Conrad Blucher

Please click below for exhibit audio orated by Dr. Thomas H. Kreneck, Archivist and former Director of Special Collections and Archives at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

It would be Conrad, the second oldest child, who took over from his father Charles as Nueces County Surveyor. Conrad Meuly von Blucher was born on June 20, 1885, at his family’s residence in Corpus Christi, Texas to parents C.F.H. von Blucher and Mary E. Meuly Blucher.

Conrad was a likely choice, having the Blucher tradition at his back and being a thoroughly competent surveyor in his own right. He had graduated from Corpus Christi High School in 1902 as the class valedictorian. He went on to the University of Texas where he earned his degree in civil engineering in 1906.  

Returning to Corpus Christi, Conrad worked with Charles, but also spent several years as assistant City Engineer.  During World War I, Conrad bolstered his skills by serving briefly as a first lieutenant of engineers in the United States Army. By the late 1920s, he was head of his own firm, Blucher Engineering Company, which was well known around the city and county.

When his father decided to retire in 1934 as County Surveyor after approximately a half century, Conrad succeeded him in that elected office.  Conrad retained the position of Nueces County Surveyor through election from 1934 until he retired in 1954 thus extending the Blucher presence in that office to an almost unbroken chain of one hundred years extending back to 1852 from when his grandfather Felix first began.

Conrad also owned, managed, and continued to build the family surveying records developed over the years by Felix and Charles and since housed in the County Surveyor’s office. That body of documents would also contain Conrad Blucher’s materials and bear his name for posterity. 

The Blucher influence in the County Surveyor’s office was perpetuated when Conrad’s assistant and protégé William W. (Bill) Green succeeded him in 1954. The Blucher surveying records would remain at the courthouse because Conrad had left them under Bill Green’s care. Green would hold elective office until 1994.

In 1977 Conrad M. Blucher passed away at the age of 92.