Boca Chica Village
| Boca Chica Village | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
 Cameron County, Texas |
|
| Coordinates: 25°59′29″N 97°11′1″W / 25.99139°N 97.18361°WCoordinates: 25°59′29″N 97°11′1″W / 25.99139°N 97.18361°W | |
| Country |  United States of America |
| State |
 Texas
|
| County | Cameron |
| Kennedy Shores | 1967 |
| Kopernik Shores | 1975 |
| Elevation | 1 m (3 ft) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 26 |
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Bridges | Veterans Bridge, B&M Bridge |
Boca Chica Village, formerly Kennedy Shores and later Kopernik Shores, is a small unincorporated community in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It lies 20 miles east of the City of Brownsville, Texas, and forms part of the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville and the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan areas. It is situated on Texas State Highway 4, immediately south of the South Bay lagoon, and is a two miles northwest of the mouth of the Rio Grande.
The village rose to prominence after it was identified as the possible location for the construction of the SpaceX South Texas Launch Site, a selection that was made final in August 2014.
The town was founded as Kennedy Shores in 1967 by John Caputa, a Chicagoan property developer, and was initially aimed at working class Polish migrants. Shortly after building a community of about 30 ranch-style houses, the settlement was devastated by Hurricane Beulah later that year, which destroyed the restaurant and public utility systems. Electricity was restored, but many of the homes did not have potable water even decades later.
In 1975, local resident Stanley Piotrowicz was voted in as town mayor, who renamed the village Kopernik Shores after Nicolaus Copernicus, and attempted to have the village recognised as an incorporated community, but this was denied. In 1990 and 2000, the population was 26 people.
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