DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, every good story starts with somebody sayin' yes. In 1927, the Benedictine Monks of the New Subiaco Monastery in Arkansas got an invitation — from Bishop Emmanuel Ledvina himself — to come down to the Diocese of Corpus Christi and build a Catholic boys' school.
And they accepted. That's one yes. Here comes another.
A man named John Dunn had a particular interest in seeing this school get built. He wanted his grandsons to have a place to attend, and he was eager enough about it that he made an offer: forty acres of the Dunn family homestead, free for the taking, right there for the diocese to build on. The tract sat approximately five miles from Corpus Christi, and the people who looked it over decided it was an ideal site.
You don't argue with ideal. The school was named Corpus Christi College. And somebody built fast, because by fall of 1928 — when the first students arrived for grades seven through twelve — a five-story brick building had been completed just in time for the start of classes.
Just in time. Not a week early, not a month. Just in time.
That's Benedictine monks and South Texas determination right there. In 1929, the first graduating class walked across that stage. All three of them.
Three. A graduating class of three. Small, sure — but every institution has to start somewhere, and this one was just gettin' its footing.
The school grew. Enrollment climbed. A band came together, a choir found its voice, and sports teams took the field.
The name shifted too — from Corpus Christi College to Corpus Christi College-Academy, and eventually to Corpus Christi Academy. It was becomin' something real. And here's a detail worth pausin' on.
The Academy had its own museum for a number of years — not a school project, mind you, but an actual private collection, belonging to a man named John B. Dunn. Now, John B.
Dunn was a cousin of the John Dunn who donated the property. Different men, same distinguished name. That collection got loaned to the Corpus Christi Museum in 1964, and was later sold to the museum outright.
One family's name all over this story, in more ways than one. The school hit its peak in 1948 — two hundred students, the fullest those halls ever were. But the 1960s brought additions to the school plant, and those additions brought budgetary shortfalls.
The math started workin' against the place. At the end of the 1966-1967 term, the Benedictines gave up operation of the school, leaving oversight to the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Folks tried to raise funds.
They made efforts. The marker says so plainly — efforts were made to save the school. They weren't enough.
In May 1972, a decision was made to close Corpus Christi Academy. The grandsons John Dunn once dreamed of sending there were long grown. The three members of that first graduating class were middle-aged men somewhere out in the world.
And the five-story brick building that had gone up just in time for the first bell — well, it had rung its last. Some institutions are defined by how they open. Some by how long they last.
And some — maybe — by the people who showed up anyway, in a building that was barely finished, ready to learn.
What the marker says
IN 1927, THE BENEDICTINE MONKS OF THE NEW SUBIACO MONASTERY IN ARKANSAS ACCEPTED AN INVITATION FROM BISHOP EMMANUEL LEDVINA TO ESTABLISH A CATHOLIC BOYS’ SCHOOL IN THE DIOCESE OF CORPUS CHRISTI. EAGER FOR SUCH A SCHOOL THAT HIS GRANDSONS COULD ATTEND, JOHN DUNN OFFERED THE DIOCESE FORTY ACRES OF THE DUNN FAMILY HOMESTEAD ON WHICH TO BUILD THE SCHOOL. THE TRACT, LOCATED APPROXIMATELY FIVE MILES FROM CORPUS CHRISTI, WAS DEEMED AN IDEAL SITE. THE SCHOOL WAS NAMED CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, AND THE FIRST STUDENTS, ENROLLED IN GRADES 7 THROUGH 12, STARTED CLASSES IN FALL 1928. A FIVE-STORY BRICK BUILDING HAD BEEN COMPLETED JUST IN TIME FOR THE START OF CLASSES. IN 1929, THE FIRST GRADUATING CLASS CONSISTED OF THREE STUDENTS. THE SCHOOL SOON BECAME KNOWN AS CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE-ACADEMY AND EVENTUALLY AS CORPUS CHRISTI ACADEMY. WITH INCREASED ENROLLMENT, A BAND, A CHOIR, AND SPORTS TEAMS WERE ESTABLISHED FOR STUDENTS. FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS THE SCHOOL HAD ITS OWN MUSEUM, WHICH CONSISTED OF THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF JOHN B. DUNN, A COUSIN OF THE JOHN DUNN WHO HAD DONATED THE SCHOOL PROPERTY. THE COLLECTION WAS LOANED TO THE CORPUS CHRISTI MUSEUM IN 1964 AND WAS LATER SOLD TO THE MUSEUM. THE ACADEMY’S PEAK ENROLLMENT OCCURRED IN 1948, WHEN THE SCHOOL POPULATION CONSISTED OF 200 STUDENTS. ADDITIONS TO THE SCHOOL PLANT DURING THE 1960s CONTRIBUTED TO BUDGETARY SHORTFALLS, AND THE BENEDICTINES GAVE UP OPERATION OF THE SCHOOL AT THE END OF THE 1966-1967 TERM, LEAVING OVERSIGHT TO THE DIOCESE OF CORPUS CHRISTI. DESPITE EFFORTS TO RAISE FUNDS TO SAVE THE SCHOOL, A DECISION WAS MADE TO CLOSE THE CORPUS CHRISTI ACADEMY IN MAY 1972.