|
OF THE TXGenWeb PROJECT |
 Old Postcard courtesy Txgenweb postcards index Contacts |
Edith Edmands Prailes in an interview with Dorothy Langley Goetsch in 1976 told the story of meeting her future husband, Carl Prailes, on the train coming from Chicago to the Kleberg County area. Both families had purchased land from the Rotenbeck and Koch Land Company of Chicago. According to Mrs. Prailes, the company had contacted the Preuss family about the beautiful land being opened up in south Texas. Mr. Preuss said, "why don't we go down there and look at that property." As a result the Edmands family purchased a small tract and moved to the area in 1913. The Prailes family arrived in Riviera at the same time where they had purchased 300 acres. However, it was not long until they returned to Chicago without building. Only Carl Prailes remained with his bride, Edith Edmands.
In 1935, Orlando Underbrink purchased the coastal property from Carl Prailes. Underbrink named it Loyola Beach after his father, Ignatius Loyola Underbrink. Orlando built a store, a fish house and a bathhouse. He also built little cottages along the beach. Mrs Blanche Wright, an early settler, persuaded Orlando to let her take over the beach house to sell hamburgers. Her venture began July 4, 1935. The business increased with the many visitors from the north, east and west who came to purchase land and with the beach lovers of nearby Corpus Christi. It became known as Wright's Inn after she bought it.
Mrs Durham leased the inn to R. C. Durham, who changed the name to King's Inn. The King's Inn is mentioned as the temporary home to early settlers while they waited to build a house. This also became home to many men assigned to the Naval Air Station in Kingsville during the Second World War.
The destructive Hurricane Beulah of 1967 did a great deal of damage to the inn requiring extensive renovation. This was done by Mr. & Mrs. H. C. Ware who operated the Inn since 1945. In the 1970s the Inn was still known as the Inn that "serves family style cooking".
SOURCES: Goetsch, Dorothy Langley. The Edith Edmund Prailes Family"
Kleberg County, Texas; Kleberg County Historic Commission, 1979;
p.921.
Tyler, Lucinda M. Loyola Beach, Texas;" St.Clair;, Little Towns of
Texas.Kleberg County, Texas (Jacksonville, TX: Jayroe Graphics,
1982).