DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Sharpsburg and Borden's Ferry, out in San Patricio County. Now, every good Texas story starts with sheep and ends with a railroad — and Sharpsburg is no exception. The town got its name from an early area sheep rancher, and for a while there, it looked like the place was destined for something remarkable.
In the 1870s, a man named Sidney Gail Borden came to town, and brother, he did not come to sit still. Borden — who would live until 1908 — ran a general store. He operated a cotton gin.
He kept a grist mill running. He tended grape vineyards. He bought a meat packery.
And if that wasn't enough irons in the fire, he expanded an existing ferry business on the Nueces River. You get the feeling Sidney Gail Borden woke up every morning with a list and a firm handshake. Now here's where the geography works in Sharpsburg's favor — at least for a time.
Flat-bottomed sailing vessels could move goods along the Nueces, shallow as it was, all the way to markets including Corpus Christi. You didn't need a railroad if you had the river. You just needed someone smart enough to put all the pieces together.
Borden was that someone. With the processing and transportation facilities he'd assembled, he platted the town of Sharpsburg and sold lots. Several hundred settlers came.
Stores opened. A post office. A school.
A boardinghouse. Farmers traveled from as far as twenty-five miles away just to process their goods and get them to market. At its peak in the 1890s, Sharpsburg was exactly the kind of place folks pointed to and said — that town is going somewhere.
And then the railroads came through San Patricio County. They just didn't come through Sharpsburg. Being bypassed by the railroad in that era wasn't a slow inconvenience — it was a verdict.
The population began to decline, steadily, the way a campfire does when nobody adds wood. By 1912, Sharpsburg's school was consolidated with the Odem school district and closed. In 1913, a bridge was constructed at the very site where Borden's ferry had carried goods and people across the Nueces.
When you build a bridge where a ferry ran, you don't need the ferry anymore. And when you don't need the ferry, the town built around it doesn't have much reason left to hold on. Today, the town of Sharpsburg is no longer in existence.
Its site is again part of an area ranch — the land patient as ever, giving nothing away. But Sidney Gail Borden built something real out here, and Sharpsburg and Borden's Ferry remain an important part of early San Patricio County history. Sometimes a place matters most not because it lasted, but because of everything it moved.
What the marker says
Named for an early area sheep rancher, the town of Sharpsburg grew into a regional trade center in the 1870's when Sidney Gail Borden (d. 1908) operated a general store, cotton gin, grist mill, and grape vineyards; bought a meat packery; and expanded an existing ferry business on the Nueces River. Flat bottomed sailing vessels allowed goods to be shipped on the Shallow River to markets including Corpus Christi. With processing and transportation facilities in place, Borden platted the town of Sharpsburg and sold lots, attracting several hundred settlers. Stores, a post office, a school, and a boardinghouse were also established. Farmers from towns as far away as twenty-five miles came to Sharpsburg to process their goods and ship them to area markets. Sharpsburg's growth peaked in the 1890's. Bypassed by the railroads, its population declined steadily. In 1912 Sharpsburg's school was consolidated with the Odem school district and closed, and in 1913 a bridge was constructed at the Ferry site. Though the town is no longer in existence and its site is again part of an area ranch, Sharpsburg and Borden's ferry remain an important part of early San Patricio County history. (1991)