History
In 1519, when Spanish explorer Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda sailed through the pass to what he later named Corpus Christi Bay, the Karankawa Indians were likely the island's only residents. By the 18th century, as a result of grazing herds of horses, introduced by Spanish settlers, was first called "Wild Horse", then "Mustang Island". Up to the 1840s the island and pass (now the ship channel) were used by buccaneers, Mexican smugglers, merchants and immigrants seeking their fortune or someone else's fortune.
Captain Robert Mercer was the first settler to set up residence on the island with his family. His wife is said to have been the first white woman in the area. He built a house there in 1853 and named it El Mar Rancho.
Read more about this topic: Mustang Island
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“This above all makes history useful and desirable: it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)
“The custard is setting; meanwhile
I not only have my own history to worry about
But am forced to fret over insufficient details related to large
Unfinished concepts that can never bring themselves to the point
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
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—William Burroughs (b. 1914)