THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE                        123
TheCoastalBend.com
P o r t  A r a n s a s
Port A’s Rich History on Display 
Two centuries of history exhibited at Port A Museum
Since the Karankawa Indians were confronted by Spanish explorers led by Alonso 
Álvarez de Pineda in 1519, the ones who named Corpus Christi Bay, the northern 
tip of Mustang Island where the island splits at Aransas Pass (the channel, not the 
town) has been a natural settlement point for those intrigued by its vast natural as-
sets. In 2008, the Port Aransas Preservation and Historical Association opened the 
town’s museum with a collection of photos and artifacts donated by descendants of 
Port A founders. Among the displays at the museum are biographic profiles of those 
very founders who had the greatest impact on the evolution of Mustang Island. 
Visitors enjoy the exhibit on the foregone tarpon fishing era of the first half of the 
20th Century, including the rod case given to Barney Farley by President Franklin 
Delano Roosevelt, in 1937. A special exhibit chronicles the long struggle to open 
Aransas Pass for shipping through Corpus Christi Bay to the city, which is now home 
to the most profitable port in the United States. One of the most fascinating dis-
plays at the museum is the Fresnel lens from Port A’s 1865 lighthouse that guided 
mariners for almost a century. 101 East Brundrett at North Alister
Left: Effort to open Aransas Pass from the Gulf to C.C. Bay. Right: Port A’s era of Tarpon fishing chronicled.

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