SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — History may pass but remembering and understanding it isn’t free.
Island officials on Thursday revealed the awarding of a federal grant of $1.5 million from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration for construction of the Historical Museum of South Padre Island.
The city has allocated an additional $375,000 for the project.
The museum will be housed in the old visitors’ center just down the street from City Hall. Island officials donated the building, which formerly provided offices for the visitor’s center and Chamber of Commerce, for the museum site.
“This is going to be reconstruction of the old visitors’ center at 610 Padre Blvd. into a new Historical Museum of South Padre Island,” said City Secretary Nikki Soto. “So while they haven’t had a permanent home, this will give them a permanent home.”
Dennis Franke, president of the South Padre Island Historical Foundation, has been instrumental in the acquisition of funding for the project. He praised Mayor Patrick McNulty and the city council for their roles in making the new museum a reality.
“Many people don’t think there’s much history out here,” Franke said. “There’s really much more than anybody would believe, and the museum will allow us to display that history that will be somewhat of a shock when you see some of the things that have gone on and how this island came to be what it is today.”
South Padre Island was only incorporated in 1973, but even before becoming an official city, it had an intriguing history.
During World War II, for example, the island was blocked off and quarantined to allow military personnel in beach huts a mile apart to monitor any attempted German incursions from U-Boats.
“One of our challenges are rainy-day events,” said City Councilmember Joe Ricco, a major supporter of the museum project. “We don’t have a lot of indoor activities, and if we can find some value for the tourists when we do have those occasional rainy days, not that we have a lot here, the few we have I think they are going to get really excited to come out and see this great project Mr. Franke’s been working on. And I’m proud to be part of it.”
Writer Steve Hathcock is regarded as the official historian of South Padre Island and represented the Cameron County Historical Commission.
“We’ve been working on this for quite a few years, and I’m really happy to be here,” Hathcock said. “My job is the easy part. I get to write about things that have already happened, and Dennis is the man that’s going to be making them happen.”
Franke said the next step is to advertise for requests for proposals for an architect, engineer and administrator for the museum. He said if all goes smoothly, he expects it to open as early as next summer.
