New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 13

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416

USA > Texas > New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1 > Part 13

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In social and civic development the city has kept pace with the most advanced. Its school system is equal to the best in any state, the church buildings as fine as anywhere; clubs, lodges, civic, social and fraternal associations abound and its millions of bank deposits, school buildings, industrial plants, parks, play grounds, the chamber of commerce in its composition and activities indicate the presence of a prosperous and contented people.

BEAUMONT, METROPOLIS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS

By BEAUMONT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

B EAUMONT is a typical southern city of fifty thousand inhabitants and has all the con- veniences and modern improvements of the large cities of the country. Its climate is on a parity with that of southern coast resorts with the exception that none of the coast storms ever reach Beaumont or its environs due to its location. Fifty

Scene on One of the Principal Business Streets of Beaumont

miles in land on the Neches River, which is the fourth largest river in the United States.

Approximately one-fifth of the water-borne ton- nage of the United States annually passes over the Neches-Sabine outlet. Beaumont therefore offers a wonderful industrial as well as favorable climate opportunity to the tourists or business man who is seeking pleasure and business opportunity.

Business. Beaumont became nationally famous in 1900 when oil gushers ranging from 500 to 20,000 barrels were discovered at Spindle Top Field and thousands of the country's speculating public came and made fortunes. Many hundreds of the pros- pectors settled in Beaumont and have since con- tributed their part in making it one of the largest cities of Texas.

Outstanding industrial and agricultural enter- prises are: Oil, lumber, rice and shipping. One of the largest oil refineries in the world is located here besides three other large refineries which are located in this vicinity, and contribute much to Beaumont's daily business. This is the center of the lumber and rice industry of Texas and Louisiana. The port of Beaumont is firmly established. The city owns and operates municipal wharf and dock facilities which forever guarantee the shipper, either local or foreign, fair port charges. During the fiscal

year ending June 30th, 361 ships from all parts of the world had loaded and unloaded at Port Beaumont.

Pleasure. Fishing, boating, hunting, motoring, golf and surf bathing are available to the pleasure seeker in and around Beaumont. On account of the extremely pleasant winter climate it is possible for one to spend practically every day following his own choice of the above named past-times. Ducks, geese, quail and other game birds abound in plenty. Due to the desire of the rice farmers to limit the depredations of these birds, there is no objection to any hunter bagging the legal limit each and every day he chooses to hunt. In the Big Thicket, within twenty miles of Beaumont, famous for bear, turkeys and other large game, the old time hunter can find plenty of excitement, amusement and exercise.

Good automobile roads lead in the several direc- tions out of Beaumont, there being more than 100 miles of hard surfaced roads available. One wishing to fish can be readily accommodated. The Neches River is famous for its fresh water fish and a fifty minute ride on the interurban takes one to the open sea where tarpon and other big fish can be angled for. A splendid country club with first-class golf course, where arrangements may be made for the visitor and tourist for the use of its facilities, has been the means of pleasant past-time to many travelers of this section.

At the Beaumont Docks, Loading Ships for Distant Markets

Beaumont's citizenship is hospitable, obliging and always ready to render any assistance to its visitors. The Chamber of Commerce maintains an especially equipped information bureau and offers its entire service free to any who ask for it. While Beaumont has not generally advertised in the past as a stop- ping place for tourists, they nevertheless are coming this way in ever increasing numbers. A week or several weeks can be both pleasantly and profitably spent here.

Beaumont Harbor, one of the Principal Lumber and Oil Shipping Points of the South

THE BEAUMONT AND PORT ARTHUR SHIP CHANNEL By HARVEY W. GILBERT Member Waterway Committee

T HE most unparalleled success in the history of waterway develop- ment and shipping expansion has taken place on the Beau- mont and Port Arthur Ship Channel, which is only ten years old since completion and is now just entering up- on a broader expansion and development which will un- doubtedly surpass New York within the next forty or fif- ty years.

The channel has now tak- en first place over New York as the world's oil refining center, having the great es- tablishments of the Magno- lia Petroleum Company, The Texas Company, the Humphreys-Pure Oil Company, The Gulf Oil Corporation, the Sun Company, Union Sulphur Company, the Atlantic Refining Company, the Pennsylvania Ship Yards and Car Works, and other large industries in the lumber, rice, cotton, grain and general shipping interests.

The waterway is exceptionally blessed in the fact that it is dug throughout in clay, which assures no liability as to "sanding up" troubles, which has sadly afflicted our waterways.

The amount of tonnage produced ranks along with the world's greatest ports and waterways.

The channel is served by the following great rail

systems: The Santa Fe, the Kansas City Southern, the Southern Pacific, The Frisco, and the Beaumont and Waco short line now building.

Steam and electric railway service are available from one end of the waterway to the other, and with cheap fuel oil and close proximity to the cot- ton fields, Beaumont and Port Arthur are bidding welcome to the cotton mills of the New England States now looking to the South for expansion.

The Beaumont-Port Arthur district has become the South's greatest industrial center due largely to the oil refining industry, which employs many thousand men.

The cities on the waterway are favored with a citizenship who are broad and liberal and progres- sive, Beaumont being the first and original Open Shop City in America and has maintained it ever since. This City of Beaumont also originated the idea of putting up one-half the money against the United States government's other half to dig the Ship Channel and did it "QUICK" without any hitch, which goes to show how the citizenship pulls to- gether. In many respects it is a wonder city be- cause she withstood the world's great oil boom, "Spindletop" and came out on top and now has become the world's oil refining center with numerous pipe line terminals here from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. In fact it is now possible to pump oil all the way from Pearl Street in Beaumont to Broadway in New York, but is cheaper to ship up the Atlantic seaboard by tanker, so the finished refined product employs a vast fleet of ships from the waterway to New York, the Orient, Europe and all ports throughout the world.

A Few Scenes of Activity at Beaumont Deep-Water Harbor

THE FOUNDING OF PORT ARTHUR

By GEORGE M. CRAIG

T HE present site of Port Arthur was a vast ex- panse of dismal marsh in the days preceding its selection as the southern terminal of the Kansas City Southern Railway. It was then the favorite rendezvous of wild ducks, geese and mos- quitoes. There was no vegetation other than the wild weeds and marsh grasses. There were no per- ceptible physical advantages that would induce an explorer or pioneer to found a settlement, and there was nothing to indicate that in the near future this very place would be one of the nation's important shipping points.

Port Arthur's founding is an interesting story. The credit for its founding goes entirely to Mr.

Airplane View Texas Company Refinery at Port Arthur, Texas Arthur Edward Stilwell, in whose honor the port was named. Mr. Stilwell, at the time he became interested in the project, was president of the M. K. & T. Trust Company in Kansas City, Missouri. Another company had started out to build a rail- road from Kansas City to the coast, but intended to locate elsewhere than at this place. Their road was completed only as far as Hume, Missouri, when the company failed. Mr. Stilwell was a very honest, unselfish promoter, and as president of the Trust Company had financed several railroads and other institutions. When this railroad company appealed to him he immediately became interested and bought it.

Mr. Stilwell, when he bought the railroad, decided to make a road as direct from Kansas City to the tide-waters of the gulf as possible. He was a man of vision, of dreams, and it seems that he had a dream in which his Brownies, in whom he had great faith, told him to locate his port at Sabine, a place on the gulf twelve miles from Port Arthur. He sent some agents to this section of the gulf to in- vestigate conditions relative to the building of his city. These agents did not bring back very encour- aging reports. But this did not dampen Mr. Stil- well's spirit. In 1895 he came down to Sabine, believing in his Brownies, and personally investi- gated the conditions. At Sabine he found that town had been visited by several severe storms in the past, and each time everything had practically been washed away, including the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railway, which had been running to that place for some time. Mr. Stilwell did not wish to place his road in any danger if it could be avoided.

The same objections applied to Galveston, also a possibility for the Kansas City Southern Terminal.

Mr. Stilwell then got on a horse, after visiting Sabine, and rode around over the country. He came upon the present site of the city and realized that this was the place to build his great port. Surely he must have been a man of great vision and fore- sight, for here he found only a pleasant cow-pasture and nothing more. He inquired and found that fourteen miles on the north shore of the Sabine Lake had not been touched, the storm waters having spread over the great lake had lost their power be- fore the north shore was reached. He then and there conceived the idea of constructing a ship canal from actual deep water at Sabine, through to Taylor's Bayou, thus bringing deep water up far enough so as to be safe from storms and still afford an excel- lent port.

Mr. Stilwell went back to Kansas City and be- gan to make plans for the building of the town. Several companies were organized, all financed by the M. K. & T. Trust Company. The Port Arthur Dock & Channel Company was immediately organ- ized for the purpose of building the proposed canal; also the Port Arthur Land and Townsite Company, of which Mr. Stilwell was president, was formed. This company purchased a tract of fifty-three thou- sand (53,000) acres of land from the McFaddin, Kyle and Wiess Land Company. This extended from Taylor's Bayou to the Neches River and from the Sabine Lake back two miles beyond Nederland. His land company then deeded four thousand acres to the Port Arthur Townsite Company (which had been organized about the same time as the other at a cost of twelve dollars [$12.00] per acre, totaling $48,000.00). The total sum paid for the whole four thousand acres would today purchase only a few

Gulf Refining Company Docks at Port Arthur as Seen From Airplane

lots on our main street. This is convincing proof of the success of Mr. Stilwell's conscientious investi- gation and accurate foresight.

The building of our city has not been by the magic wish of some god. It was through the con- stant effort of Mr. Stilwell, who wanted to see a great port here and the earnestness of those who wanted to make this their home that made the scheme go.

In 1895 the town was surveyed and platted under the supervision of Mr. Robert Gilham, civil engineer. The first plans were laid out over about one-fourth

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

the present townsite. Work was immediately begun on the railroad. A spur of the line had been com- pleted to Beaumont for a while before; then in Sep- tember, 1897, the last spike was driven in the road some place above and near Beaumont, thus com- pleting a line from Kansas City straight through to the coast. This was an occasion long looked for- ward to. At last the way had been completed! A great excursion was run from Kansas City to the coast. Hundreds of people came pouring into this section. Now at last success as a shipping point was practically assured to Port Arthur. That part of the country through which the Kansas City Southern Railway would run was through the abun- dant cotton fields and timber belts of Louisiana and Arkansas. Cities would rise in the path of indus- try. As a direct result of this railroad, a great many towns have been established, which soon grew to cities, and all to the advantage of Port Arthur. Where traffic passes there is work to do and pop- ulation gives value to land which otherwise has none. This situation of Port Arthur would lie directly in the path of traffic, from the fertile valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and from the mills and factories of the great central west to the Pan- ama Canal, South America, the Orient and other markets of the world.

But even before and long after the railroad had been completed, Mr. Stilwell and others of the M. K. & T. Company interested in Port Arthur, de- termined to sound the name of the nation's new port in every state in the Union. In accordance with their plan of advertising, the states which would directly be benefitted by this new road were divided up into districts with an advertising agent placed over each district. These agents had many sub- agents scattered about over their districts. These men were paid to tell of the new port. Page after page appeared in the leading papers of the middle states crying the story of what might be called a new land. The country was pictured as a perfect haven. To induce people to come to Port Arthur, excursions were run every two weeks, after the rail- road was completed, to the Golden Gate of the Gulf Coast. The railway company itself paid the trans- portation fare of a great many people in an effort to get them interested. In fact one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) was spent in advertising. The land around Beaumont and Sabine, the only two inha- bited spots in this immediate section, had proven its worth as land for farming and grazing, so this land around Port Arthur claimed the same merits and was the reason for a great many people coming here.

The first people who came were the engineers and carpenters. They put up several temporary build- ings such as were necessary for the business district of any village, including a railroad station, stores and shacks for housing the scant and early popula- tion. The first principal and permanent structure put up was the Sabine Hotel. It was built in 1896 and was destroyed by fire in 1901.

Some of her first inhabitants were in Port Arthur because they did not have the necessary means of procuring passage away. A great many had heard

of the wonderful climate and productive soil and believed it to be as advertised. They came with the intention of staying and had only enough money to come here. Mosquitoes were almost unbearable. The marsh land had been the home of such insects and pests a great many years before the human animal thought of coming to disturb them. But the inhabi- tants determined not to run away; so stayed on with people who later came to make this their home also. Even in spite of the mosquitoes and other hard- ships they had to endure, those first settlers, who thought themselves so unfortunate as to have to stay, began to love the place. They realized its com- ing importance and were willing to stay and share in its struggle for mere existence. There seemed to be something that made them love it. Their in- terest in Port Arthur was something similar to that of an older person in a child; for did it not have help, love and co-operation it would not amount to much. Interest makes the world go round. The pioneer's interest was solely in helping Port Arthur grow. A day or so before an excursion was due, some parties would go out to the woods near Beaumont and elsewhere and get trees and shrubs of all kinds, and others would hunt up garden stuff and products of the soil. They would bring the trees in to town and set them out very attractively and in a natural way, and wagon load after wagon load of vegetables would appear on the streets and in the stores, claimed to have been produced from the fer- tile soil of Port Arthur, which had actually been raised at Sabine or Beaumont.

But there was much work to do. It was already a very busy port. Train loads of lumber and cotton from the fertile fields of agriculture along the road and from the interior, came pouring down to the exit which Port Arthur afforded. A great many men were able to get work. They endured the hardships with a smile and soon the hardships began to disap- pear and were forgotten.

Every excursion brought some new residents. In 1896 there were only about fifty permanent settlers, but new ones kept coming. The ship canal had not yet been completed, but to take care of the shipping business a pier was built 2,500 feet out into Sabine Lake. This is known as the old Export Pier, only ruins of which remain to date. Barges were brought up to the pier from Sabine, loaded and then returned to deep water to reload on the waiting vessel. In 1899 the ship canal was completed. It was started in 1897, but due to complications caused by the land owners of Sabine, work was detained several months. A great fight was waged between Mr. Stilwell and the Sabine land owners in the courts of our state and also at Washington. Mr. Stilwell won out and was allowed to construct his canal which has made Port Arthur possible.

The canal was first dug nine feet deep, then re- dredged to twenty-five feet. The first vessel to sail up the canal, as soon as the last shovelfull of earth had been removed, was the St. Azwell, an English vessel. A general holiday and excursion was given in honor of it. Speeches and other holi- day activities were indulged in. A very interesting event was the christening of the second baby born in Port Arthur, Edith St. Azwell Carr, by the mas-

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

ter of the vessel, the ceremony taking place on board the vessel. Hundreds of people watched the vessel ply its way easily up to the dock which had been provided for by the Port Arthur Canal and Dock Company. Thus deep water was brought to Port Arthur, and she has many times proven her- self a safe port from storms and a very busy one at all times.

Gradually the little village grew. More and more people heard of Port Arthur, due to the systematic method of advertising. Then, as it is now, many of those who came to see, lingered or left to return shortly. In the spring of 1897 there were hardly fifty people permanently located here. In the spring of 1898 the town was incorporated as a town of one thousand inhabitants. The first election was held on Saturday, May 21st, 1898 and Mr. N. R. Strong was elected as the first mayor of Port Arthur. Our first government provided for a mayor and a council. It was after incorporation that one might say the city's growth began. Other in- dustries began to see the advantages the new port offered and did not hesitate long in coming in.

Mr. John Warne Gates, a multi-millionaire who became interested in Port Arthur through Mr. Stil- well, saw the opportunities Port Arthur offered and did not, until his death, cease to use his money and influence to help Port Arthur to be a greater Port Arthur. He was instrumental in bringing practically all the early enterprises to Port Arthur. Among the first to be established was the Port Arthur Rice Mill. The soil had proven to be ex- cellent for rice production. The same buildings stand today near the docks, unused except as ware- houses perhaps, due to the failure of crops in recent years.

Port Arthur was recognized as a coming city, and the most essential enterprises were established im- mediately. The first bank was established in 1898 or 1899. It was simply organized by a company, then immediately taken over by Smith and Cum- mings. It later merged into the First National Bank and was backed by Mr. Gates. Another bank was started but did not succeed. This was the Port Arthur Banking Company.

In 1900 conditions seemed to be in a state of coma. Shipping, the most important industry, had fal- len down somewhat. A little excitement made its appearance in the form of a terrible gulf hurricane, sweeping along the coast. Galveston and Sabine were almost totally destroyed and Port Arthur witnessed a full canal and backflow in the marshes. The water went down the next day. Port Arthur's port survived, the fittest of the fit. The first aid to reach both Sabine and Galveston was a boat load of provisions from Port Arthur. This depres- sion in industry proved, however, to be a calm before a storm, for on January 10, 1901, oil was discovered in the famous oil fields at Spindle Top, fifteen miles north of Port Arthur. This whole section turned into chaos. Millions were made and lost over night. Thousands of people flocked to the oil fields and to Beaumont.

From then on Port Arthur's growth was nothing short of marvelous. Due to the discovery of oil, and because of Port Arthur's nearness to deep water, two oil refineries established themselves

here. The Gulf Refinery, put up by financiers from Pittsburgh, located here in the fall of 1901, fol- lowed in the spring of 1902 by the Texas Company, financed by John Gates and associates. A thousand or so laborers were employed to build these great re- fineries. Today they are two of the largest oil refineries in the world. They were the cause of a phenomenal growth in population, and largely due to them Port Arthur's founding has been permanent.

There is a doubt if there is another city in the United States that has made the wonderful progress which Port Arthur has made. In 1910 the United States census showed a population of 7,763 and in 1920 a population of 22,851. The Chamber of Com- merce now gives the population of Port Arthur in 1923 as 42,000. Because of its superiority over Sabine as a port, Port Arthur has been made a port of entry. This is a history of another long hard-fought legal battle, in which Port Arthur won out.

To take care of the enormous shipping, resident steamship agents, marine insurance agents, ship brokers, stevedores and others have located here. Port Arthur has every modern convenience to offer. Water plant, electric light plant, gas plant, tele- phone and street cars and an Interurban Railway connecting it with Beaumont are some of the con- veniences. The first street cars were run on June 10th, 1910. Practically every street is either shelled or paved. The drainage system is extraordinary efficient. The water and sewer company, known as the Port Arthur Water Company, was incorpor- ated February 25th, 1903.

There are many fine buildings, including the Mary Gates Hospital, a gift from Mr. Gates to the city in honor of his mother; the Gates Memorial Library, a gift of Dellora R. Gates in memory of her husband and son. A pleasure pier is built out into Sabine Lake, which affords a place of amuse- ment for the people as do also the numerous theatres, a country club and others.

The Franklin School, completed at a cost of $450,000.00 is second to none in the state. The sys- tem of education used in each of the five schools of Port Arthur is considered one of the finest. There is also a business college of high standing located here. The first school was erected in 1897. It was a small wooden free offering structure; the lumber- men gave the lumber and the carpenters volunteered their services. The building was erectd in one day. There were only a very few students. Today there is a scholastic population of over 7,000. This same building is in use at the present day, being a part of the Farm School at Griffing, but was then lo- cated on Proctor Street near Shreveport Avenue. The first church was the Lutheran, the next a Congregational Church and so on until at the pres- ent time there are thirty-three different church con- gregations in the city, about half of which have their own church buildings.

The climate is mild and delightful, and many are attracted by this, together with the genial hospital- ity of the people. It is an old saying that if any- one comes to Port Arthur, drinks its "polly-wog" water and is stung by its mosquitoes he comes un- der a magic spell which causes him to want to stay, or if he leaves it causes him to want to re- turn.

PORT ARTHUR WHERE OIL AND WATER MIX By THE PORT ARTHUR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

O IL and water, typified by the vast refineries here and the strategic position in the world of commerce, meet and actually mix, and have built the great city of Port Arthur.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 13

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1416

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416