Port Isabel

Coastal town in Cameron County, southern Texas, USA, on Laguna Madre and South Bay, opposite the southern end of Padre Island, 34 km/21 mi northeast of Brownsville; population (1990) 4,500. A resort, fishing centre, and port on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, it is connected to Brownsville by a shipping channel. Originally named Point Isabel, it was General Zachary Taylor's supply base in the Mexican War (1846–48); he became US president in 1849.