Islands of the Oil Kings: Part 2 -- A fortress of power built to last

[TexasTowelie]

Main photo: The private residence owned by the Bass family on San Jose Island. Perry Bass built the home for his uncle Sid Richardson in 1938. (G.J. McCarthy/Staff Photographer)

When Franklin Roosevelt left the private Texas islands of oilmen Clint Murchison Sr. and Sid Richardson, the 165-foot presidential yacht Potomac cruised up the coastline to Galveston and Roosevelt’s first meeting with Lyndon Johnson. Almost immediately, work began on a new home for Richardson on his island, San Jose, then known as St. Joseph, or St. Jo for short.

Under the ownership of Richardson and his heirs, Fort Worth’s Bass family, five presidents would visit St. Jo.

Richardson’s nephew and partner, Perry Bass, was there to greet four. He missed welcoming Franklin Roosevelt ashore by a few brief weeks.

In May 1937, the presidential yacht sat anchored in the channel behind San Jose, within sight of the docks of Rockport and Port Aransas.

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