Rockport Texas, Historic Rockport. (original) (raw)
Bird's Eye View of Rockport Texas from Courthouse, postmarked 1907
Click on image to enlarge
Old Photo courtesy Dan Whatley Collection
History in a Seashell
A timeline of important and significant events.
1865: Development of Rockport began right after the Civil War as a cattle processing and shipping port.
1867: Col. George Ware Fulton, namesake of Fulton, Texas, returns from Maryland
1870: Rockport incorporated as a town
1871: the year Aransas County was demarked from Refugio County
1880s: boat building and fishing industries develop
1886: The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway arrives
1890: The First National Bank of Aransas Pass opens - town gets electric lights.
1914: Population 1,382
1919: Hurricane nearly obliterates Rockport
1920s: Shrimp industry develops
1935: Harbors built at Rockport and Fulton
WWII: shipyard established in 1941 built submarine-chasing speedboats.
Present: Fishing, shrimp and tourism remain the town's major economic factors.
Rockport, Texas Landmarks & Attractions
The shuttle of birds back and forth overhead was immediately recognized as herons mating and building nests. We realized this was an ideal location to photograph this event.
Rockport, Texas Chronicles
- Rockport Ships by Mike Cox
"All but forgotten today, in the early months of World War II a Rockport shipyard sent two dozen wooden-hulled subchasers down the ways to face iron-plated German U-Boats in the North Atlantic..." - Aransas Abattoir by Mike Cox
Rockport used to be a coastal cow town, a place where hooves and horns drove the local economy, not fishing and tourism...
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"Between Christmas and New Year, a stiff wind has blown about 1 or 2 feet of water out of the bay exposing 'new ground'. |
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The birds are lovin' it. |
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A bicycle fence Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, November 2005 |
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The former Shorty Kline's Old Cafe. (Owners; Mr. & Mrs. Gloria and Herbert R. "Shorty" Kline) Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, November 2005 |
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Rockport in the 1950s Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/ ~txgenweb// postcards/Index.html |
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"Sunsets are prettier too."
- Ken Rudine, December 28, 2005
"Deer run freely every night in a subdivision named Rockport Country Club Estates." - Ken Rudine, 2009
Photographer Ken Rudine asks if anyone has any information on this sign painted on a barbershop in Rockport. It has been there for at least the last 30 years according to Ken. If anyone has any information to share on the pictured attraction or �The Cool Camp� itself, please write to editor@texasescapes.com with the word "Cool Camp Rockport" in the subject line.
Follow Up to Rockport's Mystery Sign
Our request for information on Ken Rudine's Rockport "ghost sign" brought a very interesting response from Amanda Barone. Who wrote:
"My husband, who has lived in Rockport since the 70's had friends' parents that claimed the C's in the Cool Coast Camp were originally "K's", from the Klu Klux Klan, who apparently operated a camp near Rockport during the early 1900's. I found a link that described the brochure. I hope this helps. - Amanda Barone, Rockport, Texas, January 07, 2015
Rockport area Tourist Information
Rockport-Fulton Area Chamber of Commerce
404 Broadway Rockport, TX 78382
Phone: 361-729-6445
Toll-Free: 800-242-0071
Toll-Free: 800-826-6441
http://www.rockport-fulton.org/
Book Hotel Here > Rockport Hotels | Fulton Hotels
Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact us.