Tuesday, April 18, 2000

Chamber of Commerce begins fund drive to build a new address

Paul Iverson/Caller-Times

Employees of the chamber of commerce include (front row from left) Melisa Longoria, Felipe Cisneros, (second row from left) Norma Grote, Pam Arredondo, Lucy Reta, Marissa Jiminez, (back row from left) Rene Cantu, Linda Serna, Mel Moraida and Roxanne Bailey.

With completion of the new federal courthouse expected in the summer, the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce is contemplating its own new address.
   For 49 years, the chamber has been at 1201 N. Shoreline Blvd., having acquired the land from the city in 1950.
   Today, the property is owned by the General Services Administration and earmarked for future courthouse expansion. Although a 15-year GSA lease to the city permits it to remain there for the time being, the chamber is anticipating its eventual move and has established a building fund to cover the cost of relocating.
   The chamber undertakes its first major fund-raiser on April 29 with a barbecue dinner from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Coliseum.
   Central Power and Light Co. and H.E. Butt Grocery Co. already have donated $24,000 to the fund.
   This is not the first time the chamber has had to move, said Melissa Longoria, director of public affairs.
   Early organizations
   According to chamber research, the city's first recognized Chamber of Commerce-type organization was the Board of Trade, established in 1905, which later became the Commercial Club. At the forefront of these groups' agenda was the establishment of the Port of Corpus Christi.
   In 1917, the Commercial Club became the Corpus Christi Commercial Club, advocating among other things a deepwater port, industrial development and the tourist industry.
   When the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce was established in 1924, the group went from a building on Starr Street, near the site of the current federal courthouse, to a City Council chamber in City Hall.
   In 1940, the group moved to the Nixon Building, now the Wilson Building, finally moving into its present location in 1951. The construction of that building, however, didn't come without a fight.
   Shoreline address

Chamber's fund-raiser Barbecue tickets are $15 a plate. For information, call 881-1827.

   Because of the Korean War and the subsequent rationing of steel, the chamber needed federal authorization from the U.S. Department of Commerce to construct its building on Shoreline.
   After a massive letter-writing campaign to convince federal authorities of the chamber's role in supporting the military in our area, the chamber won support and got the resources needed to meet the new building's steel requirements.
   Over the years, new chapters in the chamber's history have unfolded; most recently, a five-year consolidation with two other groups under the now-defunct Greater Corpus Christi Business Alliance dissolved, leaving each group, including the chamber, to operate independently.
   Parting with its longtime Shoreline address won't be easy because of the history connected with it, said Pam Arredondo, the chamber's director of membership. "But change is good."
  
  
 

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