Port Aransas, Texas

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Port Aransas is a city in Nueces County, Texas, on Mustang Island, across Aransas Bay from the City of Aransas Pass. The population was 3,370 at the 2000 census. There is a free 24-hour ferry service between Aransas Pass and Port Aransas.

The marina at Port Aransas

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

Karankawa Indian Tribes played a pivotal part in early Texas coastal history. The meaning of "Karankawa" is a bit misleading. The name Karankawa was the popular naming for various groups of native Americans. The reason was because they all had a common dialect and culture. Those people were the Capoques (Coaques, Cocos), Kohanis, Kopanes (Copanes), and Karankawa (Carancaquacas) bands. They inhabited the Gulf Coast of Texas from Galveston Bay southwestward to far pass Corpus Christi Bay. All spoke a little known about language called Karankawa. There are only one hundred words of that dialect preserved. The significance of the name Karankawa is not known, but it is generally held to mean "dog-lovers" or "dog-raisers." That rendering seems credable, since the Karankawas had dogs that were a fox or coyote like species. A nomadic type culture existed and they seasonally migrated between the mainland and the barrier islands.

[edit] Early Native Settlement

They were living that nomadic existence when Spaniards, lead by Alvarez de Piñeda, probed the coast in 1519. Governor Francisco de Garay of Jamaica had commissioned him to explore the Gulf Coast from Florida to Vera Cruz.

The heavily tattooed, pierced and painted, nomadic Karankawa tribe, held the Islands for the most part in south Texas. The territory they held was from the west end of Galveston Island down the coast to the mouth of the Rio Grande perhaps, and inland about 25-65 miles depending on the region. Cannibalistic, superb hunters, fisherman, warriors and longbow archery experts, they were a powerful enemy to anyone wishing to take their prime hunting grounds away.

The Indian Tribes that lived along the Texas Coast from Galveston Island to a location southward far past Corpus Christi (27.47 N 97.24 W) endured much hardship from the elements. The bays, back bays, lagoons and bayous along the Texas Coast, were the tribal hunting and harvesting grounds. The shallow waters in the bays empowered them to wade out into the deep pools with lances or bow and arrows, to spear fish as the older men, women and children harvested the waters for blue and stone crabs, oysters, mussels, sea turtles, shellfish, and other eatable crustaceans. There are accounts that some Karankawas were seen in Colorado County at Eagle Lake, close to 100 miles from the coastline, but no evidence shows they made permanent camps there.

[edit] European Discovery and Settlement

In the summer of 1519, Piñeda, took a fleet of four ships east to west around the Gulf Coast. The Piñeda map of the Gulf of Mexico (1519) appears to have at least five passes marked on the Texas Coast line. One is indicated close to where the Aransas pass is located today and thought to be the pass.

This natural inlet later to be known as the Aransas Pass, that crossed a sand bar between Mustang and St. Joseph Islands was first recorded on the Bratton map of 1528. The sandbar that had to be crossed would become known as one of the most treacherous on the Texas Gulf Coast.

In 1720 the French explorer Jean de Béranger was commissioned to explore St. Bernard Bay 'Matagorda Bay' to establish a colony for the France along its shores. Jean took an old Spanish ship that had been captured in Florida during the war with Spain, christened it St. Joseph, and his travels resulted in the rediscovery of the Aransas Pass. His accounts of St. Joseph and Mustang islands, Live Oak Point Peninsula, the vocabulary, practices, characteristics and features of the Karankawa Indians is believed by many to still be the best of them all.

It is now believed Béranger found the Aransas Pass and landed on what is now known as Harbor Island and place a metal marker on it. Béranger went on to explore the Bay of St. Bernard and look for a suitable site for colonization.

In 1766 Diego Ortiz Parrilla conducted an exploration of the Gulf Coast and gave the names Santo Domingo to Copano Bay and Culebra Island to what is now St. Joseph Island.

But the pass wouldn't be proclaimed Aránzazu pass till much later, by Governor Prudencio de Orobio y Basterra on his map of 1739, because it served the Aránzazu fort. The name was altered to Aransas on the map of a Captain Monroe of the ship Amos Wright (1833). Powers and Hewetson colonists came into Copano Bay across the Aransas bar in 1830-34, when the water depth was variously reported to be seven to eighteen feet.

Capt. Jean LaFitte and his hearty band of buccaneers spent lots of time on the Texas coast. Galveston would owe its start to him, St. Joseph and Mustang Islands were some of his favorite haunts as well as the bluff in Corpus Christi. The era is 1818- to early 1820's, the sea's full of men and ships searching for fame and riches and some had no issues when it came to living a bit aside of the law. Local lore tells of a Spanish silver dagger marking the spot of a hidden treasure chest, it's believed the dagger is laid on its side, then a long silver spike was drove through the hilt, securing the location.

[edit] European Settlement

The first noted man of history to make a successful go at it on Mustang Island was Capt. Robert Ainsworth Mercer of Lancaster, England. (d.o.b Nov 6 1799 Lancashire County, England; d.o.d. March 19 1875 Port Aransas, Nueces County, Texas) Mercer settled on what is now known as St. Joseph Island in 1850. Creating a cattle and sheep ranch. He was also a bar pilot "Captain" for hire, guiding the ships through the chancy pass.

Mercer soon for unknown reasons moved across the Aransas Pass and built a small house on Mustang Island where he raised his family. He established a sheep and cattle ranch known as El Mar Rancho in 1853 0r 55, accounts differ. Huge herds of wild horses "mustangs" rambled over plush range lands of the island when Mercer first settled here. An extensive log "Captains keep logs not diaries" of island life then was kept by one of his sons.

By 1854 the Texas Senate had sanctioned a seven-mile channel from Corpus Christi to the Aransas Pass bar to better serve the Port of Corpus Christ. Also In the 1850's a regular steamship service route for cargo and passengers would be established between New Orleans and Mustang Island . This would benefit the island indirectly many years later, as the pass was brought into permanence, there was need of local pilots to guide the ships safely across the bar. For this permanent, structures would be needed to house these pilots, docks, a lighthouse, storage, jetties, a "Life Saving Station" would all have to follow in the coming years if this pass was to become a viable crossing of the bar, and all would follow. The Mercer family would soon become the caretakers of the island for many years, building docks, a general store and guiding the ships across the bar all for a fee.

It was soon after the announcement of the steamship route that Congress commissioned $12,500 for the construction of the Aransas Pass Lighthouse. Haggling over what type of lighthouse was needed would mare things down and another survey was done, the pass was slowly moving southward as rushing northern water currents banked sand on the north bank of the pass which is the south end of Saint Joseph Island. It was then advised that a lightship be used to mark the pass. More surveying was done, more talk and then a proposition was accepted to erect a screw-pile lighthouse of brick.

In December of 1855, the ship transporting the bricks struck and then stuck on the bar. The crew mates were all rescued but the ship and its cargo went to the bottom of the sea. New bricks arrived in 1856, soon followed the lantern room that would set on top, and lastly a fourth-order Fresnel lens. There was also need of a lighthouse keeper's dwelling, a small storage room and docks. The construction would be complete by mid 1857 and the illuminated lens would enlightened the dark night, guiding ships through the pass later that year.

The very first noted deep draught steamship that entered through the pass was reported and recorded in 1859. Regular passenger steamship routes entended to Galveston and New Orleans soon after, and the bustling activities of all the coastal bend ports brought cargo ships from all over the country and globe.

[edit] Port Aransas and the Civil War

Sometime right before or right after the start of the Civil War, the lens was taken out of the lantern room (the top of the tower) of the lighthouse and hidden in the vast marshlands somewhere behind the structure. This lighthouse was of utmost importance because it controlled the nighttime pass, whoever governed the light beacon, regulated the night time passageway. Without that light, the Union Ships could only transverse the treacherous pass in the daytime, thereby limiting the Union ship's movement in their blockade of the coastline So before the war, or right after its upstart, the plan was set to remove the lens. The harbors in Corpus Christ, Rockport-St.Mary's, Copano Bay area and Mustang and St. Joseph's Islands were all supplying the Confederate Army with much needed beef, salt, seafood and cotton supplies for the troops fighting the North, and the Union was bent on stopping those shipments. Around November 1861, as expected the Union Navy started a campaign of coastal blockade. Then, marines off the navy vessel the U.S.S. Afton surged ashore on St. Joseph's Island and leveled the small town of Aransas, burning most of the houses, structures, warehouses, piers, docks and wharf sometime in February of 1862. The small town was all but wiped out, but remnants of it can still be found today when the area is searched well. Jurisdiction of the lighthouse traded back and forth between the Confederate and Union detachments throughout the war.

Though the Lt. J. W. Kittredge, attempted the expropriation of Corpus Christi from the Southern forces, a Maj. Alfred M. Hobby and troops, sent the Union ships sailing away. By early that summer, southern civilians had forsaken the islands rather than be under the rule of the North. The United States Navy Vessels under J. W. Kittredge (before he was capture) besieged the coast, using St. Joseph's Island, and the few remaining structures as a depot to store captured cotton.

It was on Christmas Day of 1862 when a bold move was made by a Confederate General, John B. Magruder, who authored a detachment of troops to commence the ruination of the lighthouse tower. Gunpowder kegs were clustered inside the tower, and lit. It resulted in the damaging of 20-25 feet of brickwork, the glass housing case and the round stairwell.

The next significant stage in the war for this arena was on May 3, 1863, when Capt. Edwin E. Hobby's Confederate company assaulted the Union garrison set to protect the Lighthouse and killed twenty soldiers and then the 8th once again maintained a battery on Mustang Island and later in the month pushed Union forces off St. Joseph's Island. But this great victory wouldn't be long lived as the Union comprehended the significance of the pass, and in November federal troops under T. C. G. Robinson, came back and regained control of St. Joseph's Island. St. Mary's was a small port on Copano Bay, which had been a favorite haunt for local blockade runners and smugglers and was attacked as well, and its warehouses, docks, and wharves were demolished. Union troops again overran Mustang Island in the fall of 1863 as well and, controlling the pass. The city of Corpus Christi was twice bombed by Union gunships that flowed through the pass.

[edit] Port Aransas After the Civil War

After the war, and sustaining damage, restorations started in 1866 and early in 1867 workers arrived to repair the top portion of the damaged tower. On April 15, 1867 the light shined once again, guiding seafarers safely through the treacherous pass.

The then acting District Lighthouse Engineer M.F. Bonzano reported a winter storm that slowed the work: "During the progress of the repairs one of the severest 'Northers' ever experienced on the Texas coast occurred. The cold was so severe that frozen fish were hove ashore by the hundreds and birds of all sorts sought refuge in the tower and camp of the workmen where they perished in large numbers."

This Lighthouse was the last one reactivated into service along the Texas coast after the war.

It was in 1878, on a hot June 18th, when the "Life Saving Station" was officially established in Port Aransas by an act of Congress. 1 ½ acres of land was bought from the State of Texas for $750.00 by the federal government and this is the same site which the station stands on today. The "Life Saving Station" which as mentioned before was the forerunner of the Coast Guard initially included a dock that stretched from the boathouse into the channel. The boats were hauled onto rails, and pushed into the boathouse when not in use. Initially the small fleet of boats included: a 16 ft skiff, a 24 ft surf boat, a 26 ft whale boat and a 27 ft whale boat for rough surf.

Designated keeper in charge of the 8th District Station on Mustang Island was John G. Mercer. John Mercer, Robert's brother was also one of the local bar pilots, and was appointed sometime in September of 1880.

In 1879 a quarantine installation was raised to fight the increase of livestock diseases that showed up by shipping. A Life Saving Station, which would become the Coast Guard years later, was also constructed in 1880. Then William and Ed Mercer built a general store on the island which opened in November of 1880. Next to the Island came a two-story building to house workers for the building the south jetty (Known then as the Mansfield Jetty). When the job was finished, the structure was converted into a hotel and known as the Tarpon Inn in 1886, a historical landmark to this very day, though rebuilt various times because of hurricanes. It was opened by Mary Hatfield and her son, Ed Cotter, hence the street in front of it being named Cotter St.

By 1885 the jetties, a breakwater and a mattress revetment pad along the Mustang Island side of the channel had slowed the erosion down, but the pass was still moving slow but steady southward. One was also laid on the northside of the pass on San Jose Island (as the locals took to calling the island) also, all to try to stop the movement of the pass southward.

Elihu Harrison Ropes, while visiting Galveston Island in 1887-88? was intrigued in the development of a deep water port on the Texas coast, and looked to Corpus Christi as being the state's first much needed deep-vessel port or call. After exploring Mustang Island, Ropes proclaimed a plan to excavate a channel through the island. To complete the venture, Ropes founded the 'Port Ropes Company'. Mr. Ropes then paid $25,000 for Mustang Island, purchased a dredge to dig the channel. It was in June of 1890 that Mr.Ropes launched the fruitless project to build a channel across the island to give the Port Corpus Christi a direct connection with the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico. It wasn't long (by the end 1891) before the project was terminated by many problems.

In 1888 the towns first official post office was established under the name Ropesville. This would be the first official name of what is now Port Aransas, but wouldn't last for long.

It was in 1890 when the Aransas Pass & Harbor Company, under government contracts, launched a major endeavor to deepen the channel through the pass and over the sandbar once and for all. The plan called for the construction of two brand new jetties. The plan failed to increase the depth of the channel. Another plan was put into action. It called for the blasting of the channel with thousands of pounds of dynamite, but to failed. The newest jetties, and shallow draft would have to stay as they were for the time being.

In 1896 the name would changed to Tarpon because of the abundant game fish that filled the waters around it. The population at that time was about 250. The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 called for the elimination of the old Mansfield jetty "south jetty". After many problems, and much trouble the project was finished by 1911 while this was still going on, and after several private and government endeavors couldn't to get a deepwater pass between Mustang and St. Joseph islands, the United States Army Corps of Engineers took over the project in 1907, and was granted to build a new south "Nelson" jetty and to unite the "Haupt jetty" to St. Joseph Island that same year.

A firm in Rockport, The D. M. Picton Company was set to contracted to do the jetty work. Picton and J. P. Nelson started with the building of a railroad to carry the granite blocks that were to be used on the jetties. The railroad was constructed a series of man-made islands joined by the trestles, and it ended at Morris and Cummins Cut, a some of 3½ miles from the town of Aransas Pass. Rock for the jetties was brought into the town of Aransas Pass by the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway and then onto the Old Terminal Railway. At the end of the line, ar Morris and Cummins Cut, the rock was then unloaded and then loaded onto huge barges to make the short voyage to the jetty construction site. Old-timers long passed now, referred to this first rail-line as the "Old Terminal Railway" to differentiate it from a new line built later, that extended all the way to Harbor Island.

Mr. Frank Stephenson was the designated lighthouse keeper in 1897. He and his wife had a daughter, named Lydia Ann, whose namesake the lighthouse, immediate island and the channel (now part of the inter-coastal waterway) that runs in front of the lighthouse, are named after.

The town once known as Sand Point, Star, Ropesville and now Trapon was doing considerable traffic in the sea turtle export, by the 20th century, shipped on their backs, live, to market, they would arrive fresh for the much raved about meat. Net fishing too had become a viable enterprise and a school, the Mustang Island School, was instituted around 1900.

[edit] The Twentieth Century

Excerpt: (The Coastal Bend had felt protected from the worst hurricanes in its early history. Corpus Christi, with its high bluff and the protective barrier island, felt particularly secure. Quickly forgetting what happened there in 1874, local newspapers in 1886 referred to Corpus Christi as "the only really safe place on the Texas coast." An article in 1909 continued to sing praises as "the oldest inhabitants cannot recall a storm of sufficient severity to alarm even a timid woman" and "nine-tenths of the area of Corpus Christi is on a bluff 30 feet high, probably the safest point in saltwater America," or so they thought. August 18th, 1916: On the 12th, a storm formed east of the Windward Islands and progressed through the Caribbean and the Gulf with an unusually rapid speed. During the morning, the Corpus Christi Weather Bureau Office warned it would strike between there and Brownsville. An evacuation was ordered by the Mayor. Refugees fled to sturdy buildings away from the waterfront. It reached the coast near Corpus Christi on the 18th; the winds were very destructive but the storm moved too rapidly to form an excessive surge. At 3 PM, winds increased to 50 mph and debris was flying. At 6:30 P.M., wind instruments at Corpus Christi were destroyed; the 5- minute maximum sustained winds were 90 m.p.h., lowest pressure 29.07". Winds subsided by 1 am. The storm surge demolished many boats and every pier in the Bay. Most of the damage was below the bluff. Downed power lines were everywhere. At the Aransas Pass lighthouse, the keeper's dwelling and all outhouses fell victim. Only 20 people died and damages were near 1.8 million dollars. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times two days later ran the headline "CORPUS CHRISTI DEFIES TROPICAL HURRICANE". This would prove to be short lived. National Weather Service)

A distress call once again occurred at the Lighthouse. The immense hurricane of 1916 clashed impetuously into it, leaving only the tower and part of the living quarters erect, and with much damage. The storm totaled the surrounding building, and removed them from the island by its might winds, taking them to an unknown destination. The top of the tower as well, had extensive damage done to it, and was out for sometime, leaving seafarers to wait till daylight hours, or chance the pass at night without the beacon to guide them through unscathed.

A Model-T Ford truck was converted into a small train engine, and a railway passenger line was provided to transport people to Port Aransas, which was raved over the old way, by boat. It was opened during WW I and ran from the mainland to the south end of Harbor Island. This of course was a hard pressed way to travel and the Island was still pretty much left to the most hardy to live and even to visit. It was still at the end of the line and to some degree even remains so to this very day. If you look close at the picture of the train, you'll see how they loaded up your car onto the flatbed rail cars, then carried them the 7 or so miles to what is now known as Cummings Cut, where the Ferry Land use to be years ago.

By 1919 the south jetty had been completed to 7,385 feet and the Haupt jetty to 9,241 feet, and the channel began to deepen. The south jetty plunges out further into the gulf, though the north or "St. Jose jetty" is longer because the north jetty runs along the channel face of St. Jose Island, setting it back farther toward the mainland.

Soon the tiny railroad started transporting automobiles on flatcars to Harbor Island, from there they went to Mustang Island by ferryboat. Later wood planks were placed inside the rails, and a little wooded railway road was made for cars to drive to Harbor Island as long as the train wasn't coming at the same time.

At the very entrance of prohibition, Mustang Island and Port Aransas became a hideaway for whiskey and rum runners. The barrier Islands being on the outskirts of the coast and so close to Mexico made it ideal for the smugglers, and with little to no local law enforcement, the back bays and inlets made fantastic hideouts for those willing to take a chance on the lucrative enterprise.

Excerpt: (1919: A severe hurricane formed just east of the Virgin Islands on the 1st of September. It gained much of its strength between Santo Domingo and the Central Bahamas, one of the favored areas for major hurricane development. The pressure at Key West fell to 28.81" as the storm passed by on the 9-10th; gales were experienced for 26 1/2 hours due to the storm's slow movement. The Sand Key Weather Bureau station was abandoned at 1 P.M. on the 9th. The anemometer was blown away as winds passed 84 m.p.h. and the pressure fell to 28.35" at midnight. As it moved over the Dry Tortugas on the 10th, the pressure had dived to 27.51"...a nearby ship reported a pressure of 27.36". Ten vessels were lost in the Florida Straits, among them included a ship with 488 people on board. Gales began along the entire Gulf coast, yet the Weather Bureau had difficulty keeping track of it due to very few ship reports. Storm warnings were hoisted on the 11th for the state. Fish invaded the Corpus Christi Bay that day. On the 12th, a ship about 300 miles south of New Orleans reported a pressure of 27.50"...and Galveston already had a storm surge of 8.8 feet! Rumors began to spread that the hurricane made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi, which caused the dropping of the storm warnings. Even as the Bay became frothy early on the 14th, their Weather Bureau advised it would be smaller than the 1916 hurricane, and winds would only be 40 mph. Soon after though, hurricane flags were back up. By September 14th, the storm moved inland 25 miles south of Corpus Christi while the storm continued its slow forward trek, putting the city in the dreaded right-front quadrant of the storm, where the highest winds and storm surges normally occur. Corpus Christi's number was finally up. Winds of 110 mph and a pressure of 28.65" were noted. Storm surge at Corpus Christi was 16 feet. Timbers from the docks at Port Aransas became battering rams, destroying buildings. Residents on North Beach took an 18 hour trip across Nueces Bay, but this was no pleasure cruise. They clung to whatever they could find and battled the 10 foot waves. After the storm, the beaches were littered with debris and bodies. Many were quickly buried in mass graves near White Point. Over 300 people died. Damage estimates were at 20 million dollars. During the storm's life, Miami, Burrwood in Louisiana, and Galveston all reported winds at least as high as 60 m.p.h., indicating this system's large size. Aftermath of the storm led to a breakwater in 1925, and ultimately to their seawall by 1940. National Weather Service)

The hurricane of 1919 practically wiped out Port Aransas except for a very few fortunate buildings. The docks, wharf and warehouses were now on the mainland, and the whole of the island was flooded and infested with rattlesnakes seeking some kind of high ground. The rebuilding would be hard and long, as most towns in the region were bestowed the same fate, materials would become increasing hard to find and transport as well, so many would not return.

A Census taken in 1925 showed a firmly committed 250 people living on the Island

Censuses show a firm population of 300 by 1931. A toll road was also opened in 1931 between the town of Aransas Pass and the Ferry Landing. You no longer had to buy a ticket, load your car onto a flatbed or by a ticket and use the wooded planks inside the rails when the train wasn't on a scheduled run. You could now just pay a toll and drive on a wooded plank structure built next to the rail tracks. Once the railroad closed in 1947, it was used only to traffic automobiles until 1960, when the state built a new and modern road to Harbor Island and the ferry landing.

During WW II, an artillery gun turret was erected by the army and maintained throughout the war, on a hight dune just off Cotter St. acorss from the UT campus, and is now part of the UT properties. It was placed to protect the pass from reported sightings of German U-boats. Blackouts where called on all the Island during nighttime hours, no fires on the beach or car lights, and house widows couldn't show light either and had to be covered with heavy curtains, blankets or wood.

The Lighthouse Station includes several historically significant buildings dating from 1857 to 1938. These buildings brandish the history of the second oldest surviving lighthouse on the Texas Coast. The Lydia Ann Channel Lighthouse was deactivated in 1952 after a major channel shift left the station a mile from the channel entrance. To better mark Aransas Pass, a new light was established in 1952 at the Port Aransas Coast Guard Station, and the Aransas Pass Lighthouse was deactivated, just a few years shy of a century of service.

[edit] Modern-day Port Aransas

Welcome sign at the ferry terminal
Enlarge
Welcome sign at the ferry terminal

Port Aransas has now become a multi-million dollar fishing, beach and resort village, with summer populations sometimes swelling to 60,000 or more, as well as a college spring break destination. Spring break notes: During Spring Break '88 a riot broke out apparently over some car hitting a girl walking on the beach bringing helicopters, tear gas, etc. to break it up. The next year, wooden posts were installed (still there today) to regulate the flow of traffic and give the police means to travel up and down the beach without a problem. Before these posts, the beach would become a huge parking lot at night because all the cars would get stuck. Also, years prior to this, one would be allowed to drive on the dunes if they had a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Another occurrence during Spring Break '88 was that a vehicle drove off the ferry landing while being pursued by the police so the next year there were crossguards, flashing lights, etc. installed so one could easier see the ferry landing.

[edit] Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 31.3 km² (12.1 mi²). 22.8 km² (8.8 mi²) of it is land and 8.4 km² (3.3 mi²) of it (27.01%) is water.

Location of Port Aransas, Texas

Port Aransas is located at 27°49′39″N, 97°4′20″W (27.827373, -97.072205)GR1.

[edit] Demographics

As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 3,370 people, 1,542 households, and 993 families residing in the city. The population density was 147.7/km² (382.5/mi²). There were 3,794 housing units at an average density of 166.3/km² (430.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 93.92% White, 0.42% African American, 1.25% Native American, 0.86% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 2.17% from other races, and 1.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.08% of the population.

There were 1,542 households out of which 22.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.6% were married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.6% were non-families. 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.64.

In the city the population was spread out with 18.9% under the age of 18, 5.7% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 34.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 108.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $39,432, and the median income for a family was $46,719. Males had a median income of $28,000 versus $22,393 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,681. About 7.1% of families and 11.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.4% of those under age 18 and 3.5% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Economy

Around 1900, the village was doing big business in sea turtle export. Fishing has always been a staple, especially sport fishing for tarpon. It is estimated that some 600+ species of saltwater fish inhabit the waters off Port Aransas.

Currently, tourism is the largest section of the economy. The popular beach at Port Aransas draws thousands of visitors each weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

[edit] Education

Port Aransas' public schools are operated by the Port Aransas Independent School District.

H.G. Olsen Elementary School, Brundrett Middle School, and Port Aransas High School serve the city.

[edit] External links

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