Collegeport

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Collegeport, Matagorda County. Now settle in, because this is a story about a dream that started big, grew fast, and then ran headlong into what Texas weather does best. It begins in 1908, when two men — Jonathan Edward Pierce and Abel Brown Pierce — decided they were done sitting on 9,000 acres of ranch land and hired a fellow named Burton D.

Hurd to do something about it. Hurd wasn't just any land developer. He had vision.

Or at least he had newspaper ads, which in 1908 amounted to roughly the same thing. He took out space in papers up in the northern states, painting a picture of mild climate and promising farming opportunities waiting down on Trespalacios Bay. The agreement called for something grander than a subdivision, mind you.

Hurd was supposed to deliver an actual town — one with a college and a port. And for a little while, he delivered. Families packed up, relocated to Collegeport, bought land, put up homes, and started farming.

The Gulf Coast University of Industrial Arts — that's the college the developer had promised — opened its doors in 1909. The Missouri Pacific Railroad, the MoPac, came through and gave the place a proper connection to the wider world. By 1912, Collegeport had a bank, a post office, a school, two churches, retail stores, and other commercial businesses.

It had the county's first free public library. Its first Boy Scout troop. A Women's Club, founded in 1910.

For a town built on a developer's newspaper pitch, that is a genuinely impressive list. But here's where the telling gets harder. In 1914, a heavy freeze came through and killed most of the farmers' crops.

Not some. Most. The very next year brought a drought, and then a disease moved through and devastated the livestock herds.

Families who had traveled a long way on the strength of a promise started making the painful calculation that staying didn't pencil out anymore, and many of them moved away. The railroad depot — known as Mopac House — was eventually dismantled and rebuilt as part of the public library in 1935. Which is, if you stop and think about it, about the most Collegeport ending imaginable: the thing that brought people in, repurposed to house the books they left behind.

What the marker says

Jonathan Edward Pierce and Abel Brown Pierce hired land developer Burton D. Hurd to sell off 9,000 acres of their ranch lands in 1908. The agreement with Hurd called for the development of a town that would include a college and a port on Trespalacios Bay. Advertising the venture in newspapers of northern states, Hurd promoted the area's mild climate and promising farming opportunities. A number of families relocated to Collegeport to purchase land, establish farms, and build new homes. The Gulf Coast University of Industrial arts, the college promised by the town's developer, opened in 1909. Served by the Missouri Pacific (MoPac) Railroad, Collegeport grew quickly and by 1912 included a bank, post office, school, two churches, retail stores, and other commercial businesses. It boasted the county's first free public library, its first Boy Scout troop, and the Women's Club, founded in 1910. In 1914 a heavy freeze killed most of the farmers' crops. The following year the area experienced a drought and a disease which devastated the livestock herds, causing many families to move away. The railroad depot, known as Mopac House, was dismantled and rebuilt as part of the public library in 1935. (1990)