Those Places Thursday: La Armada, Corpus Christi, Texas, 1940s.

Recently someone in a Facebook group related to Corpus Christi history asked about La Armada.  This is a housing project that still exists in the city, but it was originally built in 1940-41 to accommodate Navy enlisted men and civilian military employees as the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station (CCNAS) expanded.

My husband's family was eligible to live there, as my father-in-law, Francis Edward Gresham (1911-1990), was a Department of Defense contract employee at CCNAS from at least March 23, 1942, to at least April 13, 1944 (when he enlisted in the Navy and was sent to the Hydrographic Office near Washington DC), and then again from March 1946 (after his release from military service) to January 1949 (when he was transferred to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida).  Here is a picture of my husband Mark from that first time period.

The first time, the Greshams lived at 3765 Brandywine Court in the development.  That building was renovated in 2016-17.  The Greshams lived in 3829 Blanco Courts during the 1946-49 time period.

There are some images from La Armada's construction at the Library of Congress taken by Russell Lee (1903-1986) in Corpus Christi in December 1940 for the U.S. Farm Security Administration.

Above:  Sign at U.S.H.A. project under construction. Corpus Christi, Texas...

Below:  View of housing units...  Both photos by Russell Lee, December 1940.

No known copyright restrictions - U.S. Government works.

A site plan for the first phase of La Armada is in the Charles H.F. von Blucher Family Papers, Collection 4 [Conrad Blucher Survey Collection], Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Special Collections and Archives Department, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.  A 1940s aerial photograph of La Armada is part of the Corpus Christi Public Libraries Digital Archives.


© Amanda Pape - 2019 - e-mail me!