THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE                        109
TheCoastalBend.com
Saltwater Recreation
New Bob Hall Pier 
Opens After 5-Year 
Rebuild & Upgrade
Generations of South Texans and visitors from across 
the world have enjoyed Bob Hall Pier, since it first 
opened as a 300-foot structure on Padre Island, in 1950. 
It was soon extended to 600-feet with the famous "T" 
added at the end to accommodate more anglers at the 
deepest end of the pier. Hurricane Carla destroyed the 
first pier in 1961, but ambitious Nueces County leaders 
turned tragedy into victory when the new Bob Hall Pier 
opened a year later at 1,200-feet! Just five years later, 
Hurricane Buelah wiped out the end of the pier, and its 
replacement was a compromise design of 800-feet, but 
with two "T" structures, one about mid-way and one at 
the end, to make up for some of the lost surface area.
Bob Hall Pier is a setting of many childhood memories 
for lots of us old-timers and has served as a stage for lo-
cals to congregate with visitors—record catches, includ-
ing an 800-foot Bull Shark a few years ago, have been 
landed at the pier, even if towed through the water to 
the beach, and it's where surfers and fishermen, many of 
whom are both, learned to co-exist in harmony.
In 1970, Hurricane Celia wreaked devastation on the 
city, but left the pier intact with reparable damage. 
A decade later, in 1980, Hurricane Allen threatened 
the Coastal Bend as a monster Category 5 storm, but 
brought moderate damage to Corpus Christi from 
which the city quickly recovered. Bob Hall Pier, howev-
er, was wiped out once again, and its next replacement 
would open in 1983, back to 1,200-feet, widened to 
over 15-feet, and with an even-enlarged "T" at the end.
True to its history, the pier survived a big storm, Hur-
ricane Harvey in 2017, only to fall apart under the 
surge of a weaker storm years later, Hurricane Hanna 
in 2020—as though the first hurricanes soften it up for 
a smaller storm to later finish it off. Following the lon-
gest reconstruction period in the pier's 76-year history 
and a budget of over $28 million, the sparkling new, 
1,253-foot Bob Hall Pier, now with a "D" structure at 
the end, opened this spring, with a restaurant to come.
New Bob Hall Pier Grand Opening this spring

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