Portland News (Portland, Tex.), Vol. [6], No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 1, 1971 Page: 8 of 16
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Portland Boasted Boarding College In 1900
Ed Note
Ed. Note-This is the second
.ialf of an article about Por-
tland's early history written by
l«arry W. Jacoway. Sr.
CONTINUED FROM LAST
WEEK
On Jidy 1 the New England
Companies* engineers finished
platting a 640 acre residential
addition to Portland east of
Main Street along the bay.
Later that year, the Weekly
Corpus Christ! Caller
described Portland as a town of
tents. Settlers lived in these
tents until their new homes
could be built. In 1892, the
population was about 500. A
dam near town at Glenwood
Lake was completed that year
and stored enough water for
10.000 people. Mains were to be
extended into town. On Sep-
tember 17 enquiry at the train
station revealed the fact that
up to that date. Portland had
shipped more cotton than all
the stations combined, in-
cluding Corpus Christi, Rock-
port, Aransas Harbor,
Gregory, Sinton, and Skidmore
of which fact it was said plainly
indicated "the coming cotton
centre for the county. Also the
location of wharves and
headquarters of the Portland &
Alabama Coal and Tran-
sportation Company was said
to give Portland the first line of
vessels and the heaviest
commerce west of Galveston.
Portland was the nearest tide-
water reached from San An-
tonio and other important
interior cities, was one hun-
dred miles nearer the mining
interests of Monterey,
Mexico and the cheapest
coal and nearest coast
i point to the iron fields of
Llano county. Plans were being
made to enlarge the company
hotel and the New England
companies were planning to
build the city’s third hotel.
Portland marketed the second
bale of cotton grown in the U. S.
that year an adjoining county
had marketed the first.
In 1893, land was obtained for
part of the proposed Portland,
Gulf, & Monterey (Mexico)
Railroad route and con-
struction was begun. The
company which promoted the
railroad was located in Little
Rock, Arkansas. A newspaper,
the Portland Advocate, was
begun about this time.
Later that year there was a
nationwide financial panic
which spelled the end of the
local Ropes boom. The dredge
broke down and Ropes Pass
was never finished. Con-
struction stopped on the Corpus
Christi & South America
Railroad. Many of the new
settlers moved away. In
Portland, construction halted
on the Portland, Gulf &
Monterey Railroad and the
newspaper left town.
In 1894, Professor T. M.
Clark, a co-founder of Add-Kan
College (now Texas Christian
University), moved his family
by train to Portland. As they
neared Portland, the conductor
struck up a conversation with
Prof. Clark’s son. “So you are
going to Portland,” he began.
“Well you’ll just about be in
time. They are moving moving
most of the houses away from
Portland, taking them to
Sinton, the new County Seat.
What are your folks going to do
in Portland*’” “My father and
mother are starting a private
boarding school there”, replied
Wallace. Clark. “School?”
queried the conductor,” “What
will they have for pupils, jack
rabbits?’’ What a royal
welcome! The good man meant
no harm. He was simply
surprised. None-the-less, Prof.
Clard did found his Bay View
College at Portland. He con-
verted the Portland Harbor &
. Improvement Company’s two-
story hotel at Elm Street and
First Avenue into a college
building.
In 1897, John G. Willacy
advertised Portland as “The
Gateway to the Nueces Valley
and the Vegetable Emporium
of Texas.” The chief source of
revenue was in general far-
ming and growing vegetables
during the season when other
sections were shut out by frost.
In the early spring and late
fall, melons, grapes, fruits, and
vegetables of all kinds were
shipped to Northern cities and
sold at handsome prices. Of
special interest was the fact
that Portland marketed the
first watermelons grown in the
U. S. each year. Agricultural
shipments in 1894 did not ex-
ceed 3.000 pounds, while for the
spring alone of 1897 the ship-
ments exceeded 500,000 pounds
and as much more was ex-
pected in the fall. It was
bragged that there was no
saloon nor gambling resort in
or near the fair city and the
people were proud of the fact.
Regular church and Sunday
school services were held each
Sunday at the college chapel.
Not too many lots were sold
in Portland after the panic of
1893 and so in 1900 the
Coleman-Fulton Pasture
Company repossessed all the
lots which the Portland Harbor
& Improvement Company had
not been able to sell and threw
all the townsite north of
Broadway back into farm land.
The New England companies
had never dedicated their 640
acre residential addition east
of Main Street and so thev sold
their abandoned townsite back
to the Coleman-Fulton Pasture
Company in 1900.
The early 1910’s brought
another boom to Portland. The
first causeway was built across
the bay to Corpus. Previously,
people had to take the train or
ford the bay on a submerged,
winding shell reef at low tide.
John G. Willacy organized the
Portland Development
Company with $60,000 stock. I
It bought back many of the lots
in town from the Coleman-
FuJCon Pasture Company and
began selling these lots to new
settlers The large, two-story
Portland Seashore Outing
Club’s club house on the bluff
at the end of Elm Street was
built by this company with a
wharf and bath house in front
of it.
The Coleman-Fulton Pasture
Company, which at one time
owned most of the county, laid
out a 300 acre addition to
Portland east of Main Street on
the old New England land. The
stockholders voted $10,000 to
clear the land, build and grade
all such roadways and streets,
sidewalks, ealls, docks, and
other improvements that were
necessary. As much as 20
percent of the proceeds of said
lands w-as also to be used. They
built a 1,000 foot long wharf at
Portland valued at $27,000 for
shipping cotton bales. In 1913, a
large dance pavilion was built
on adjoining the mid-point of
the wharf and the Taft Band
entertained the people weekly.
Cars could be driven out to the
pavilion and parked. (In 1918,
Improvements to the wharf
boosted its value to $74,000.) A
six block size area was planned
as a sunken garden park at the
entrance to the wharf. The
company also built a double
battery cotton gin and a
lumber yard at Portland.
Many new homes and
businesses were built in
Portland during this boom.
Bay View College hatfabout 200
students with a two year un-
beaten baseball, football, and
track team. The Portland
Reporter was edited by a Mr.
Simpson. There were 3 chur-
ches. 6 daily passenger trains
and 2 daily freight trains, a
telephone exchange, a seed and
produce company, a second
lumber company, 3 stores, a
hardware store, 2 drug stores,
2 barber shops, a bakery, 2
garages, a state bank, 2 real
estate companies, a service
car and dray service, a cigar
factory, a pool hall, a
blacksmith shop, a nationally
famous hunting lodge west of
town at Gum Hollow, a new
two-story hotel a block east of
the train depot, a street
maintenance, a water com-
pany, and a movie theater.
Bay View College under the
able leadership of Prof. Clark
had grown steadily until in 1916
and the campus included 3 two-
story buildings and a one-story
gym. The college had served
south Texas for over 20 years.
It had produced many fine
leaders and had educated
students from 68 counties in
Texas, 12 other states, and
Mexico.
The 1916 hurricane forced the
closing of Bay View College
and the 1919 hurricane
destroyed the company wharf
and dance pavilion.
After this time, Portland
remained mostly dormant until
after World War II. In 1949,
Portland was incorporated A
new four-lane highway and a
new two-lane causeway were
soon opened to Corpus. Also,
Reynolds Metals Company was
opened near Portland. A boom
began which has mushroomed
Portland’s population to .over
7,000 today. (In 1950, only 1,300
people lived here.)
There are today about 10
churches in Portland. There is
a fine, new, air-conditioned
high school just north of town
which has a large football
stadium, a fine gym, and a
large, modern auditorium.
There is a new junior high and
two elementary schools in
town. A freeway through town,
a four-lane causeway, and the
Harbor Bridge make it possible
to get to downtown Corpus
Christi in just 11 minutes.
There is a shopping center on
the highway, several
restaurants, a second farm-to-
market highway which serves
the new high school, 2 state
banks, a savings and loan, a
newspaper, numerous civic
clubs, a Chamber of Com-
merce, no-toll, direct
telephoning to Corpus, a large
motel, three developed city
parks (one with tennis
facilities) and a fourth park,
the biggest, now being
developed, several large food
stores and drug stores, a
Chevrolet agency, 2 baseball
parks, a privately-owned semi-
public airport just west of
town, moderate taxes,
numerous housing additions
with all modern facilities,
home or post office mail
delivery, many other
businesses and professionals
to serve the people, a new city
hall, a new Comprehensive
Plan to guide future
development, an expanded
volunteer fire department, a
full-time police department, a
public library, a municipal
swimming pool, and many
other advantages, too
numerous to mention, to living
in Portland by the bay.
BIRTHDAYS:
July 2: Ollie McClure,
Martha Todd.
July 3: Ricky Phillips,
Dianna DeLon Davenport, Jan
Schader.
July 4: James Jordon, John
Chaney, Beth Bryant, Billy
Abbott.
July 5: Randy Lynch.
July 6: Michael James,
Sandra Halloway, Randy
Albrecht, James Baker
Skipworth.
July 7: Peggy Coker, Jim
Berridge, Mike Quick.
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George, Emma. Portland News (Portland, Tex.), Vol. [6], No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 1, 1971, newspaper, July 1, 1971; Taft, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth864718/m1/8/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bell/Whittington Public Library.