#TBT: Corpus Christi's Czech community began with Stanley Kostoryz
Travel down Kostoryz Road in Corpus Christi and you’ll see the influence the early Czech community had in the city.
The Nueces County Historical Commission will host a historical marker dedication at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, at Moravian Hall, 5601 Kostoryz Road. The new marker commemorates Stanley L. Kostoryz, namesake of the road and a Czech entrepreneur in Corpus Christi’s history.
The new historical marker will complement the existing marker for Moravian Hall, which was installed and dedicated in 2008. The Moravian Club and Hall celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
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Sam Morris researched Moravian Hall back when the marker was created in 2008 and conducted the research for the new Stanley Kostoryz marker. Morris is currently the treasurer of the Moravian Club.
“Our grandparents were the founders back in 1923,” Morris said. “My grandfather was the first president.”
Stanley Kostoryz
The Czech community in Corpus Christi stemmed from Stanley Kostoryz’s original land venture known as the Bohemian Colony Lands.
Kostoryz was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1866 and immigrated to the United States in 1886. Kostoryz was an entrepreneur and seemed to indulge his wanderlust when he could. He headed for Chicago and began working in the newspaper industry. Two years later he moved to Nebraska and worked in a general store before enrolling in the Western Normal College in Lincoln the following year and earning a teaching certificate in 1893. He taught for four years, then went back to journalism, purchasing an English-language paper in 1898 in Omaha and converting it into a Czech-Bohemian weekly newspaper named Osveta, which translates to “Enlightenment.” The newspaper eventually became the first Czech-language daily newspaper in Nebraska, and Kostoryz started other local newspapers in the area.
Kostoryz married Alice Ruzicka in December 1896, and they had three children: Klara, Ervin and Lillian. In 1902, Kostoryz was ready for another change. He sold his newspapers and headed south.
He arrived in South Texas and in 1904 purchased the Grim Ranch, formerly Rabb Ranch, about 7,800 acres southwest of Corpus Christi, with the intent to sell parcels of farmland. He named it the Bohemian Colony Lands and advertised in Czech-language newspapers around the country. After selling 1,100 acres in less than a year, he brought his family to Corpus Christi in 1906.
Soon other Czech families followed, many coming from Central Texas to farm the cheaper, uncultivated land. Many took to calling the area Kostoryz, and in 1907 a school district was established and a one-room schoolhouse built in 1909.
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That same year, Kostoryz purchased an additional 1,800 acres, and the road leading to that development became Kostoryz Road, which remains the name today. Morris said the original Bohemian Colony Lands covered the area between the present-day McArdle Road, Oso Creek, Greenwood Drive and Everhart Road.
Kostoryz then became interested in cotton marketing and shipping and began plans for shipping the commodity back to Czechoslovakia. In 1921, Kostoryz sold the last parcel of the land development and headed to Prague to begin his new business venture while his family remained in the United States. He let his passport expire and worked as an English professor in Prague, never returning to the U.S. He died in 1942.
Moravian Club
In 1923, the community members formed the Moravian Recreational Lodge of Nueces County (eventually renamed the Moravian Club) for socialization and entertainment. They built Moravian Hall within a few months, and the first event, a public dance, was held in January 1924.
By 1939, the club had outgrown the initial hall and decided to expand. A site was purchased from landowners Rudolph and Frantiska Polasek near Oso Creek, and a larger club was built. Less than a year later in 1940, the new building and land were condemned by the U.S. government via eminent domain and became part of Cabaniss Field.
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With the money received from the government, a third club was built on Kostoryz near what is now Holly Road, and the club still stands today.
Morris has cousins who also serve on the board, and they are the third generation keeping the club and hall operating.
“About 98% of the events are public events, with just a small percentage of weddings, parties and funerals for the shareholders,” Morris said. “We’re here to keep that tradition and heritage and legacy alive until we’re gone.”
Allison Ehrlich writes about things to do in South Texas and has a weekly Throwback Thursday column on local history.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: #TBT: Corpus Christi's Czech community began with Stanley Kostoryz
