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Port Arans, Texas – The Tarpon Inn is still one of the oldest buildings in Port Arans, not only because it is the strongest structure in the area, but because the owner and the community care deeply about keeping it open and preserving its history.
Originally built in 1862, the Tarpon Inn stands on a strong and solid foundation.
Owner Lee Roy Hoskins used it as a barracks for soldiers during the Civil War and was later converted into a hotel.
For more than a century and a half, the building has made transitions easier, even if not.
“The hotel was damaged by a hurricane in 1916. So when another hurricane hit in 1919, they finished rebuilding,” Hoskin said.
100 years later, Hurricane Harvey hits the Texas coast.
“Windows and doors were blown out. The floors were damaged. The office here was one of the hardest hit parts of the structure,” Hoskins said. “I had a lot of soul searching after the storm.”
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Five years later, that office seems never to have been damaged. The strong building is still decorated with the famous tarpon scale of the 1800s. Since then, people who catch large tarpon fish in Port Arans have taken off the scale, signed it and added it to their collection.
However, a few fresh coats of paint on the building won’t erase the challenges Hoskins has faced over the years.
“Between the hurricanes, the Covid and (Winter Storm Yuri) snow, we’ve had three or four really tough years out of the last five years,” Hoskins said.
After everything he and his crew have been through, they have adopted the attitude of the rest of society – there is a silver lining in everything.
They took time off to restore all the rooms and the on-property restaurant, The Roosevelt. This effort meant more to local residents than Hoskins realized.
While KSAT was touring the building, a woman approached Hoskin, shook his hand and told him her emotional story.
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“My parents lived here every summer for 30 to 40 years until they died this year,” said Brenda Schmidt, who now lives in Port Aransas.
Harvey took over her parents and brother’s house.
“Everything they had was destroyed,” Schmidt said.
But her family, like Hoskins, rebuilt.
“I was thanking him for making this hotel possible. I’m glad there are people who have rebuilt old places and kept the atmosphere that Port Aransas always had,” Schmidt said.
Those kinds of relationships make it worthwhile for Hoskins.
“This is not really an economic decision as much as it is a pride of ownership decision,” he said.
There is a sense of community pride in being from a victorious city that is somehow changing and taking root at the same time during the recovery.
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