Port O'Connor, Texas

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Official Port O'Connor Chamber of Commerce Seal

Port O'Connor, Texas (also known as P.O.C.) is situated between Galveston and Corpus Christi.

The community is an unincorporated village of 1,078 permanent residents (last recorded in 2000 1), and is located in Calhoun County. The United States Census Bureau does not keep up-to-date records on the town though as they can only report data for legally incorporated governing entities that have recognizable, defined boundaries. For example, in 1990 Port O'Connor was recorded in their logs as the name for the local post office only, with a population of all of 5.

The primary industry of Port O'Connor is sportfishing and tourism, with shrimping very close behind. The area is renowned for bay, off-shore and wade fishing, with redfish, trout, and flounder among the most common catches. Sports enthusiasts also come to Port O'Connor to hunt duck, geese and alligator.

Just off the shore of Port O'Connor lies one of the most pristine natural habitats: Matagorda Island. Once an army air base, the island is now a National Preserve and home to a wide variety of endangered migratory birds. Visitors come from all over the country to observe these rare and beautiful species.

The weather in Port O'Connor is warm to hot in the summers, with winters cool to icy. Humidity is rather high, and the area has been host to hurricane landings several times within the past 100 years.

Also due to its small size, all postal mail is sent to the general post office which has no door-to-door delivery service. On February 9, 1996 the town started its own newspaper, Dolphin Talk, which covers stories on local events in Port O'Connor and its surrounding areas.

1 History
2 Education
3 Landmark Buildings
4 External links

[edit] History

Port O'Connor was laid out in the late 19th century as a fishing settlement called Alligator Head. As it grew in popularity with both permanent residents and tourists, the community took on more municipal like characteristics, earning the formal designation finally in 1912 as the town site of Port O'Connor. It was named after its main land owner at the time who was Thomas M. O'Connor who owned 70,000 acres (280 km²).

Its initial population growth spanned the ten years from 1909 to 1919. Excursion trains used to run on weekends to Port O'Connor and an estimated 10,000 tourists came every summer.

Four times in the history of Port O'Connor it has been struck by hurricanes. The 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane brought the "good old days" to a halt, destroying the town. It rebuilt slowly but the 1942 and 1945 hurricanes so close in time were hard to overcome. In 1961 Port O'Connor was in the midst of another growth boom due to the increase of military personnel on nearby Matagorda Island Air Force Base (History of Matagorda Island). That same year Hurricane Carla destroyed the town again; but times reflect its will to survive, fueled by tourism, commercial fisheries and the petrochemical industry.

[edit] Education

Historic high school turned elementary school

Port O'Connor is served by the Calhoun County Independent School District.

Due to its small population the town only has one school, Port O'Connor Elementary School, which has the dolphin as its mascot. Port O'Connor Elementary School covers Pre-Kindergarten through grade six. Children are then bussed to the nearby town of Port Lavaca to finish their seventh through twelveth grade educations. The secondary schools that serve Port O'Connor are Seadrift Middle School, Travis Middle School, and Calhoun High School.

[edit] Landmark Buildings

Now closed rural Honky Tonk

Aside from the school, Port O'Connor has a handful of landmark buildings that mark the town's community. Church worship is a strong part of the community, with two of the oldest buildings being the First Baptist Church on 5th Street and Jefferson, and Saint Joseph's Catholic Church on Adams and Washington. The town has also recently built a community center where local groups and individuals can meet in either a recreation atmosphere or for general meetings. Several watering holes locals take up in were the Hurricane Junction, which has since closed, and Madden's Lounge. Another local treasure is the Matagorda Lighthouse which is depicted in the town's Chamber of Commerce seal. Formerly it served as a working lighthouse but over the years has now served as a landmark monument to times gone by. During the summer season another town landmark is often used. It is the Front Beach Pier. Destroyed in 2003's Hurricane Claudette, it was rebuilt one year later and serves as a scenic look-out point to Matagorda Bay.