On Real Estate

Saturday, September 15, 2001

Several generations join to celebrate port's 75th birthday

Former director, 96, recalls crossing the bascule bridge in 1929 to start work here when cotton was the main cargo

By Laura Elder
Caller-Times

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Byrd Harris, who worked for the Port of Corpus Christi for 44 years, has seen it grow into the nation’s fifth largest in terms of cargo tonnage.

As Byrd Harris crossed the bascule bridge in 1929, he looked to his right and saw a single turning basin and eight docks. That was his first impression of the Port of Corpus Christi, which was to be his employer for the next 44 years.
   When he first arrived in Corpus Christi, all those years ago, Harris, now 96, saw a port dependent on cotton, grain and agriculture products. As was the norm at the time, men ruled the port.
   "All the commissioners were men," said Harris, who attended the anniversary with his wife of 53 years, Beatrice. "Many things have changed."
   When 9-year-old Coles Elementary student Janay Benson traveled to the port with her classmates Friday, she saw the fifth largest U.S. port, based on tonnage, and headed by a Hispanic woman.
   Times have changed and those changes were highlighted Friday as Harris, Benson and about 160 port staff members and students from local schools gathered for a luncheon at Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz International Center to mark port's 75th anniversary.
   A few days before the luncheon, Harris reminisced about his days at the port. And during his port tenure, 24 years of which he served as director, he saw the port's channel extended, a public grain elevator open, more oil docks built, and the Army Corps of Engineers begin the process of deepening the channel to its current depth of 45 feet.
   At the anniversary luncheon Friday, former and current staff also remembered the hard times the port had endured, including hurricanes and a 1981 explosion at the grain elevator that killed nine people and injured 20.
   The terrorist attacks Tuesday on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center altered the tone of what was meant to be a celebration.
   Rather than a celebration, the luncheon was a way to honor port staff, said John LaRue, port executive director.
   Students from Menger, Coles and Mireles elementary schools read poetry and sang songs at the luncheon. They had been studying port history in class this week.
   Coles student Janay said it was her first visit to the port.
   "They do a lot of things and it's busy down here," she said.
   Troy Minor, also 9, and a Coles fourth grader, said the port staff had donated time and equipment to his school.
   Among the most significant changes at the Port of Corpus Christi in 75 years was the deepening of the channel to 45 feet, said port Chairwoman Yolanda Olivarez - herself a part of significant port history as the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as chair.
   During the luncheon, students sang and recited poetry. Seventy-five years ago Friday, the port's opening brought in the biggest celebration the city had seen. Excursion trains brought 25,000 visitors to double the city's population. Boat races, a beauty contest and a historical pageant were part of the festivities.
   Though retired, Harris hasn't broken his ties with the port, his wife said.
   "He keeps up with it all the time," she said.
   The port continues to change.
   Currently, the Army Corps of engineers is dredging the ship channel to 52 feet and is extending the La Quinta Channel, which would serve the port's planned massive container terminal on a 1,084-acre piece of agricultural land between the Sherwin Alumina Site and the NorthShore Country Club golf course. Bordered to the south of Gregory by U.S. Highway 181 and the Union Pacific rail spur, the site of the future container terminal is owned by the port.
   Overall, the channel improvements will cost about $190 million. The federal government and the port will share the cost of the project. The port wants to deepen the Corpus Christi Ship Channel to make it more accessible to heavier, deeper-draft ships. Widening the ship channel would allow for more room for barges and ship traffic to pass, port officials say.
   "I think the port is heading in the right direction," Harris said.
  
  
  

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Contact Laura Elder at 886-3678 or at elderl@caller.com

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