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Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson |
History
in a Seashell
A timeline of significant events:
The first settlement in the
area, Brazos Santiago, was on nearby Brazos Island. In 1788 water sellers
traveled to the area to obtain water. Jean Laffite is said to have had
a fifteen-foot well five miles NW of Port Isabel.
During the 1830s a
small community developed at the site, known as El Frontón de Santa Isabel.
Later that name was changed to Punta de Santa Isabel, that is, Point Isabel.
1845: A post office was established in the community under the name
Point Isabel in June. The name of the post
1849: name of post office
and community changed to Brazos Santiago
1849: Cholera epidemic occurs
1850: Port Isabel is the second largest town in the area
1853:
Port Isabel Lighthouse is constructed
1859: $10 million dollars worth
of cotton is shipped through the port annually
1863: All the ships in the
harbor were destroyed or captured during a Union attack on May 30
1872: The
narrow-gauge Rio Grande Valley Railway, connects Port Isabel to Brownsville
1881: Post Office name changes to Isabel
1904: the town had one school
with two teachers and eighty-one students.
1915: the town officially becomes
Point Isabel.
1928: town was incorporated as Port Isabel on
March 23
1929: Population reaches 750
1930: the post office changed its
name to Port Isabel.
In 1933: the ship channel was dredged to
a depth of twelve feet and a width of 125 feet. That year Port Isabel had an estimated
population of 1,177 and forty-five businesses.
In 1934 the first annual
Texas International Fishing Tournament was held in Port Isabel by the International
Game and Fish Association. The first modern use of Port Isabel as a seaport occurred
on July 27, 1935.
In 1937 a six-foot channel was dredged from Port Isabel
to a point two miles east of Harlingen.
In 1941 the Port Isabel and Rio Grande sold its track connecting Port
Isabel to Brownsville
to the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway. The channel connecting Port
Isabel to Harlingen was full
of silt by 1942 and was no longer in use.
In 1952 the community had a
population estimated at 2,372 and seventy businesses.
By 1956 Port Isabel
was served by the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
The Gulf Intracoastal
Waterway, completed during the 1950s, increased trade and improved the economic
health of Port Isabel, but it also caused problems. A spoil bank from its construction
polluted the community, and the city's board sought the assistance of the United
States government to solve the dust problem.
1954: A swing bridge
was built between Port Isabel and South
Padre Island.
1960s: During the 1960s, 65 percent of the state's
shrimp production, came from the Port Isabella vicinity.
1967: Hurricane
Beulah detroys a good portion of the city in September.
1974: The new
Queen Isabella Causeway
replaced the original Causeway, which became the "Old Fishing Pier."
Where
to Stay:
South
Padre Island Hotels |
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The Robert Runyon Photograph Collection, Image RUN08724, Courtesy of The Center
for American History, The University of Texas at Austin |
Port Isabel Chronicles:Sea
Monster of Port Isabel
by Mike Cox ("Texas
Tales" Column)
The monster showed up in the Gulf of Mexico
off the small fishing village of Port Isabel in the summer of 1938. That Aug.
10, in a short article buried on a back page, the Brownsville Herald devoted five
paragraphs to “the sea monster that is attracting so much attention in the waters
of the Gulf of Mexico.”...
Port
Isabel Wireless by Mike Cox ("Texas
Tales" Column)
When Gen. Zachary Taylor’s Army arrived at the
southern tip of Texas in 1846 shortly before the outbreak of the Mexican War,
it took Old Rough and Ready two weeks or more to get his orders from Washington.
In 1915, only 69 years later, the U.S. military had plans to install at Point
Isabel a state-of-the-art radio facility that would provide virtually instantaneous
communication as the government prepared for the possibility of a second war with
Mexico... |
Port
Isabel Vintage Images |
| Fishing
boats
Photo courtesy Terri Taylor, March 2005 |
| Fishing
boat
Photo courtesy Terri Taylor, March 2005 |
| Sunset
in Port Isabel
Photo courtesy Terri Taylor, March 2005 |
| The
Lighthouse at sunset
Photo courtesy Terri Taylor, March 2005 |
Port
Isabel Texas Forum
Subject:
FOND MEMORIES
MANY YEARS AGO, BEFORE BUELAH, I WAS FORTUNATE TO HAVE LIVED IN BOTH PORT ISABEL
AND ON SOUTH PADRE ISLAND,
WHEN WE WERE IN PORT ISABEL, WE MANAGED THE YACHT HOTEL AND THE QUEEN ISABEL INN.
WE ALSO HAD A COMMERCIAL SNAPPER BOAT THAT THE FAMILY TOOK A 5 DAY TRIP OUT TO
THE FISHING GROUNDS AND CAME BACK LOADED WITH FISH, AHH THOSE WERE THE DAYS!
JUST BEFORE THE BUELAH STORM, WE WERE LIVING ON SOUTH PADRE ISLAND NEXT DOOR
TO ILA LOETSCHER AND I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO PARTICIPATE IN THE GREAT RIDLEY
SEA TURTLE PROJECT ON THE BEACH WITH HER AND HER TEAM. I WAS DEEPLY SADDENED TO
LEARN OF HER PASSING AND ONLY HOPE THAT SOMEONE IS CARRYING ON HER WORK.
WE ALSO STARTED AND OPERATED THE PORT ISABEL CAMERON COUNTY AIRPORT, WHICH IS
WHERE WE SPENT THE HURRICANE ALONG WITH ILA AND SEVEN OF HER BABIES (TURTLES ),
2 DOGS, 3 CATS AND 10 PEOPLE. THAT HAD TO BE ONE OF THE SCARIEST NIGHTS OF MY
LIFE. SHORTLY AFTER THE STORM, WE MOVED TO BRAZORIA COUNTY IN THE FREEPORT TEXAS
AREA AND HAVE BEEN THERE EVER SINCE.
LOVE THE PICTURES YOU HAVE OF THE
TOWN, IT BRINGS BACK FOND MEMORIES, IS THE WELL THAT ZACHARY TAYLOR BUILT STILL
BEHIND THE CHAMPION BUILDING, WHAT ABOUT THE YACHT AND QUEEN ISABEL INN ARE THEY
STILL THERE, I MAY HAVE SOME PICTURES IN MY FILES THAT I CAN DREDGE UP, MY SISTER
DID SOME PUBLICITY MODELING FOR THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WAY BACK THEN.
OH BY THE WAY, PRESENTLY I AM WORKING IN KUWAIT WITH A GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR,
GUESS SOME OF US ARE DESTINED TO PLAY IN THE SAND ALL OF OUR LIVES. THANKS FOR
THE MEMORIES - Ronald Sandlin, Kuwait, June 03, 2006
Subject:
South Padre Island
Our family lived in Weslaco,
TX in the late 40's. One of my fondest memories was our family arriving at
Port Isabel with our beach umbrella, folding chairs, Coca Cola "ice chest" and
a picnic lunch. We, along with others, waited at the dock for the converted Navy
boat to take us to Padre Island, where we climbed into an Army half-track which
drove down the beach delivering the eager beach lovers. As the truck drove down
the beach, we would look for a place to spend the day. To get the truck to stop,
you rapped on the top of its cab and the driver knew to stop so you could unload.
The trucks went up and down the beach all day long delivering and picking up people.
- Peter H. Hamel, Houston, TX, September 17, 2005
Where
to Stay
South
Padre Island Hotels
Brownsville
Hotels
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