On July 26, 1845, Lt. Chandler of the USS Alabama waded ashore and planted the first American flag to fly over Texas territory on a sand dune on San Jose Island.

A stagecoach service brought passengers, goods and mail to the town, and a ferry connected the island with the mainland.

During the American Civil War, the Union Army removed livestock from the island and assaulted the town of Aransas, of which no obvious trace today remains.

After the war, the island's sole town ceased to exist, and it became an exclusive hunting and fishing resort.

On it he built a lavish hunting lodge at great expense, to which prominent businessmen and politicians, including then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, were invited.