Boca Chica Village, Texas

Boca Chica Village
Unincorporated community

Cameron County, Texas
Coordinates: 25°59′29″N 97°11′1″W / 25.99139°N 97.18361°W / 25.99139; -97.18361Coordinates: 25°59′29″N 97°11′1″W / 25.99139°N 97.18361°W / 25.99139; -97.18361
Country  United States of America
State Texas Texas
County  Cameron
Kennedy Shores 1967
Kopernik Shores 1975
Elevation 1 m (3 [1] ft)
Population (2000)
 • Total 26
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)

Boca Chica Village, formerly Kennedy Shores and later Kopernik Shores, is a small unincorporated community in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It lies 20 miles east of the City of Brownsville, Texas, and forms part of the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville and the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan areas. It is situated on Texas State Highway 4, immediately south of the South Bay lagoon, and is a two miles northwest of the mouth of the Rio Grande.

The village rose to prominence after it was identified as the possible location for the construction of the SpaceX South Texas Launch Site,[2] a selection that was made final in August 2014.

History

The town was founded as Kennedy Shores in 1967 by John Caputa, a Chicagoan property developer, and was initially aimed at working class Polish migrants.[3] Shortly after building a community of about 30 ranch-style houses, the settlement was devastated by Hurricane Beulah later that year, which destroyed the restaurant and public utility systems. Electricity was restored, but many of the homes did not have potable water even decades later.[4]

In 1975, local resident Stanley Piotrowicz was voted in as town mayor, who renamed the village Kopernik Shores after Nicolaus Copernicus, and attempted to have the village recognised as an incorporated community, but this was denied. In 1990 and 2000, the population was 26 people.

As of 2008, only six people were permanently living in the village,[5] and that number was unchanged in 2016, with an average of approximately 20 seasonal residents.[4]

In 2012, Californian space exploration company SpaceX named Boca Chica as a possible location for the construction of their future private commercial launch site, which subsequently became the competition leader, with the potential to bring some US$80 million of investment to the area.[2][6][7] In August 2014 SpaceX announced that they had selected the Texas Boca Chica location for the new spaceport.[8]

Boca Chica Beach

Boca Chica beach is a sandy peninsula separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande River. The State of Texas owns land on Boca Chica which is designated Boca Chica State Park, although there are no park facilities on this land.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kopernik Shores Populated Place Profile / Cameron County, Texas Data". Texas.hometownlocator.com. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
  2. 1 2 Perez-Treviño, Emma (2014-02-19). "SpaceX continues local land purchases". Valley Morning Star. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
  3. ↑ "KOPERNIK SHORES, TX | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)". Tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
  4. 1 2 Martinez, Domingo (August 2016). "Countdown to Liftoff". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  5. ↑ "Boca Chica Village, formerly Kopernik Shores, Texas". Texasescapes.com. 2008-02-09. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
  6. ↑ Tony Freemantle (2012-12-04). "South Texas NIMBYs oppose spaceport". SFGate. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
  7. ↑ "SpaceX buys more land in Cameron County - Valley Morning Star : Local News". Valley Morning Star. 2013-11-23. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
  8. ↑ Berger, Eric (2015-02-20). "Texas, SpaceX announce spaceport deal near Brownsville". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  9. ↑ Danno Wise, Visiting Boca Chica Beach. Retrieved 2014-02-20.

External links


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