Site of Old Salt Mill
Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of the earliest industries in Corpus Christi was a mill erected at this site by Captain John Anderson (1813-1898), a Swedish-born seafarer who brought his family to Texas in 1852. Anderson built a house here in the 1850s, when this property was on the waterfront. The mill may have been constructed at that time, although some sources claim that it was not in operation until the 1870s. The wind-powered mill ground salt and corn and cut wood. Chunks of salt were gathered from the shores of Laguna Madre and salt water ponds in the summer and transported here by boat. Much of it was ground fine for table salt and shipped to distant markets. The coarse-grained salt was used in preserving meat and curing hides at the many packing plants that flourished along the Texas coast after the Civil War (1861-1865). The Anderson Mill supplied needed products to Corpus Christi citizens and provided employment for mill workers and freighters. In 1900 the Anderson family demolished the windmill and built a two story residence here. The structure was sold in 1911 to become part of the Nueces Hotel, completed in 1913. The old hotel was razed after it was damaged by hurricane Celia in 1970. (1976)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Captain John Anderson, a Swedish-born seafarer who brought his family to Texas in 1852, built a house on what was then the Corpus Christi waterfront and raised a wind-powered mill here. The mill ground salt and corn and cut wood, working chunks of salt gathered from the shores of the Laguna Madre into fine table salt and coarse curing salt. Much of it supplied the meat-packing and hide plants that flourished along the Texas coast after the Civil War before the family replaced the windmill with a residence in 1900.
Why it matters
This modest windmill captures how early coastal Texas turned local resources into industry, feeding the packing trade that drove the region's economy.
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Related people
- · John Anderson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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