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Collegeport Day Celebration For 1964 Held in the Mopac
The crowd of 400 which gathered at the Mopac in
Collegeport on May 30 was much larger than that which celebrated the
first Collegeport Day under a tent in 1910 according to the enlarged
photograph given to the Woman's Club on Saturday.--The
Daily Tribune,
June 18, 1964 |
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By Percy V. Corporon
When we left Kansas along about the middle of December in 1909, we dug our way through big snow drifts head-high to get to the train to come to Texas. We came in a special excursion car. When we got to Bay City, our car was set on the siding for a while. Some people went out and picked green grass and flowers and brought them back to show them. We felt like we had landed in Heaven, but we later found out it wasn't.
This country was overrun with longhorn cattle and mosquitoes.
We first entered Collegeport from the bay where they had boat service to Palacios. This was before they had railroads to Collegeport.
Our first Collegeport celebration was in 1910, held on a nice open-air pavilion right out in the bay from the end of Main St. There were several big tables with banners over them stating which state they represented. Our Kansas table had the most representatives. We had a big sunflower over our table which is the Kansas state flower.
Mrs. E. Yeamans stood on a platform and gave a big welcoming address to all of us snowdiggers--as Frank King used to call us. I still remember a lot she talked about. She was an outstanding business woman. What time she wasn't on horseback she was in a little Brush automobile driven by her son Victor out selling milk cows to all of us "Newcomers" or in a big two-story dry goods and grocery store with living quarters above. That store stood right where Francis Johnson's house now stands.
Early days in Collegeport, it was a nice little town. It had the Gulf Coast University of Industrial arts where the students worked for the college half-days and studied the other half-day. It also had a United Denominational Church, its own newspaper, The Collegeport Chronicle, a bank, two hotels and several stores. When we got our cement roads and lost our railroad, that spelled death to some of these small towns, but Collegeport goes on with its yearly celebration of a nice homecoming day and a big free barbeque.
I have missed very few since 1910 and, as well as I like to eat, the best is seeing old friends and relatives.
Palacios Beacon, Wednesday, May 29, 1991 |
