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Corpus Christi History
By Murphy Givens

Sept. 16, 1998
Corpus Christi's historic firsts

   The First Fire Engine -- was a hand-pumper, with a gleaming walnut body. It could shoot a single stream of water 60 feet and had a suction pipe to siphon water from the city's cisterns (there were no water mains until 1893). It arrived from New Orleans on Nov. 28, 1871, and was put to use by Pioneer Fire Company No. 1. Later, the Pioneers combined with a second company, the Lone Star Hook & Ladder Company, to form the Corpus Christi Fire Department.
   The First Ice Plant -- was built in 1878, owned by Capt. Richard King of King Ranch. Before it was built, a schooner left Corpus Christi each winter to bring back a load of ice from Maine or New York. The ice was cut in four-feet slabs and packed deep in sawdust. Once here, it was stored in a dugout in the bluff and sold for 15 cents a pound.
   The First Train -- arrived in November, 1886, after the last trestle piling was driven in Nueces Bay for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway (SAAP). The construction train was the first across.
   The First Electric Lights -- were installed in 1890 when the Corpus Christi Electric Company bought 60 arc lights, at 2,000 candlepower each. Electricity was available only at night. The wires were strung haphazardly from crooked sidewalk poles.
   The First Telephone System -- cranked up in 1892, owned by Dr. Alfred G. Heaney. He received the first telephone, number 1, and his son, Dr. Harry G. Heaney, got number 2. By 1920, the city had 700 telephones. In those days, the operator was allowed to gossip about what she overheard, but it was a firing offense to flirt on the line.
   The First Hamburgers -- and the city's first popcorn and waffles were a big hit at a street carnival in 1895, probably held at the customary "Ben Grande Corner" at Leopard and Waco.
   The First Football Game -- was played on Nov. 27, Thanksgiving Day, 1902. A team of high-school boys played a grammar-school team. The forward pass was not allowed and, it being the first game, the rules were variously interpreted. It ended in a 0-0 tie. (The first baseball game was played in 1873. I couldn't pin down the exact date, but one detail was preserved: When the batter got a hit, the umpire, carrying his rule book, took him by the arm and escorted him to first base.)
   The First Automobile -- was owned by Dr. Alfred G. Heaney in, we think, 1903. (The doctor apparently liked new inventions; he brought the city electric lights and telephones.) Dr. Heaney could have bought an Apperson, or Scripps-Booth, Franklin, Chandler, Peerless, Owen Magnetic, or Locomobile. But like many doctors have done since, he bought a Cadillac, a one-cylinder job.
   The First Motion Picture -- shown here (perhaps in 1903 or 1904) was Charles Pathe's "Passion Play" depicting the life of Jesus. The theater was in a vacant store and the coming feature was written in chalk on the sidewalk in front. On Saturday night, the door prize was a $5 gold piece. The city got an open-air theater in a lot next to Artesian Park after 1905.
   The First Electric Streetcars -- went into operation on March 28, 1910. Owner Daniel Hewett had four cars in his Corpus Christi Street and Interurban Railway Co. The fare was five cents. The streetcar lines were discontinued in 1931 and the rails paved over.
   The First Airplane Flight -- thrilled the city on July 3 and July 4, 1911, when the Wright Brothers' company held a public exhibition on North Beach. This was eight years after the Wrights' first flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C.
   In the Corpus Christi demonstration, pioneer aviator Oscar Brindley asked for a volunteer from the audience. The volunteer was real-estate agent F. Z. Bishop (founder of Bishop). The pilot wanted another volunteer because Bishop weighed about 230 pounds, but he finally agreed to let him fly. Bishop climbed into the biplane and said, "Real estate is going up!"
   The Caller in the next edition said in a headline, "F.Z. Bishop Heaviest Passenger Ever Handled In A Flying Machine." It noted that Brindley set a world record for taking a man of that weight up to a dizzying altitude of 2,500 feet.
   The First Radio Station -- crackled across the airwaves on April 26, 1929. Station call letters were KGFI, interpreted as, "Kome Get Fish Immediately." The station announcer was called Dr. Static. KGFI later became KRYS. The city's second station, KEYS, was licensed in 1941. The first TV station -- KVDO, channel 22 -- began broadcasting on June 20, 1954.
   The First Oil Well -- came in on John Dunn's property off Calallen Road, the Dunn No. 6, on Aug. 16, 1930. Thousands of people drove out to the Saxet Field to see the gusher. The first gas well was Dunn No. 1, struck in 1922. Drilling rigs then were steam-driven with wooden derricks.
   The First Drive-In Theater -- opened in 1939, owned by C.A. "Doc" Richter. The Texas Drive In Theater, on Highway 9 near Corpus Christi, was the state's first drive-in. It had a wooden screen and loudspeakers below the screen. To minimize the mosquito problem, patrons could, when they entered, pay extra to have their car interiors sprayed with DDT.

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