Much of the Blackjack Peninsula was declared public domain in 1856, after a lengthy court battle which ruled against two Irish colonists who had laid claim for many years to nearly 200,000 acres between the Guadalupe and Nueces Rivers. By the late 1870’s, thirty landholders, including Jones, Bludworth, Webb, McHugh, de la Garza, Dietrich, and Brundrett, held claim to much of the peninsula. They farmed and ranched, overgrazing the land with thousands of head of cattle, flocks of sheep and goats, and herds of horses, mules, and hogs.

The peninsula was called “the Blackjacks” by these early settlers for its numerous blackjack oaks. Many small homesteads, a town site, several one-room schools, and two post offices sprang up between 1880-1917. Since crops did not grow well in the sandy soil, settlers stuck to raising livestock and like the Indians, supplemented their diet with wild game, oysters, bird eggs, fish and waterfowl.

Also in October 1938, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Camp BF-1 began at Aransas with 196 enrollees. The CCC was first established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 amidst the Great Depression. Designed to alleviate the unemployment and unrest brought on by these hard times, the CCC not only supplied jobs for thousands of young men, but also was ultimately responsible for much-needed conservation and construction projects.

Here at Aransas, the CCC created roads, ditches, fire breaks, and several buildings. They graded roads during the construction of the road to Austwell. The previous road was not much more than a track. They constructed part of the spillway for Burgentine Lake, which serves as a major resting area for waterfowl. They constructed the foundation and framing for the maintenance garage. And, by hand, they spread oyster shell as a base for many refuge roads. Barracks, staff quarters, supply, maintenance, and mess hall facilities stood in the Refuge picnic area. Today, all that remains is the concrete flagpole base still visible at the site.

Pressure from WWII caused the U.S. Government to abandon the CCC program in the early 1940’s. In June 1942, with 52 enrollees, Camp BF-1 closed its doors. Aransas can attribute initial development of the Refuge to the CCC. Several buildings, roads, and levees from this program are still being used at Aransas and stand as legacies for many more years to come.

Other than jobs, the underlying goals of the CCC were: to rehabilitate the nation’s forests, to control soil erosion on public and private lands, & to develop national and state parks. This last goal was particularly evident in Texas, where 31 state parks were created under the CCC. Texas, in fact, had one of the largest CCC programs, containing at its peak as many as 97 camps and employing nearly 20,000 men.

On November 9, 1967 and May 15, 1968, the Tatton Unit was added to the Refuge by Deed of Gift from Mr. & Mrs. Meredith Tatton “…for protecting and enhancing the habitat required by wildlife species present in the area…” In 1978, portions of the Tatton Unit were designated as endangered whooping crane critical habitat. This unit serves as an excellent example of remnant coastal prairie and has been used as a hacking site for endangered Aplomado falcon reintroduction efforts.

Matagorda Island was formed about 4500 years ago. The first peoples to inhabit the barrier island were the nomadic Karankawas who gathered fruits and roots, hunted birds and mammals with bow and arrow, and made cane weirs to trap fish, turtles, and shellfish. They were coastal specialists utilizing local seafoods, plants, and shells to survive the tough environment. Their first contact with Europeans was in the winter of 1528 when they met two boatloads of half-dead Spaniards from the Narvaez expedition. Later more survivors came in, including Cabeza de Vaca. In 1685, Frenchman La Salle established a camp on the northern tip of Matagorda Island while his ships were navigating PassCavallo. Later years brought colonizers and conflict. The Spanish tried to missionize the Karankaws. Eventually, through disease, harassment, social disintegration, genetic dilution, habitat destruction, and utter dispair, the Karankaw were gone.

From 1528 into 1817, explorers, smugglers, pirates and Spanish buccaneers appeared in and around Matagorda Island. And along with those come stories of shipwreck, mutiny, and treasure usually associated with Jean Lafitte.

From 1820 through 1835, under the Mexican empresario land-grant system, colonists began moving into the area. Stephen F. Austin, Martin de Leon, Green DeWitt, James Power, and James Hewetson were some of the first empresarios of the area. In 1835, Colonel James Power became the first owner of record for Matagorda Island. He established the townsite of Saluria on the northwestern tip.

In 1852, because boat ship traffic and shipping disastes increased in Pass Cavallo, the federal government erected a full-scale lighthouse. Captain James Cummings was the first lighthouse keeper.

Civil War times from 1861-1865 brought the desire to close cotton trade ports and sever military supply lines along the coastline of Texas. It had a devestating impact on commuities causing vast destruction of facilities, complete disruption of society, misery and hardship, and resentment and dispair. Less than one week after war was declared, a Confederate warship was headed for Saluria where Union soldiers were unloading. Many skirmishes occurred in the area including one with Union gunboats coming to enforce the blockade of Pass Cavallo. Saluria was burned to the ground by the Confederates and although ordered to demolish the lighthouse, soldiers were unable to blow it up and only took out the lens. Fort Esparanza was established in 1861 by Confederate Major Daniel Shea. To protect the fort from flank and rear assault by land, a

series of "fieldworks" or rifle pits, was dug from the pass to bayside marshes. All that remains of the "fieldworks" is an area referred to as the "Confederate trenches", an overgrown zigzag line of knee-deep ditches extending from the Gulf beach acress the uplands and to the bayside marshes at Lighthouse Cove. It is located over 2 miles from the first one and may have been an outer perimeter line. In 1865, the blockade was lifted and occupation troops left in 1869. After the war, the lighthouse was rebuilt and relocated two miles inland. Saluria had been demolished and upcoming hurricanes of 1875 and 1886 ravaged the little that stood. After the 1886 hurricane, many of the residents abandoned the area and moved inland to Victoria and Cuero.

After early attempts at colonization failed, Matagorda Island eased into the 20th century pretty much out of sight and out of mind, occasionally visited by local anglers, hunters, and beachcombers, but otherwise remaining the private domain of a few hardy ranching families.

Heavy barge traffic commenced when the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway was dredged across Matagorda Bay in 1939.

In 1942 most of Matagorda Island was taken over for use by the U.S. Air Force. For thirty years, it was strickly off-limits to the public, and was managed by the military as the Matagorda Bombing and Gunnery Range. There were several runways, 44 buildings, cement bunkers, signal beacons, and spotting towers spread over most the island.

In 1971, the Matagorda Island Unit of the Aransas NWR was established when the Air Force agreed to let the FWS manage, for the benefit of migratory birds and whooping cranes and other wildlife, the part of the island that the federal government owned. The air base closed in 1978. By 1982, the 19,000 acre property was turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for permanent inclusion in the National Wildlife Refuge System for migratory bird conservation. In 1979, 26,000 acres of beaches and tidal flats was returned to the state of Texas and designated the Matagorda Island State Park and Wildlife Management Area under the supervision of Texas Parks and Wildlife. The remaining 11,500 acres reverted to private use.

On September 9, 1982, Toddie Lee Wynne, owner of the southern 11,500 acres and Space Services Inc. of America, a Houston-based operation determined to prove that private enterprise had the ability to do business in outer space, launched a rocket from Matagorda Island. It went up 195 miles up carrying a 1000 lb. mock payload before arcing down to splash into the Gulf of Mexico 10.5 minutes later.

Established in 1971, Matagorda Island NWR had additions made to it in 1983, 1988 and 2000. Beginning November 20, 1971, Matagorda Island Air Force Range (19,000 ac.) was administered cooperatively as part of the Aransas NWR for the protection of migratory birds and whooping cranes. On December 8, 1982 these federal lands were placed into the National Wildlife Refuge System. Refuge lands (19,000 ac.) and the State lands (beaches, tidal flats) were then combined for management purposes through Memorandum of Agreement. This Agreement ratified by Congress August 4, 1983 established the Matagorda Island State Park and Wildlife Management Area, a Unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System. In 1988, the Department of Interior acquired fee title to the lower 11,502 acres of Matagorda Island. In 1994, through a revised Memorandum of Agreement, the entire island was combined under the title Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge and State Natural Area. The 1994 Agreement delineates current programmatic management responsibilities.

Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) is responsible for public use and USFWS is responsible for wildlife and habitat management. On December 8, 2000 the Refuge acquired 15.29 acres in a title transfer of the Matagorda Island Lighthouse from the U.S. Coast Guard. Today 30,517 acres are owned in fee by the federal government, including 6.9 acres in Port O’Connor. The Texas General Land Office holds fee title to 26,166 acres, making a total of 56,683 acres comprising Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge and State Natural Area. The Lamar Unit, 733 acres, was purchased in 1993. This unit was designated as endangered whooping crane critical habitat. An additional shoreline property, 245 acres, is being negotiated for purchase as critical whooping crane habitat with an easement on the owner’s remaining 584 acres. This area is currently closed to the public.

The Myrtle Foester-Whitmire Unit, 3,440 acres, was purchased on May 21, 1993 for waterfowl management, shorebird habitat management, moist soil management and native prairie restoration. Cooperative farming, permitee grazing, water level manipulation and prescribed burning are management tools utilized here. This area is currently closed to the public.

The Lamar Unit, 733 acres, was also purchased in 1993. It is designated as critical habitat for endangered whooping cranes. An adjacent coastal marsh property is under conservation easement with the property owner.

References: “A Naturalist’s Guide – Aransas” by Wayne H. McAlister and Martha K. McAlister, "A Naturalists Guide - Matagorda Island" by Wayne H. McAlister and Martha K. McAlister, “The History of Refugio County, Texas”, “Refugio: A Comprehensive History of Refugio County from Aboriginal Times to 1953” by Hobart Huson.
Refuge Visitor Center Exhibits
Comprehensive Conservation Plan documents