On August 16, 1951 Corpus Christi Mayor Leslie Wasserman and Police Chief Roy Lay were on hand to declare the opening of the city's new $285,000 "Safety Center" at Brownlee and Buffalo. The new building would house the police headquarters, a 90-cell city jail, and "Corporation Court" (municipal court).
Since 1913, the police had to share quarters with city offices (and, for some of those years, with the Central Fire Station) in the old City Hall building on Mesquite. Not only were the police now getting their own building, a new City Hall was being built on Shoreline.
The architect for the new police building was the great Morris Levy. He was also named chief architect for converting the old City Hall into the new La Retama Library. But, back to the new police building.
If you grew up in Corpus Christi back in the 1950s and 60s, you no doubt came into contact with this building...probably more than a few times. For many of you, it may have been to take defensive driving classes that were offered there. For others, it was the place where one took care of traffic and parking tickets.
Below is a photo that I took of the building in 2015.
It had been abandoned since 1990 after police made the move to the old CP&L building on Laguna at Chaparral. The city and CCPD had outgrown the old police building. The old building also retained memories of a most tragic incident that took place on August 19, 1971.
Rookie patrolman John W. Sartain, was gunned down by a lone sniper. The killer fired a single shot from an apartment across the street from the police station as Sartain exited the building to begin his shift. The sixteen-year-old sniper was arrested just two days after the murder. He was later convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison, although he was paroled in 1984.
In 1991, Laguna Street (site of today's police headquarters) was renamed John W. Sartain Street in honor of the slain patrolman.
In 2018, the old abandoned station on Brownlee found itself directly in the way of the new high bridge south approach. It was completely demolished and has become part of Corpus Christi's historic memory.
The move to a “new” building by CCPD would take place in 1991.
In a 1986 bond election, voters had approved $5.1 million for a brand new building, but that is not what would happen. Instead, the city would purchase a historic building on Chaparral at Laguna that was originally built to house the new Gulf Coast District Headquarters of the Central Power and Light Company in 1932.
The Wood-Sherman Company was awarded the construction contract. This is the same company that had recently built the Ritz Theater. CP&L headquarters had previously been in the Nixon Building up on the Bluff. The new building was designed by San Antonio architect John Marriott. A third story was added to the Chaparral building in 1937 and two additional floors added in 1955.
The exterior of the building was remodeled in 1957. One of those unattractive modern facades replaced the ornate features of the original building. One could always spot the location of the CP&L building by the huge smokestack of the old power plant that once occupied a portion of the site. The old power plant and ice house were demolished in 1965.
In 1987, before it merged with American Electric Power in 2000, Central Power & Light moved to a new, 16-story office tower on Carancahua. In October 1988, the city spent $1.4 million to purchase the old five-story CP&L building to house the police department and municipal courtroom. The old building contained 27,000 more square feet than the 65,000 square feet planned for a brand new building.
Once purchased, work would begin on renovating the new headquarters of CCPD. Originally scheduled to be completed by late 1989, the $3.9 million renovation project lasted much longer than expected. The municipal courts and police department did not move in until March 1991. CCPD now had a centrally located building with more than enough space for its needs and equipped with a modern computerized communications system.
And another historic downtown building was saved from demolition.
Robert Parks is a special contributor to KRIS 6 News. Parks was a history teacher at Carroll High School for 19 years and is now retired. His knowledge of Corpus Christi history makes him a unique expert in the subject.
