Protecting and distinct, the Corpus Christi Seawall was designated as a Texas Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1988. And construction on the seawall itself finally began in 1938, work beginning on the north end near the ship channel. It originally started looking like a big dirt levee. Creosoted pilings were driven to provide a footing for the embankment, which was built up of dredge spoil from the bay front bottom. Creosote-treated Southern Pine timber piles and steel reinforcing bars provided further internal support for the 12,000-foot-long concrete wall – state of the art at the time. Contractor J. DePuy designed a 40-foot long metal shed on railroad wheels under which the 40-foot lengths of the stepped seawall were poured of reinforced concrete. The L-head and two T-heads were part of the plan. The plan called for another L-head, off the end of Twigg, but the money ran out. The plan also called for a tube tunnel under the ship channel, to be paid for by federal dollars and a toll, but it was dropped.
By the time work on the seawall was completed in March 1941, the city had been extended two blocks into the bay and the bay front itself had been elevated to 14 feet above sea level -- 3.7 feet above the high-water mark of the 1919 storm. The stepped face gave the seawall the look of the classic amphitheater Borglum once described – though the final product was not based on his design, but, rather an improvement suggested by project engineer Edward Noyes of Myers & Noyes.
-Building the Bay front: The Corpus Christi Seawall
-International Engineering: History and Heritage
By the time work on the seawall was completed in March 1941, the city had been extended two blocks into the bay and the bay front itself had been elevated to 14 feet above sea level -- 3.7 feet above the high-water mark of the 1919 storm. The stepped face gave the seawall the look of the classic amphitheater Borglum once described – though the final product was not based on his design, but, rather an improvement suggested by project engineer Edward Noyes of Myers & Noyes.
-Building the Bay front: The Corpus Christi Seawall
-International Engineering: History and Heritage
Photo by: Jorge Gonzalez Jr