On the night of January 26, 1941 Corpus Christi witnessed the passing of one of its most highly respected citizens.....and a man who probably knew more about the city of Corpus Christi than any other living person. He had been a resident of the city for 76 years.
His name was Eli Todd Merriman (not to be confused with his famous father, Dr. Eli T. Merriman). Eli, the son, was born on May 15, 1852, in Edinburg, Texas, but moved with his family to Banquete in 1854.
Eli's father was a country doctor who had co-founded the town of San Marcos and, in 1861, created a hospital for Confederate soldiers in Banquete. At the end of the Civil War in 1865, Dr. Merriman moved his family to Corpus Christi, and it was in Corpus that Dr. Merriman would lose his life while treating patients during the yellow fever epidemic of 1867.
Young Eli, only 15 at the time of his father's death, took his first job as a printer for the "Nueces Valley" newspaper at the age of 18. He would later work as a printer for the Galveston Daily News and the Corpus Christi Gazette as well. In 1877, at the tender age of 25, he partnered with Mr. W.H. Maltby to establish his own newspaper, the Corpus Christi Free Press.
The paper was an instant success, with circulation that reached all the way into the Rio Grande Valley. When Merriman's partner, Mr. Maltby, died in 1880, Eli's life would change course. In 1883, he and two new partners established the Corpus Christi Caller, a newspaper that he would publish for the next 28 years... and a newspaper that is today in its 142nd year!
During his Caller years, Merriman meticulously documented and promoted the city's growth. By 1889, both of his partners had departed. As the paper's chief editor, he frequently worked 16-18 hours a day. He often wrote stories about the city's early citizens, most of whom he had known personally. His articles and editorials documented every major event in Corpus Christi and became some of the best first-hand accounts of the city's early history.
And Merriman didn't just write about what was going on. He himself took an active part in most of it.
The First Presbyterian Church of Corpus Christi was organized in 1867 in the living room of his own house. In 1871, the city's first volunteer fire department (Pioneer Fire Dept. #1) was formed, and Eli Merriman was a charter member. He also was a member of the "Star Rifles," a group of citizen volunteers organized in 1875 to defend the city against bandit raids.
It was Merriman who, with others, personally chartered a schooner in 1873 to bring the first ice to the city from frozen lakes in Maine. Once, when the city budget had no money to keep the street lights burning, Merriman organized a group of private donors to keep the lights on for two years (until the city resumed its responsibilities).
Eli Merriman understood the importance of the railroad to the future development and prosperity of Corpus Christi. He was present in 1875 when the final spike was driven for the city's first railroad...the "Corpus Christi, Rio Grande, and Narrow Gauge Railroad" (renamed Tex-Mex in 1881). He knew that that first railroad was not enough. It was imperative that the city have a direct line to San Antonio. He not only financially backed a new railroad but also used his newspaper to gain public support and public money for the new line. In 1886, the "San Antonio and Aransas Pass" (later Southern Pacific) railroad was completed, linking Corpus Christi's industry and agriculture to markets all over the United States.
Merriman was a member of numerous civic organizations, always looking for ways to improve the city's quality of life. He made it a point to write something positive about Corpus Christi every day in his newspaper, promoting the virtues of the city he loved.
He was a resident of CC during the entire Ropes Boom of the early 1890s and witnessed the huge interest in and growth of the city during the Boom. He fully supported the idea of digging a channel across the Bay and creating a deep water port.
When Merriman "retired" from the newspaper in 1912, he was 60 years old and the dean of Texas newspapermen, having been in the newspaper/printing business for 44 years. But, despite his retirement, he was just getting started. Some of his greatest contributions to the City of Corpus Christi were still to come.
Those stories in Part 2.
