Gift of the Wind: The Corpus Christi Bayfront - Hardcover

Walraven, Bill; Walraven, Marjorie K.; Walraven, Marjorie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0964632519 ISBN 13: 9780964632516

Publisher: Javelina Pr, 1997

Synopsis

Gift of the Wind is a pictorial history of the Corpus Christi, Texas, Bayfront. Containing 247 photos and written in Bill Walraven's readable style, this volume tells how Corpus Christi grew from a small trading post to a modern, multicultural city. Walraven tells how the earliest surveyors had a happy encounter with Carancahua Indians, and he uses human-interest stories to describe the experiences of survivors of the terrible 1919 hurricane. The book's title comes from that storm. Walraven explains how that tragedy led the government to understand the need for a protected deep-water port. This, in turn, led to the Port of Corpus Christi and eventually to the growth of the modern city with its beautiful Bayfront, paid for by ad valorem taxes from seven area counties. Early-day photos depict the city before the turn of the century, while later ones show North Beach, now Corpus Christi Beach, in its heyday and such modern attractions as the USS Lexington Museum, the Texas State Aquarium, and the Corpus Christi Museum of Science & History.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"It had no name. It came slowly across the Florida Keys and the Gulf of Mexico. Wind speeds were about 112 miles an hour, not much for a major storm. But it pushed a 14-foot wall of water in front of it like a giant bulldozer, creating a veritable tidal wave. There had been reports from ships at sea, but Corpus Christians paid little heed. Three years earlier they had weathered a storm with a minimum of damage. Then, on September 124, 1919, it struck, crushing docks, houses, and buildings. North Beach was swept clean. Downtown was a wreck. As many as 600 died. But they did not die in vain, for this ill wind brought a deep channel, a port, and a storm-protected bayfront. This modern city is a gift of that horrible wind

Edition details

• Publisher: Javelina Pr
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0964632519
• ISBN 13: 9780964632516
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112