Port O'Connor is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP) in
Calhoun County,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, United States, near the
Gulf
A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...
coastline between
Galveston
Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...
and
Corpus Christi. The CDP had a population of 954 at the
2010 census. It is part of the
Victoria, Texas
Victoria is a city and the county seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 65,534 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The three counties of the Victoria, Texas metropolitan area, Victoria Metropolitan Statis ...
metropolitan statistical area.
History
Port O'Connor was laid out in the late 19th century as a fishing settlement called "Alligator Head". As it grew in popularity with both permanent residents and tourists, the community took on more municipal characteristics, earning the formal designation finally in 1909 as the town site of Port O'Connor. It was named after its main landowner at the time, Thomas M. O'Connor, son of
Thomas O'Connor, who owned . Aside from local cattle raising and fishing, the town was also a producer of figs and citrus fruit.
Its initial population growth spanned the years 1909 to 1919. Excursion trains ran on weekends to Port O'Connor, and an estimated 10,000 tourists came every summer.
Port O'Connor has been struck by four hurricanes since it was initially settled. The
1919 Florida Keys hurricane brought the "good old days" to a halt, destroying the town. It rebuilt slowly, but the
1942
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...
and
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat.
Events
World War II will be ...
hurricanes so close in time were hard to overcome. In 1961, Port O'Connor was in the midst of another growth boom due to the increase of military personnel on nearby
Matagorda Island Air Force Base. That same year,
Hurricane Carla
Hurricane Carla was the most intense tropical cyclone landfall in Texas in the 20th century. The third named storm of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, Carla developed from an area of squall, squally weather in the southwestern Caribbean Sea ...
destroyed the town again, but times reflect its will to survive, fueled by tourism, commercial fisheries, and the petrochemical industry.
Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...
struck the town again in 2017.
Demographics
Port O'Connor first appeared as a
census designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in the
1980 U.S. Census
The 1980 United States census, conducted by the United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4% over the 203,184,772 persons Enumeration, enumerated dur ...
.
[ It was deleted prior to the 1990 U.S. Census;][ and relisted as a CDP in the 2010 U.S. Census.][
]
2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 954 people, 433 households, and 331 families residing in the CDP.
Education
Port O'Connor is served by the Calhoun County Independent School District.
Due to its small population, the town has only one school, Port O'Connor Elementary School, which has the dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...
as its mascot. Port O'Connor Elementary School covers prekindergarten through grade five.
References
External links
Brief History
Handbook of Texas Online article
Tourist Welcome Site, Chamber of Commerce
Live Cam Real Time Weather
Port O'Connor Local Information and Events
Port O'Connor Fishing Guides
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Unincorporated communities in Texas
Census-designated places in Calhoun County, Texas
Victoria, Texas metropolitan area
Populated coastal places in Texas