DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it my way. Now, if you've ever been to San Antonio and wandered through the Witte Museum, you may have stopped in front of a bronze called the Trail Drivers — a piece so well-known it's earned a permanent home inside those walls. The man behind that sculpture was Gutzon Borglum, a Danish-American artist born in 1867 and gone by 1941, and friend, his ambitions were never what you'd call modest.
Corpus Christi found that out firsthand. In 1928, the city's Chamber of Commerce called Borglum down to the Gulf Coast with a simple enough ask — help us think through the Bayfront. What they got was considerably more than they bargained for.
Borglum arrived and immediately started seeing the whole thing in his head. He designed a promenade, a system of parks and boulevards, an improved seawall — the kind of grand civic vision that doesn't come cheap. Except, in this case, it did.
Borglum offered his services to the city at no cost. None. The man worked for free on the proposal because he wanted to see it done.
And then he learned something that lit a particular fire in him. Corpus Christi, he discovered, was the only city in the entire United States to bear that name. Now that detail took root.
He decided the seawall itself ought to anchor a thirty-two-foot-high statue of Christ — a figure that would appear to be walking on water, hands raised as though shielding the city from whatever storms the Gulf had in mind. Think about that image for a moment. A sculpture rising out of the seawall, arms up, the bay stretching out behind it.
Borglum even toured other Gulf Coast cities to study effective harbor improvements, doing his homework, building his case. And in the spring of 1928, city property holders approved part of his plan. Part of it.
A bond election for the full proposal was cancelled. He tried again later, seeking New Deal funds for the Bayfront. That effort came up unsuccessful too.
So Corpus Christi's grand promenade, its parks and boulevards and that thirty-two-foot Christ stepping out of the seawall — it stayed a drawing. What pulled Borglum's attention away for good was another project, one that also involved sculpting the faces of notable figures into stone. His plans for carving four of the nation's foremost presidents onto Mount Rushmore won out in the end.
Some men leave their mark on a city. Gutzon Borglum almost left his mark on Corpus Christi in a way that would've been visible from the water. Almost.
What the marker says
Well-known in San Antonio for his "Trail Drivers" sculpture on permanent display inside the Witte Museum, Danish-American artist Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941) made several proposals to the city of Corpus Christi in the early twentieth century for the beautification of the Bayfront. In 1928, he arrived in the area at the request of the city's Chamber of Commerce in order to plan for the incorporation of practical and visual improvements to the beach front. Eager to begin this project, Borglum generously offered his services at no cost to the city. He designed a promenade that would incorporate a system of parks and boulevards in addition to an improved seawall. Impressed at learning that Corpus Christi was the only city in the United States to bear that name, he sought to include a 32-foot-high Christ statue. Anchored in the seawall itself, the sculpture would appear to be walking on water with its hands upraised as though protecting the city from inclement weather. In preparation for carrying out his proposals for Corpus Christi, Borglum toured Gulf Coast cities in order to identify other effective examples of harbor improvement. In the spring of 1928, city property holders approved part of his plan, but a subsequent bond election for the entire proposal was cancelled. A further attempt by the sculptor to secure new deal funds for the Bayfront was unsuccessful. Ultimately, his plans for sculpting four of the nation's foremost presidents onto Mount Rushmore redirected Borglum's attention away from Corpus Christi and its needed seawall.