Calallen

Calallen was a rural settlement in Nueces County established by the Calvin Townsite Company on August 18, 1910. The firm’s president was prominent local cattleman Calvin J. Allen (1859-1922), for whom the town was named. An abundant water supply and the settlement’s location on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Rail line made Calallen an important agricultural center in the region. Its greatest period of growth came from the 1920s to the 1940s, when it had a hotel, funeral home, lumberyard, post office, doctor’s office, bank, churches, a variety of stores, and a school district formed in 1914. Major employers included a Corpus Christi water plant and the vegetable packing firm of C.E. Coleman. Residents included some of the prominent cattlemen and business leaders of south Texas. Calallen declined as new roads drove dramatic growth in Corpus Christi, and although the Calallen school remained in operation, the rural town was annexed by Corpus Christi in 1970. Today the area remains a reminder of early residents who were vital to the growth of Nueces County.

Corpus Christi, Texas · United States