|
Grain
elevator and ship at the port
Photo courtesy Museum of the Gulf Coast |
History
in a 55-Gallon Drum
Arthur Edward Stilwell was born in Rochester, New York
in 1859. As a teenager he ran away from home to "seek his fortune."
His gentile upbringing endeared him to the movers and shakers of the
period and they shared their knowledge with the young man. By 1886,
he had gone from traveling salesman to belt-line railroad promoter.
His first major project was a railway from Kansas City to Sabine
Pass, Texas, but Stilwell got sidetracked in Port Arthur.
In December of 1895 Stilwell and Co. acquired property in Jefferson
County and began platting a city, which he modestly named after
himself. |
The
Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad (which later became the Kansas
City Southern) arrived in Port Arthur in 1897. Late that year Port
Arthur had nearly 1,000 residents. To become a seaport, Port Arthur
needed a canal, so in April 1897 the Port Arthur Channel and Dock
Company began dredging a canal to the to deep water at Sabine
Pass (completed in 1899). Stilwell’s railroad went bankrupt in
1899 and he lost interest in his dream.
In 1900 Stilwell announced an even more ambitious project: to connect
Kansas City to the Pacific Coast (through Mexico). He founded Port
Stilwell in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico. After bankruptcy and another
quest for a Pacific railroad connection, Stilwell turned to writing
books on finance. He then turned to poetry and novels. In his stories
he let it be known that his Port Arthur dreams had been advice from
"brownies." |
Historical Marker:
1300 Proctor St., Port Arthur
Arthur Edward
Stilwell
Son of Charles
H. and Mary Stilwell, was born on October 21, 1859, in Rochester,
New York. Young Arthur was greatly influenced by his grandfather,
railroad builder Hamlin Stilwell, and according to family tradition
vowed to be a railroad builder himself one day.
He married Virginian Jennie A. Wood in 1879 and after many business
successes set his sights on building a railroad system from the farming
region of the midwestern U.S. to the Texas
Gulf Coast. Stilwell established the town of Port Arthur here
on 4,000 acres in 1895. He later extended the Kansas City, Pittsburg,
and Gulf Railroad from Shreveport south through western Louisiana
to its terminus at Port Arthur. To promote settlement of the area
Stilwell established a successful experimental farm, drilled water
wells, and built a hotel, indoor swimming pool, and pleasure pier.
In 1897 Port Arthur contained about 1,100 inhabitants. By 1900 Stilwell
had completed a canal from Mesquite Point (7 miles south at Sabine
Pass) to substantial port facilities at Port Arthur. By fulfilling
a childhood dream Arthur Stilwell not only founded the town of Port
Arthur but in large measure laid the foundation for its future prosperity.
Stilwell died on September 26, 1928, and was cremated.
Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845 - 1995 |
 |
Bust of Arthur
Stilwell
Photo Courtesy Museum of the Gulf Coast |
John W. Gates'
model truck, fruit and dairy farm
Click on image to enlarge
Old Photo
courtesy Dan
Whatley Collection |
Stilwell
was replaced by John W. (Bet-a Million) Gates, a man who had made
a fortune in barbed
wire and who didn’t believe in brownies. Gates arrived in December
1899 just as Stilwell was leaving. Gates didn’t live too many years
longer and in 1918, Gates Memorial Library, was established by his
widow as a memorial to her husband (and her son).
Port Arthur became a port of entry in 1906 and two years later the
canal was extended up the Neches River to Beaumont
and Orange. |
Protrait of
John Gates in the Gates Memorial Library
Photo Courtesy Gates Memorial Library |
Historical Marker:
317 Stilwell Blvd., Port Arthur
Gates Memorial
Library
John Warne "Bet
a Million" Gates (1855-1911), a native of Illinois, was instrumental
in the early growth of Port Arthur. A prominent businessman and financier
noted for his promotion of barbed wire, he became a leader in the
development of the city founded by Arthur Stilwell, the president
of the Kansas City Southern Railroad. Gates was initially attracted
to the Port Arthur area by the local oil boom of the early 1900s.
As an investor, he figured prominently in the development of the Texas
Company, now Texaco. Later a resident of New York, Gates maintained
his business and philanthropic interests in Port Arthur with the help
of his son Charles. Gate's contributions to the city include Port
Arthur Business College, St. Mary's Hospital, and the Plaza Hotel.
In 1909 John Gates set aside land at this site for a public library,
but initial plans for the project were discontinued after his death
in 1911. Planning resumed five years later when it became apparent
the public library in the nearby high school could not adequately
serve the city. Through the efforts of Gate's widow Dellora (1855-
1918) and local residents, this library was completed in 1917. The
following year it was dedicated and deeded to the city.
1981 |
Stilwell
and Gates gave Port Arthur its start, but Spindletop
guaranteed its future. On January 10, 1901, the first big Texas oil
boom blew in. The household names of Gulf, Magnolia, Humble, and Texaco
were all born with Spindletop. Pipelines and refineries were built
and their workers required housing and stores. By 1914 Port Arthur
was the second largest oil-refining point in the U. S. The population
jumped from 900 in 1900 to 7,000 in 1910. By 1930 it was over 50,000.
Port Arthur refineries area employed some 12,000 workers in 1950.
Their salaries directly accounted for half of the city’s economy.
After the late 1960s, when the population reached a zenith of 69,000,
a decline began.
Port Arthur annexed Sabine Pass
in 1978. |
Port Arthur,
Texas Landmarks / Attractions
Photo Gallery
|
BRIDGES
Neches
River Rainbow Bridge (1939) crosses
the Neches River on State Highway 87 between Port Arthur and Orange.
The Gulfgate Bridge (since renamed the Martin Luther
King Bridge) was built in the 1960s to connect Port Arthur with Pleasure
Island and Louisiana. |
Port Arthur Sub
Courthouse
TE Photo,
May 2003 |
| Old postcard
of Port Arthur Sub Courthouse |
Port Arthur Sub
Courthouse
TE Photo,
May 2003 |
Port Arthur Sub
Courthouse architectural detail - Moses relief
TE Photo,
May 2003 |
Port Arthur Sub
Courthouse architectural detail - boat relief
TE Photo,
May 2003 |
Port Arthur Sub
Courthouse statue
TE Photo,
May 2003
More Texas
Statues |
Port
Arthur Savings Building Doorway
TE Photo, May 2003 |
Port
Arthur Savings Building Gargoyles
TE Photo, May 2003 |
The Port Arthur
Depot today is in use as a residence.
TE Photo,
May 2003
More Texas Depots
|
Port
Arthur Kress Building
TE Photo, May 2003 |
A
building in Port Arthur
TE Photo, May 2003 |
Port
Arthur Greyhound Station
TE Photo, May 2003 |
Port
Arthur Greyhound Station
TE Photo, May 2003 |
Worker
Silhouettes
TE Photo, May 2003 |
Three Sisters sidewalk sign
TE Photo, May 2003 |
Unlawful
to possess ...
TE Photo,
May 2003
More Texas Signs |
Goodhue
Hotel, Dick Dowling Hotel
Old Postcard |
Former
Goodhue Hotel site
TE
Photo, May 2003 |
Vaugham Hotel
Old Postcard |
Lighthouse
light displayed in museum
TE Photo, May 2003 |
1929
Eddingston Court
TE Photo, May 2003 |
L - A 1902 painting
shows that Port Authurians had Business Priorities
R - A livery stable in early Port Arthur.
Photos
courtesy Museum of the Gulf Coast |
Sparks Settlement
Cemetery
|
Sparks
Settlement Cemetery Historical Marker
TE Photo, May 2003 |
Baby
Arthur Stilwell Smith Tombstone
TE Photo, May 2003 |
|
|
Janis
Joplin
Perhaps Port Arthur's most famous personality, Janis Joplin now has
a memorabilia display in the Museum
Photo courtesy Museum of the Gulf Coast |
Historical Marker:
4330, 32nd St., Port Arthur
Janis Lyn
Joplin
(January 19, 1943
- October 4, 1970)
A native of Port Arthur, famed blues and rock and roll singer Janis
Joplin lived here with her family. She graduated from Thomas Jefferson
High School in 1960 and attended Port Arthur College and Lamar State
College of Technology (Lamar University) in Beaumont.
A liberal and outspoken free spirit, Janis rebelled against the conservatism
of her hometown, and in 1962 she moved to Austin
to study art at the University of Texas. She connected to the burgeoning
Austin music scene and began singing in clubs around town, most notably
at Threadgill's, a bar operated by Texas country singer and yodeler
Kenneth Threadgill. With her raw and raspy singing style exhibiting
the blues, jazz, country, cajun, gospel and soul music influences
of east Texas and Louisiana, she was a popular local performer.
Searching for wider acceptance, Joplin moved to San Francisco in 1963
and quickly became part of the growing folk music and counter-culture
movement of the 1960s. Her performances at the 1967 International
Pop and Jazz Festivals in Monterey brought her widespread recognition.
Her first album, Cheap Thrills, with the band Big Brother and the
Holding Company, was a wild success even as her personal life became
marred with alcohol and drug abuse. Later recording with the Kosmic
Blues Band and the Full-Tilt Boogie Band, she was an international
sensation by the end of the decade. In August 1970, at the height
of her fame, Joplin returned to Port Arthur for her ten-year high
school reunion. Just two months later, she died of an accidental overdose
of heroin and alcohol; her ashes were spread along the coast of northern
California. Her final album, Pearl, released after her death, earned
a gold record.
(2007) |
|
|
Captain Michael Kendrick
TE Photo May 2003 |
Port
Arthur Post Office Building
TE Photo, May 2003 |
Port
Arthur Tourists Information
The Port Arthur
Chamber of Commerce
4749 Twin City Hwy, Suite 300
Port Arthur, TX 77642
(409) 963-1107
The Port Arthur
Convention & Visitor's Bureau
3401 Cultural Center Drive Port Arthur, TX 77642
1-800-235-7822
Website - http://www.portarthurtexas.com/
|
| Anyone wishing
to share photos of Port Arthur after flooding from hurricanes, please
submit
here |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
|
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