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Revision as of 07:37, 23 March 2008 by JoshCJ (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Founded in May 25, 1908, Collegeport, Texas is located on the Trespalacios River and the Matagorda Bay.
History
Early Days
Collegeport was aquired through a 9,000 acre land purchase in 1908. Ranchers Jonathan Edward Pierce and Abel Brown Pierce sold their land to land developer Burton D. Hurd; in the agreement Hurd would develope a town that would include a college and a port on the Trespalacios Bay.
Families began relocating to Collegeport, also named the Town of Opportunity, after an advertising venture by Hurd which promoted the area's mild climate and the prospective farming lands.
Growth
A year after the land purchase, Collegeport officially opened with Hotel Collegeport also sporting a Federated Church consisting of 14 denominations. A few years later in 1912 the town boasted a population of 496, with a Business Men's League of 90 members, an Episcopal Church, a Woman's Club with a roster of 86 members, and a brick school house was under construction. Collegeport also claimed the first free public library in the county. A Professor Will Travis opened the Gulf Coast University of Industrial Arts and proceeded to make deals witht he pioneer orange growers from the north as part of a student labor program.
A point of interest in Collegeport was it's Railstation and Pavillion that was perched over the bay.
Collegeport's State Bank was located on what is now Highway 1095 with a capital of $10,000 with Abel B. Pierce as president and J.B. McCain as cashier.
The town also had two newspapers in print, the Collegeport Chronicle and the Collegeport New Era.