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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Landmark Commission - 01/22/2004 4 A MINUTES f?• . 20mQ LANDMARK COMMISSION MEETING - -) - CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS - f` JANUARY 22,2004 MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. Myron Grossman,Chairman Wil' Dr. David Blanke Ms.Grandis Lenken Mr. Kevin Maraist,Vice Chairman Dr. Richard Moore Mr. Elmon Phillips Ms. Bunny linker MEMBERS ABSENT: Ms.Susan Abarca (Excused) Mr.Alan Belcher (Excused) Ms. Deborah Douglas (Excused) Dr.Thomas Kreneck (Excused) STAFF PRESENT: Ms. Faryce Goode-Macon,City Planner Ms. Linda Williams, Recording Secretary Mr. Myron Grossman, Chairman,called the meeting to order at 4:35 p.m. The roll was called and a quorum was not declared. Upon arrival of Ms. Grandis Lenken, a quorum was declared. ACTION ITEMS: Approval of Seotember25,7003 Minutes: The minutes for the September 25, 2003 were approved as distributed. Master Review Committee's Recommendation on"HC"Historical Cultural Designation on Property Owned by Glen Peterson located at 402 Peoples Street- Ms. Bunny Tinker, Chairman of the Master Review Committee, presented the committee's recommendation. Ms. Tinker stated that the Master Review Committee met briefly today with Mr. Peterson to discuss the committee's recommendation and to find out B he had any additional information regarding the structure at 402 Peoples Street. Ms. Tinker continued that it was previously disclosed that the building had been dadded twice- once early on by a Mr. Lanes and the second preservation effort was done by Mr. Jesus Leija. Ms. Tinker stated that based on available information regarding the building, it was the committee's recommendation that a "potential landmark" designation be granted for the property located at 402 Peoples Street. Ms. Tinker continued that Mr. Peterson agreed to the Master Review Committee's recommendation that the property be granted the"potential landmark"status. Ms.Tinker went on to say that the committee felt that the original building was still there and was worth preserving. Ms. Tinker added that the interior of the structure is being restored and according to Mr. Peterson, since the restoration has begun, the occupancy of the building had increased from 61 to 95 percent. After Ms. linker presented the Master Review Committee's recommendation and all comments and discussion were received, the Landmark Commission accepted and approved the committee's recommendation that the property located at 402 Peoples Street be granted the "potential landmark" designation in lieu of the requested"HC"designation. Ms. Macon stated, as in the past, she would forward the Landmark Commission's recommendation to the Planning Commission for approval and once a scheduled date had been set, the commissioners would be notified of the public hearing date. OTHER MATTERS: Historical Presentation: Mr. Myron Grossman, Landmark Commission Chairman, addressed the commissioners. Mr. Grossman stated he had requested Dr. Moore to give a brief presentation on early historical moments in the City of Corpus Christi. Mr. Grossman continued that he felt one of the problems SCANNFD Landmark Commission Meeting w January 22,2009 Page 2 of the Landmark Commission is that there is not a lot of scholarly work done through the commission, but instead a lot of contemporary things are done. Mr. Grossman continued that for many of the commissioners who had been on the commission for a while and have forgotten some of the historical facts and for the new members that possibly do not know, he wanted to disseminate as much Information to ensure that commissioners are better informed and we have more interest in our community. The floor was opened to Dr. Moore. Dr. Moore began his presentation by stating that he was not an urban historian, but he became interested in urban history primarily as a result of the research he did in preparation of his dissertation. Dr. Moore continued that his dissertation was about the social and cultural effects of the oil discovery in West Texas. Dr. Moore went on to say that in doing his research, he discovered there were no towns in West Texas before the oil discovery. Towns were generally cities that have a natural origin to them—possibly In a place where the river was crossed or where one person had something to trade with another person on the other side of the river. Normally, if persons could ford the river,the town built became known as"Hartford,"or if a bridge was built to cross the river, the town became known as"Cambridge,"or if a port was developed, the town formed became known as"Rockport." Dr. Moore provided an interesting fact as to how the City of Ro ckport received its name. According to research, when the old Coleman-Fulton-Mathis Pasture Company, now known as the Taft Ranch, entered into bankruptcy, the owners began to sell their land and sold it to a group from Vermont that lived in a town called Rockport. Dr. Moore continued that the city of Corpus Christi is located on a bay and one would think that somehow the town would be associated with the bay. Dr. Moore contended that he has resided in the city for approximately forty years and one of the things that had always concerned him was that the city did not seem to have any character or identity associated with it. Upon his arrival to the city from Lubbock, the president of the college took him on a tour of the city and his first impression was that Corpus Christi looked just like Lubbock; which should not have been since this was a seaport city. Dr. Moore continued that another reason cities were formed was to attract people to the place, which describes the city of Corpus Christi. Instead of being just a natural place where people mingle, we have cities in the United States which were actually formed before the people got there in order to encourage people to come. Dr. Moore continued that Daniel Bornstein talks about this concept when he discussed"boosters."A lot of our railroad cities were created before the railroad got there in order to get the railroad there. Dr. Moore continued that Corpus Christi itself, as far as history is concemed, has always been a little out of place. You would think that since the city is located on the coast and San Antonio is located several hundred miles to the north of the city, that this would be a natural place to go through to get to San Antonio, but this has never been the case. In the earlier days, the way people traveled to San Antonio was through Indianola, which is near where current day Port Lavaca is located,and Refugio. Corpus Christi has always been a lithe out of place. Dr. Moore continued that Corpus Christi was almost a French colony at one time, almost colonized by Germany, and almost colonized by the Czechs. In the 1830s, a remarkable man by the name of Henry Lawrence Kinney came to Corpus Christi. Mr. Kinney was known as a booster and he was one of the guys who would create a city and attract people to come to that town. Mr. Kinney built a trading post, but the trading post was never successful until the Mexican War. Corpus Christi had a very important historical distinction involving the War of Mexico. When Texas received its independence from Mexico, Texas claimed that its southern boundary was the Rio Grande River, but Mexico claimed that the southern boundary of Texas was the Nueces River. Because Corpus Christi was located south of the river, validity was given to Texas'claim of what would be called the"Nueces Strip,"the area between the Rio Grande and Nueces Rivers. In an effort to settle the boundary dispute diplomatically between Mexico and Texas, President Pope sent a gentleman by the name of John Slidell to Mexico City, but because of political upheaval in Mexico City, the mission failed. Even after Mr. Slidell's effort failed, President Pope still wanted to try to settle the boundary dispute and, as a result, Zachary Taylor was then sent to Corpus Christi in order to avoid Mexico invading Texas. The boundary dispute was not resolved and Zachary Taylor and his troops were then sent to Brownsville and that was the beginning of the Mexican War. As a result of Zachary Taylor and the troops coming to Corpus Christi, for the first time, a large number of people were here in the city. The first slaves came to Corpus Christi with Zachary Taylor's troops. Corpus Christi finally became a city because there were finally enough people here to incorporate. Dr. Moore stated that during the American Civil War,Corpus Christi also encouraged some type of growth. The Union army had a plan to win this war. The plan was called the "Anaconda," which called for blockading an entire coast to the south preventing any European goods from coming in because the south IandmarkCommission Meeting January 22,2004 Page 3 had no goods or arms. Dr. Moore continued that the problem with blockading the coast was that the blockade ended In Brownsville because they did not want to blockade Mexico. The second part of the "Anaconda Plan'called for controlling the Mississippi Valley in order to isolate Texas from the rest of the confederacy, but until that happened and Grant captured Vicksburg,Corpus Christi became a very important smuggling center. The King Ranch became wealthy by smuggling goods across the river and Corpus Christi became an intersection of smuggling European goods coming into the confederacy and that was the reason the confederate troops arrived at Mustang Island and attacked Corpus Christi. Dr. Moore continued that when the war over and Corpus Christi re-entered the Union, Corpus Christi received its first real boom as a city. During the war, the ranchers lost control of their cattle and hundred and thousands of cattle were roaming all around the coastal plains. One of the reasons the Coleman-Fulton-Mathis Pasture Company was formed was to take advantage of the cattle situation. So the next big industry in Corpus Christi was meat packing -- at one time, all sorts of meat packing companies were located here in Corpus Christ and Packery Channel received its name from meat packing. The meat packing industry began to dissipate once the railroad began to use refrigerated cars. Instead of shipping the beef to New York, the beef could be shipped by railroad from Kansas City, which was a closer location to New York. Once again, Corpus Christi lost the chance to have some kind of economic identity through the ranch industry because of technology. The next time period that Corpus Christi began to experience some type of growth was In the 1880s. This came as a result of a booster named Eli Hugh Harrison-Ropes. Mr. Ropes was firmly convinced that Corpus Christ could become a tourist mecca. Mr. Ropes was in the tradition of Colonel Kinney - he purchased property from Rincon Point all the way to the bluff where the "S"curve was. He tried to bring people to Corpus Christi and he built a large hotel called the Alta Vista,which was located close to the current location of Mike McKinnon's home on Ocean Drive. The hotel never had a single occupant in it because Mr. Ropes went bankrupt and the hotel burned down shortly after. Mr. Ropes also wanted to build a railroad that would connect Corpus Christi to South America - that railroad was to depart Corpus Christi, traveling to Brownsville, Mexico City, to Central America, and eventually down Into South America. Mr. Ropes had big dreams that failed as a result of the panic of 1893. Dr. Moore continued that despite that panic, Corpus Christi began to grow with another type of industry that replaced the cattle industry; which was the growth of cotton. Cotton became a very important product and its grain sorghum which resulted in port activity. There is a lot of history regarding dredging the channel and the competition between Corpus Christ and Rockport to see who would get the port dredged first by the Corps of Engineers. Dr. Moore continued that George Fulton was part of the group that was trying to get Rockport to be the end of the channel and since Mr. Fulton was an active republican, Corpus Christi then got the Corps of Engineers ability to build the port to Corpus Christi rather than Rockport. In 1926,the port opened for the first time and Corpus Christi was growing as a result of the cotton trade. As a result of the cotton trade, Corpus Christ had its first real Spanish migration - Corpus Christi was really an Anglo town. According to the 1870 census, more than one-third of the population in Corpus Christi was foreign born. Corpus Christi did not really have a"Texas" atmosphere, -- it was partly southern, partly Yankee and then there was a great influx people from Mexico migrating here to work the cotton fields. Dr. Moore added that the first real significant Hispanic migration to Corpus Christi came in the early 1900s because a lot of the families were fleeing Poncho Villa. A lot of the families in northern Mexico escaped to the United States to avoid capture and having to participate in the Civil War. The first real surge of population growth in Corpus Christi was not as a result of the cattle or cotton industries, but it was the result of the opening of the Saxet Oilfields. It provided something to be placed on the bay, brought an investment from the east into Corpus Christ. It brought the first real urban growth into downtown Corpus Christi. The oil industry was one of those types of industries that were boom and bust. The oil industry in Corpus Christi was provoked by a lot of independent oil men. There was hundreds of oil companies located in Corpus Christi, with their corporate headquarters located here in the uptown/downtown areas. As a result of the United States Congress passing legislation that reduced the depletion allowance for the oil industry,the independent oil men died here locally and the large corporations survived. For a while, the continued pressure on the oil prices took its toil. The oil price was controlled by the government in that if the oil was produced in Texas, but to ship it cross state lines, the government could tell you what price to charge. It was found in many cases, it would cost more in Texas because of the rising costs to transport oil and gas. Dr. Moore provided a breakdown of population growth for several census years - 1870 - 2.140, 1880 - 3,257, 1890 - 4,337, 1900 - 4,473 and in 1910, the population doubled. In the early 1900s, huge ire Landmark Commission Meeting January 22,2004 Page 4 bungalow houses were constructed along the bluff area. The 1919 hurricane destroyed Corpus Christi as a potential resort city. As a result of the storm,we now have an artificial bay front. The breakwater was built as a result of the 1919 hurricane and from the bluff area forward is all artificial. At the conclusion of Dr. Moore's presentation, he stated that he had shared his frustration with Mr. Grossman of how much of the city's history has been torn down and destroyed and that the community needs to be in an attitude of pro-active instead of re-active. By the time the preservation groups are involved, it is almost to the point that demolition or destruction has taken place. Expressions of thanks were expressed to Dr. Moore for bringing such an interesting historical presentation to the commission. Update on Gold Star Court Project: Ms. Faryce Goode-Macon, Staff Liaison, addressed the commission. Ms. Macon stated that several commissioners had requested a breakdown of the actual costs for Park and Recreation staff to lay down the monument in the Gold Star Court. Ms. Macon continued that Park and Recreation staff provided a detailed breakdown of the cost for the project and a copy was provided in the commission packets. After a brief discussion concerning the costs, no action was taken. 2004 Goals for Landmark Commission: Ms. Macon stated that at the October 2004 workshop, held offsite at Ms. Bunny Tinker's farm,several goals or projects were discussed as goals for 2004: o The Landmark Commission write a letter to the city supporting some type of historical designation for the Memorial Coliseum structure based on its architectural integrity; o Maintaining current plaque program. A CDBG grant proposal was submitted requesting funding to purchase additional plaques. Ms. Macon stated that Ms.Tinker informed her that approximately eleven homeowners on Cliff Street are interested in pursuing"HC"designation for their properties; o Historical bus tour; and o Update historical web site with new designations. After a brief discussion, no action was taken. ITEMS NOT SCHEDULED' Ms. Tinker stated that several years ago, the commission talked about placing plaques around the city like DC Dot uses in marking significant events for the highway department. Ms.Tinker stated the same concept could be used in recognizing different historical trivia regarding the city without actually doing a designation. Ms. Tinker suggested several projects that the commission could pursue in getting the historical information out to the public and community: • Informational signs could be used to delineate the different boundaries of the city outline time frame in which those boundaries were established; and • Color-code population growth of the city on the sidewalk curbs from different census periods. Mr. Phillips stated the first thing that should be done was to get a map that showed population growths that and that information could be placed on the Landmark Commission's historical website. Mr. Phillips continued that when Colonel Kinney first platted the city, he went out a long way in setting up the boundary. Dr. Moore stated he visited with homeowner in which the concrete ice cream cone is located and was told that they received permission from the city to place the ice cream cone in the yard. Ms. Tinker commented that she thought it was a great effort by the owner and architect of the new arena stadium for them to incorporate part of the old cotton warehouse wood into the construction phase of the stadium and also that they saving the compress tower and salvaging the wood. Ms.Tinker continued she felt the commission should send a letter of thanks to them for doing this and to keep the commission posted. tie Landmark Commission Meeting January 22,2004 j Page 5 There being no further business,the meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m. C . � LindaWilliams �`}�'' Faryce Goode- con,C0.y Planner� Recordi Secretary / Staff Liaison to andmark Commission (It WORM INDALANDMARK\MINUr£SUAN222004M1 N5.DOC) SUMMARY SHEET LANDMARK COMMISSION MEETING JANUARY 22, 2004 1. The Landmark Commission accepted and approved the Master Review Committee's recommendation that a "Potential Landmark"designation be granted for the property located at 402 Peoples Street. 2. Dr. Richard Moore, Landmark Commissioner, gave a historical presentation on the early moments in the growth of Corpus Christi.