Corpus Christi History by Murphy Givens

Old houses of the past

The Royal Givens home, to the right of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, on Taylor Street, is shown in 1880. At the end of the Civil War, this house was used by federal troops as the place where former Confederates had to take a new oath of allegiance to the Union.

There's little left of old Corpus Christi. The homes of the early settlers have been destroyed by storms or torn down to make way for vacant lots. With a little effort, we can sort out what happened to a few of Corpus Christi's most prominent houses.
   A house built in the 1840s on Taylor Street at Chaparral was used as a commissary for Zachary Taylor's soldiers in 1845. Later, at the end of the Civil War, this was where Confederates had to go to take the "ironclad oath" of allegiance to the Union. For years it was known as the ironclad house. It was originally built by R.C. Russell, but was known in its later years as the Royal Givens' home. It survived the 1919 storm, but was torn down some years later.
   A block down Taylor, at Water Street, was the John James Dix home. Dix, a ship captain, had traveled the world. He was an importer who brought such things as olive oil to Corpus Christi. He built his home facing the water. During the Civil War, he was an ardent Union supporter and Confederates believed he was using a lantern to signal federal ships in the bay. He became chief justice (county judge) after the war was over. Dix's home was later enlarged and became the Seaside Hotel. It was torn down after it was heavily damaged in the 1919 storm. The home of Dix's son, the surveyor John J. Dix Jr., who fought for the Confederacy, was two blocks north; it later was known as the Stanley Welch home.
   House with iron front
   On Chaparral, one of the city's oldest structures was torn down in 1955. It had survived for 100 years and probably could have lasted another hundred. This was the house built by Conrad Meuly in 1852.

(Photo from the McGregor Collection, Corpus Christi Museum) Conrad Meuly's home at 210 Chaparral is shown in the 1930s. This old house was built of shellcrete blocks in 1852. The ornamental ironwork was shipped from New Orleans. It was demolished in 1955.

   Meuly (pronouned Miley), who came to Texas from Switzerland, was on the ill-fated Santa Fe expedition in 1841. He lost his supply of trade goods and, with 300 other Texas prisoners, was forced to march to Mexico to Perote castle where they were locked up in dungeons until released. He came here in 1847 and opened a "bread-and-biscuit" bakery and general merchandise store. He owned a large ranch near Banquete. His two-story home at 210 Chaparral, south of Lichtenstein's, was built of shellcrete, a concrete mix made of burned oyster shells. The walls were two feet thick and rooms had 14-foot ceilings and nine-foot doorways. The front was decorated with iron grillwork shipped from New Orleans.
   The Meuly family (they had 12 kids) lived upstairs and operated a store below. Dr. Arthur Spohn had an office in the building when he came to the city. In 1866, a lynch mob tried to fix a rope to the upper gallery, but Mrs. Meuly wouldn't let them hang the man from her porch. The mob went down the street until they found a mesquite high enough for the task.

Chaparral Street in the 1940s is framed by the iron grillwork from the second-floor gallery of Conrad Meuly's home. That site is now occupied by the Education Service Center building.

   The Ranahan house (later called the Fitzsimmons house), on Chaparral, was built in 1853 by James Ranahan, using shellcrete blocks. During the federal bombardment of Corpus Christi during the Civil War, in August, 1862, a shell left a gaping hole three feet across in the front of the home. It was torn down in 1938 to make way for a parking lot next to the Ritz Theater. But it didn't come down easily; they had to use dynamite to demolish it.
   Another missing piece of the past is the old Anderson home on Water Street, built in the 1850s. Capt. John Anderson worked on freighters bringing supplies here for Taylor's army. Sometime in the 1860s (or the early '70s), he built an old windmill next to his home. It was used to saw wood and grind salt, mostly. The salt, brought up from the Laguna Madre, was an important commodity during the beef packing era after the war. The mill and cottage were torn down in 1911 to make way for the Nueces Hotel. A block north (where the Town Club used to be) were the homes of Anderson's sons, Andy and Ben, who operated fishing and pleasure boats. Their homes were destroyed in the 1919 storm.

The William Wrather place, built in 1860, was constructed of an adobe-concrete mixture called shellcrete. The building was a refuge during the Civil War. It's shown here in the 1930s.

   The William B. Wrather place was built in 1860 at 912 Chaparral. Like the Meuly home, it was constructed of shellcrete blocks. Wrather organized the first local troop of Confederate volunteers. A silk flag sewn by the town's young ladies was presented to Wrather by Mary Woessner on the courthouse steps. He later married her and they lived in the Wrather house. It was a refuge during the war, when federal troops made raiding forays, and it was a haven during the 1919 hurricane. It was demolished in 1970.
   T.P. Rivera served on the City Council in the 1880s. He was a printer, owned a book store and sold office supplies. He built a two-story home at 1001 N. Chaparral in 1885. Two decades later, he sold the home to Walter Timon, Nueces County judge. The Rivera-Timon house was torn down in 1962. A vacant lot is there now.
   The other Timon home was built a few blocks south, at 616 Mesquite, by Walter's father John. John Timon was an early South Texas rancher, a nephew of the empresario James McGloin. John Timon's two-story house was built of select cypress, oak and hard pine shipped here from Louisiana and Florida. The carpenters used square nails. Six years after the house was built, John Timon was murdered in it. It was one of the most sensational murder cases in the city's history, but it was never solved. The house was a boarding house during World War II. It was torn down in 1955.
   Dr. E.T. Merriman used imported lumber to build his house in Banquete in the 1850s. In 1865, Dr. Merriman set up practice in Corpus Christi. He had his home dismantled and loaded on wagons and moved to Water Street. After the doctor died of yellow fever in 1867, his son, Caller founder Eli Merriman, lived in that house. It was damaged in the 1919 storm and torn down later.
   Family killed in a massacre
   William Rogers came here from Alabama with his family in 1846. They were part of a wagon train taking supplies to Taylor's army at Brownsville. They were attacked by Mexican bandits 35 miles north of Brownsville. They were killed, their throats cut and their bodies thrown into the Arroyo Colorado. Only Billy survived. He wandered through the brush for four days, with throat cut, until a family took him in and nursed him back to health. Legend held that he tracked down and killed the bandits, one by one, over a period of years.
   Rogers owned the St. James Hotel (he traded the Palo Alto ranch for it) and served a term as sheriff. He built his home at 101 N. Chaparral in 1871. Soon after, it burned to the ground. Before the ashes were cold, he began rebuilding an almost exact duplicate of the first house. The fire led Rogers to organize Corpus Christi's first volunteer fire department, the Pioneer Fire Company No. One. Rogers' duplicate house was torn down in 1941.
   For more photos of old homes go to caller.com/murphygivens. This is the first of four columns. Part two will appear next Wednesday.
   Murphy Givens can be reached by phone at 886-4315 or by e-mail at givensm@caller.com.
  
  
  

---

  © 2000 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.