Corpus Christi History by Murphy Givens

Homes on the bluff

The H.D.C. Gussett home was built in 1903 next door to his father's house. It was moved in 1953.

Like the past itself, most of Corpus Christi's old homes are gone. Many in the downtown were swept away by the 1919 storm, which one survivor called "hell with the fires gone out." But those on the bluff were swept away by tidal waves of change. They belonged to a different era, when women wore petticoats and high-button shoes and men had gold watch fobs and wore Prince Albert coats.
   One of the city's oldest houses was built on the bluff by William Chapman. It was a one-and-half story frame house, with a steeply pitched roof, in the 300 block of South Broadway, between Pat Dunn's and Joseph Hirsch's homes. It was made of Maine pine, pre-cut and shipped from New York. Some sources say it was built in 1848, but it was probably built in the early 1850s.
   William Chapman served with Zachary Taylor's army as a quartermaster. He sold the Army's steamboats on the Rio Grande to Mifflin Kenedy and Richard King. He helped Charles Stillman found Brownsville. He was a dealer for Colt's new Six-Shooters and among the first, if not the first, to begin raising sheep in South Texas. He died in 1859. The Chapman home was moved in 1920 to Carancahua and then moved again in 1985 to the Westside. It may still exist in some modified form.
   'Devil with red whiskers'

The Gaffney-Young home was built in 1877 and torn down in the 1970s.

   Another old home was the Davis place. E.J. Davis married Forbes Britton's daughter "Lizzie" in 1858. A new frame house was built for them on the bluff. Before the outbreak of war, Davis and his father-in-law, both ardent Unionists, were fiercely opposed to secession.
   Davis, as a Radical Republican, won the governor's race in 1869 in what many believed was a fraudulent election. On Jan. 7, 1870, supporters and opponents gathered in front of his white house on the bluff to see the governor-elect take the stage to Austin. Supporters cheered and former Confederates shook their fists as the stagecoach rolled away. Davis was liked in social circles here, but as governor he was the devil with red whiskers for former Confederates. He led an almost successful effort to divide Texas into three states.
   Davis never returned to Corpus Christi to live after his bitter term as governor was over. He sold the house to Norwick Gussett for $4,000. It was moved to Carancahua in the 1930s to make way for the new post office. It was known as the Hennessey apartment house before it was torn down in 1956.
   Norwick Gussett as a young boy drove mustangs hitched to wagons hauling water from the Nueces River for Zachary Taylor's troops at Corpus Christi in 1845. He was wounded in fighting in Mexico and carried as a lucky keepsake a piece of bone taken from his right hip. He returned after the war to become one of the city's wealthiest merchants. He was a dealer in hides, owned ranch land, and operated his own fleet of ships to take his hides to New York and bring merchandise back. His son Horatio, known as H.D.C. Gussett, married Mary "Nettie" Barnard and in 1903 built a two-story, white colonial house on the bluff, at 723 Broadway, next to his father's house.

The C.A. Craig home was built in 1906; it was torn down in 1955.

   Michael Thomas Gaffney built a two-story Greek Revival style home at 801 Leopard in 1877. Gaffney's youngest daughter, Katherine, married an attorney, Phillip M. Young, and the two lived in the home for many years. Young died in the influenza outbreak in 1918. The Gaffney-Young home was moved to 915 Buffalo in the 1920s and torn down in the 1970s.
   In front of a vacant lot at 823 Buffalo is a blue-tile name marker for the George R. Clark home. Clark, a banker and the son of Duval cattleman "Jap" Clark, built the house in 1910. It was constructed of seasoned heart timber, "hard as brickbats." It was torn down in 1964. There's nothing there now.
   The 20-room C.A. Craig home, at 924 Lower North Broadway, was built in 1906. It became a room-and-board establishment known for its six-foot-long bath tub. It was torn down in 1955, displaced by the bridge.
   Another landmark was the Thomas B. Dunn home at 1001 North Carancahua. Like the Craig home, this 12-room Southern-style house was built in 1906. The Dunn home, it was said, commanded a beautiful view of the bay from the home's white verandas. Dunn was chief of the city fire department. The home was torn down for the bridge.
   P.G. Lovenskiold, a dentist who served as mayor from 1921 to 1931, built his home on North Carrizo, between Buffalo and Antelope, in 1907. The house was moved in the 1950s from 907 Carrizo to make way for the Crosstown Expressway, which cut through the Lovenskiold property. The house was damaged by Celia in 1970 and torn down a year later.
   Another home displaced by the high bridge was the Ernest and Annie Bagnall home, built at 1003 Jones in 1880. Bagnall came here from Prince Edward Island, Canada. He was a carpenter and for some years was the town's only undertaker. The old house was torn down in 1956.
   On South Broadway was one of the city's show homes, the Joseph Hirsh house. It was moved to Carancahua Street in 1944 and used by the YMCA. It was demolished a decade later.
   W.W. Jones, a wealthy rancher in the Hebbronville area, was known for being tight with his money. It was said he would cut off his horse's tail and swap it for a plug of black-horse chewing tobacco rather than spend a nickel for it. He traveled around his ranch in a two-wheeled cart pulled by mules. He built the Nueces Hotel in 1913. He built an ornate mansion at 511 S. Broadway in 1905. The Jones mansion housed the La Retama Library from 1937 to 1955. The old home was torn down to make space for a parking lot for the First Presbyterian Church.
   Doddridges buried in yard

The Bagnall home at 1003 Jones Street on the bluff was torn down in 1956 to make way for the Harbor Bridge.

   Next door was the Fullerton-Doddridge home. Perry Doddridge, from Little Peach Tree, Ala., came to Texas with his parents, who died shortly after they arrived in Galveston. This orphan made his way to Brownsville, where he went to work for Richard King. In time he opened a mercantile business.
   Doddridge moved to Corpus Christi in 1862. He became a dealer in hides and wool. He married Rachel Fullerton, the daughter of a ship captain. Capt. S.W. Fullerton's home on South Bluff was built of Louisiana cypress in the 1850s. When Doddridge died in 1902, his body was buried beneath hackberry trees in the back yard (where Carancahua is now) and his wife was buried there a year later. Those who would remember the Doddridge graves have graves of their own. The remains of Perry and Rachel were moved to New Bayview Cemetery when the First Presbyterian Church was built on the site of their old home.
   For more photos of old homes go to caller.com/murphygivens. This is the second of four parts. Part three will appear in this space next Wednesday.
  
   Murphy Givens can be reached by phone at 886-4315 or by e-mail at givensm@caller.com.
  
  

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