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Fredstone
Park in Port Mansfield
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, November 2009 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Once an obscure and hard to reach fishing camp named Red Fish Landing,
the Corp of Engineers opened it as a harbor in 1950. It was named for U. S. Representative
Joseph J. Mansfield, who introduced a bill extending the Intracoastal Waterway
from Corpus Christi
to the Rio Grande.
The first channel was cut through Padre Island in 1957.
The community at that time consisted of just fishing cabins, a hotel and store/
bait shop. The final cut was finished in 1962. Now that there was a tidal exchange
between the Gulf and the Lagoon, there was a notable increase in fishing and commercial
tourism.
From a 1966 population of 525 it increased to 731 in 1990. The
2010 state map showed a population of 415.
Although the community had received
its mail from Raymondville up into the 1990s,
it now has its own post office.
Port
Mansfield, Texas Today |
| Water
on the way to Port Mansfield. TE Photo | |
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