The Corpus Christi Bay country was long the coastal homeland of the Karankawa and Coahuiltecan peoples. A Spanish expedition associated with Alonso Álvarez de Pineda mapped the bay in 1519 and gave it the name it still carries. The modern city began in 1839, when Henry Lawrence Kinney set up a trading post on the western shore; it became the Nueces County seat in 1846 — a staging ground for Zachary Taylor's army on its march toward the Mexican-American War — and was incorporated in 1852. Wool, cattle, and the railroad built the town through the 1870s, but the turn came in 1926, when the deepwater Port of Corpus Christi opened, and in 1930, when oil was struck in the county. Salt water and crude oil have shaped the city ever since.
The twentieth century made Corpus Christi a port, a Navy town, and a resort all at once. Refineries and the petrochemical trade grew along the ship channel, the Naval Air Station trained aviators by the thousands, and the bayfront filled with the miradores, the seawall, and the beaches that drew Texans to the coast. In 1962 Congress set aside Padre Island National Seashore, and in 1992 the USS Lexington came home to the bay as a museum. The Sparkling City also became a capital of Tejano music — and honors its most beloved voice, Selena, the Queen of Tejano music, at the bayfront Mirador de la Flor.
Why People Visit Corpus Christi Texas
- Tour the USS Lexington, the WWII carrier "the Blue Ghost," moored as a museum on the bayfront.
- Explore the Texas State Aquarium for Gulf of Mexico wildlife and sea-turtle conservation.
- Walk the wild dunes and beaches of Padre Island National Seashore — nearly seventy miles of protected barrier island and Kemp's ridley turtle nesting grounds.
- Beachcomb and birdwatch on Mustang Island, just across the causeway.
- Stroll the downtown seawall, the marina, and the bayfront miradores for skyline and harbor views.
- Visit the Mirador de la Flor, the bayfront seaside memorial to the Queen of Tejano music.
- Wander Heritage Park's restored historic homes for the city's multicultural story.
