Week 4- It Has Come To An End...

In the beginning of my project, I didn't really know what I wanted to do for my topic. I thought I would have found more information about downtown, but that wasn't the case. I found certain information that was useful to my project, which helped speed up the process. I was very happy that I was actual able to find information about downtown because although it is something important to our city, not that many articles were there in the vertical files. Although I only had a handful of information about downtown, I learned that it is significant to our city because it is where the business district first took shape, which allowed the city of Corpus to flourish and grow. Downtown played a role that caused change in the city of Corpus, and we as citizens, I think we see the change in the place that we live in today. 

The first project that I viewed was Esmeralda's exhibit board, about Water St. I learned that it had an impact on our city by providing a place for us to enjoy our night at social gatherings and allows people to come together as a community. It goes with my project because we both learned how important certain aspects of downtown are important to the people of Corpus Christi. I think without one or the other, Corpus wouldn't have grown into the city that it is today.

The last project that I looked at was Jesiah's Civil War weebly. I learned that in some way Corpus played a role in the Civil War and we have historical marker that says it. I didn't know about the marker until after reading over about it on his website. I was pretty surprised that he obtained that much information about the Civil War. I also didn't know that Corpus had The Ranchero that talked about the Civil War. Overall, any topic that can relate to our city of Corpus is important to the history because it makes our city important to the people who live here. 

Two Historical Markers

Ruthie, Sarah and I at the Old Salt Mill Marker

Well with beach day coming to an end, we decided to go look for an interesting historical marker. The trip to Whataburger was great. We were hungry from being outside for three hours. The historical marker is about the Old Salt Mill that Corpus Christi used to have during the 1860s. Personally, I never knew that we had a mill downtown during the earlier time period. It was used to help supply Corpus with needed products and created more job opportunities. This marker was pretty interesting to look at, except for the plant that was behind us while taking this picture. Every time we went closer to the marker, the plant would poke us in the back. It hurt, but it was worth the good picture.   

Nueces Hotel Historical Marker

But First Let Me Take A Selfie

The Nueces Hotel Historical Marker is right next to the Old Salt Mill one. Of course it goes with my project because the hotel was located downtown at one point and time. It was special to the city because it was a very known hotel that people always went to. It was a place where people would vacation at and activities always took place there. It was our very own resort of that time, which makes it important to downtown and the city as well. It makes sense why it is a historical marker because this hotel was very important to our city during the early years of development that Corpus Christi had.  

Half-way Mark Third Week

       Well, I am sitting in class right now and having to listen to some weird conversations while working. People are ruining movies well more like one person...and I think we all know who that is because I am not naming names. Music check. Headphones in. And the working process continues. With all of the information given and found, the website just wasn't for me. My exhibit board is looking like a time line of how downtown progressed into what it is today. It looks quit nice. It starts off in the 1940s and travels through the times of downtown and how it lead to the start of decentralization during the late 1940s. It has yarn that intertwines between each part of the time line in order to it too look like a route on a map. \ This project has been very time consuming...I am hoping to finish it by tonight because college classes have started. I am happy with my project. With the amount of time that we had for it, I think I gathered enough information about how Downtown decentralized and didn't become a Downtown that everyone goes to in order to shop or hang out, such as the Down-towns in other cities. I've learned new things about our city and its interesting that people haven't asked the questions about downtown or about anything else that is supposed to be significant to the people in this community.

UPDATE,UPDATE,UPDATE!

I have always loved the library, but the second floor is something else. I've never spent so much time up there, but turns out I love it. Of course I worked on finding more information about why our downtown is not the central location for all businesses like in other cities. It was a learning experience and I am planning to take one more trip on Friday and hopefully I find a few more things in order to finish up my adventure. 

While trying to find extra information, I was sitting next to Ruben and he wanted to find the yearbooks, but he was too scared to ask the lady so I did. We got the dates wrong on who we were looking for, but it was fun looking through old yearbooks. I do know that Mr.Porter is in one of the Ray yearbooks, but we gave up our search after looking at about 3 yearbooks. 

Local History Project...Will it be a Success? Third Week

Today is the day, that I start my research about Downtown Corpus Christi during the time period of 1940-1950. At first I started to look on the internet about the topic, but I came up with nothing. The digital archives were somewhat of a help because it allowed me to see the pictures of what Downtown initially looked like during that time. There wasn't very much information on the descriptions that came with the pictures. During that time period, there wasn't much but after looking, for some reason during the 50s and on downtown began to change. What was the catalyst that allowed downtown to do that? While I was looking, I saw a photo of a parade that was taking place during that time and it was called the defense day parade, which had to do with WWII in some shape or form. By looking at these photos, the community came together in order to help the war effort, but my question was why was it taking place downtown? During that time was downtown getting held back from transforming into something new due to the war? How established was downtown during this town period? Were businesses booming or slowing down? Since the internet had nothing, I know that my trip to the library is very crucial to this topic. I am happy to say that I will be going to the library once school lets out and hopefully I get a break through about what I need to focus on when dealing with downtown Corpus Christi. 

Second Trip to the Library Today Second Week

Caller Times Newspaper December 10, 1948

Well guys, my first trip ended up being an eye opener. When I started my search I thought I was going to focus just on Downtown in general, but that has changed. While at the library, I noticed that all of the information that I was finding was more towards the time period of the 50s. I couldn't really find info between 1940-1950, which is fine because I did happen to find one article about how Downtown began to shift towards decentralization. Throughout Downtown, there are many businesses still up and running, which makes me question why during 1948 that businesses didn't want to change their ways. So since I've found new information about Downtown, I know I need to change direction. Due to this eye opener, I have shifted my focus to the business district that is in Downtown CC. My second trip to the library should be more of a success since now I know what information I am focusing on rather than looking over general information about Downtown. Going back to decentralization, I am hoping to find the answer to what made Downtown start the shift of decentralization during that time period. Was it something that businesses made happen or was it people in society who stopped coming to the businesses that were there. I think these answers are crucial to find. Hopefully, all goes well...

Buc Days Experience

Buc Days is upon us once again in the community of Corpus Christi. I don't have much of an experience of going to the carnival or the parades, whether it be the kiddie or night parade. Due to my lack of experience of this tradition in the community, I went ahead and asked my father what his experience was when he was a child and Buc Days was going on.

Courtesy of the Corpus Christi Digital Archives

My father remembers going to the carnival in his early teen years and enjoying the company of his friends and family that were with him that day. He told me that it was a time that was fun and allowed him to be a child who could be care free and not worry about anything going on, but enjoying the carnival and the memories that were made. Buc Days allows the community to come together and enjoy each others company and especially since the carnival was very cheap at that time, many people would come and enjoy the rides. 

My dad, mom, and niece

Now my father can pass on the memories to my niece who truly enjoyed herself at the kiddie parade that we went to last weekend. Overall I think the significance of Buc Days it that it not only allows for fun and games, but the fact that we get to enjoy every memory and are able to see almost every aspect of the Corpus Christi community in the rodeo or parades. It makes Corpus look like a community that can come together to celebrate the culture that surrounds us and entertain us by putting on different events. 

Downtown CC-1940-1950 First Week

     Honestly I haven't started looking up research for the project, but I will very soon. I know where I need to go for help when trying to find information. I'm trying to find an actual question to go with my research, whether the question be about the transformation Corpus Christi went through in order to look the way it does in today's society or find a specific event that took place downtown during that time period. As of now I know I need to go to the downtown library in order to find the information that I am searching for, but I just don't know when I should go. I think that is the most difficult part in having this assignment assigned to me because I love looking up the research. Hopefully I get a lot of different information when searching for my info.

Night View of Corpus Christi During 1940

This is Corpus Christi downtown area now, I know for a fact that this was not what it looked like during the 1940's and 1950's. It was a different time period, meaning a different generation, which gave a different outlook of the life that they had during that time. It was not all about the technology and lights that are shown in this picture, it was more of getting downtown off to the right start in order to look how it is depicted in the picture above. 

Day View of Corpus Christi During 1942

Scavenger Hunt Marker 1

Sarah and I at the marker in front of the courthouse. PS everyone was staring at us when we were taking our selfie. 

Welcome to my first post, on my first blog that I have ever made for myself. The riddle that was given to us was "Where would they first educate Mexican schoolchildren? If you look nearby, you may see a place where some people without an education have unfortunately spent some time." The answer to that riddle was the Cheston L. Heath School marker and we found that at the Nueces County Courthouse, hence the part of the riddle stating how some people without an education would end up spending some time here. I thought that pun was pretty clever, my partner in crime for this scavenger hunt is Sarah Pinson and we went in search for this marker with my dad after school on Friday. It took us about fifteen minutes to drive downtown and find the marker because we already had an idea of where it was at. We knew because of certain hints that were being said in class and because Martinez posted a picture on Twitter showing us the picture of the marker. Sometimes social media is always a help when answering any types of questions.

Thumbs up to the Cheston L. Heath School marker. 

 The significance that this has for Corpus Christi History is that Mexican Americans were given the opportunity to receive an education from teacher Rose Dunne back in the 1896. Due to her experiment of teaching Mexican Americans, she taught them for fifty years and in the 1900's the city actually gave recognition and gave it a name, which was "Mexican School." By having this school, Mexicans were able to read,write, and speak in English. This school allowed them to achieve more than their parents did, which will allow their children to obtain a better education, which could lead to a better life than the ones that their parents had. Personally I'm glad this school was around during that time because possibly without having this school, Mexicans now would still be uneducated and working low income jobs.