Port Aransas, Texas
City in the United States in Nueces County
About Port Aransas
Port Aransas ( ə-RAN-zəs) is a city in Nueces County, Texas, United States. This city is 180 miles southeast of San Antonio. The population was 2,904 at the 2020 census. Port Aransas is the only established town on Mustang Island. It is located north of Padre Island and is one of the longest barrier islands along the Texas coast. Corpus Christi Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, the Lydia Ann Ship Channel, and the Corpus Christi Ship Channel make up the surrounding waters.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How Port Aransas is governed
Form of government not yet listed.
1 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.
Residents of Port Aransas
Registered voters elect the officials below.
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Mayor
Executive
- Wendy Moore per Wikidata
The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.
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City Manager / Administrator
Executive
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The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).
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Police Chief
Administration & departments
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Leads the police department.
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Fire Chief
Administration & departments
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Leads the fire and emergency services department.
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Public Works Director
Administration & departments
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Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.
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Finance Director
Administration & departments
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The budget, taxes, and city accounts.
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Planning & Zoning Director
Administration & departments
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Land use, zoning, building permits.
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Parks & Recreation Director
Administration & departments
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Parks, programs, and public facilities.
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City Council
Legislative
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The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.
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City Clerk
Administration & departments
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Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.
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City Attorney
Administration & departments
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The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.
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Boards & Commissions
Legislative
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Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.
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Municipal Court
Judicial
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Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.
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Municipal Judge
Judicial
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Presides over the municipal court.
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- Website
- cityofportaransas.org
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Population over time
From 3,380 in 2010 to 2,904 in 2020 (−14.1%).
Show the numbers
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 2,904 |
| 2010 | 3,380 |
History
Early history
The Karankawa Indians were living a nomadic existence in the region when Spaniards, led by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, probed the coast in 1519. Governor Francisco de Garay of Jamaica had commissioned him to explore the Gulf Coast from Florida to Vera Cruz. In the summer of 1519, Piñeda, took a fleet of four ships east to west around the Gulf Coast exploring and mapping five passes along the Texas coastline, including what is known today as Aransas Pass.
In 1720, French explorer Pierre-Jean de Béranger was commissioned to explore St. Bernard Bay "Matagorda Bay" to establish a colony for France along its shores. Jean took an old Spanish ship that had been captured in Florida during the war with Spain, christened it St. Joseph, and his travels resulted in the rediscovery of the Aransas Pass.
In 1739, Governor Prudencio de Orobio y Basterra named the pass Aránzazu Pass on his map of 1739, because it served the Aránzazu fort. The name was altered to Aransas on the map of a Captain Monroe of the ship Amos Wright in 1833.
Pirates of Port Aransas
Port Aransas was a location of pirates in the early 19th century. From about 1800 to the early 1820s, the Gulf Coast was a haunt of pirate ships searching for riches. Capt. Jean Lafitte and his buccaneers spent time on the Texas coast; Galveston owed its start to him, and Mustang Island was one of his favorite haunts. Capt. Jean Lafitte used Mustang Island as a place to make camp, and according to legend, a place to hide his treasure.
Local lore tells of pirate treasure buried in Port Aransas. The treasure chest is supposedly marked by a Spanish silver dagger. The dagger is believed to be laid on its side with a silver spike driven through the hilt, securing the location.
European settlement
The first recorded permanent settler in Port Aransas was Capt. Robert Ainsworth Mercer of Lancaster, England. He established a sheep and cattle ranch known as El Mar Rancho in 1853 or 1855. Herds of wild mustangs rambled over plush rangelands of the island when Mercer first settled there.
By 1854, the Texas Senate sanctioned a seven-mile (11 km) channel from Corpus Christi to the Aransas Pass bar to better serve the Port of Corpus Christi. Also in the 1850s, a regular steamship service route for cargo and passengers was established between New Orleans and Mustang Island. As the pass was brought into permanence, local pilots were needed to guide the ships safely across the bar. For this, permanent structures were required to house the pilots, including docks, a lighthouse, storage, jetties, and a general store.
Life Saving Station and the Lighthouse
In 1850, the United States Life-Saving Service built the 8th District United States Life Saving Station in Port Aransas. The station was built for the aid and rescue of shipwrecked mariners and was staffed by full-time crews. The Life Saving Station was administered by the United States Revenue Marine (later renamed the United States Revenue Cutter Service) and was run with a volunteer crew, much like a volunteer fire department.
About 1.5 acres (6,100 m2) of land were bought from the State of Texas for $750.00 by the federal government and the Life Saving Station was built on the same site that the United States Coast Guard station stands on today. The Life Saving Station included a dock that stretched from the boathouse into the channel. The boats were hauled onto rails, and pushed into the boathouse when not in use. The small fleet of boats included a 16-foot (4.9 m) skiff, a 24-foot (7.3 m) surf boat, a 26-foot (7.9 m) whale boat, and a 27-foot (8.2 m) whale boat for rough surf.
Designated keeper in charge of the 8th District Life Saving Station on Mustang Island was John G. Mercer. Mercer was also one of the local bar pilots, and was appointed sometime in September 1880.
After the announcement of a regular steamship service route between New Orleans and Port Aransas, the United States Congress commissioned $12,500 for the construction of the Aransas Pass Lighthouse. Haggling over the lighthouse's specifications mired down the process and another survey was done. Meanwhile, the pass slowly moved south, as currents deposited sand on its north bank at the south end of Saint Joseph Island. It was then advised that a lightship be used to mark the pass. More surveying was done, more talk ensued, and then a proposition was accepted to erect a screw-pile lighthouse of brick.
In December 1855, the ship transporting the bricks struck, and then stuck, on the bar. The crewmates were all rescued, but the ship and its cargo went to the bottom of the sea. New bricks arrived in 1856, soon followed by the lantern room that would be set on top, and lastly a fourth order Fresnel lens. Also, a lighthouse keeper's dwelling, a small storage room, and docks were needed. The construction was complete by mid-1857 and the light guided ships through the pass later that year.
The Lydia Ann Channel Lighthouse was deactivated in 1952 after a major channel shift left the station a mile from the channel entrance. To better mark Aransas Pass, a new light was established in 1952 at the Port Aransas Coast Guard Station, and the Aransas Pass Lighthouse was deactivated, just a few years shy of a century of service.
The Civil War
Around the start of the American Civil War, the lens was taken out of the lantern room of the lighthouse and hidden in the marshlands behind the structure. This lighthouse was of utmost importance because it controlled the night-time pass. Whoever governed the light beacon regulated the night-time passageway. Without that light, the Union ships could only traverse the treacherous pass in the daytime, limiting Union ship movement in the blockade of the coastline.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.