DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — Ward Island, out in Nueces County. Now, before it was Ward Island, this 258-acre peninsula had about the most uninspired name you can imagine: Island 'A.' Just Island 'A.' Somebody was real busy that day. But along came a land developer by the name of John C.
Ward, who obtained the island in 1892, and the name got an upgrade. Ward had plans — grand ones. He wanted to turn this peninsula into an exclusive resort community.
You can almost picture it: the brochures, the promises, the whole dream laid out in careful ink. And then 1893 arrived, and with it came a depression, and those plans were crushed. Just like that.
Ward Island did find its footing eventually, though — as a popular hunting and fishing site. Sometimes a place finds what it's meant to be the hard way. In 1909, W.E.
James and Herman Anderson purchased the land, and tourist businesses kept humming along out there all the way through the 1940s. Decades of folks coming out to enjoy what that peninsula had to offer. But then the world changed, the way it has a habit of doing.
World War II came calling, and the U.S. Navy acquired Ward Island for something altogether different — a radar station and training base. Commissioned in July 1942, this base got to work in a hurry.
Navy, Marine, Coast Guard, and Royal Canadian Air Force personnel all came through those gates for advanced training. By 1943, the facility had grown into something substantial enough to earn a proper name: Naval Air Technical Training Center. Sixty-seven main buildings — barracks, classrooms, an administration building, a mess hall, a library, a chapel.
A whole world unto itself out on that peninsula. And for more than three years, it operated as the Navy's only aviation electronic training school. The only one.
More than ten thousand technicians graduated from that place. Then October 1947 came. The Navy declared it surplus, and the base was closed.
Now here's where the story takes one more turn — because that same year, the site became home to the University of Corpus Christi. A place built to train men for war became a place built to educate in peace. And that university, in time, developed into Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Island 'A.' An exclusive resort that never was. A fishing spot. A training ground for ten thousand technicians.
And finally, a university. That peninsula has lived several lives, and it's not done yet.
What the marker says
Originally called Island 'A', this 258 acre peninsula was later named for land developer John C. Ward who obtained the island in 1892. Plans to develop the island into an exclusive resort community were crushed by a depression in 1893, but Ward Island became a popular hunting and fishing site. W.E. James and Herman Anderson purchased the land in 1909. Tourist businesses remained here until the 1940s. During World War II, Ward Island was acquired by the U.S. Navy for the establishment of a radar station and training base. Commissioned in July 1942, the base provided advanced training to Navy, Marine, Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Air Force personnel. In 1943 the facility was renamed Naval Air Technical Training Center and included 67 main buildings such as barracks, classrooms, and administration building, mess hall, library, and chapel. For more than three years this base operated as the Navy's only aviation electronic training school, graduating more than 10,000 technicians. Declared surplus by the Navy, the base was closed in October 1947. That year it became the site of the University of Corpus Christi, which later developed into Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi. (1997)