Port Aransas stands on Mustang Island, one of seven Texas barrier islands, named for the wild horses that arrived from shipwrecks and Spanish expeditions and once populated the island. The earliest inhabitants were nomadic groups collectively known as the Karankawas, who stayed on or about the islands in winter and fall before moving inland during spring and summer. Robert Ainsworth Mercer (1799-1875), Mustang Island's first settler, arrived in 1855 with his wife Agnes and children Mary Agnes, John, and Edward, and the family built a house and a complex called El Mar Rancho (Sea Ranch). Other settlers soon formed a small community, but it was abandoned during the Civil War after the USS Arthur blockaded Aransas Pass. Federal sailors lived off the land, and after six settlers fired on them on February 11, 1862, the USS Arthur bombarded the island and a landing party caused further property damage, driving the islanders to flee. Settlers returned after the war, many entering the booming cattle industry, and when that declined by the 1880s, islanders turned to turtles and wild ducks and provided goods, services, and guidance to hunting and fishing grounds for workers building the Aransas Pass Jetties. Sportsmen began visiting the island, and by the 1920s tourism had become the basis of its economy; by 1929, two roadways and a ferry service made access easier and further expanded tourist development. Today, Mustang Island remains a popular destination for visitors and home to growing numbers of Texans.
