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History of Mathis
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History of Mathis
Mathis, Texas is located on farm road 359 along Interstate Highway 37 in western San Patricio County. History abounds in the area, with once beaten battlegrounds now lush with farmland, brush and grass for cattle grazing. The Nueces River once divided Texas from Mexico. It was a much disputed boundary, and it wasn't until the United States / Mexican war that the issue was settled, making the Rio Grande the official boundary. One of the more famous battles between the two countries was fought at old San Patricio, founded by the Irish and located 10 miles south of Mathis. The area was once inhabited by Karankawa and Lipan Apache Indians and was the site of several unsuccessful settlement attempts in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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LAKE CORPUS CHRISTI STATE PARK PROFILE
Once traversed by Kawakawa and Lipan Apaches, the area is drained by the Nueces River, a disputed boundary between Texas and Mexico in the mid-19th century. The river now feeds the 21,000-acre Lake Corpus Christi, which is a major source of water for the City of Corpus Christi.
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WESLEY SEALE DAM
Damming the Nueces People swimming and using a jet ski in the lake.In January 1929, construction of La Fruita Dam across the Nueces River formed a reservoir called Lake Lovenskiold. The dam failed in November of that same year. President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal paid to rebuild the dam in 1935. The new reservoir was named Lake Corpus Christi. By the 1940s, silt was filling the lake, reducing its storage capacity. Landowners in the proposed flood pool opposed a new and larger dam. Lawsuits delayed construction for many years. The local water supply district finally won a favorable court decision. The present dam was completed in 1958. Lake Corpus Christi is now one of the largest artificial bodies of water in Texas. The lake covers 21,000 acres, with a capacity of 300,000 acre feet at the spillway elevation of 94 feet above sea level.
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REFECTORY, LAKE CORPUS CHRISTI STATE PARK
Architect Olin Boese's sheet 3 of 5 contains these meticulously rendered lake-front and road-front elevations of the refectory which he designed for Lake Corpus Christi State Park. Enrollees cast the building on site from a mixture of cement and caliche soil.
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THINGS TO DO
Peruse things to do in Mathis.