The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997 Page: 308
551 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
were restored by groups such as the Junior League and the NAACP.5 In
effect, Corpus Christi saved these buildings by cutting them out of the
modern city, rather than using them as historical reference points with-
in the city. Meanwhile, the South Bluff area beyond downtown contains
blocks of houses from 1910 to 1930-a key phase in South Texas urban-
ization-that time might render picturesque enough to preserve. So far,
little interest in this area has emerged to build upon a Junior League ini-
tiative to transform two houses of the prominent Blucher family into a
period museum and environmental center to complement Blucher
Park, a renowned stopover for migratory birds.6
The fate of the former Nueces County Courthouse, a National Regis-
ter building, offers the best-known example of Corpus Christi's difficulty
in focusing on its urban story. Even were the 1914 building not meritori-
ous as architecture, it epitomizes the town's metamorphosis into a city.
Through the formative period between the world wars, boosters pointed
to the classical revival building as evidence of "the public spirit of South
Texas." Nueces County paid such attention to the impression the build-
ing created that the county for three straight years won an award for the
most attractive courthouse grounds in Texas. The structure, which dom-
inates the entrance to downtown from two directions, has stood decay-
ing since the county occupied its new courthouse in the late 1970s.
Public and private schemes to rehabilitate it have come to naught, in
part because of a legal and financial snarl, but also because of a lack of
strong feeling-other than among enthusiasts for history and architec-
ture-that saving the building is a priority.'
Texts and courses now highlight the role of towns and cities in Texas
since the Spanish period, but scholars still lament that cities such as Cor-
pus Christi have yet to gain a place in the imagination of Texans propor-
tionate to the city's role in Texas life." Urban history still has little
presence in South Texas and less than it ought in Texas overall; Texans
5 Landmark Commission of Corpus Christi, Landmark Preservation Plan, 1976 (Special Collec-
tions and Archives, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; cited hereafter as TAMU-CC); Evans
Wyatt (ed.), The Buildng of Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi: Charter Savings and Loan, 1977),
1o8-log; Margaret Wead, "Downtown: Looking Past the Present," Corpus Christi Magazine (Sept.,
1981); "South Texas Life," supplement to Corpus Christi Caller-Times,June 27, 1993, AA44-
6Jumor League supplement to Corpus Christi Caller-Tames, Apr. 3, 1994, 4-5; Corpus Christi
Caller-Times, June 2, 1995.
"The Port of Corpus Christi ... Opens to World Commerce" (quotation), 1926, Kilgore Col-
lection, no. 2150 (TAMU-CC); Harvey L. Page, Texas Truth, no. 3, 1915 (TAMU-CC). Elise
Nakhnikian, "A Case History," Corpus Chnsts Magazine (May, 1983).
8 Char Miller and David R. Johnson, "The Rise of Urban Texas," in Urban Texas: Poltcs and De-
velopment, ed. Char Miller and Heywood T. Sanders (College Station: Texas A&M University
Press, 1990), 3; Char Miller, "Sunbelt Texas," in Texas through Time: Evolving Intepretatzons, ed.
Walter L. Buenger and Robert A. Calvert (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 199g),
303-309.308
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997, periodical, 1997; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101218/m1/374/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.