St. Mary's of Aransas is a ghost town near the present community of Bayside in Refugio County, Texas, United States. It served as a settlement and major port until the emergence of Rockport in the late 19th century.
St. Mary's of Aransas was founded around 1850, two miles north of the settlement of Black Point, near the port of Copano, by developer Joseph F. Smith. The town soon grew into a major port and became a leading lumber and construction-material center on the Texas coast.[1] Other goods shipped included hides, tallow, cattle, and cotton, which were exchanged via wagon to Refugio, Goliad, Beeville and San Antonio.[2]
During the American Civil War, the port was used by blockade runners, and as a result, federal troops attacked and burned down a warehouse and two wharves. A few leading citizens left the town during the war, including Joseph F. Smith.[1] After the war, the Morgan Lines were connected to the town and would make stops at the port. But after an 1875 Hurricane, and a buildup of wreckage in Copano Bay due to shallow reefs, the lines no longer stopped at the town.[2] St. Mary's was named as the county seat of Refugio County in the 1869 Texas Constitution, but lost the designation to the growing port of Rockport in 1871.[3] In the 1880s, the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway was built to Rockport rather than St. Mary's, and an 1886 hurricane destroyed a schoolhouse and the wharves. The town declined further after another storm the next year, and by 1907, the general store and post office were closed.[2]
Between 1909 and 1910, the former site of St. Mary's was annexed by the town of Bayside, which had been founded in 1908, and eventually stretched three and a half miles along Copano Bay from Black Point.[4]