| The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000. |
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| Corpus Christi |
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Corpus Christi, city (1990 pop. 257,453),  Nueces co., S Texas, 165 mi/266 km SE of San Antonio; 27°42'N 97°17'W.Elev. 35 ft/11 m. A busy port of entry on Corpus Christi Bay at the entrance to Nueces Bay (an inlet at the mouth of the Nueces R.); the main cargoes handled are cotton, oil, grain, and chemicals. The city is a RR junction and a petroleum and natural gas center, with much heavy industry. It has oil refineries, smelting plants, chemical works, and food-processing establishments. Excellent sports-fishing facilities, beaches, and a mild climate make Corpus Christi a well-known tourist center. It is the gateway to Padre Isl. Natl. Seashore; causeway crosses Laguna Madre to Padre Isl. to SE (Padre and Mustang isls. are long sand barrier isls., connected by land, just N of causeway.) Tradition holds that the bay was named by the Span. explorer Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda, who founded it on Corpus Christi Day in 1519, but there is evidence that it was named instead by the 1st settlers, who arrived from the lower Rio Grande valley in the 1760s. In 1839, Col. H. L. Kinney founded a trading post there, and traders, adventurers, and ne’er-do-wells collected in a raffish colony on land claimed by both Texas and Mexico. The small port and terminus for overland wagon-train traffic boomed during the Mexican War. It was briefly captured by the U.S. navy in the Civil War and later served as a supply and shipping point for sheep and cattle. It developed industrially after the discovery of oil in the area and the completion (1926) of a deepwater channel (Intracoastal Waterway) past Mustang Isl. Its remarkable growth is evidenced by a spectacular bridge (235 ft/72 m high; completed 1959) over the entrance to Nueces Bay, that links Portland to N, and by a large dam on the Nueces R. (L. Corpus Christi, 35 mi/56 km NW) that has increased local water supply. The city has many historical points of interest and is the seat of Del Mar Col. (2 year; E and W campuses) and Texas A and M Univ.—Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi Naval Air Station is on the S shore of Corpus Christi. Mustang Isl. State Park is 14 mi/23 km ESE of downtown, but within city limits; Texas State Aquarium, Greyhound Racetrack, Exposition Hall and Coliseum, Convention Center. There are also 2 Naval Air landing fields in the city, Nueces co. Airport is to W in nearby Robstown, Corpus Christi Internatl. Airport is W of downtown. The city has suffered from occasional hurricanes; it is partially protected from flooding by a sea wall 12,300 ft/3,749 m long, built bet. 1939 and 1941 to a ht. 14 ft/4 m beyond the high-water mark of a devastating 1919 hurricane. Inc. 1852. | | | | Capital city or county seat is shown by the symbol |
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| | | The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. Copyright © 2000 Columbia University Press. |
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