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Nueces County was formed from San Patricio County by the State of Texas in 1846, with Corpus Christi designated as the county seat. The county stretched from Bexar County (San Antonio), west to the Rio Grande and east to the Gulf of Mexico. Although Corpus was the county seat, the city wasn’t incorporated until 1852. The following year, the county commissioners designated this block for a courthouse.
The first courthouse stood on the block until 1875, when a second courthouse was erected on the same site. By 1912, Jim Wells and Kleberg counties had been formed from the western and southern portion of Nueces. This neoclassical courthouse, the third to sit on this block, was designed by San Antonio architect Harvey L. Page in 1913.
On the lower floors of the building were the justice courts, district courts and county offices. A space was designed between the fourth and fifth floors for noise insulation. On the fifth floor and above was the county jail. The strangest feature about this courthouse was its apartments. Jailers, and some county officials, lived with their families in apartments scattered throughout the entire courthouse.
Although below the bluff, the courthouse served as refuge during many storms, including the Hurricane of 1919 and Hurricane Carla in 1961. The courthouse was abandoned by the county in 1976 as Interstate 37 encroached on the block. Its future remains uncertain. |
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