Gone but not forgotten- Old Corpus Christi (Houston, Pasadena: refrigerators, wedding)

[kf5wd]

This photo is from the Library of Congress. If you are interested in it I would suggest just saving it to a file and printing it to any size you want up to about 40" X 30". I do have a souvenir post card (folder) from the 1920's. I can check to see if it includes any pictures of that area.

[kf5wd]

sparklesea

The Souvenir postcard has 19 pictures but none of the Waco ST. or Comanche ST. area. Since it is from the 1920's and I lived there from 1936 to 1960 there are some buildings and sites I remember well.

[sparklesea]

Thanks for the info and for checking in your file. I'll do as you suggested and print as it is. It will make a perfect entry for my genealogy work.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by sparklesea

Thanks for the info and for checking in your file. I'll do as you suggested and print as it is. It will make a perfect entry for my genealogy work.

what kind of genealogy work are you doing?

[sparklesea]

I'm working on both sides but, specific to CC, my Mom's family came to Corpus Christi via France, New Orleans, and Baghdad, Mexico which was located just south of Matamoros, I believe.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by sparklesea

I'm working on both sides but, specific to CC, my Mom's family came to Corpus Christi via France, New Orleans, and Baghdad, Mexico which was located just south of Matamoros, I believe.

Baghdad, Mex??? It must be off of the map by now. Interesting Story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagdad,_Tamaulipas

[sparklesea]

Thanks for the link. I suspected that our ancestors fled NOLA because of the war and the new burgeoning economy down there. As most every amateur genealogist, I so wish I had questioned my grandparents more about any info their parents had given them to flesh out the story.

[Kibby]

Originally Posted by wehotex

Haha, I've never heard it referred to as a "cave" You are referring to the "tunnel" that ran behind the old downtown library that has been torn down for many years. (mesquite & schatzell, i think) you can see the bluff fountain over where the one of the tunnel entrances used to be. the entrance is barricaded now, but open in the early 70s when my grandfather would take us walking down there. even then, i think that the stores were long gone. the other entrance was either at the foot of the white bldg or nixon bldg. businessppl would shop at the tunnel stores or make their way to DT without fear of being runned over. my grandmother was in a radio show in the 1930s called "la hora femenina" at KGFI, the city's only radio station at the time, which was located in that tunnel.
I remember seeing a posted sign there that said "fallout shelter" and asked grandpa what that was. I'm not sure if they still have those or not. One of those out of sight, out of mind things.

I was in the "tunnel" for the last time in 1967 - it had become a bit creepy, very run down. I was at a function at the Driscoll Hotel and some of us decided to walk downtown about mid-night. I wouldn't have done it by myself. There were really two tunnels - those that remember it are mostly thinking about the Bluff tunnel to La Retama. I'll have to remember to ask Dad about the original tunnel. He's 95.

The Tunnel
Upper & Lower Broadway Streets

The 490' tunnel built by Daughtery, Nichols and Yound for $22,773.00, was completed in 1929. It was a well lighted passageway containing busy shops.It was later closed due to vandalism. It connected Corpus Christi City Hall (presently La Retama Park) with the White Plaza Hotel (presently the 600 Building), and ran under Leopard Street to the Nixon Building (presently the Wilson Building).

http://www.downtowncorpuschristi.com/uploads/DMD/tunnel.jpg (broken link)

The Broadway Bluff Improvements
The Broadway Bluff improvements turned a forty-foot muddy hillside into a pleasing site and connected the hillside known as the "Bluff" between uptown and downtown. The plans, drawn by Alexander Potter of New York City in 1913, lined the Bluff with six staircases, a three foot high ornamental balustrade, a retaining wall, and landscaping. The architectural firm of Adams & Adams designed the tunnel component of the Bluff Improvements. The tunnel served as a passageway between Uptown and Downtown, specifically from old City Hall to the Robert Driscoll Hotel and the Wilson Building. Elevators in the three buildings ran to the tunnel level. At one time, several shops operated in the tunnel on a daily basis. $300,000 in bond monies were voted in 1986 to restore the entire bluff improvement. $600,000 of reinvestment zone taxes were allocated for the lighting, irrigation and landscaping. Broadway Bluff Improvement is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Downtown Corpus Christi History (http://www.downtowncorpuschristi.com/wiki/DMD/History - broken link)


ebay is usually a great source for old Corpus Christi postcards - very inexpensive.

[keno-kid]

I and our family moved from Ocean View, Virgina to North Beach, Corpus Christi in the summer of 1948. Reynolds Metals was in its early construction. We rented a place The Old Mill Courts on Timon Blvd for 10 dollars a week. There was good fishing from the Plantation pier run by the Alarcon family and had the night spot called the Plantation Club. This was heaven to me, a 12 year old new to Texas. There was the carnival, roller skating rink, Beach Theator where I stood in a block long line to watch the war movie " Battleground". there was a recreation center @ Kiwanis field to play ping pong, basketball, softball. Boy Scout troop # 22 met there also. I fished all around, on and by the Bascule Bridge. Great Place to grow up. I also had two paper routes.I delivered the Caller in the morning before school and the Times in the afternoon when the Caller and Times were different editions. The winter visitors played schuffleboard @ the rec. center.I have many memories of North Beach and walking to David Hirsch elemtary school over the other side of the Bascule Bridge before going on to Northside Junior High then on to Roy Miller High. Times have changed and the friends I had are gone, but it was great.Bruce Shugart !!

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by keno-kid

I and our family moved from Ocean View, Virgina to North Beach, Corpus Christi in the summer of 1948. Reynolds Metals was in its early construction. We rented a place The Old Mill Courts on Timon Blvd for 10 dollars a week. There was good fishing from the Plantation pier run by the Alarcon family and had the night spot called the Plantation Club. This was heaven to me, a 12 year old new to Texas. There was the carnival, roller skating rink, Beach Theator where I stood in a block long line to watch the war movie " Battleground". there was a recreation center @ Kiwanis field to play ping pong, basketball, softball. Boy Scout troop # 22 met there also. I fished all around, on and by the Bascule Bridge. Great Place to grow up. I also had two paper routes.I delivered the Caller in the morning before school and the Times in the afternoon when the Caller and Times were different editions. The winter visitors played schuffleboard @ the rec. center.I have many memories of North Beach and walking to David Hirsch elemtary school over the other side of the Bascule Bridge before going on to Northside Junior High then on to Roy Miller High. Times have changed and the friends I had are gone, but it was great.Bruce Shugart !!

Thanks for sharing that, Bruce.


where was the "Beach theater"? kiwanis field?