DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Tarpon Inn, out on the Texas coast in Nueces County. Now settle in, because this place has been through a thing or two. In 1886, a man named Frank Stephenson — boat pilot, assistant Aransas lighthouse keeper, man who clearly liked to stay busy — opened up an inn at this very site.
The building he used was an old barracks, and he called his new operation the Tarpon Inn, named for the trophy fish those nearby gulf waters were practically giving away. Sailors used the place as a landmark, and Port Aransas itself got to going by the name Tarpon for a stretch. That's the kind of impression this inn made on people.
Then in 1897, Mary Cotter and her son J.E. bought the two-story inn from Stephenson. And now here's where the story starts accumulating some weather. The building burned in 1900.
Gone. But by 1904, two new structures had risen up to replace it. You might think that'd be the end of the hardship, but this is the Texas Gulf Coast, and the coast has opinions.
The 1919 hurricane came through and destroyed the main structure. The dining facility survived, kept going, kept serving, until the whole operation was sold in 1923 to James M. Ellis and his wife.
Ellis looked at what was left and decided to rebuild — and not just rebuild, but rebuild smart. He modeled the new inn to resemble the old barracks that Stephenson had started with, back in 1886. And then he did something that tells you everything about a man who's done his arithmetic about hurricanes: he sank 20-foot poles into 16 feet of concrete, with pilings at the corner of each room.
He was not interested in losing this place to the Gulf of Mexico. For a time, guests could only reach the inn by boat. Imagine pulling up to your hotel in a skiff.
But they came. Oh, they came. And when they got there, it became tradition to sign and date a tarpon scale and put it on the wall in the front room.
That wall filled up with names over the years. Among them, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who fished here in 1937.
Duncan Hines spent his honeymoon here and went on recommending the food for the next 25 years. And when the storms rolled back in — because they always do — the inn opened its doors to area residents, and served as headquarters for the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and military units. Built from a barracks, rebuilt twice, reinforced against the fury of the Gulf, and still standing as a place of refuge.
Some buildings just refuse to give up on the people who need them.
What the marker says
In 1886 Frank Stephenson, a boat pilot and assistant Aransas lighthouse keeper, opened an inn at this site in an old barracks. He called the facility "Tarpon Inn" for the abundant trophy fish in nearby gulf waters. The Inn served as a landmark for sailors, and Port Aransas was known for a time as "Tarpon". In 1897 Mary Cotter and her son J.E. Bought the two story inn from Stephenson. After the building burned in 1900, two new structures were built in 1904. When the 1919 hurricane destroyed the main structure, the dining facility was used until it was sold in 1923 to James M. Ellis and his wife. Ellis soon rebuilt this inn to resemble the old barracks. He placed 20-foot poles in 16 feet of concrete with pilings at the corner of each room to reinforce it against future hurricanes. For a time guests could reach the inn only by boat. It became a tradition to sign and date a Tarpon scale and place it on the wall in the front room. Among the famous patrons was president Franklin D. Roosevelt who fished here in 1937. Duncan Hines spent his honeymoon here and recommended the food for the next 25 years. The inn has housed many area residents during storms and served as headquarters for the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Military units.