South Padre Island is a unique, friendly seaside resort community that values its residents and tourists, preserves and protects the natural environment, and provides for quality sustainable growth and development that is highly diverse and responsive to changing economic conditions

South Padre Island is a barrier island with a rich coastal identity. It was founded on the vision of John Tompkins and plotted in 1950. The community was incorporated in 1973. The first causeway opened in 1954. The updated Queen Isabella Causeway was opened in 1975 and population growth followed.