The story goes that the old house that has been moved at least three times originally was a kit house that was purchased and shipped to Port Aransas around 1910 when the jetties were first under construction.
The house was shipped in parts by train, then was loaded onto a barge and delivered to the Mercers, who were a family of pilots.
The house has endured storms, social upheavals, boom times and depression, and has borne witness to the history of Port Aransas from its beginning in 1910.
There is some disagreement about whose house it was, however, and members of old-time Port Aransas families were on hand Wednesday, Dec. 10, to tell their versions of this coastal city’s history and what they know about the house.
Those families are the Brundretts, the Bujans, Mathews and Mercers. The museum has old Mercer family logs in its collection, thanks to the late Eva Rae Mercer Westmoreland.
The public is invited to view the Mercer house, home of the new Port Aransas Museum, from 6 to 8 p.m. today at the Community Center complex, 408 N. Alister St. (See related story.)
According to a written history of the house, it was a kit house, but the brand is unknown. It very likely arrived by train at a loading dock at the Morris and Cummings cut, then loaded onto a barge.
Where it was first located is unknown, as the only photos of it show sand dunes and dune vegetation in the background.
It could have been anywhere on the island.
The house was moved to a location near the Tarpon Inn before the 1919 hurricane hit Port Aransas, and it soon came into use as the new U.S. Lifesav- ing station after the old one was destroyed by a 1916 storm.
That storm was the worst in the island’s history, but the old house survived the onslaught.
The Loomis family opened the first mercantile store in town, and they are the ones who moved it for a second time to Oleander Street.
The Gaulding family then purchased the house and the Port Aransas Mercantile – the house was part of the bargain. There are no known photographs of the Gaulding family.
The Allens were next in line. Bea and Sam Allen purchased the store and the house and raised their kids in Port Aransas. They broke with tradition when they sold the house and kept the mercantile.
Buddy and Ruby Harris bought the house and opened a real estate business, which later became Grosse Realty.
Buddy retired and he and his wife moved away, and Georgia and Duncan Neblett bought the house when they moved to Port Aransas from Houston.
They raised their three children in the house, and Duncan continues to serve as municipal judge and justice of the peace. Georgia served as a mayor and as a school board member, and currently serves as program coordinator (executive director) for the Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve System, a component of The University of Texas at Austin’s Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas.
The Nebletts sold the house to the Robert Morrison family of San Antonio to use as a second home.
The Morrisons then donated the house to the Port Aransas Preservation and Historical Association, and the house was moved to its current location. It has been undergoing $833,000 worth of renovations (including the price of the house) for the past few months, and by press time the interior walls were being hung with old photos and other artifacts that tell the story of Port Aransas. The museum also will house a gift shop that showcases items that are unique to the city.
“The house is a vehicle that we’re using to tell the history of Port Aransas,” Rick Pratt, chairman of the museum’s opening committee, explained.
“The house is the device that moves you through the story,” he said.
The association worked for two years to secure the new location for the Port Aransas Museum headquarters, next door to the Community Center and the focus of $32,000 worth of landscaping by the Port Aransas Garden Club.
“There was much heavy lifting involved, and a lot of skepticism around town, but here it sits, and the testimony of the thing itself is powerful,” the written history reads.
Pratt said the museum has come about by numerous monetary donations and a lot of sweat equity by volunteers who wanted the project to come to fruition.
The Port Aransas Museum is part of the preservation association’s larger aim to restore the city’s “Old Town” to its former glory, possibly with the foundation of a historical district.
The museum opening committee also is conducting an “Whose house was it?” campaign, and is seeking input from everyone who has an opinion about the past life of what is called the Mercer house.
“Anyone with a memory or a theory, with or without fact to back it up, is asked to call Pratt at (361) 749-3193, or e-mail any theories to camric@the-i.net.
Anyone who wants to learn more about Port Aransas and the efforts to preserve its history should visit www. portausa.com.
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