A Mexican village settled by Mexican ranchers in the 1700s developed on this point and was abandoned before the U.S. declaration of war with Mexico in 1846. U.S. forces led by General Zachary Taylor occupied the point on March 24, 1846, and Taylor erected a depot here to receive supplies from New Orleans. The six-sided fort, named for President Polk, had four sides of earthen embankments and two sides open to the shoreline. The fort was abandoned in 1850, but the settlement it attracted eventually developed into Port Isabel. Remnants of the fort were visible until the 1920s.