COLLEGEPORT DAY 2010
2010 Pictures
 

THE WOMAN’S CLUB OF COLLEGEPORT invite you and your family to join us for the 102^nd Annual Collegeport Day Celebration.  This homecoming event is always observed on the last Saturday of May.  Mark your calendar for May 29, 2010.  Dinner will be served at 12:00 Noon at Mopac House.  Please bring a side dish, salad or dessert to complement our traditional barbecued beef which is prepared by the local Volunteer Firemen.  Iced tea and paper goods are provided.  Arrive early and lend a hand to help make this a memorable day.

OUR APPRECIATION TO 2010 MEAT DONORS:

THANK YOU TO ALL who give of their time, talents and support to continue this community tradition.

CONGRATULATIONS to graduating seniors, Kelsey Collins and Matthew Merck, who were honored with a graduation dinner at Mopac House on May 4, 2010.

A SLIDESHOW OF PHOTOGRAPHS and other historical information of Collegeport will be displayed in the Library.  THANK YOU to all who have shared items to include.  Please bring photos or documents you would like to share.  We will be able to scan them so that you can return home with your originals.  Much of this information and many photos are posted on the website sponsored in part by the Matagorda County Historical Commission. The direct link:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txmatago/collegeport.htm

WOMAN’S CLUB MARKS CENTENNIAL
The Woman’s Club of Collegeport was organized May 19, 1910 with 58 Charter Members in the home of Mrs. Burton D. Hurd.  They adopted the motto “Magnify the Good,” and it has been a continuous
 

power for good through the years as it supported the school, library and community improvements.  The club organized the first free library in Matagorda County.  W. W. Wilkinson offered his real estate office as a temporary reading room and library.  The library was opened on February 10, 1912.  In October 1912 the club rented a room for the library in Buchen’s Store for $5.00.  On June 30, 1914, plans were finalized to move the library to the west room in the public schoolhouse.  In 1923, the club purchased the J. H. Adams cottage for $50.00.  The Industrial League purchased the lot where the library is now located, and the house was moved and repaired for the Woman’s Club.  R. E. Coffin, the school principal was appointed assistant librarian when the library was moved from the schoolhouse to the present location.  In 1932 the Woman’s Club began sponsoring the Girl Reserves under the leadership of Beryl Bell Law and Dorothy Corporon.

Girl Reserves was an organization operating under the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA.) 

On March 30, 1944, the club organized a YWCA Council.  The council and the Woman’s Club became sponsors of the Mopac House.  Mrs. M. S. Holsworth was named Mopac House Chairman and initiated efforts to wire the building and make other repairs.  The club continued to make improvements until a new Mopac House Foundation Board of Trustees was elected in 1960.  The Woman’s Club had custody of the Mopac House and through free will gifts, fundraisers and the sale of cookbooks, the club purchased folding tables and chairs to replace the wooden benches and saw horse and board tables once used for banquets.  The club commissioned the Collegeport Flag for the Texas Sesquicentennial in 1986, which is displayed in the Mopac House.  The club, which had 86 members in 1912, now few in number, sponsors the annual Collegeport Day homecoming each year, its sole purpose today.          

Historic Matagorda County, Vol.1. Dorothy F. Merck

MAN’S DREAM BECOMES A REALITY

MOPAC  HOUSE  and  MOPAC HOUSE FOUNDATION  CELEBRATE  75  YEARS
 

In the fall of 1933, the Missouri Pacific, Brownsville & Mexico Railroad discontinued rail service to Collegeport, as it was no longer economically feasible to maintain the line, in the advent of the

modern-day automobile.  Plans were set to take up the tracks and dismantle the building.  Harry Austin Clapp, a pioneer in the community who had worked with Collegeport founder/developer Burton D. Hurd, conceived the idea that the depot could be acquired and used as a community center.  In corresponding with Missouri-Pacific officials, Clapp suggested the depot might be a gift to the community to memorialize the passing of the railroad.  Soon a district engineer of the Mo-Pac visited to evaluate the situation, and Clapp showed the library and expressed a need for more room.  The representative was impressed, and before he left, assured Mr. Clapp that he could consider the deal closed, as he would make a favorable report.  On February 20, 1934, a formal Bill of Sale transferring the property to the Collegeport Industrial League was received.  Soon work began under the supervision of County Commissioner George A. Harrison of Palacios.  In preparing the building to move, it was divided into two sections, but a storm collapsed the freight section of the depot before it was moved.  Soon, the entire structure was dismantled and the lumber, windows and other salvaged items were moved to the present site where the new building was erected in conjunction with the library. The entire building was named Mopac House.  A formal opening was held on May 4, 1935 at 1:00 PM.  The Woman’s Club served a luncheon at 50¢ each, using the proceeds to purchase new books for the library.  The Mopac House Foundation was organized and incorporated under the laws of the State of Texas to receive Block 105, lots 1-12 of the Townsite of Collegeport and the newly constructed Mopac House facility from the Collegeport Industrial League, to be held and used for the benefit of the citizens of Collegeport in early 1935.

Through the years, the Woman’s Club, in association with the Mopac House Foundation has maintained the building, secured insurance and paid utilities through the gifts of residents and friends of the community.  The Mopac House is used as a meeting place for civic organizations, a polling place for school, county, state and national elections, and is available for use by the residents of the community, and for community gatherings including the annual homecoming held the last Saturday each May.

In the past, it was used as the public school lunchroom, and the library was utilized by the school children on a regular basis in conjunction with the school.  In 1961, Mopac House and the Library were used as a Red Cross kitchen and shelter following the Hurricane Carla disaster that devastated the area.  Two families lived there while their homes were rebuilt or repaired.
 

The Mopac House Foundation has maintained its pledge to serve the community and has administered the property in the best interest of the residents of Collegeport.  The Collegeport Area Volunteer Fire Department was organized on February 2, 1965.  On June 32, 1965, the Mopac House Foundation leased at no cost to the organization, Lot 7, Block 105 on which to build its Fire Station for as long as it is used as such. 

On September 20, 1985, the Mopac House Foundation granted an easement to the General Telephone Company a portion of Lot 1, Block 105 on which to construct an equipment hut to provide improved telephone service to the community, the easement to continue for as long as it is used for such.  Again on September 29, 1992, the Mopac House Foundation leased at no cost to the County of Matagorda, Lot 8, Block 105 on which to construct an addition to the Fire House for as long as it is used as such.

In 1997, the Mopac House Foundation initiated a project to place a Pioneer Memorial on the Mopac House grounds in memory of those who settled the area and to record noteworthy events in the community’s history.  This project was funded through gifts of residents and friends of the community. This marker was dedicated in May 29, 2004 with a special ceremony on the 96^thanniversary of the founding of the town.

The Mopac House Foundation Charter and By-Laws were revised, an application was filed and the Mopac House Foundation was designated a Non-Profit Charity under Section 501 (c) (3) of the tax code in 2007.  The Mopac House Foundation strives to manage the property for the benefit of the citizens of the Collegeport Community.

RENOVATIONS TO MOPAC HOUSE

Little progress has been made since last Collegeport Day regarding repair of the dining hall floor and foundation.  The Mopac House Foundation has made an inquiry with and received a grant application packet from the Trull Foundation in Palacios.  Anyone with suggestions for repair and/or funding, please contact one of the Mopac House Foundation Trustees:  Russell Corporon G. W. Franzen, Mason Holsworth, Fred Law or Jim Bob Murry.    

GIFTS TO THE COMMUNITY--

We extend a special “THANK YOU” to Ruth Harrison Pierce of Blessing who restored and presented a writing desk that was given to her by    Louise (Mrs. H. A.) Clapp. Mrs. Pierce is daughter of Commissioner George A. Harrison, who was instrumental in making Harry Austin Clapp’s dream of a community center become a reality.  The desk is used in the library.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

 

Last Collegeport Day, two oil paintings by artist Jeanette “Sisty” Williams Angelo of Missouri City were presented to the community.  She was inspired to paint the “Theo Smith/Mowery/Canfield House” and “Miss Hattie” after viewing those photos on the website.

Jeanette’s niece, Patsy Williams Clemens, of California made the presentation for her, as she was unable to attend. 
 

HAPPENINGS SINCE WE LAST GATHERED:

PLEASE SEND NEWS OR INFORMATION for newsletters to G. W. Franzen, Box 175, Collegeport, TX 77428 or e-mail news to gfranzen@tisd.net
 

Copyright 2010 - Present by Mopac House Foundation
All rights reserved

HOME