DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, the story of Charles Champion starts, as so many Texas stories do, with somebody coming from somewhere else and putting down roots deep enough to change the place forever. Charles's father, Joseph Champion, was an Italian immigrant who settled in Texas in 1855.
And on February 2, 1870, in Old Point Isabel, Charles Champion came into the world. The son of a settler, born right there on the Texas coast — that's a particular kind of beginning. He went on to serve as district clerk in Hidalgo County, which tells you the man understood paperwork and power and how the two tend to travel together.
Then in 1894, he made a move. He purchased the Hess General Store right there in Old Point Isabel, renamed it The Champion Store, and kept right on running it out of that small frame structure. Now, a man who buys a store and puts his own name on it is a man with a plan.
And Charles Champion was not done. Not even close. Because in 1899, he erected a two-story brick building.
Brick. In a place where the Gulf wind has opinions about permanence. He named it The Key of the Gulf — and that name was not just poetry.
That first floor held the general merchandise store, the U.S. Customs House, and the post office all under one roof, and Champion himself served as the second postmaster of Point Isabel. One building, one man, doing a considerable amount of the town's business.
In the early 1900s, he provided the impetus for the fishing industry that employed many local citizens and became an integral part of the local economy. By 1908, he and Judge J.B. Wells owned the Santa Isabela land grant, which included Point Isabel itself.
The man who once bought a store now co-owned the land the town stood on. But there was one thing Charles Champion wanted that he never got to see. He was a long-time proponent of a deep water port in Point Isabel — pushed for it, believed in it, worked toward it.
He died in 1926. The port was completed in 1933. Seven years too late.
He was buried next to his wife Margaret Orive and other family members in the Point Isabel Cemetery, in the town he had spent his life shaping. The Key of the Gulf. He built the door.
He just didn't get to walk through that last one.
What the marker says
The son of Joseph Champion, an Italian immigrant who settled in Texas in 1855, Charles Champion was born on February 2, 1870, in Old Point Isabel. He served as district clerk in Hidalgo County before purchasing the Hess General Store in Old Point Isabel in 1894. He renamed it "The Champion Store," and continued to operate the business in the small frame structure. In 1899, Champion erected this two-story brick building and named it "The Key of the Gulf." The first floor housed the general merchandise store, the U.S. Customs House, and the post office. Champion served as the second postmaster of Point Isabel. In the early 1900s, Champion provided the impetus for the fishing industry that employed many local citizens and became an integral part of the local economy. By 1908 Champion and Judge J.B. Wells owned the Santa Isabela land grant, which included Point Isabel. Long a proponent of a deep water port in Point Isabel, Champion died in 1926 before its completion in 1933. Champion was buried next to his wife Margaret Orive and other family members in the Point Isabel Cemetery. (1996)