b'E lihuRopeswasaCivilabove : Daylight rendering of the new Harbor Bridge, to be constructed of concrete, eliminating the Warbattlefieldheroand colonelintheNewJer-seyGuardbytheageof nineteen. He thrived as a newspaperpublisherand advertisingdirectorfor theSingerSewingMa-chineCompanyafterre-turning to his hometown of Elizabethtown, New Jersey,expensive and disruptive maintenance of a steel structure.lower : Size comparison with current bridge.after the war. At the peak of his career and personal wealth, he took a trip to Galveston and was soon in- and by the end of 1888, he had negotiated the purchasejustoneprojectthatfueledtheshort-livedRopes spired to develop the first deep-water seaport on theof Mustang Island for $25,000 and announced the con- Boom of 1889 to 1893others included the construc-Texas coast, having watched the Port of New Orleansstruction of a deep-water port. tion of the 125-room Alta Vista Hotel, the operation of succeed since completing jetties protecting the mouthThe Port Ropes Company was founded with $5the citys first street car system, his purchase of prime of the Mississippi River in 1877. Ropes first excursionmillion in capital, and the town of Ropesville formedland along the citys South Bluff, and his most ambi-down the Texas coastline led him to Corpus Christi,at the northern end of the island. Port Ropes Pass wastious project, the Corpus Christi and South American 26 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEFEATURED: The Stories that Mattered TheCoastalBend.comTheCoastalBend.comTHE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEMarch/April 2018 59'