Editing Port Aransas, Texas (section)

===The Tarpon Inn===
[[File:Tarpon inn.jpg|thumb|The [[Tarpon Inn]] is on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Nueces County, Texas]].]]

The [[Tarpon Inn]] was built in 1886 with surplus lumber from Civil War barracks. It was built to house workers building the south jetty (known then as the Mansfield Jetty). In 1886, when the jetty was finished, the structure was converted into a hotel and called the Tarpon Inn. It was opened by Frank Stephenson and sold to Mary Hatfield and her son, Ed Cotter in 1897. After the [[1919 Florida Keys Hurricane|1919 hurricane]] destroyed the main structure, the inn was sold again in 1923 to James M. Ellis, who rebuilt the inn to resemble the old barracks.

When the Tarpon Inn was rebuilt in 1923, many of the new pilings were placed in concrete, with the ends extending up through the entire structure and into the attic. Because the Tarpon Inn was built with impressive reinforcements and a protected shelter, it has housed many residents during storms and has served as headquarters for the [[Red Cross]], the [[Salvation Army]], and military units.<ref name="Tarpon Inn Website">{{cite web |url=http://www.thetarponinn.com |title=Tarpon Inn Website }}</ref>

Two of the walls of the Tarpon Inn are covered with [[tarpon]] scales. Each of the scales has the signature and hometown of the angler who caught the tarpon and the length, weight, and date of the catch. Some of the people who have stayed at the Tarpon Inn include: President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], who fished there in 1937; [[Duncan Hines]], who spent his [[honeymoon]] there; [[Hedy Lamarr]]; [[Victor McLaglen]]; [[Aimee Semple McPherson]]; [[Clyde Beatty]]; [[Bob Lilly]]; and physicist [[Edward Teller]].

In 1979, the Tarpon Inn was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] and was recognized as a Texas Historic Landmark.<ref name="Tarpon Inn Website"/>