DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the one tellin' this tale, and I'm just the voice carryin' it down the road for you. Now settle in, because this stretch of Corpus Christi history has got more layers than a Texas onion — and it starts with a date that ought to ring a bell for every American. July 4, 1845.
A convention of Republic of Texas citizens accepted the terms for annexation to the United States. Texas was coming into the Union, and somebody had to stand guard while the paperwork dried. That somebody was General Zachary Taylor.
He showed up at Corpus Christi with four thousand men of the U.S. 3rd Infantry, there to defend the embryonic state from Indians or foreign powers. Four thousand men. In a place that was barely a place yet.
Taylor stayed eight months — and here's the part worth letting sit for a moment — more than two months after Texas actually became a state, he was still camped right there before he finally marched to the Rio Grande. Now, while all those boots were on the ground in Corpus Christi, who exactly was wearing some of them? Well.
Among Taylor's troops were three future presidents of the United States. Taylor himself, of course. And Pierce.
And Grant. Three men who would one day sit behind the desk in the White House, all of them drawing the same dust from the same South Texas camp at the same time. The marker calls them future celebrities, and that is about as understated as Texas gets.
But here's the thing about that camp — Taylor left something behind besides footprints. He had a sulphur-rich artesian well drilled right there adjacent to the camp. A landmark of his sojourn, the marker calls it, and that well would matter long after the soldiers were gone.
Years passed. Nine years, to be exact. In 1854, a man named H.L.
Kinney — who had founded the city back in 1839 — decided that well and its surroundings deserved better than to be forgotten. Out of regard for the significant well and campsite, and to give the city a public park, Kinney deeded and dedicated the well site and an acre of surrounding land to the municipality. Just gave it.
One man, one acre, one city. This park stands as one of the earliest in Texas to have been given by an individual to the public. That's not a small thing.
By 1900, the place had grown into something the whole city cherished — a bandstand had gone up, a drinking fountain, walks installed through civic or private means. People came. They sat.
They listened to music beside a well that three future presidents once knew. And it wasn't done growin'. In 1907 and 1908, more land was added, through the efforts of the Woman's Monday Club.
Use and improvements, the marker tells us, have continued over a hundred and twenty years. One sulphur well. One acre of ground.
Three future presidents, one founding citizen, and a city that knew better than to let any of it go.
What the marker says
After a convention of Republic of Texas citizens accepted terms on July 4, 1845, for annexation to the United States, General Zachary Taylor brought 4,000 men of the U.S. 3rd infantry to Corpus Christi to defend the embryonic state from indians or foreign powers. He remained eight months; more than two months after Texas became a state he marched to the Rio Grande. Among his troops in Corpus Christi were three future United States presidents (Taylor, Pierce, and Grant), and many other future celebrities. A landmark of Taylor's sojourn was a sulphur-rich artesian well he had drilled adjacent to the camp. In 1854, out of regard for the significant well and campsite, and to give the city he had founded (1839) a public park, H.L. Kinney deeded and dedicated the well site and an acre of surrounding land to the municipality. This park is one of the earliest in Texas to have been given by an individual to the public. By 1900--when a bandstand, drinking fountain and walks had been installed by civic or private means--the park was regarded as an historic, greatly cherished city facility. More land was added in 1907--08 through efforts of the Woman's Monday Club. Use and improvements have continued over 120 years.