Without a doubt, locals claim, the single most important chapter in the history of the City's bay front after the 1919 hurricane, was the Corpus Christi Seawall. From conception to completion the project took over 20 years and included the building of the Municipal Marina, expanding the bay front between Water Street and the seawall, and the development of drainage for the City’s downtown.
Designated as a Texas Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1988, the original seawall project -- started in 1939 and completed in 1941 – cost about $2.2 million and is
part of a 4 mile storm surge system combining bulkhead walls and docks, T- and L-head jetties, and the 1.75 mile scenic seawall itself.
The idea for a seawall goes back to 1890, at least, when the Caller (newspaper) ran an article forecasting building a seawall "500 feet from the shoreline, filling up back of this wall and utilizing the ground." In 1909, Walter Timon, political boss and county judge, failed to get Corpus Christi Mayor Dan Reid interested in building a seawall. Two deadly hurricanes in 1916 and 1919 resurrected Timon's proposal . After investigating Atlantic Coast seawalls, he proposed the Timon Plan, which called for a seawall and a breakwater. In 1921 the Texas Legislature authorized a property tax to build the “protector of downtown” from large hurricane surges, as part of the grander Port of Corpus Christi plans. The federal government required the breakwater to be in place before it would provide funds for building the port, so that got immediate attention and was started in 1924, two years before the port opened for business. However, there was no money for a seawall.
The idea lingered, however. In 1928 the city hired Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum to design a seawall. Borglum's plan called for a grand boulevard, with parks along the bay front and an imposing 32-foot statue of Jesus inside rock jetties in the bay. The actual seawall Borglum designed was a smooth wall with a parapet look at the top, though Borglum is said to have described the seawall as serving as a sort of amphitheater facing the bay. Borglum’s artistic concept – especially the statue – failed to get public support, so was tabled for another decade.
In the early 1930s, the City of Corpus Christi decided to extend its shoreline farther into the bay, to just past what's now Shoreline Boulevard. Nearby Water Street, just a city block inland is so named because it was at the waterfront until the seawall was built. In 1938, voters easily approved the first of two bond issues to finance the seawall. Further funding was acquired through the State Legislature. It was understood from the start that the main purpose of the seawall was to protect the downtown; there would be no replay of the 1919 devastation. But it was also decided that the seawall would give Corpus Christi a bay front "second to none in point of beauty."
Construction on the seawall itself finally began in 1938, work beginning on the north end near the ship channel. The embankment initially looked like a big dirt levee, which, in a sense, it is. Creosoted pilings were driven to provide a footing for the embankment, which was built up of dredge spoil from the bay front bottom. Creosote-treated Southern Pine timber piles and steel reinforcing bars provided further internal support for the 12,000-foot-long concrete wall – state of the art at the time. Contractor J. DePuy designed a 40-foot long metal shed on railroad wheels under which the 40-foot lengths of the stepped seawall were poured of reinforced concrete. The L-head and two T-heads were part of the plan. The plan called for another L-head, off the end of Twigg, but the money ran out. The plan also called for a tube tunnel under the ship channel, to be paid for by federal dollars and a toll, but it was dropped.
By the time work on the seawall was completed in March 1941, the city had been extended two blocks into the bay and the bay front itself had been elevated to 14 feet above sea level -- 3.7 feet above the high-water mark of the 1919 storm. The stepped face gave the seawall the look of the classic amphitheater Borglum once described – though the final product was not based on his design, but, rather an improvement suggested by project engineer Edward Noyes of Myers & Noyes. He easily sold the idea of the concrete steps by demonstrating how few dollars it would take to make the bay front a thing of beauty.
In 1988, Corpus Christi's seawall was dedicated as a Texas Historical Civil Engineering Landmark by the Texas arm of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
By the late 1990s, however, the years had taken their toll (note, most engineers think 50 years is doing great for a seawall exposed to some of the toughest elements nature can dish). Concrete was cracking, and investigation showed voids and further deterioration of the timber and rebar. Rehabilitation of the seawall was begun in 2005 and completed in 2007 (at a cost well over an order of magnitude more than the original construction). Voids were filled, sheet metal piles essentially sandwich the original timber piles, and other updates using modern, more inert materials were performed, giving the seawall at least another “50 years.”
In addition to fulfilling its protective purpose, the seawall was and remains a showpiece. The steps of the seawall – more amphitheatre than Borglum’s smooth design, look like a stairway into the bay; a popular gathering place since the wall was built. Along the seawall, visitors will find the Corpus Christi Marina, restaurants, hotels, the Selena Memorial, and a Solar System model. The eight striking Miradores del Mar ('Overlooks by the Sea') bay front gazebos are based on similar structures in Morocco, Mexico, and Spain. These gazebos are free-standing and add no weight to the seawall.
Only half jokingly called “The Eighth Wonder of the World” by locals, the seawall’s clean lines and broad boulevard please the eye – while living up to its promise to protect the town behind it.
Engineering Marvels – Corpus Christi’s Seawall (10/22/12) (
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Corpus Christi Seawall (VisitCorpusChristiTx.com) (
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Murphy Givens “Seawall: Our eighth wonder of the world” (July 11, 2007) (
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Jenny Strasburg “`We got our money's worth' Downtown seawall has durably weathered the past 58 years” (2/21/1999) (
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HDR Corpus Christi Seawall Rehabilitation (
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Williams Form Engineering Corp : Epoxy Concrete Anchor Case Histories:
Corpus Christi, TX - Seawall Rehabilitation (
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Building the Bay front: The Corpus Christi Seawall (
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Exerpt Mary Jo O'Rear “Storm Over the Bay: The People of Corpus Christi and Their Port” (p122) (
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