Aransas Pass, across Redfish Bay from Port Aransas in Aransas, San Patricio, and Nueces counties, is named for the pass between Mustang and St. Joseph's islands. The town's early developers wanted to found a great deep water port city on the Gulf of Mexico. The United States Army Corps of Engineers studied the possibility of a deep water port at Aransas Pass harbor in 1853. Congress passed a resolution in 1879 authorizing the deepening of Aransas Pass. But attempts by private groups were unsuccessful. In 1890 the Aransas Pass Harbor Company and the Aransas Harbor City and Improvement Company were chartered. The Harbor Company planned to dig a channel from the Gulf to the site where the Harbor City Company proposed to develop Harbor City. Russell B. Harrison, son of the late president William Henry Harrison, and Thomas Benton Wheeler, former lieutenant governor of Texas, were two of the key organizers. Nationwide publicity generated interest from all over the United States. Plans were soon made to accommodate and impress the flood of prospective investors expected to arrive by rail and sea to inspect the new port city. The ambitious dream, however, was over a few years later when the challenges were insurmountable. In 1899 the United States Corps of Engineers was authorized to tackle the project. By 1907 a second jetty had been installed, and a deep water channel had been extended to Harbor Island. Deep water had finally arrived after a long 50 year struggle.
Investors who owned these bonds would make regular visits to their banks to cut out and redeem the coupons and collect their interest, so the wealthy citizens of this era became known as "Coupon Clippers."
