Old Nueces County Courthouse | |
Location in Texas | |
Location | 1100 N Mesquite Street, Corpus Christi, Texas |
---|---|
Coordinates | 27°48′06″N97°23′45″W / 27.80167°N 97.39583°W |
Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
Built | 1914 |
Architect | Harvey L. Page |
Architectural style | Classical Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 76002055 [1] |
Added to NRHP | June 24, 1976 |
The Old Nueces County Courthouse is a historic government building in downtown Corpus Christi, Texas, United States. All functions at the courthouse relocated to the current county courthouse just a few streets away. The old courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. [2] There are currently ongoing efforts to restore the old courthouse, which is being worked on by county government.
Following high rates of crime throughout South Texas in 1853, three plots of found were purchased from Henry Lawrence McKinney in Corpus Christi for $300 (1853 USD). The first county courthouse was built on this land, with a second Courthouse being built next to the first in the mid-1870s. The third and current old county courthouse was fully completed by 1914, which costed more than $250,000. [3]
In 1919, Robert Simpson, the inventor of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, survived the 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane inside the old courthouse. Outside a 16–foot storm surge ravaged the rest of Corpus Christi. [4] The hurricane caused catastrophic damage in the city with debris scattered across the downtown area, and roughly $20 million (1919 USD) in damage. [5] The dead were laid in front of the courthouse so families could identify them. [4] Being fascinated by the storm, Simpson later teamed up with Herbert Saffir to create the Saffir-Simpson scale in the 1970s. [6]
In the early 1930s, a six-floor addition was added to the western side of the courthouse. Newer additions were added during the 1960s and 1970s, but have since been torn down. [7] At this time, the building began to deteriorate. An old newspaper, pre-1900 liquor bottles, and a taxidermied diamondback rattlesnake were found under large amounts of dirt under the courthouse steps. During September 1966, a five-year-old girl fell through a dropped ceiling on a balcony at the courthouse. She plunged 12 feet and was frightened, but was fortunately unharmed. A similar incident occurred with a 14-year-old boy just a month earlier. [8]
A new courthouse was considered in a bond in 1957 even before the buildings decline, however, the bond was not passed. After the structure began to fall apart, a new bond was introduced in 1972 which included the construction of a new courthouse. On September 9 of that year, the bond was approved by voters in the city. The old courthouse was closed once the new and current courthouse was completed in 1977. [8]
Since then there have been some attempts to restore the building. In August 2018, plans were made to transform the old courthouse into a 159-room hotel with a restaurant and bar, meeting spaces, and parking. The cost of this renovation was estimated to total $52 million (2018 USD). However, the plan failed as the company attempting the renovations did not want to pay the $1.5 million worth of taxes owed by the courthouse's previous owner. [9] In September 2019, Nueces County commissioners began to work on restoring the courthouse by beginning structural assessments. [10] In December 2020, officials in the county were informed that the structure could be saved. [11]
The courthouse was designed by Harvey L. Page in 1913. The style of the structure was Classical Revival. The building is six stories tall, the reinforced steel structure is covered in soft gray brick and white classical terra cotta trim. A red roof tops the building, which was initially made of tile. In the main facade facing Corpus Christi Bay is accessed by a large flight of steps, making the main entrance on the second floor. The entrance wing is decorated by colonnades in antas, along with brick pilasters. On top of the cornice are three terra cotta figures, each separated by a window. The entrance is topped off with a pediment, decorated by a terra cotta ornament, a circular window, and a pedimented parapet. [12]
A similar theme coats the exterior of the north and south wings. On the ground level, the south wing entrance can be found. The central entrance is decorated by a pedimented porch roof which is held up by two caryatids. The north wing entrance is a mostly plain basement level entryway. [12]
Nearly each floor served a purpose at the courthouse. The basement was used as storage space for mechanical equipment. The second floor housed the county courtroom and offices of county officials. The third floor was made up of the three district courts. The fourth floor consisted of offices, while the fifth and sixth floors were jails. Air space containing insulation was placed in between fourth and fifth floor to prevent noise entering the courthouse from the jail. [12]
Nueces County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 353,178, making it the 16th-most populous county in the state. The county seat is Corpus Christi. The county was formed in 1846 from portions of San Patricio County and organized the following year. It is named for the Nueces River, which marks the county's northwestern boundary with San Patricio County before emptying into its mouth at Nueces Bay north of the port of Corpus Christi. Nueces County is part of the Corpus Christi metropolitan statistical area.
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County. Portions of the city also extend into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. It is 130 miles (210 km) southeast of San Antonio and 208 miles (335 km) southwest of Houston. Its political boundaries encompass Nueces Bay and Corpus Christi Bay. Its zoned boundaries include small land parcels or water inlets of three neighboring counties.
Hurricane Celia was the costliest tropical cyclone in Texas history until Hurricane Alicia in 1983. The third named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1970 Atlantic hurricane season, Celia developed from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on July 31. Initially, the depression tracked north-northwestward without significantly strengthening, and crossed over western Cuba on August 1. Heavy rains on the island caused severe flooding, leading to five fatalities. The depression entered the Gulf of Mexico and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Celia later on August 1. Due to warm sea surface temperatures, Celia rapidly intensified into a major hurricane on August 1 and after the creation of the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale in 1971 it was estimated to have been a Category 3 storm. Storm surge and swells lashed the west coast of Florida, especially the Panhandle, causing eight people to drown. Early on August 2, Celia began to weaken. However, the storm underwent rapid deepening again and peaked as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) on August 3.
The 1919 Atlantic hurricane season was among the least active hurricane seasons in the Atlantic on record, featuring only five tropical storms. Of those five tropical cyclones, two of them intensified into a hurricane, with one strengthening into a major hurricane Two tropical depressions developed in the month of June, both of which caused negligible damage. A tropical storm in July brought minor damage to Pensacola, Florida, but devastated a fleet of ships. Another two tropical depressions formed in August, the first of which brought rainfall to the Lesser Antilles.
The 1919 Florida Keys hurricane was a massive and damaging tropical cyclone that swept across areas of the northern Caribbean Sea and the United States Gulf Coast in September 1919. Remaining an intense Atlantic hurricane throughout much of its existence, the storm's slow-movement and sheer size prolonged and enlarged the scope of the hurricane's effects, making it one of the deadliest hurricanes in United States history. Impacts were largely concentrated around the Florida Keys and South Texas areas, though lesser but nonetheless significant effects were felt in Cuba and other areas of the United States Gulf Coast. The hurricanes peak strength in Dry Tortugas in the lower Florida keys, also made it one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall in the United States.
The Nueces Hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas, was a luxury hotel that also served the city as a center of social and political life during the early 20th century and was for years the largest building in Texas south of San Antonio.
Hurricane Bret was the first of five Category 4 hurricanes that developed during the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season and the first tropical cyclone since Hurricane Jerry in 1989 to make landfall in Texas at hurricane intensity. Forming from a tropical wave on August 18, Bret slowly organized within weak steering currents in the Bay of Campeche. By August 20, the storm began to track northward and underwent rapid intensification on August 21. After this period of strengthening, Bret attained its peak intensity with winds of 145 miles per hour (233 km/h) and a barometric pressure of 944 mbar (hPa; 27.9 inHg). Later that day, the storm weakened to a Category 3 hurricane and made landfall on Padre Island, Texas. Shortly thereafter, the storm weakened further, becoming a tropical depression 24 hours after moving inland. The remnants of the storm eventually dissipated early on August 26 over northern Mexico.
CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi - Memorial was a 465-bed hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas that was part of the CHRISTUS Spohn Health System, operated by CHRISTUS Health. It ceased all operations in September 2022, and was demolished in April 2023.
Robert Homer Simpson was an American meteorologist, hurricane specialist, first director of the National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) from 1955 to 1959, and a former director (1967–1974) of the National Hurricane Center (NHC). He was the co-developer of the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale with Herbert Saffir. His wife was Joanne Simpson.
The McLean County Courthouse and Square is located in downtown Bloomington, Illinois. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places and encompasses the old McLean County Courthouse and the courthouse-facing sides of three downtown blocks. All 4 floors of the building are now occupied by the McLean County Museum of History for exhibits, collections storage, and offices. The historic buildings at the other side of the square were destroyed by fire in the 1980s. The Square is bordered by four Bloomington streets: Main Street, Center Street, Jefferson Street and Washington Street. The site was home to three previous courthouses before the current one was completed in 1903. The first courthouse at the site was built in 1831, and the second in 1836. The third was built in 1868, but suffered major damage from fire on June 19, 1900.
Old Bayview Cemetery is a cemetery located on a small hill in downtown Corpus Christi, Texas on Ramirez St. at Padre St., bordered by the I-37 access road. It is the oldest federal military cemetery in Texas. Owned by the City of Corpus Christi, it presently comprises three and a half acres as a Historic Texas Cemetery and a State Archaeological Landmark of the Texas Historical Commission. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
The Alamo Plaza Historic District is an historic district of downtown San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It includes the Alamo, which is a separately listed Registered Historic Place and a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
Nueces Bay is a northwestern extension of Corpus Christi Bay in the San Patricio and Nueces Counties of Texas. The bay is fed by the Nueces River, forming a natural estuary, which renders it ecologically and economically vital to the surrounding area. It serves as a habitat for the propagation of fish and shellfish, which sustain diverse species of birds and other wildlife. The bay is threatened by pollution from the heavy industry on its southern shore, which prevents oyster farming. Petrochemical production and oil are important to the surrounding economies of the major settlements of Corpus Christi and Portland, found on the eastern shore and connected by the Nueces Bay Causeway at the bay's confluence with Corpus Christi Bay.
The Wayne County Courthouse is located in Wooster, Ohio and was constructed to Thomas Boyd's design from 1877 to 1879. The building is designed in classic Second Empire style and is composed of sandstone. The architect originally designed a symmetrical building separate from the old north annex of the previous courthouse. The reluctant county officials cited money issues and ordered the new building to be built connected to the old, thus giving it an offset appearance.
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The population was 277,454 at the 2000 census; in 2006 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 285,175, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. It is the principal city of the three-county Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger Corpus Christi-Kingsville Combined Statistical Area. The translation from Latin of the city's name is Body of Christ, given to the settlement by the Spanish, in honor of the Blessed Sacrament (Eucharist). The city has been nicknamed The Sparkling City by the Sea, or "Corpitos" particularly in literature promoting tourism.
The Port of Corpus Christi is the largest port in the United States in total revenue tonnage, third largest in total waterway tonnage, and the largest crude oil export gateway in the nation. The Port of Corpus Christi is located on Corpus Christi Bay in the western Gulf of Mexico, with a 36-mile channel that is being widened and deepened to 54 feet MLLW from its current depth of 45 feet.
The Maricopa County Courthouse and Old Phoenix City Hall, also known as the County-City Administration Building, is a historic structure in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The structure consists of two buildings in a conjoined layout sharing the same architecture.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, USA.
The Sauk County Courthouse, located at 515 Oak Street in Baraboo, is the county courthouse serving Sauk County, Wisconsin. Built in 1906, the courthouse is Sauk County's fourth and its third in Baraboo. Wisconsin architecture firm Ferry & Clas designed the Neoclassical building. The courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The effects of the 1919 Florida Keys hurricane in Texas were the deadliest of any tropical cyclone in the Texas Coastal Bend, killing at least 284 people. The hurricane produced a widespread swath of devastation across the region, exacerbated by the large extent of its winds. The city of Corpus Christi bore the brunt of the hurricane's impacts, contributing to the largest portion of the damage toll in Texas; nearly all of the confirmed fatalities were residents of the city. The storm originated from the Leeward Islands early in September 1919 and took a generally west-northwestward course, devastating the Florida Keys en route to the Gulf of Mexico. On the afternoon of September 14, the center of the hurricane made landfall upon the Texas coast at Baffin Bay. The storm's winds were estimated at 115 mph (185 km/h) at landfall, making it a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. After slowly moving ashore, it weakened and straddled the Rio Grande before dissipating on September 16 over West Texas.