Texas Bayside Historical Society

Texas Bayside Historical Society The Bayside Historical Society is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that has quarterly meetings in February, May, August, and November in Bayside and p

The shores of Copano Bay in Texas are rich in history as well as modern charm. The human presence around Copano Bay goes back thousands of years, evidenced by the numerous remains of camp sites and burial grounds of prehistoric indigenes. Cabeza de Vaca passed through the region in 1528 on his trek back to Mexico. The history of the bay started in 1720 when it was mapped by a party of Frenchmen un

der Captain Jean Beringer who was seeking the site of La Salle ’s 1685 colony. The port of El Copano on Copano Bay was decreed by the Spanish Governor Bernardo de Galvez in 1785. El Copano was the port of entry for the Irish colonists into Texas beginning in the late 1820s. El Copano was the pivotal port during the Texas Revolution in 1836. Copano Bay also saw the rise on its shores of St. Mary’s of Aransas in the late 1860s and the founding of Bayside in 1907. The Bayside Historical Society was founded in January 2006 with the mission to discover, study, and document the comprehensive history of the region around Copano Bay in collaboration with the neighboring Refugio County and Aransas County Historical Societies. The Bayside Historical Society is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that has quarterly meetings in February, May, August, and November in Bayside and publishes a quarterly newsletter, The Baysider. These meetings feature an invited speaker and most have been held in the historic Wood Mansion in Bayside. The Bayside Historical Society fosters historical research and sponsors archaeological excavations in the region. Join the Bayside Historical Society to express your historical, archaeological, or artistic interests.

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06/06/2026

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USS Constitution in Corpus Christi

The USS Constitution, also referred to as Old Ironsides, spent some time in Corpus Christi Bay. In 1932 the warship made it's way to Corpus Christi and spent nine days in February anchored there.

In just those nine days approximately 100,000 people came to see the grand ship. The likes of which many had never had the chance to see before.

While in Corpus Christi, the USS Constitution scraped the side of the Bascule Bridge, the predecessor to the Harbor Bridge. This was one of the reasons the bridge was eventually replaced.

📸: Photo by Doc McGregor, 1932

FYI
05/28/2026

FYI

This morning, the Spanish Navy training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano arrived in Galveston 🇪🇸⚓

Launched in 1927, it’s the third largest tall ship in the world at 371 feet long and is currently on its 98th Midshipmen Training Cruise out of Cádiz, Spain. Galveston is one of its stops before it heads to New York for Sail 250!

The ship is open for free public tours at the Texas A&M pier on Pelican Island:

📅 Fri, May 29: 3:30 to 7 PM
📅 Sat, May 30: 3:30 to 7 PM
📅 Sun, May 31: 3:30 to 7 PM
📅 Mon, June 1: 9 AM to 1 PM

Learn more at: www.visitgalveston.com/events/spanish-navy-training-ship-tour/

05/28/2026

Any one from Orange Grove, Texas? 50 weeks of the Orange Grove Observer was loaded onto the Portal to Texas History on May 27th. Some of the partial years loaded were: 1930, 1932, 1937, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1948, 1949, 1953, 1959, 1960, 1968 and 1969. In addition one Refugio Timely Remarks newspaper for the date May 17, 1952, was also loaded. It contains information about Refugio High School graduates for 1952. Happy Reading!

FYI
05/27/2026

FYI

The Spanish Navy training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano is scheduled to arrive in Galveston on Thursday as part of its 98th Midshipmen Training Cruise and is expected to dock at Pier 21 through Monday.

FYI
05/17/2026

FYI

I love it when a photo tells you what it is. Here's a photo of Reinhold Kluge of Hallettsville with a large black drum he caught at Bayside, Texas, circa 1935. I would imagine that's his daughter with him. She appears to be just as proud of her fish as he is with his. And why not? A fish is a fish is a fish!

Courtesy The Portal to Texas History .

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05/17/2026

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Borrowed from Friends of the Blackland Museum: (Mural dedication ribbon cutting, May 19th, 3 P.M., the public is invited to attend:
Located at 301 Green Ave. Taft, Texas
Call 361-528-2206 (Thur. - Sat). for further details.

05/17/2026

For those of you who live in Aransas Pass, Texas, or are interested in the cities newspaper history, 844 newspaper weeks were loaded on May 14, 2026 and April 17, 2026.

https://texashistory.unt.edu/search/?t=fulltext&sort=added_d&fq=str_location_county%3ASan+Patricio+County%2C+TX&fq=str_title_serial%3AAransas+Pass+Progress&fbclid=IwY2xjawR2DcZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFxajlVaURCR25ZYVJQTU1Jc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHirBsALH41wism_q8eA5SQtEgmcCFn4Es3GQiTVEW6HC4ct2FkF873t8ptMY_aem_YWdncwC4it2AuL2rY5zwWglfg05U&brid=YWdncwGZSR0Ase3DW3xtQakjK1km

For the May 14th. loading, 560 weeks were loaded and contained the following years: 1937, 1938, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1968.

For the April 17th. loading, 284 weeks were loaded and contained the following years:1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1962, 1963, 1969.

Further up the coast in Calhoun County, 26 weeks of The Calhoun County News was loaded on May 13th, 2026, for the year 1951.

Regards,

JK

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1204 1st Street
Bayside, TX
78340

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