Surveying South Texas: The Development of the RGVSurveying South Texas:
Special to The Donna News
Earlier this year, a new book on local history was released which bears directly on the development of greater South Texas, including Mercedes and Hidalgo County.
This monograph, Thomas H. Kreneck, Blucher: A Family, a Legacy, and a Research Resource at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, In Collaboration with Lori Atkins & With Research Assistance by Amanda Kowalski (Corpus Christi: South Texas Imprints, 2022), came as a result of a two year project and was sponsored by the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science and the Mary and Jeff Bell Library of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
The work explains concisely who the Corpus Christi, Texas, Blucher family was as well as outlines some of that family’s important imprints on the city, on South Texas surveying, and on A&M-Corpus Christi. It details the origins, archival development, and use of the massive research materials that bear the Blucher name and are housed within the Bell Library’s Special Collections & Archives.
These holdings comprise the Charles F. H. von Blucher Family Papers and its series the Conrad Blucher Surveying Collection (CBSC). The book’s author was the longtime head of Special Collections & Archives at A&M-Corpus Christi and was largely responsible for working with the Blucher family to bring those items to the university.
Among many details of local interest, the monograph notes how the Blucher ancestors helped to establish the German American presence in Corpus Christi from the late 1840s forward and their establishment of what became known as “Blucherville,” a distinct area on the bluff overlooking Corpus Christi Bay in the city itself which still contains three of the Blucher family’s distinctive homes.
It also explains the family’s 1942 donation to the city of Blucher Park. This approximately 3.65 acres has long been the destination of bird watchers on what is called “The Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail along the Central Flyway.”
The Bluchers are best known for their three generations of land surveyors, which included Felix A. Blucher, Charles F. H. von Blucher, and Conrad Meuly Blucher who were the official Nueces County Surveyors over a period of a century, 1850s-1950s. The CBSC, which includes a massive number of maps and related surveying documents either created or compiled by these three individuals, contains numerous records pertaining to Hidalgo and surrounding counties as well as individual communities in the lower Rio Grande region. The collection includes a large, spectacular hand-drawn map of South Texas made during the 1870s by Felix Blucher that shows the historic Spanish era porciones located along the Rio Grande. Felix Blucher died on a surveying expedition in 1879 in adjoining Cameron County.
On June 23, 2022, the Bell Library held a reception for the book in the University’s Special Collections & Archives area. The event was attended by approximately one hundred individuals including Blucher family members, supporters, and friends from the campus and larger community.
The monograph has a limited printing.
A print copy might be obtained by contacting the Conrad Blucher Institute or the Special Collections of the Bell Library. The latter can be reached at specialcollections@tamucc.edu or 361-825-2300. The book is fully accessible online at https://tamucc-ir.tdl.org/handle/1969.6/90253.
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