Port Aransas Museum displays new exhibits

T he newest exhibit at the Port Aransas Museum goes a long

The museum displays photos, charts, maps and artifacts depicting the stories of yesteryear in Port Aransas. way toward explaining

the town’s very identity.

“100 Years of Sport Fishing in Port A,” which opened July 11 and is expected to continue through the fall, traces our town’s longtime major industry through historic photos, vintage fishing gear, movie footage and more.

The footage is played on new video screens recently installed at the museum. An old newsreel shows President Franklin D. Roosevelt catching a tarpon off Port Aransas in 1937.

Also new is a section of an original Farley boat. Named the Manny, the boat was donated to the museum by the Mathews family of Port Aransas and Corpus Christi. The boat, built circa 1938-40, originally was owned by the late Teddy Mathews of Port Aransas.

Farley boats were made in Port Aransas from 1916 to the early 1970s. They were the only boats made in Port Aransas for many years.

In addition to the sport fishing exhibit, the museum displays many other Port Aransas-oriented photos, charts, maps and artifacts that tell the story of how our island community came to be.

Among items on display in the museum is the historic Lydia Ann Lighthouse lens.

Visitors may ring the bell that once rode atop a train engine hauled the hundreds of granite stones that were used to build the jetty lining the south side of the waterway long known as the Aransas Pass. The construction took place from 1908 to 1919.

The museum is housed in a building that is plenty historic, itself.

The story goes that the old house has been moved at least three times around Mustang Island, originating as a kit house that was purchased and shipped to Port Aransas around 1910.

The house was shipped in parts by train, then was loaded onto a barge and delivered to the Mercers, a family of boat pilots.

In the new millennium, the structure was donated by a private owner to the Port Aransas Preservation and Historical Association. The building was moved in 2008 from Oleander Street a few blocks to its current location – next to the Community Center, 408 N. Alister St.

The house been enhanced by $833,000 worth of renovations (including the price of the building).

The museum also houses a gift shop that showcases items that are unique to the city.

The Port Aransas Garden Club has donated and installed $32,000 worth of landscaping surrounding the museum.

The museum is part of the preservation association’s larger aim to restore the city’s “Old Town” to its former glory, possibly with the foundation of a historical district.

The museum’s hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.