DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about this place — and friend, it is a story worth hearing. Now, every so often a man rides into town carrying a set of dreams so big they barely fit through the door. Colonel Elihu Harrison Ropes was that kind of man.
He arrived in Corpus Christi in 1888, and he did not arrive quietly. He came with grand ideas for the town's development and promotion — and, crucially, he came with financial backing from eastern investors who were willing to bet on those ideas. And what ideas they were.
Ropes wanted to make Corpus Christi a deepwater port. He wanted to build a railroad stretching all the way between that port and the lower Rio Grande Valley. And if that weren't enough, he wanted to develop a large suburb three miles south of what was then the city limit — a whole new piece of Corpus Christi, conjured up from ambition and capital.
He called that suburb the Cliffs. He acquired the land in 1888— same year he rolled into town — and he hired a young San Antonio architect by the name of James Riely Gordon to design the centerpiece of it all: the Alta Vista Hotel. Three stories.
Frame construction. A hundred and six guest rooms. It was completed around 1893, and it must have been something to see standing out there on the edge of the city, waiting.
Waiting is the right word. Because here is where the story takes its turn. Within about five years of his arrival, Ropes' eastern investors withdrew their support.
The deepwater port, the railroad, the grand suburb at the Cliffs — few of those goals were ever attained. Ropes left Corpus Christi. And the Alta Vista Hotel, completed and standing, never opened for business under his watch.
It sat there. A hundred and six rooms, empty. Eventually, in the early nineteen-hundreds, the hotel did operate briefly — under the direction of J.J.
Copley and the Alta Vista Hotel Co. A short second life. Then it was abandoned again.
On June 9, 1927, the Alta Vista burned. Just like that, the last physical trace of Colonel Ropes' vision was gone. The marker that stands in its place calls the Alta Vista a reminder of the dreams that early promoters such as E.H.
Ropes had for this city. Big dreams, eastern money, a young architect, and a hundred and six rooms that hardly anyone ever slept in. Some stories are about what got built.
This one is about what almost was.
What the marker says
Colonel Elihu Harrison Ropes (1845-1898) came to Corpus Christi in 1888 with grand ideas for the town's development and promotion. With financial backing from eastern investors, he sought to make Corpus Christi a deepwater port, to build a railroad between the port and the lower Rio Grande Valley, and to develop a large suburb three miles south of what was then the city limit. Within about five years, his eastern investors withdrew their support, and Ropes left Corpus Christi having attained few of his goals. The Alta Vista Hotel, once located on the adjacent property, was a part of Ropes' plan for development of his suburb, known as the Cliffs. He acquired the land in 1888 and hired young San Antonio architect James Riely Gordon to design the hotel. The Alta Vista was a three story frame building with 106 guest rooms. The hotel was completed about 1893 but did not open for business because of Ropes' departure from the city. The Alta Vista was operated briefly as a hotel during the early 1900's under the direction of J.J. Copley and the Alta Vista Hotel Co. Later abandoned, the hotel burned on June 9, 1927. Although the landmark is gone, its history is a reminder of the dreams that early promoters such as E.H. Ropes had for the city. (1985)