Corpus Christi

Sister cities

• Agen
• Toledo
• Keelung
• Yokosuka
• Monterrey

History

Spaniard Alonso Alvarez de Pineda traveled in 1519 to this bay on the day of the religious Feast of Corpus Christi, so named the semitropical bay Corpus Christi. Cabeza de Vaca and his companions may have been the first Europeans to reach Corpus Christi in the 1500s, the first documented exploration of the Nueces River and Corpus Christi Bay was conducted by Joaquín de Orobio y Basterra in 1747. In 1749, José de Escandón, governor and captain general of Nuevo Santander, proposed establishing a settlement called Villa de Vedoya near the mouth of the Nueces River. He organized a colony of about 50 families to settle the head of the bay, though this was short-lived. A prolonged drought and inadequate supplies caused the effort to be abandoned before settlers reached their destination. Additional settlement proposals followed during the late 18th century and early 19th century. Manuel de Escandón proposed another colony in 1787, and Spanish authorities considered relocating Nuestra Señora del Refugio Mission to the area, but these plans were never realized. During the 1830s, Baron Johann von Rachnitz and abolitionist Benjamin Lundy separately proposed colonies near the mouth of the Nueces River, though the effort never succeeded. In 1839, the first known permanent settlement of Corpus Christi was established by Colonel Henry Lawrence Kinney and William P. Aubrey as Kinney's Trading Post, or Kinney's Ranch. It was a small trading post that sold supplies to a Mexican revolutionary army camped about west. In July 1845, U.S. troops commanded by General Zachary Taylor set up camp there in preparation for war with Mexico, where they remained until March 1846. About a year later, the settlement was named Corpus Christi and was incorporated on September 9, 1852. The Battle…

Geography

Corpus Christi is situated on fluvial deposits that are of Holocene—Pleistocene age. Although no solidified rock occurs naturally at the surface, the Deweyville Formation of sand, silt, clay, and gravel, is locally indurated with calcium carbonate (caliche) deposits. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey's storm surge eroded down to shale bedrock at a depth around 40 feet in Packery Channel, an artificial pass cut between North Padre and Mustang Islands. This feature has become a gathering place for game fish, and can be identified from the surface by its whirlpool-like current. The large, shallow bay makes Corpus Christi an ideal feeding place for birds, which is one reason why Corpus Christi is known as the "Bird Capital" of North America; consequently, the San Diego Audubon Society has designated Corpus Christi as "America's birdiest place". According to the United States Census Bureau, Corpus Christi has a total area of 460.2 square miles (1,192.0 km2), of which 154.6 mi2 (400.5 km2, 33.60%) are land and 305.6 mi2 (791.5 km2, 66.40%) are covered by water. Since its founding, the city has annexed nearby lands and waters for growth and development purposes. The original area encompassed several city blocks in present-day downtown Corpus Christi with the majority of city expansion occurring in the 20th century. * Annaville * Clarkwood * Bayside * Calallen * Flour Bluff * Gardendale * Hillcrest * North Beach * South Side * Mustang Island * North Padre Island * Portland * Robstown * Aransas Pass * Port Aransas * Sinton * Odem * Gregory * Mathis * Taft * Ingleside * Agua Dulce * Bishop Corpus Christi has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), with hot and humid summers, and short mild winters. The period from November through February is the…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Laughing Gull

  Leucophaeus atricilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  44,510
• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  37,611
• Great Blue/Cocoi Heron

  Ardea herodias Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  29,412
• Brown Pelican

  Pelecanus occidentalis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  28,699
• Great Egret

  Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  26,506
• Willet

  Tringa semipalmata (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  22,956
• White Ibis

  Eudocimus albus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  22,858
• Snowy Egret

  Egretta thula (Molina, 1782) · Aves
  21,621

Most recent

• M 3.9 — 2010-04-25
  10 km WNW of Driscoll, Texas