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COLLEGEPORT
DAY 2008 |
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C E L E B R A T E O U R H E R I T A G E!
The Woman’s Club of Collegeport invites you and your family or
guest to the 100th Anniversary of the founding of
Collegeport. The annual homecoming will be held at the
Mopac House on Saturday, May 31, 2008. Dinner
will be served at 12:00 Noon. Please bring a side dish,
salad, or dessert to compliment barbecued beef.
COME AND ENJOY THE DAY with good food, friends and
fellowship. There are a few surprises in the works. Bring a
lawn chair and find a comfortable spot to relax. Your presence
and participation will help make this Collegeport Day an
exceptional one. WE’RE EXPECTING YOU! SPECIAL THANKS TO MEAT DONORS: E. M. & Carol Ann Huitt Mike & Connie O’Day Daniel & Gertrude Ryan Elaine Hendrix Shows
AND ALL who make this event a success.
ANYONE WISHING TO HELP with Collegeport Day needs, please
tell someone at the Registration Table. Volunteers to assist
with preparations and with clean-up after the homecoming are
encouraged to lend a hand. CONGRATULATIONS TO GRADUATES!
High School Graduates, Shannon Bowers, Loren Corporon, Travis
Corporon, Danyelle Merck and Elizabeth Padron were
honored with a dinner at the Mopac House on April
14, 2008. NATIONAL PRESERVATION MONTH
All are encouraged to celebrate our country's diverse and
irreplaceable heritage by participating in local events during
the month of May. This year’s theme is “This Place Matters.”
As we prepare to celebrate Collegeport’s Centennial, please
reflect on what makes the Collegeport community special to each
of us--WHY this place matters. This community is
significant to its residents and friends, attested by the fact
that Collegeport Day has been celebrated EACH AND EVERY YEAR
since the community’s founding on May 25, 1908. This
long-standing tradition has been kept faithfully in our rural
Matagorda County Community. We look forward to seeing each of
you.
IN MEMORIAM Billy Denn Max Gist Paul “Pug” Harvey Helen Jasek Alvena Kopecky Laslie Russell Matthes Lee Mize John Wolf |
The Mopac House Foundation and Woman’s Club of Collegeport Invite You to Share in the One-Hundredth Anniversary Celebration Commemorating The Collegeport Community 1908—2008 Immediately Following the Noon Meal Collegeport Day May 31, 2008 Mopac House Collegeport, Texas
IN 2007, THE MOPAC HOUSE FOUNDATION amended its charter
to comply with current regulations, maintaining its pledge to
hold and manage Block 105 the Mopac House and
library for the benefit and enjoyment of the residents of
Collegeport. The Internal Revenue Service has
determined that The Mopac House Foundation is exempt from
Federal income tax under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal
Revenue Code. This makes contributions to the organization
deductible under section 170 of the code, and qualifies the
Foundation to receive tax deductible bequests, devises,
transfers or gifts, as a public charity. Trustees are Gustave
W. Franzen, Russell D. Corporon, Fred R. Law, Jr., James R.
Murry, Jr. and Mason S. Holsworth. DRIVING TOUR OF COLLEGEPORT
The Matagorda County Historical Commission sponsors “History
Appreciation Day” each May to focus on an area or topic of
historical interest in the county. This year it will be held in
conjunction with our Collegeport Day celebration. Deean
Griffith and others have put together a driving tour guide
featuring historical sites in the Collegeport area that
correspond to numbered markers placed along the route. At your
leisure, you may make the tour which will help you visualize (or
remember) Collegeport’s past businesses, homes, schools and
churches. Tour guides will be available on Collegeport Day.
A SLIDESHOW OF PHOTOGRAPHS and other historical
information about Collegeport will be displayed in the Library.
We encourage you to share information and photos of your family
or the Collegeport community to include in our archives. We
will have the capability to scan any photos or documents you
bring with you on Collegeport Day so that you can return home
with your originals. It is fascinating to see these images and
read about the prospects and challenges that the pioneers of our
community experienced.
Mopac House and Library—2008. Mopac House was constructed of materials salvaged from the Collegeport Depot and was attached to the Public Library. These are the only remaining public buildings linking us with our past. The opening of Mopac House was held May 4, 1935. Harry Austin Clapp was instrumental in securing the gift of the depot from the Railroad. County Commissioner George A. Harrison facilitated the project. The Library was organized in 1912 by the Woman’s Club of Collegeport. |
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ROAD IMPROVEMENTS! For those who haven’t visited Collegeport recently, you will notice the newly improved stretch of Highway 1095 between Tin Top and Collegeport. The current roadway rehabilitation project on FM 1095 was let for $3,861,939.60 to Brannan Paving Corporation, LTD, of Victoria. Work is slated for completion by June 1, 2008. Culverts were extended to accommodate widened lanes and improved shoulders. Tremendous amounts of limestone and cement were used to stabilize and strengthen the existing roadbed which had begun to crumble under the load of modern transportation. All are thankful for this much needed maintenance. This is the greatest improvement to the road since the shell shoulder of the “Half-Slab” was paved in 1948/49, making a two-way paved roadway1. Until 1927, dirt roads were the rule throughout Matagorda County. Local road districts maintained roads by grading, and the county built occasional bridges and implemented drainage. Rainy weather made many roads impassable due to mud and ruts. Transportation by rail was relied upon for distant travel. Horses and buggies outnumbered motor cars in the early days of Collegeport, but as motorized transportation was utilized, road improvements became necessary. Out of desperation, a $3,000,000.00 road bond was approved by Matagorda County voters in 1927 to improve their road situation. The first “improved” road to Collegeport was a nine-foot wide concrete pavement, poured in continuous slabs with a shell shoulder. This road was one of four county roads constructed using plans and specifications developed by James Gartrell, county engineer; E. N. Gustafson, county surveyor; and his assistant, John F. Rother. R. W. Briggs Construction Company was low bidder on the project which was comprised of 16.51 miles of roadway between El Maton and Collegeport, less gaps and bridges, for a cost of $279,732.39. The Citrus Grove Road was included in this project as well. The Wilson Creek bridge was completed in April of 1928. Because the continuous paving method [used no expansion joints], maintenance crews were kept busy filling transverse cracks with asphalt as pavement broke 2. Harry Austin Clapp, Trustee of the Collegeport Industrial League and longtime correspondent for the Matagorda County Tribune, chronicled the progress of this ‘new’ road, which he dubbed the “Nine-Foot Sidewalk” in his “Thoughts” columns3. Although the road may have been less than what was expected, it was a priceless connection for Collegeport residents to the outside world. The Citrus Grove “Spur” was the last remaining “Half-Slab” road in the county that hadn’t been re-worked. In the 1980’s Matagorda County Pct. 3 removed the slab and paved this landmark roadway, thus ending the era of the “Nine-Foot Sidewalk.” Rail service that had been so vital to the early community was discontinued in 1933._______________________ |
______________________________ 1. Mark D. Wooldridge, P.E., Area Engineer, TxDOT –
Yoakum District, Wharton Area
Office.
3. Matagorda County Tribune,
“Thoughts” by Harry Austin Clapp, September 10, 1928. COLLEGEPORT, TEXAS IS ON THE WEB! We invite you to share photos and information about Collegeport, including pictures of your ancestors who lived in Collegeport. Thank you to all who have already contributed! To go directly to the Collegeport web-page, the address is: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txmatago/collegeport.htm
A REGISTER OF PERSONS ATTENDING Collegeport Day this year
will be placed in a Time Capsule to be opened in the year 2058,
which will be Collegeport’s Sesquicentennial (150th
Birthday). Bring an item to include in the Time Capsule. SHARE YOUR IDEAS for commemorating Collegeport’s Centennial throughout our 100th year.
Possibilities might be to observe New Years’ Day, George
Washington’s Birthday or Thanksgiving Day with a community dinner,
as has been a custom.
COLLEGEPORT SOUVENIR SPOONS shared by Carol Sue Gibbs will be
displayed in the Library. Both spoons feature Texas themes, and the
second has the Hotel Collegeport inscribed in its bowl.
PLEASE SEND NEWS OR INFORMATION for newsletters to G. W.
Franzen.
Collegeport “Pagoda” Pavilion on Tres-Palacios Bay. The first Collegeport Day celebration was held here in 1910. |
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Copyright
2008 - Present by Mopac House Foundation |
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Created May 12, 2008 |
Updated May 12, 2008 |