Neptune's Needle

City (1990 pop. 257,453; 2000 pop. 277,454), (cap.) Nueces co., S Texas, 165 miles SE of San Antonio; 27º42'N 97º17'W. A busy port of entry on Corpus Christi Bay at the entrance to Nueces Bay (an inlet at the mouth of the Nueces R.); the main cargoes handled are cotton, oil, grain, and chemicals. Tradition holds that the bay was named by the Span. explorer Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda, who founded it on Corpus Christi Day in 1519, but there is evidence that it was named instead by the 1st settlers, who arrived from the lower Rio Grande valley in the 1760s. In 1839, Col. H. L. Kinney founded a trading post there, and traders, adventurers, and ne’er-do-wells collected in a raffish colony on land claimed by both Texas and Mexico. The small port and terminus for overland wagon-train traffic boomed during the Mexican War. It was briefly captured by the U.S. navy in the Civil War and later served as a supply and shipping point for sheep and cattle.

In 2001, Corpus Christi was the nation's 6th busiest seaport.

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Compiler

Peter Richards