force for progress and never ceased to work for the betterment of Corpus Christi. It's too bad there's nothing at the port named for him, nor a street named in his honor in the city he loved.
(Murphy Givens can be reached by phone at 886-4315 or by e-mail at givensm@caller.com.)
Corpus Christi’s long association with the military began when Zachary Taylor’s soldiers pitched their tents on rattlesnake infested North Beach in 1845. Then the town was made headquarters of the Eighth Military District in the 1850s. And it was occupied by Union troops after the Civil War.
<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://adsremote.scripps.com/event.ng/Type=click&FlightID=2039895&AdID=2049156&TargetID=2004033&Targets=2009209,2001053,2003385,2017031,2004033,2009540,2016958,2006392,2024418&RawValues=&Redirect=http:%2f%2fwww.advertisersite.com"><IMG SRC="http://images.scripps.com/1x1.gif" WIDTH=120 HEIGHT=600 BORDER=0></A>
Corpus Christi again became an army town in 1916 with the establishment of Camp Scurry. It was named for Civil War Gen. W.R. Scurry. It was built for Texas National Guard units called into federal service during the Pancho Villa uprising.
Camp Scurry was located in a cow pasture, what is known as the Del Mar neighborhood today. The camp had shell-topped roads, and screened and floored tents. Trenches were dug for the troops to practice in, preparing for the trench warfare of World War I.
Camp Scurry was the home of the Second and Third Infantry Regiments, followed by the Fifth Engineers of Iowa, and the Fourth Field Artillery.
The Second Texas fielded a football team, made up of former college players, that became famous. They cleared off a practice field at Santa Fe and Booty, then lined up an eight-game schedule. They systematically mauled their opponents. They beat many teams — including teams from major colleges — by scores of 53 to nothing, 68 to nothing, 102 to nothing. In one eight-game schedule, they scored 432 points to 6 for their opponents. Some called the Second Texas the greatest football team in the history of the game.
But there were more important things afoot. Units trained at Camp Scurry were shipped to France and fought in the battles of the Argonne Forest and Belleau Wood. When Armistice Day came on Nov. 11, 1918, Camp Scurry was shut down. Corpus Christi wouldn’t have another major military presence until the Navy arrived, with the building of the naval air station in 1940.
Murphy Givens' Radio Column may contain some material from his newspaper column, but the two commentaries are separate creations.
He can be heard every Friday on KEDT 90.3 FM, Corpus Christi or KVRT 90.7 FM, Victoria at 7:35 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
MORE GIVENS COLUMNS »
Corpus Christi learned in 1939 that a new naval air station would be built in Flour Bluff. By the time sand dunes and fishing shacks on the site were leveled, in June, 1940, some 15,000 construction workers had arrived to build the new base.
The city was booming. Everywhere people drove that summer they bounced over torn-up streets, where trenches were dug for new water and sewer lines.
Hotels were packed. Extra beds were put in lounges. The Nueces Hotel put beds in its famous Sun Room. The lobbies were filled with luggage of those who were out looking for rooms in private homes.
People rented out extra rooms and garages to the influx of workers. A squatters' town of shacks and tents took shape on North Beach. They were occupied by people who came to look for work at the new base or were actually working at the base.
Corpus Christi jumped into high gear in 1940. The city's population had doubled from the last census 10 years earlier to 57,301. Within a year, it was estimated it had gained 30 percent - to 75,000. The 14-year-old port was handling 14 times more tonnage than it did in 1930.
Everywhere, the city was one vast construction site.
The bayfront was being transformed by a new seawall, with a T-Head and L-Heads and new Shoreline Drive.
What would be the city's largest building - the 20-story Robert Driscoll Hotel - began to rise on the bluff. Buccaneer Stadium was being built. City limits were being pushed out to consume cotton fields.
The most popular song on the radio in the summer of 1940 was "A Nightingale Sang in Barkley Square."
As the Battle of Britain raged, veterans here collected old license plates for shipment to Britain for use as war material. A "Bundles for Britain" drive was conducted to collect articles for the besieged British. Corpus Christi that summer became a reserve center for Australian wool. More than 200,000 bales of wool were stored in Aransas Compress warehouses as a strategic reserve for the British government.
Gov. W. Lee O'Daniel designated Corpus Christi as a major collection point for aluminum. An airplane dropped 10,000 leaflets urging housewives to contribute old pots and pans to the national aluminum drive. Small hills of scrap aluminum rose near the port.
People grumbled in 1940 over increased prices. Barbers agreed to raise the price of a haircut from 50 cents to 65 cents; a shave went up from 25 cents to 30 cents. At "Papa" Shoop's Grill on Water Street, roast Long Island duckling with wild rice would set you back 80 cents; roast prime rib was even higher, at 95 cents.
A year later, in the summer of 1941, as a great danger cast a shadow over Europe, as the German army pushed deep into Russia, Americans were hotly divided between the isolationists, who opposed any U.S. involvement in the war, and the internationalists, who felt the U.S. must help Britain and Russia defeat Nazi Germany. Then came the stroke that ended all debate.
A lovely December day
Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, began in Corpus Christi as a cool, clear, placid day. Scheduled events that day included the opening of two new subdivisions - Hilltop Terrace near the new Robert Driscoll Junior High and Dahlia Terrace near the Del Mar addition; and the Corpus Christi Sailing Club was holding its mid-winter regatta.
It was a lovely December afternoon, just after midday, when people began to hear on their radios that Japanese planes had attacked the U.S. navy base at Pearl Harbor.
At the new Naval Air Station, all leaves were cancelled and extra guards posted at the gates. At the Caller-Times, printers and reporters showed up in Sunday clothes to prepare a special edition on the attack.
Mrs. Guy T. Coffee, who lived on Santa Fe, once told a reporter, "We had just come home from church when we heard it on the radio. We were stunned. We couldn't imagine anything that terrible happening."
Telephone operator Virginia Adams said when the news was announced on radio, the switchboard lit up. "The lights were all over the board. You couldn't take care of them, there were so many."
That Monday at the cavernous Assembly & Repairs hangar at the Naval Air Station, hundreds of sailors and civilian workers gathered to hear President Roosevelt deliver his address to the nation, his war message.
The president spoke clearly, incisively, every word delivered with unusual formality, giving it extra weight.
"Yesterday, December the seventh, nineteen forty-one, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
Roosevelt then summarized the acts of war, like a prosecutor reading an indictment. For those who heard it that day, it was most effective - no threats, no histrionics, just calm resolve. It was no trumpet call, although it served to work that way.
It was said that after the president finished, there was a brief moment of silence in which people looked at each other, every face reflecting unasked and unanswered questions. If all change begins with a specific moment, for a generation of Americans that was the moment. It was the dividing point between everything that came before and everything that came after.
The long war to come would take possession of their lives; everything would yield to it. In one sense, though, the steely determination evoked by FDR and shared by the American people decided the outcome of that war.
This is the first of three columns on Corpus Christi in World War II. Part two will appear next Wednesday.
Murphy Givens can be reached at 886-4315 or by e-mail at givensm@ caller.com. His radio commentary airs on Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7:30 a.m. and Friday evenings at 6:30 p.m. on KEDT (90.3 FM) and KVRT-Victoria (90.7 FM).
MORE GIVENS COLUMNS »
Q. Can you tell me anything about the railroad bridge over the Cayo del Oso?
Patricia Murphy
A. It was built by the government in 1940 as part of a railway link connecting the new Naval Air Station with the Tex-Mex line in Corpus Christi. The government built a 980-foot rail and highway trestle bridge (shown above) and, four miles down the Oso, a 400-foot trestle bridge connecting Mud Bridge Road. The 19-mile-long railway line was built in 35 days.
Q. My question is about the origin of the name of Oso Bay and Oso Creek. Did bears once live in the area?
Michael Hill
(Portland)
A. No one knows how the Cayo del Oso, Oso Bay and Oso Creek got their names. Bill Walraven once wrote that old charts show it as "Callo" del Oso. Walraven said Callo, or its variant cayo, is a Mexican-Spanish word meaning "watershed," making Cayo del Oso the Watershed of the Bear. Walraven speculated that the name could have come from bear tracks or that there may have been bears there at one time.
I don't know when the first Oso reference appeared, but if it came after the arrival of Henry Kinney, then I suspect he had something to do with the naming. Kinney owned a ranch on the Cayo del Oso, and he did like to name things after animals and Indian tribes.
Kinney named one of our streets Antelope, and not, one presumes, because there were antelopes in the area. Not all of our local names have a literal connection to what they were named for. I suspect that's probably true of the Watershed of the Bear.
Q. Do you know when the city built restrooms at McGee Beach?
John Wright
A. I don't have that in the memory bank. I do have a photo showing what was called South Beach being opened to the public with a giant bonfire on July 4, 1942.
The photo shows some city officials with Mayor A.C. McCaughan on the beach in front of the seawall. I can't put a date on when the restrooms were installed, but I think it was in the mid-1950s when improvements were made at McGee Beach.
In 1961, the city entertained the idea of building a tunnel from Memorial Coliseum to McGee Beach because of the hazards of crossing Shoreline.
The plan also called for a futuristic bathhouse and restaurant complex that was to be located in a fill area across from the Coliseum. It's just as well it was never built. The sketch (shown below) looks something like a drawing of a spaceport in the Jetsons.
Q. Do you know when Ocean Drive was first planned, and by whom?
Lauraine Miller
A. Promoter Elihu Ropes first envisioned an Ocean Drive. Among Ropes' ambitious projects, he built a resort hotel at Three-Mile Point, the Alta Vista, and planned a development called "The Cliffs" south of town. He planned a street from the city to his development called Ocean Drive. There was a winding dirt road there at the time that followed the bluff from the downtown out to Farmer Clark's place (where Ocean and Airline intersect today).
More than a decade after Ropes left town, in 1905, the Alta Vista was restored and reopened. As part of that undertaking, the city, county and the developer J.J. Copley paid one-third each of the cost of building Ocean Drive - a new shell-topped road - to the hotel. This was back when the county and city could still get along.
The first palatial residence that started Ocean Drive as a place of consequence was V. M. (Manasel) Donigan's white-stucco mansion at Three-Mile Point, built there after the Alta Vista burned in 1927.
Donigan, who owned the State Hotel, built his castle-like mansion on Ocean Drive to resemble the home he grew up in in Istanbul, Turkey. He even planted a grove of olive trees at the place. Mike McKinnon bought the home in 1979 for what was estimated then as $750,000 (see photo below).
It was the Donigan place that led the way to the development of Ocean Drive as Corpus Christi's most exclusive residential area.
Murphy Givens can be reached at 886-4315 or by e-mail at givensm@ caller.com. His radio commentary airs on Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Friday on KEDT (90.3 FM) and KVRT-Victoria (90.7 FM.)
Jean Lafitte, legend says, built a fort on the southwest end of St. Joseph's Island. It was across the channel from where the Aransas Pass Lighthouse now stands.
Legend also says that some of Lafitte's old pirates settled on St. Joseph's and learned a new occupation - "wrecking." In the 1830s, a man - one of Lafitte's old crew? - was hanged for setting a false light in the dunes. His purpose was to misguide a ship and cause a wreck, providing an opportunity for plunder.
About this time a settlement began to grow on St. Joseph's where Lafitte's old fort was located. Some early settlers were sailors and ship captains of uncertain history, giving credence to the legend that Lafitte's men settled on St. Joseph's.
Early settlers on the island, during the time of the Texas Republic, were John Baker, William Roberts, an Englishman, Capt. L. Bludworth, Capt. Peter Johnson, a Dane, John Low, and James Mainlan. There were also the Brundretts, Casterlines and other names familiar today. They called the settlement Aransas. It should not be confused with Aransas City on Live Oak Peninsula, which was dying at about the time the village on St. Joseph's was beginning.
One of the most prominent citizens was James Babbitt Wells. He had been a privateer during the Texas Revolution and commanded the Texas Navy yards at Galveston. Wells moved to Aransas, operated a cattle ranch, and owned a schooner. The channel in front of the lighthouse was named for Wells' wife Lydia Ann. Jim Wells County was named for his son, the powerful 19th century political boss in Brownsville.
The village of Aransas was on the bay side of the island, across from the pass. On a map today, the site would appear to be a mile inland from the pass, across from the lighthouse. That's because the pass moved south at a rate of about 230 feet a year. The jetties stopped that movement. When the lighthouse was built in 1856-'57, it stood behind the mouth of the pass, shining its beacon to ships entering the pass. The lighthouse today is well north of the pass.
By the 1850s, Aransas was an important settlement of ship captains, bar pilots, and lightermen. They made their living guiding ships through the pass or unloading goods from the sea-going ships to the shallow-draft lighters that could cross the bays. Robert Ainsworth Mercer, an Englishman who founded a family of bar pilots, lived at Aransas before he moved across the pass to found the Mercer settlement, which later became Port Aransas.
Another prominent citizen was Capt. Peter Johnson. He owned two schooners, the Belleport and Fairy, and ran a stagecoach line from the town of Saluria on Matagorda Island to Aransas on St. Joseph's. Passengers could take one of Capt. Johnson's ships from Indianola to Saluria. From there, they could take a stage that traveled down the island. At Vinson's Slough, where a crusty old man named Vinson lived, a ferry took the stage across Cedar Bayou. Then it traveled down the beach to Aransas. There, passengers could stay in Johnson's house, where the upper floor was used for family and guests. At Aransas, they reboarded the Fairy for the trip across Corpus Christi Bay to Corpus Christi. Capt. Johnson in the 1850s employed two stage drivers and kept relay teams of horses on the island.
The demise of Aransas began with the Civil War. The Union blockade created havoc with coastal commerce on which Aransas depended. Even worse were attacks by shore parties from the blockading squadron and bombardments by Union ships. Throughout the war, Union and Confederate forces played a cat and mouse game on the islands.
At 11 in the morning of Feb. 25, 1862, the second year of the war, 50 sailors and Marines from the USS Afton came ashore and burned houses at Mercer's settlement on Mustang Island. They crossed the pass to St. Joseph's and burned many buildings at Aransas. Soon after, the island families moved to the mainland. Capt. Johnson loaded his family and prized possessions on his stagecoaches and took them to Cedar Bayou, where they were loaded on the ferry and towed to Lamar.
After the war, Capt. Johnson never recovered his enterprise on St. Joseph's. His ship-and-stagecoach line was never revived and he sold his schooners. A few bar pilots moved back to St. Joseph's, but it was never the same. There was an attempt to revive Aransas in the 1870s. Capt. Cheston C. Heath built a store and warehouse at the old townsite; he called the place Aransas Wharf. But his operation was destroyed in the great Indianola storm of 1875.
Bob Mercer, a grandson of Robert Ainsworth Mercer, was on St. Joseph's after the 1919 hurricane. The storm cleared away sand to reveal foundations of homes, stores and warehouses of Aransas, all that remained of the once thriving village on St. Joseph's Island.
Murphy Givens is Viewpoints Editor of the Caller-Times. Phone: 886-4315; e-mail: HYPERLINK mailto:givensm@caller.com givensm@caller.com.
MORE GIVENS COLUMNS »
The names have changed in S. Texas
The map of South Texas would look a lot different today if some of the earlier names of area towns had survived. For example:
Tilden, county seat of McMullen, was called Dogtown in the 1860s and '70s. One explanation was that ranchers used dogs to herd cattle and sheep and another was that drunken cowboys once shot up the town, leaving an assortment of dead dogs behind.
The original settlement was called Rio Frio. The name was changed to Colfax, I read somewhere, and then became Tilden in 1877. The name came from Democratic presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden of New York, who lost to Rutherford B. Hayes in a stolen election during Reconstruction. Far as anyone knows, there was no direct link between Tilden and the town named after him.
There's a funny story about Dogtown in J. Frank Dobie's "A Vaquero of the Brush Country'' in which a cowboy is unceremoniously chased out of town by a pack of barking dogs snapping at the horse's hooves and the rider's toes. And somewhere near Tilden is where Dan Dunham's gang, under attack by Indians, were supposed to have buried 31 mule-loads of silver bullion in a place called "the rock pens.'' The treasure has long been looked for and never found.
The Freer area in Duval County was known as Las Hermanitas ("the sisters'' for twin hills south of the present townsite). It was called Government Wells after U.S. Cavalry troops dug a water well on a ranch north of Freer. The army maintained a small post to provide fresh mounts and a resting spot for troops in the South Texas brush country. You can still find the old name in Freer; there's the Government Wells Library and the Government Wells Masonic Lodge.
An early land agent in Freer reportedly hung apples on mesquite trees to fool prospective buyers. Somewhere around there, prospective land-buyers from Missouri were being shown the sights (and sites), when one of them saw a roadrunner (paisano, chaparral cock) and asked what kind of bird it was.
The land agent said, "Why, that's a bird of paradise.''
"Well,'' said one of the Missourians, "he's a long damn way from home.''
Three Rivers was called Hamiltonberg in 1913 after Annie Hamilton paid the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad to build a depot on her land. After the town's mail kept being sent to Hamilton, Texas, the name was changed to Three Rivers to mark the confluence of the Nueces, the Frio and the Atascosa rivers.
Beeville's first location was on Medio Creek and Maryville was on nearby Poesta Creek. Maryville was named in honor of Mary Hefferman, the lone survivor of an Indian massacre on the site in 1835. The original site of Beeville was moved from the Medio Creek to Poesta, but the Maryville name was cancelled in 1860 in favor of Beeville, named after the founder of the Texas army during the Republic, Gen. Barnard E. Bee.
Mary Hefferman, by the way, married Hiram Riggs and moved to Corpus Christi in 1844. Old maps of the city show the Riggs' place south of town.
The Pettus community near Beeville was called Dry Medio in the 1850s. The name was changed to Pettus, after early settler John Freeman Pettus.
Pettus became a major cattle shipping point after the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad reached it in 1886. With stockyards and a depot, it was a bustling place with freight trains loading cattle and old wood-burning engines taking on water. It was said that the hillsides around Pettus at night would be dotted with campfires where herds were being held for shipment.
Blanconia, southeast of Beeville, was originally named Kymo, but was widely known as Pull Tight. I don't have a clue about where the name Pull Tight comes from unless, perhaps, it had something to do with pulling freight. Blanconia comes from Blanco Creek.
Normanna, also near Beeville, was first called San Domingo after a nearby creek. Normanna was called Walton Station for a time. It was settled by two men who would become prominent in Corpus Christi's history. There was Mat Nolan, who would become sheriff of Nueces County and served with Rip Ford in the Cavalry of the West during the Civil War. And there was Reuben Holbien, who would become Nueces County clerk and would later serve as Richard King's accountant and private secretary. Holbien's daughters, 12 and 13, were drowned in 1874 while wading in Aransas Bay off St. Joseph's Island.
Alice, the county seat of Jim Wells County, was originally called Bandana, after the depot there that was established in 1883. The name was changed briefly to Kleberg, then finally residents settled on the name of Alice, after Robert J. Kleberg's wife, Alice (King) Kleberg. The town of Alice became one of the great cattle-shipping points between 1890 and 1895. It was a wild cowtown then, with numerous saloons that were well-attended. A fire in 1909 wiped out much of the historic old business district.
San Diego, the county seat of Duval County, was for a time called Perezville after early settler Pablo Perez. The name was changed to San Diego when the town's first post office was established in 1852. The town goes back to 1845. It was the thriving center of the sheep country in the 19th century.
San Diego was the site of an interesting rain-making experiment in 1891. U.S. Department of Agriculture agents set off 17 gas-filled balloons and then shot off howitzers on the ground. They expected to make rain by synchronizing air and ground explosions. The first bombardment on Oct. 16 brought no results. The second one the next day brought torrents of rain. But the government abandoned the experiment in 1892.
Refugio was renamed Wexford in 1836 after Wexford County, Ireland, where many of the Irish immigrants came from. But the name never stuck and it reverted back to the name for Our Lady of Refuge Mission, which was built by the Spanish in 1793.
Goliad, the oldest Spanish municipality in Texas, goes back to 1749. It was originally called Santa Dorotea before it took the name of the mission La Bahia del Espiritu Santo (even though it was quite a distance from the Gulf). In 1829, the name was changed to Goliad, an anagram (with a silent H) of Father Hidalgo, the priest who led the Mexican independence movement. Anglo settlers called the place La Bahia, but with their willful mispronunciation of Spanish words it became "Old Labardee.''
Rockport was first called Rockport, after its famous rocky ledge, then in the 1880s the name was changed to Aransas Pass. A few years later, the name was changed back to Rockport. Meantime, Aransas Harbor coveted the name of Aransas Pass and appropriated it. You could say that we've gotten our money's worth out of the name Aransas.
Ingleside was Palomas (doves) before the name was changed to Ingleside, which comes from a poem by Robert Burns, "The Cotter's Saturday Night.'' Naval Station Palomas has a nice sound to it.
Taft was called Mesquital for a grove of mesquite trees. Mesquital was the name used for a railroad siding in the middle of Coleman-Fulton Pasture Co. land. In 1909, after a post office and store were built, the name was changed to Taft after the chief executive of the ranch, Charles P. Taft, brother of President William Howard Taft.
Port Aransas was listed as Mustang Island after the Mercers built a store and it got a post office in 1880. It was called Star, then Ropesville after promoter Elihu Ropes, then Tarpon for most of two decades, and finally Port Aransas was chosen when the city was incorporated in 1911. Port Aransas might have become the major city of the Coastal Bend if Congress had followed through with plans, which date back to 1853, to make it the site of a deepwater port.
Corpus Christi from its founding in 1839 was called "Kinney's Ranch'' or "Kinney's Rancho,'' after founder H.L. Kinney. Within three years, Kinney in letters was calling the place Corpus Christi, after the bay. But years before, in 1836, Peter Grayson laid out a city called Grayson on the present site of Corpus Christi. Grayson, the attorney general of the Republic of Texas in 1837, had the place surveyed for a townsite in 1838, just before he killed himself during a painful illness. Grayson was a town on paper only.
The oldest names in South Texas came long before there were any settlements or towns. They were the names for huge blocks of land, the early Spanish land grants. They were called the Rincon del Oso, Rincon de Corpus Christi, the Santa Gertrudis and De la Garza grants, the Casa Blanca and Agua Dulce grants, the La Parra, La Barreta, El Penascal, El Chiltipin, Palo Alto, Santa Petronila, San Diego de Abajo and San Diego de Arriba grants. The old Spanish names were here for 100 years or so before the people came who couldn't pronounce them.
(Sources: Caller-Times archives; the Handbook of Texas; "King Ranch'' by Tom Lea; "A Vaquero of the Brush Country'' and "Coronado's Children'' by J. Frank Dobie; "Texas Coastal Bend'' by Alpha Wood.)
Post a Comment