Collegeport, Texas
Encyclopedia
Collegeport is an unincorporated community
in Matagorda County, Texas
, United States
.
Founded on May 25, 1908, Collegeport is located on the Trespalacios Bay, which outlets into the Matagorda Bay
.
Families began relocating to Collegeport, also named the Town of Opportunity, after an advertising venture by Hurd that promoted the area's mild climate and the prospective farming lands.
Church, a Woman's Club with a roster of 86 members, and a brick school house that was under construction. Collegeport also claimed the first free public library in the county. Professor Will Travis opened the Gulf Coast University of Industrial Arts and proceeded to make deals with the pioneer orange growers from the north as part of a student labor program. A point of interest in Collegeport was its rail station and Pavilion that was perched over the bay.
Collegeport's State Bank was located on what is now Highway 1095 with a capital of $10,000 with Abel B. Pierce as president and J.B. McCain as cashier.
The town also had two newspapers in print: the Collegeport Chronicle and the Collegeport New Era.
Collegeport had, at its peak, consisted of three hotels, a City State Bank, a telephone exchange, two hardware stores, a drugstore, two grocery stores, a barber shop, a planing mill
, carpenters, blacksmiths, a boat building shop, doctors, a dentist, a veterinarian, a lawyer, a college, a high school, an ice house, a pavilion with boat services, and the Missouri Pacific Rail Station.
By 1935 the railroad depot was dismantled and rebuilt as the Mopac House. Less than 30 years later in 1961, many houses faced a grim fate when Hurricane Carla
moved in off the Gulf of Mexico
causing many of the original families to leave once and for all.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Matagorda County, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Founded on May 25, 1908, Collegeport is located on the Trespalacios Bay, which outlets into the Matagorda Bay
Matagorda Bay
Matagorda Bay is a large estuary bay on the Texas coast, lying in Calhoun and Matagorda counties and located approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, southeast of San Antonio, southwest of Houston, and southeast of Austin. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Matagorda Peninsula and...
.
Early days
Collegeport was acquired through a 9000 acres (36.4 km²) land purchase in 1908. Ranchers Jonathan Edward Pierce and Abel Brown Pierce sold their land to developer Burton D. Hurd. In the agreement Hurd would develop a town that would include a college and a port on the Trespalacios Bay.Families began relocating to Collegeport, also named the Town of Opportunity, after an advertising venture by Hurd that promoted the area's mild climate and the prospective farming lands.
Growth
A year after the land purchase, Collegeport officially opened Hotel Collegeport and was home to a Federated Church consisting of 14 denominations. A few years later in 1912 the town boasted a population of 496, with a Business Men's League of 90 members, an EpiscopalEpiscopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
Church, a Woman's Club with a roster of 86 members, and a brick school house that was under construction. Collegeport also claimed the first free public library in the county. Professor Will Travis opened the Gulf Coast University of Industrial Arts and proceeded to make deals with the pioneer orange growers from the north as part of a student labor program. A point of interest in Collegeport was its rail station and Pavilion that was perched over the bay.
Collegeport's State Bank was located on what is now Highway 1095 with a capital of $10,000 with Abel B. Pierce as president and J.B. McCain as cashier.
The town also had two newspapers in print: the Collegeport Chronicle and the Collegeport New Era.
Collegeport had, at its peak, consisted of three hotels, a City State Bank, a telephone exchange, two hardware stores, a drugstore, two grocery stores, a barber shop, a planing mill
Planing mill
A planing mill is a facility that takes cut and seasoned boards from a sawmill and turns them into finished dimensional lumber. Machines used in the mill include the planer and matcher, the molding machines, and varieties of saws...
, carpenters, blacksmiths, a boat building shop, doctors, a dentist, a veterinarian, a lawyer, a college, a high school, an ice house, a pavilion with boat services, and the Missouri Pacific Rail Station.
Downfall
Despite Hurd's claims of Collegeport's mild and warm climate, freezes began to plague the town and its farmers. In 1914 a heavy freeze came through killing most of the crops. The aftermath of the freeze brought a drought and a disease that killed off most of the livestock. Families suffered many losses through the freeze, causing a number of families to move away from Collegeport.By 1935 the railroad depot was dismantled and rebuilt as the Mopac House. Less than 30 years later in 1961, many houses faced a grim fate when Hurricane Carla
Hurricane Carla
Hurricane Carla was one of two Category 5 tropical cyclones during the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season. It struck the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, becoming one of the most powerful storms to ever strike the United States. Hurricane Carla was the second most intense storm to ever...
moved in off the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
causing many of the original families to leave once and for all.