The Sabine River became the Texas-Louisiana border almost by accident, and for fifteen years the land around it belonged to no one at all. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States and Spain could not agree where Louisiana ended and Spanish Texas began. Both sides sent troops to the Sabine. In November 1806, American General James Wilkinson and Spanish Lieutenant Colonel Simon de Herrera cut a deal to avoid a war neither side wanted. The strip of land between the Sabine River and the Arroyo Hondo, roughly fifty miles wide, would be declared Neutral Ground. Neither country would govern it, patrol it, or enforce any law within it. It was the worst possible solution. Within months the Neutral Ground became a haven for outlaws, smugglers, slave traders, deserters, and fugitives from both nations. Pirates operated openly. Murder went unpunished. The strip was so lawless that both governments occasionally sent unauthorized raids into it to clean out the worst offenders, then retreated. This lasted until the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, ratified in 1821, which formally set the Sabine River as the boundary. Spain ceded Florida to the United States, and the Neutral Ground became part of Louisiana. The outlaws scattered. But for fifteen years, this river marked the edge of civilization in both directions.

10.9 mi away

World War II Turned Orange Into an Instant Industrial City RoadyGoat

When the United States entered World War II, the shipyards at Orange exploded in size almost overnight. Consolidated Steel built 39 destroyers and roughly a hundred destroyer escorts, while Levingston Shipbuilding turned out military, cargo, and support vessels. Women moved into welding, electrical, and inspection jobs, and thousands of workers poured in from Texas, Louisiana, and far beyond. The numbers are staggering for a small river town: Orange's population jumped from about 7,000 before the buildup to around 60,000 at the wartime peak. Federal housing projects, schools, roads, and utilities had to be thrown up almost immediately, which is how Navy Park and the now-demolished Riverside development came to exist. The USS Aulick, launched here on Texas Independence Day in 1942, was the first naval destroyer built in Texas. After the war the Navy chose Orange as a reserve-fleet site, and rows of inactive 'mothball fleet' ships sat tied along the river for decades. The last reserve vessels are long gone, but marine fabrication still defines this industrial shoreline. (Source: City of Orange; Texas State Historical Association.)

RoadyGoat → · 10.9 mi away

When the River Filled With Warships RoadyGoat

1940

In 1940, the little city of Orange, just northeast of here, held about 7,400 people. By the end of World War II it had swollen past 60,000. The engine of that boom stood on the Sabine River, where Consolidated Steel, Levingston, and Weaver Shipyards took Navy contracts and turned mud flats into the only warship-building coast in Texas. Consolidated alone employed roughly 20,000 workers at its peak. The tidal wave of labor overwhelmed local housing, so in 1942 the federal government bulldozed a Sabine River marsh and threw up thousands of prefabricated 'demountable' duplexes in a development called Riverside, within walking distance of the yards to conserve rationed fuel and tires. West Orange, platted decades earlier as a residential addition, absorbed families riding that same wartime surge, and its own population doubled in the decade that followed.

11.2 mi away

Emma Henderson Wallace

1896

A native of Waxahachie, Texas, Emma Smiley Henderson Wallace (1876-1968) attended school at Prairie View College before becoming a teacher in 1896. She taught in Tyler, Ellis and Jefferson Counties before moving to Orange in 1901 to become one of four teachers at Orange Colored School, which was housed in the Salem Methodist and Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Churches. She joined the Orange Public School faculty in 1914. The widow of Lofty Henderson, Emma married Anderson Wallace in the 1920s. After serving first as a teacher at Moton High School, named for educator Robert Russa Moton, she was appointed Principal in 1933. Under Wallace's 13-year leadership, the campus developed with a library, basketball and tennis courts, a band, choir, drama group and student clubs. A drill corps, which supported the school's longtime Dragons football team, formed in 1946. That same year, at the request of the Moton School Parent-Teacher Association, the school was renamed Emma H. Wallace High School in her honor. Emma Wallace retired from Orange Public Schools in 1952. In addition to her role as educator, she was also an active member in Mount Zion Baptist Church, Civic Betterment League, Order of the Eastern Star and other organizations. She moved to Dallas in 1959 and died there in 1968. The community Wallace served for the better part of a century continues to honor her memory. Her legacy is remembered by the many students whose lives she affected though her dedication to educating the youth of Orange's African American community and her devotion to her pupils'success. (2004)

Historical Marker → · 10.6 mi away

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown

1920

Well-known for his expertise on the guitar and his multi-genre music, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown had a recording career that spanned more than 50 years. Born in Vinton, Louisiana, he and his family moved to Orange when he was an infant. Here, Brown was shaped by a mix of Texan and Cajun cultures. He learned from his musician father and became known for his guitar and fiddle playing, as well as his deep singing voice; he also played the drums, violin, mandolin and harmonica. Brown’s music reflected African-American folk traditions of the southwest. After returning from World War II, Brown settled in Houston as a professional musician. He recorded with Peacock Records, where he had his first hit, “Mary is fine.” In the 1960s, Brown’s career slumped and he changed genres, recording country music. By the 1970s, Brown gained a larger fanbase, touring in Europe, Africa and the U.S.S.R., and appearing on the popular programs, Hee Haw and Austin City Limits. He also began a series of recordings in Bogalusa, Louisiana that displayed his ability to play music in a variety of genres, including blues, western swing, rhythm and blues, country and cajun. In 1982, he won the Grammy Award for best traditional blues recording with a Bogalusa recording, “Alright again.” He received other honors for his work, including eight W.C. Handy awards and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2005, Brown evacuated to Orange from Slidell, Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina. He died here two weeks later and was interred in Hollywood Cemetery. Today, Gatemouth Brown’s work endures through his recordings and significant influence on generations of guitarists and other musicians.

Historical Marker → · 10.6 mi away

U. S. S. Aulick

1940

On September 9, 1940, a federal contract worth $82 million was issued to the Consolidated Steel Company to construct 12 Fletcher class naval destroyers here in Orange, Texas. This and other contracts coupled with the subsequent building of major shipyard facilities along the city's riverfront lifted the city out of a prolonged and deep economic decline which began in the early 1930s with the closing of area sawmills. The community celebrated the laying of the keels of the U. S. S. Aulick and U. S. S. Charles Ausburne on May 14, 1941. The Aulick became the first naval destroyer to be built in Texas and on Texas Independence Day, March 2, 1942, it was christened and launched amid a crowd of 6,000 people. The Aulick represented the second U. S. Naval warship to be named after War of 1812 Navy veteran John H. Aulick (1787-1861). by 1946 all 12 destroyers and over four hundred other ships had been completed here at a cost of over $876 million. Orange's well-developed shipyards encouraged major companies to build plants along the riverfront. Several petrochemical and industrial concerns followed suit in the 1950s and 1960s. Wartime shipyards operated by Consolidated, Levingston, and Weaver converted to peacetime activities.

Historical Marker → · 10.9 mi away

Brown, Clarence [Gatemouth]

1924

A multi-faceted musician whose eclectic tastes reflected the great diversity of musical styles found throughout the Southwest, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was born in Vinton, Louisiana, on April 18, 1924. Brown's father, who was one of his strongest musical influences and taught young Clarence to play piano, fiddle, and guitar, was a railroad worker and a local musician who played country , Cajun, and bluegrass . Throughout his career, Gatemouth Brown performed a variety of musical styles on a broad array of instruments, including guitar, fiddle, piano, drums, mandolin, harmonica, and viola. As a youth who grew up in Southeast Texas near Orange, Brown absorbed the country , bluegrass, R&B, Czech and German polka, Cajun, and early jazz and swing that could be heard throughout the Texas-Louisiana border region. By the time he was five years old, he had learned to play fiddle, and by age ten he was performing on guitar. By the time he was a teenager, Brown played the drums in territory swing bands where he was given the nickname "Gatemouth" because of his deep voice. After returning from military service following World War II , Brown first relocated to San Antonio and then eventually to Houston where he found work at the Bronze Peacock nightclub. During a T-Bone Walker concert there in 1947, Walker became ill and could not finish his show. Brown went onstage, picked up his guitar, and proceeded to play "Gatemouth Boogie," to which the audience responded very enthusiastically. The club owner, Don Robey , also was impressed and arranged for Brown to sign a recording contract with the Los Angeles record label Aladdin. Brown's first singles for Aladdin were not as successful as he had hoped, so Robey decided to start his own label, Peacock Records , in order to market Brown's music. Brown's first single with Peacock, "Mary is Fine," hit Number 8 on the R&B charts in 1949. Soon afterwards, Robey picked Brown to be the front man for a twenty-three-piece orchestra that toured throughout the South. During his time with Peacock, Brown recorded a number of hits, including "Okie Dokie Stomp," "Ain't That Dandy," "Boogie Rambler," "Depression Blues," and "Dirty Work at the Crossroads." By the late 1950s Brown had become frustrated with the limitations of being strictly a blues and R&B musician and decided to finally part ways with Robey and Peacock Records by 1961. However, throughout the 1960s Brown had difficulty finding other work as a musician, something he blamed in part on his strained relations with the influential Robey. During this period, Brown held a variety of jobs. He worked as bandleader on the Dallas syndicated R&B television show The !!!! Beat in 1966. In the late 1960s he was a deputy sheriff in New Mexico. At one point he moved to Nashville where he appeared a few times on the popular country music television show Hee Haw. It was also in Nashville that Brown released his first series of country singles. He later recorded a well-received album, Makin' Music, with Roy Clark in 1979. In the 1970s Brown was able to restart his career, this time performing the broad range of styles for which he would become famous, including country, jazz, and Cajun, as well as the blues and R&B he had played earlier. Brown also began touring again, not only throughout the United States, but also in Europe and around the world. On several stints he toured as a music ambassador for the United States State Department. During the late 1970s Brown signed with Real Records, and by the 1980s he was enjoying success recording for both Alligator and Rounder Records. In 1982 Brown's Alright Again received a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. He also appeared several times on the PBS television series Austin City Limits . Brown's second release through Rounder Records, One More Mile (1982), along with the rerelease of his earlier Peacock recordings, brought him more acclaim. Brown won eight W. C. Handy Awards. He received the Rhythm and Blues Founda

Tsha Handbook → · 11.3 mi away

Lutcher, Frances Ann Robinson

1912

Frances Ann Robinson Lutcher, philanthropist and humanitarian, daughter of David Robinson, was born on October 17, 1841, in Pennsylvania. She married Henry Jacob Lutcher on January 23, 1858. They had two children, Miriam Melissa ( see STARK, MIRIAM M. L. ), who married William H. Stark , and Carrie Launa, who married Dr. Edgar W. Brown, Sr. The Lutchers moved to Orange, Texas, in 1878. Frances Lutcher was one of Orange's greatest benefactors. She built the First Presbyterian Church in honor of the Lutcher family and dedicated it to Orange on January 28, 1912. This marble structure was reputedly the first structure west of the Mississippi River to have air-conditioning . A Texas Historical Commission marker was placed there in 1978. In 1921 she dedicated the Frances Ann Lutcher Hospital, the first modern hospital in Orange. It had the most up-to-date equipment of the time and also maintained a nurses' training program and a home for student nurses. The hospital was particularly needed for the many workmen injured at the surrounding sawmills and in other lumber-industry accidents. These men had previously been transported long distances by train for treatment. Frences Lutcher became known for having the finest orchid collection in the South. During World War I soldiers in the area called her the "Orchid Lady" because of the orchids that she gave away. She was an ardent traveler and journeyed through the United States and the world up into her eighties. She made her home, however, in Orange from 1877 until her death. She died on October 21, 1924, while on vacation in New York. She was buried in the family mausoleum in Evergreen Cemetery in Orange. Her grandson, Henry Jacob Lutcher Stark , joined the family lumber business and continued his grandmother's philanthropic tradition.

Tsha Handbook → · 11.3 mi away

Wingate, David Robert

1852

David Robert Wingate, early Texas planter and industrialist, son of Robert Potter and Pherobee (Kelly) Wingate, was born in Darlington County, South Carolina, on February 20, 1819. At an early age he moved with his family to Hancock County, Mississippi, where he secured only a rudimentary education. He worked in logging camps and sawmills and, on September 19, 1839, married Caroline Morgan. He and his wife had seven children. Although Wingate visited Texas in 1844, his first industrial venture came in Mississippi, where by 1849 he owned a sawmill. In 1852 he and his family moved to Newton County, Texas, where he established a large plantation on Cow Creek near Belgrade. By 1859 seventy-three slaves worked the plantation; the 350 bales of cotton produced there that year made Wingate the largest antebellum cotton planter in Southeast Texas. He had by that time purchased sawmill facilities at Sabine Pass, which he built into the largest steam sawmill in the state. He also constructed a small fleet of lumber schooners that plied the Gulf of Mexico. In 1860 Wingate, living at Sabine in Jefferson County, had an estate of $108,000, the largest in the county. On April 20, 1861, Wingate and a son enlisted in the Sabine Pass Guard. Elected colonel of the Second Regiment, First Brigade, Texas Militia, Wingate remained in Southeast Texas, having been appointed Confederate States marshal by Gen. Paul O. Hebert . Wingate also served as chairman of safety for Sabine Pass and as commissioner of defense for Jefferson County. In 1862 he and his family returned to Newton County to escape the ravages of a yellow fever epidemic. Later that year Union troops burned his Sabine Pass sawmill and home. Wingate was elected chief justice of Newton County in 1864 and appointed to the same position by Provisional Governor A. J. Hamilton the following year. Although hurt financially by the emancipation of over 100 slaves and a series of fires that destroyed his mills, Wingate recovered strongly from each of his economic setbacks, which one scholar has estimated to have totaled over $500,000. Wingate transferred his operations to Orange and helped to change that city into one of the most important sawmill centers in Texas. He also served as Orange county judge from 1879 to 1884 and was one of the earliest large-scale rice planters in the county in 1892. Wingate died at Orange on February 15, 1899, after a long bout with pneumonia. He was buried in that city's Evergreen Cemetery. A Texas historical marker was placed at his gravesite in 1979.

Tsha Handbook → · 11.3 mi away

Everything Near Vinton

165 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown · 10.6 mi
You're driving through Orange, the hometown of a true Texas music legend, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. Born just across the border in Louisiana, he moved here as an infant and grew up soaking in the unique Texan and…
Emma Henderson Wallace · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
A native of Waxahachie, Texas, Emma Smiley Henderson Wallace (1876-1968) attended school at Prairie View College before becoming a teacher in 1896. She taught in Tyler, Ellis and Jefferson Counties before moving to…
From Orange Colored School to Moton · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, where the story of Black education is a testament to resilience and progress. As early as the 1870s, African American children learned in private homes and churches, a far cry from…
Black Education in Orange County · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
As early as the 1870s, Orange County's African American children attended school in private homes and churches. The Orange County commissioners established 17 school districts in 1887. Schools included the Duncan Woods…
The Neutral Ground - America's First No Man's Land · 10.9 mi
The Sabine River became the Texas-Louisiana border almost by accident, and for fifteen years the land around it belonged to no one at all. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States and Spain could not…
World War II Turned Orange Into an Instant Industrial City · 10.9 mi
When the United States entered World War II, the shipyards at Orange exploded in size almost overnight. Consolidated Steel built 39 destroyers and roughly a hundred destroyer escorts, while Levingston Shipbuilding…
U. S. S. Aulick · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
On September 9, 1940, a federal contract worth $82 million was issued to the Consolidated Steel Company to construct 12 Fletcher class naval destroyers here in Orange, Texas. This and other contracts coupled with the…
Levingston Shipbuilding Company and Edward T. Malloy · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here is where the Levingston Shipbuilding Company built ships that powered the Allied victory in World War II. Hired in 1939, Edward T. Malloy became president in 1945, guiding…
Riverside Addition: World War II Housing in Orange · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here, you're passing the site of a massive World War II housing project called Riverside Addition. Back in 1940, Orange was a sleepy town of just over 7,000 people. But as the…
Office of the Supervisor of Shipbuilding and Consolidated Steel Corporation · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Orange, Texas, a town that transformed overnight during World War II. Once a logging center, the Great Depression had hit hard. But in 1940, a massive government contract changed everything. Congress…
United States Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a massive World War II naval storage facility, right here in Orange. After the war, the U.S. Navy decided to mothball its enormous fleet instead of scrapping it. In August of 1945, Orange…
Weaver Shipbuilding · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, a city with a long shipbuilding history. In 1897, Joe Weaver opened his shipyard, Joseph Weaver and Son. By 1898, a young George Levingston, who'd later found his own shipbuilding giant,…

Show all 165 nearby places

St. Therese Catholic Church · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, where the story of St. Therese Catholic Church began back in 1924. It started with just three African-American families and a visiting priest, growing over years of worship in borrowed…
Saint Paul Christian Methodist Episcopal Church · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Saint Paul Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. This African American congregation organized here in 1894, building a wood frame sanctuary that year. Later buildings were constructed in…
Black Education in Orange County · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, where education for Black children took root in churches and homes as early as the 1870s. By 1887, dedicated schools began to form, including one in the Duncan Woods community and…
Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, heading past the site of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. This congregation, founded in 1871, holds the distinction of being the earliest known Black congregation in Orange. Led…
When the River Filled With Warships · 11.2 mi
In 1940, the little city of Orange, just northeast of here, held about 7,400 people. By the end of World War II it had swollen past 60,000. The engine of that boom stood on the Sabine River, where Consolidated Steel,…
Destroyers Off an Assembly Line · 11.2 mi
The Consolidated Steel yard beside Orange did something that would have seemed impossible a generation earlier: it mass-produced warships. Between 1942 and the years just after the war, the yard laid down 12…
The Wooden Ships That Beat the Mines · 11.2 mi
While the big yards at Orange welded steel destroyers, Weaver Shipyards built something that had to be deliberately weak on magnetism: wooden minesweepers. The reason is pure physics. Germany deployed magnetic influence…
Neyland-Gilmer House · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Neyland-Gilmer House, a home that saw a major Texas industrialist make his mark. Albert Neyland built a small house here in 1875. But just two years later, in 1877, Alexander Gilmer bought the…
Cox House · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Cox House, a beautiful example of Shingle Victorian architecture built right here in Orange around 1910. Thomas Cox, an engineer for the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company, hired a prominent local…
Brown, Clarence [Gatemouth] · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
A multi-faceted musician whose eclectic tastes reflected the great diversity of musical styles found throughout the Southwest, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was born in Vinton, Louisiana, on April 18, 1924. Brown's father,…
Lutcher, Frances Ann Robinson · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Frances Ann Robinson Lutcher, philanthropist and humanitarian, daughter of David Robinson, was born on October 17, 1841, in Pennsylvania. She married Henry Jacob Lutcher on January 23, 1858. They had two children,…
Wingate, David Robert · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
David Robert Wingate, early Texas planter and industrialist, son of Robert Potter and Pherobee (Kelly) Wingate, was born in Darlington County, South Carolina, on February 20, 1819. At an early age he moved with his…
Niblett's Bluff · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, and right across the Sabine River in Louisiana, you're passing near Niblett's Bluff. This was the busiest east Texas port of entry during the Civil War, a vital Confederate defense…
John Harmon · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, Texas, where the story of permanent settlement began with one man's incredible journey. John Harmon, a veteran of the War of 1812, arrived here on January 1st, 1828. But he didn't just…
George Alexander Pattillo · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, where George Alexander Pattillo made his mark on Texas. A veteran of the War of 1812, Pattillo arrived here in the early 1830s and quickly became involved in the fight for Texas…
Brown, Edgar William, Sr. · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange, Texas, a city that owes much of its industrial boom to men like Edgar William Brown, Sr. He arrived here as a young doctor in 1882, but his life took a sharp turn when he married Carrie…
Gilmer, Alexander · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange, Texas, a place that was a hub for shipbuilding and trade, thanks in large part to Alexander Gilmer. This Irish immigrant started out building ship masts in Georgia, but a sunken steamboat…
Lutcher, Henry Jacob · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, a region that owes much of its boom to Henry Jacob Lutcher. Facing dwindling timber in Pennsylvania, Lutcher and his partner G. Bedell Moore embarked on a tough journey in 1877 to…
Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher Stark Foundation · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange, Texas, the heart of a cultural renaissance sparked by the Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. Founded in 1961, this philanthropic powerhouse transformed a deteriorating downtown…
Stark, Henry Jacob Lutcher · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Orange, where Henry Jacob Lutcher Stark made his mark. His family's Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company was a titan, but they weren't just cutting down trees. In <say-as…
Stark, Miriam Melissa Lutcher · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange, Texas, a town shaped by incredible wealth and a passion for art. Miriam Lutcher Stark, born in Pennsylvania in 1859, became a pillar of this community. Her family, along with her…
Texas and New Orleans Railroad · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here is the territory once crisscrossed by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. Chartered in 1856 as the Sabine and Galveston Bay Railroad and Lumber Company, its…
Stark, Nelda Childers · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange, Texas, the hometown of Nelda Childers Stark. She wasn't just a businesswoman; she was a major force in preserving and promoting the culture of Southeast Texas. After running the Frances…
End of the Line Station · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here is where the Texas and New Orleans Railroad reached its western limit before the Civil War. This was known as the End of the Line Station. Imagine the hustle and bustle:…
Atakapan Indians of Orange County · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, near the Sabine River, where the Atakapan Indians called this place home for centuries. Their name, given by the Choctaw, chillingly means 'Man-Eaters.' Imagine Spanish explorer…
The Sawmill Industry in Orange County · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, the heart of a timber empire that lasted over a century. It all started back in the 1820s with simple hand-operated logging. But by 1835, Robert Boothe fired up the area's first…
The Woman's Club of Orange · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here is the site of The Woman's Club. It started in 1893 as the Ladies' Shakespeare Club, but these women did more than just study literature. They organized Orange's very first…
Orange, TX · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange, Texas, the "Gateway City" right on the Louisiana border. This town has worn a few names: it started as Green's Bluff, named for a Sabine River boatman, then became Madison in honor of the…
Brown, Edgar William, Jr. · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange, Texas, where Edgar W. Brown Jr. made his mark. Born into wealth as the grandson of lumber baron Henry Jacob Lutcher, Brown took over the family business interests after his father's death.…
Moore, G. Bedell · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Orange, you're passing through ground zero for Texas's lumber boom. Back in 1877, G. Bedell Moore and his partner Henry Lutcher saw the endless yellow-pine forests…
Norsworthy, Benjamin H. · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange County, Texas, where Benjamin H. Norsworthy became a significant figure. He arrived just before the Civil War and organized a Confederate cavalry company called the 'Lone Star Rifles.'…
Sabine River Authority · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, near Orange, and you're passing through the territory managed by the Sabine River Authority. Established by the Texas Legislature back in 1949, this agency was given a huge job:…
Stark, William Henry · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange, Texas, a town that owes much of its early success to the industrial might of William Henry Stark. Born in 1851 in San Augustine, Stark came to Orange in 1870, drawn by the promise of the…
W. H. Stark House · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange, Texas, home to the W. H. Stark House. It's the only surviving structure from a once-elegant neighborhood. Built in the early 1890s by industrial leader William H. Stark, this fifteen-room…
Davis, Henry T. · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Hays County, a place that played a role in defending the Texas frontier during the Civil War. Right here, in March of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1862</say-as>, Captain…
Beuhler, Emmett-House · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and you might just pass the home of Emmett Beuhler. He arrived in the 1880s, drawn by the Texas lumber boom. Beuhler, originally from Alsace-Lorraine, teamed up with another German…
Ochiltree, Hugh · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here is the place where Hugh Ochiltree lived and worked. Born in North Carolina in 1820, Ochiltree came to Texas in 1840, first settling in Nacogdoches. He studied law, served in…
Orange Leader · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and you're passing the long history of a local newspaper that's been keeping folks informed since 1875. It started out as 'The Orange Weekly Tribune,' run by A. P. Harris, who was also a…
Dr. William Hewson and Dr. David Caldwell Hewson · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Orange, Texas, where two generations of the Hewson family left their mark, not just in medicine, but in building this community. Dr. William Hewson arrived in the early 1850s, a physician who also…
Orange and Northwestern Railroad · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, where the Orange and Northwestern Railroad once hauled logs from deep in the piney woods to lumber mills in Orange. Founded in 1901 by Orange businessmen like William H. Stark,…
Orange County · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange County, Texas, a place with a name that might seem straightforward, but its origin is a bit of a mystery. The town, and later the county, was officially named Orange in 1858. But before…
The W. H. Stark House · 11.4 mi
At 610 Main Avenue stands the W. H. Stark House, the 1894 mansion where the town's timber fortune turned into something you can actually walk through. Completed for William Henry Stark and Miriam Lutcher Stark, the…
The Stark Museum of Art · 11.4 mi
A few steps from the Stark family mansion, at 712 Green Avenue, sits the Stark Museum of Art, one of the most unexpected collections you'll find in a small Texas river town. Inside is a serious body of Western American…
W. H. Stark House · 11.4 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine the clatter of horses and the scent of freshly cut lumber; this spot was once the heart of a Texas timber empire. William Henry Stark, a prominent businessman, built this grand Victorian home in Orange, Texas.…
Stark, W. H., House · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the W. H. Stark House, a stunning example of Queen Anne architecture built between 1893 and 1894. William Henry Stark was a major industrialist, heading lumber and petroleum companies. His son, H. J.…
Stark, William Henry · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the heart of Orange, a city shaped by the vision of William Henry Stark. He arrived here in 1870, a young man who'd master the lumber industry, eventually leading two mills for the Lutcher and Moore…
First United Methodist Church of Orange · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past First United Methodist Church of Orange. The first recorded Methodist activity in Orange was in 1859, when the Rev. Valerious C. Canon was sent here from the Woodville District. By 1871, Orange was…
Laura Chandler · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a unique early Texas schoolhouse, right here in Orange. Around 1896, Laura Chandler began holding classes in a room above her father's stable. Imagine that – lessons happening right over…
Jackson-Hustmyre House · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Jackson-Hustmyre House, a beautiful example of Queen Anne style architecture right here in Orange. Henry B. Jackson, a local banker, built this home around 1902, using local yellow pine lumber.…
Lucas, Joe and Annie · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Joe and Annie Lucas, a testament to their success right here in Orange. They built this house in 1907, starting with a simple vernacular design. But Joe, a prominent local jeweler,…
St. Mary's Catholic Church · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here is the site of St. Mary's Catholic Church. Mass was first held in this area way back in 1853, long before Orange was even a city. Things got serious in 1879 when Father…
First Baptist Church of Orange · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past First Baptist Church of Orange. In 1879 the Rev. Andrew Peddy helped organize this congregation with 18 charter members. They met in the frame Orange County courthouse and were served for a time by…
Orange, TX · 11.5 mi
Orange, Texas, was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ike on September 13, 2008. The 22-foot storm surge breached the city's levees, causing catastrophic flooding and damage throughout the city. Nearly the entire city of…
The Hurricane That Almost Erased Orange · 11.5 mi
On September 13, 1865, just months after the Civil War ended, a hurricane roared up the Sabine River region and hit this town harder than anywhere else nearby. The National Weather Service's historical account is…
The Longleaf-Pine Fortune That Built a Cultural Empire · 11.5 mi
In 1877, two experienced Pennsylvania lumbermen, Henry Jacob Lutcher and G. Bedell Moore, arrived here and founded the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company. The country around Orange still held enormous stands of longleaf…
An Italian Immigrant Built Wooden Ships for World War I · 11.5 mi
Once the Sabine River channel was deepened, Orange could finally support real shipbuilding, and during World War I an Italian-born industrialist named Henry Piaggio established the Southern Dry Dock and Shipbuilding…
The Unsolved Murder of Dannarriah Finley · 11.5 mi
Some stories a town carries quietly, and this is one of Orange's. On July 4, 2002, four-year-old Dannarriah Finley was reported missing from her mother's home in Orange. Three days later, her body was found roughly 27…
Jean Lafitte's Buried Treasure on the Sabine · 11.5 mi
For generations, people around Orange have whispered that the pirate and smuggler Jean Lafitte hid gold or valuables somewhere along the Sabine River. The local versions of the tale tuck the caches into riverbanks,…
Brown, Edgar William, Dr. · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here is the site of the former home of Dr. Edgar William Brown. He started as a doctor, following his father's footsteps, but then married into a powerful lumber family. Brown…
Lutcher Memorial Church Building · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Lutcher Memorial Church Building in Orange. This beautiful structure wasn't just a place of worship, it was a lavish gift from the pioneering Lutcher family, who made their fortune in…
Stark, Henry Jacob Lutcher · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, where Henry Jacob Lutcher Stark was born in 1887. He inherited a lumber empire and became Texas' wealthiest man by the 1920s, succeeding in banking, real estate, and petroleum. Stark was a…
Lutcher, Henry Jacob · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, the heart of a timber empire. Henry Jacob Lutcher, a German immigrant's son, arrived here in the 1870s, drawn by the vast pine forests. He built a massive sawmill and, with his partner,…
Leonard Frederick Benckenstein · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Leonard Frederick Benckenstein. (May 15, 1869 - Jan. 30, 1952) 
 A millionaire by his early thirties, Leonard Frederick Benckenstein made his first fortune in Detroit, where he was involved…
The Lutcher Theater · 11.5 mi
At 707 Main Avenue, completing the downtown Stark cluster, stands the Lutcher Theater, proof that the family's habit of turning industrial money into public culture didn't stop with the older generation. The…
The Café in the Old Dairy, Marked by the Floods · 11.5 mi
If you want a meal that tells you something about Orange, the Old Orange Café is it. The restaurant operates inside the former Orange Dairy Company building, a structure that once processed hundreds of gallons of milk a…
Orange, The City of · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Orange, a city that started as Green's Bluff back in 1828 with the Harmon family. It became the county seat in 1852, briefly called Madison, before settling on Orange by 1858. This town boomed thanks…
First Christian Church of Orange · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of Orange. It began in 1885 with residents meeting for worship, some baptized in the Sabine River. The church officially organized in 1894 and built its first…
Howell-Linscomb Home · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and you might catch a glimpse of this home, built between 1900 and 1903 by Daniel Webster Howell. Howell was a carpenter and contractor, and this two-story galleried residence, with its…
Orange Chamber of Commerce · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Orange, a town with a long history of building business. It all started back in 1887 with a citizens' committee focused on promoting the area's potential. By 1899, it was the Board of Trade, and in…
Orange County and the Civil War · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, which was a crucial hub for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Shortly after Texas seceded in 1861, three military companies formed right here for Confederate service. The county…
St. Paul's Episcopal Church · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Orange, and right here is the site of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Established way back in 1863 by missionary Rev. Joseph Wood Dunn, early services were held in a private home. Later, land was…
Lutcher & Moore Lumber Company · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Orange, where a timber empire once stood tall. Back in 1877, H. J. Lutcher and G. B. Moore brought their lumber operations from Pennsylvania, setting up shop right here. Over the next fifty years,…
Orange Dairy Company · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Orange Dairy Company, established in 1941 by Clyde Spears. This place pasteurized and bottled 800 gallons of milk daily, collecting from at least 16 local dairies. The building still…
The Orange Train Depot · 11.7 mi
At 1210 Green Avenue stands the restored Orange Train Depot, a 1908 Southern Pacific station that once handled passengers traveling between New Orleans, Houston, and points farther west. In Orange's story, the railroad…
Jorgensen House · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Jorgensen House in Orange. Built in 1907, it's a fascinating example of resourceful home construction. J. K. Jorgensen, a hardware store clerk, didn't build from scratch. Instead, he bought land…
Bland-Bazzano House · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, past the Bland-Bazzano House. Built in 1902 by John Horace Bland, this home showcases classic Victorian styling with Queen Anne influences, typical of homes from that turn-of-the-century…
Jimmy Ochiltree Sims Home · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Jimmy Ochiltree Sims, a man who built a banking empire right here in Orange. Sims started as a clerk at the First National Bank and worked his way up to chairman of the board, a…
West End Park · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past West End Park. West End Park, a baseball field with wooden grandstands, was an institution in Orange for nearly 80 years. The park was originally constructed to draw a professional baseball team to…
Norsworthy, B. H. · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and a name you might recognize from the Civil War is B. H. Norsworthy. Born in Alabama in 1838, Norsworthy moved to Texas in 1860, just before the war. He organized a Confederate unit…
Wingate, David Robert · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here is the story of David Robert Wingate. He was a wealthy Mississippi sawmill owner who moved his family to Texas in 1852, setting up a cotton plantation. During the Civil War,…
Shangri La Bloomed, Froze, and Came Back · 11.9 mi
At 2111 West Park Avenue sits Shangri La, a garden whose history mirrors Orange itself: carefully built, repeatedly wrecked by Gulf Coast weather, and rebuilt every time. H. J. Lutcher Stark began constructing a private…
Brown, Samuel M., Dr. · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, Texas, where a respected physician met a tragic end. Dr. Samuel M. Brown, a South Carolina native, served as a surgeon for the Confederacy during the Civil War. After the war, he settled…
Alexander Gilmer · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the story of Alexander Gilmer, an Irish immigrant who arrived in the U.S. at seventeen. He entered the shipbuilding business here in Orange in the late 1840s, then became a leading lumberman after…
Putnam B. Curry · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, where Putnam B. Curry settled after fighting for the Confederacy along the Texas coast in the Civil War. Originally from New York, he came to Texas in 1860 and served until 1865. After the…
Evergreen Cemetery · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Evergreen Cemetery, a final resting place for folks in Orange for over 150 years. Local stories say the first burial happened way back in 1840, even before Robert Jackson bought this land in 1853. He…
Sulfur Is in Every Tire You Drive On · 12.0 mi
Here's a fact you can feel under your wheels right now. In 1839 Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped a mix of rubber and sulfur onto a hot stove. Raw rubber normally goes soft and gummy when heated -- but instead of…
The Mine That Was Really a Kettle · 12.0 mi
The Frasch process worked less like a mine and more like a giant underground kettle. Sulfur melts at around one hundred fifteen degrees Celsius, so Frasch pumped superheated water -- about one hundred sixty-five degrees…
Levingston, George M. · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Orange, where George M. Levingston left his mark on the Gulf Coast shipbuilding industry. Born the son of a shipbuilder, Levingston himself became a licensed river captain. In 1933, he founded the…
Russell, Robert B · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Orange, and right here is the story of Robert B. Russell. Born up in Connecticut, he came to Texas in 1835, just in time to join the fight for independence. He fought bravely at the Battle of San…
Saxon, Charles Holmes · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, passing the life of Charles Holmes Saxon. Born around 1820 in Mississippi, Saxon came to Texas in 1842, serving in the Mexican War before settling here. He was a farmer, a shingle…
First National Bank of Orange · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Orange, and right here is the site of the First National Bank, a true engine of this town's boom! Before this bank opened its doors in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1889</say-as>, folks…
Latchem, Emma George · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, Texas, past the site of a remarkable educator's life. Emma George Latchem arrived here in 1871, a widow, but she quickly found her calling. By 1873, she was teaching in a private school,…
Sholars, Samuel Wallace, M.D. · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here is the story of Dr. Samuel Wallace Sholars. Born in Alabama in 1847, he moved to Texas as a boy and served the Confederacy in the Civil War. After the war, he earned his…
Stark, John Thomas · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the final resting place of John Thomas Stark, a true Texas patriarch. Born in Ohio in 1821, Stark came to East Texas in 1840, eventually settling in Newton County. He read law and ran a store before…
Swinford, Jerome · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Orange area, where Jerome Swinford made his mark. A Missouri native, Swinford arrived in Sabine Pass in 1859, diving headfirst into the steamboat business. After fighting in the Civil War, he…
Levingston, Samuel H. · 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange, and right here is where Samuel H. Levingston built his legacy. Born in Ireland in 1832, Levingston came to Texas before the Civil War and set up a shipyard on the Sabine River. He served…
Deweyville, TX · 12.2 mi
Deweyville was named after Admiral George Dewey, a hero of the Spanish-American War, who achieved a decisive victory in the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines in 1898, the same year the town was established. The…
The Destroyer Capital of the World · 12.3 mi
Imagine looking out at the Sabine River during World War II. Not a quiet waterway — a forest of cranes and the steel skeletons of warships. Orange was the only place in Texas building warships, and the Consolidated…
Engineering a River Highway · 12.3 mi
The Sabine River you see here is not entirely natural. It is part of a heavily engineered piece of infrastructure called the Sabine-Neches Waterway, and it is the technological lifeblood of Orange. The river was never…
The Sawdust Millionaires' Art Collection · 12.3 mi
It’s one of the most remarkable stories in the art world. In the early 20th century, the Stark and Lutcher families made a staggering fortune from the lumber industry here in Orange. They had more money than they could…
When the Gulf Came to Town · 12.3 mi
In September 2005, Hurricane Rita came ashore just east of here, between Sabine Pass and Johnson Bayou. The Golden Triangle — Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange — took extensive wind damage, and the storm's rotation shoved a…
Gatemouth's Orange Roots · 12.3 mi
Though he was born just across the river in Louisiana, the legendary musician Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown always called Orange, Texas his home. This is where he grew up, and where his famously eclectic sound began to…
Brimstone, Gunpowder, and Matches · 12.4 mi
The old word for sulfur is brimstone -- literally meaning burning stone, and the name fits. Sulfur is one of the three ingredients in gunpowder: roughly seventy-five percent saltpeter, fifteen percent charcoal, and ten…
Sulfuric Acid, King of Chemicals · 12.5 mi
That sulfur in the ground feeds one of the most-produced industrial chemicals on Earth: sulfuric acid. The world makes something like two hundred sixty million tonnes of it a year. It's so central to industry that, as…
How Sulphur Got Its Name · 12.6 mi
Sulphur is named for the sulfur deposit sitting in the caprock of a buried salt dome right under the town -- not, despite the local joke, for any rotten-egg smell. Sulfur was found about 450 feet down in 1867, but it…
The Rotten-Egg Smell Isn't Sulfur · 12.6 mi
Time to bust the myth this town gets teased about. Pure elemental sulfur is completely odorless. That famous rotten-egg stink everybody blames on sulfur is actually hydrogen sulfide -- a compound of sulfur and hydrogen,…
Deweyville · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Deweyville, Texas, a town with a name that sailed all the way from the Spanish-American War. But before it was Deweyville, it was known as Possum Bluff. The original site was purchased in 1886 for…
The Nylon Plant That Built This Suburb · 12.8 mi
Pinehurst is a bedroom town, and the bed it was built beside is chemistry. A few miles southeast, along the Sabine River and Adams Bayou, DuPont opened its Sabine River Works in 1946 on a 142-acre tract of coastal…
After Harvey: Rebuilding Under the Water Line · 12.8 mi
In late August 2017, Hurricane Harvey stalled over Southeast Texas and dumped historic rain on Orange County, drowning streets and homes across Pinehurst and its neighbors. Sitting barely seven feet above sea level…
Pinehurst: A Town Named for Its Pines · 12.8 mi
Pinehurst got its name the plain way: from the thick stand of pine that once covered this ground west of the city of Orange. The tract was platted in 1948 by landowners John B. Lea and Georgia Spooner, and the…
The West Orange-Stark Chain Gang · 13.0 mi
In Texas, football is a religion, but in West Orange, it’s an identity. You’re in the home of the West Orange-Stark Mustangs and their legendary 'Chain Gang' defense. That nickname isn't just for show; it represents a…
Engineering Against the Surge · 13.0 mi
You're in one of the most exposed places on the U.S. coast, and it's all about water. West Orange sits about ten feet above sea level on the Sabine, and the Sabine is not just a river anymore - it's part of the…
The Town Between the Works · 13.2 mi
West Orange began on paper in 1902, when a town plat for the West Orange addition to the city of Orange was filed in southeastern Orange County. It was never a company town or a fresh frontier settlement. Instead, a…
How a Grove Named the Town · 13.2 mi
West Orange carries a borrowed name, and the original is stranger than most people expect. The parent city of Orange sits on the lower Sabine River, and its earliest settlement was called Green's Bluff, after Resin…
Madison Lodge No. 126, A.F. & A.M. · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Madison Lodge No. 126, chartered in 1853. This Masonic lodge sponsored Orange's first public school and even hosted church services in its early buildings. Though a hurricane destroyed…
2016 UIL 4A Division 2 Football State Champions · 13.5 mi
West Orange-Stark High School (Orange, TX): Most recent: 24-6 over Sweetwater · 2016 4A Division 2 final.
West Orange-Stark High School (Kevin Smith) · 13.5 mi
West Orange-Stark High School in West Orange, Texas is where cornerback Kevin Smith led back-to-back Class 4A state championships in 1986 and 1987. He set a Southwest Conference record with 20 career interceptions at…
Absalom Jett · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Orange, Texas, where Absalom Jett lived out his days. Born in Louisiana in 1812, Jett arrived in Texas as a young boy in 1824. He answered the call to arms in 1836, serving in the Army of Texas. He…
Deweyville, TX · 13.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Deweyville, a town born from the timber industry. Back in 1898, the Sabine Tram Company built a sawmill right here, near an old ferry crossing. They named the new settlement after Admiral George…
Sabine and Neches Valley Railway · 13.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, near Deweyville. Back in 1921, this area was all about lumber. The Sabine and Neches Valley Railway was chartered, mainly to serve the Peavy-Moore Lumber Company's big sawmill…
How a Shallow River Became a Naval Shipbuilding Center · 14.1 mi
Orange could never have become a shipbuilding city without serious engineering of the Sabine River, and that's the hidden STEM story under everything along this waterfront. The natural lower river carried sediment and…
World War II P.O.W. Camp · 14.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, and right here, in 1944, this was a U.S. Army tent camp housing German prisoners of war. Over 50,000 POWs were held in Texas during World War II, and this was one of dozens of…
Old First Orange Baptist Church · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Old First Orange Baptist Church, a place that's seen its share of storms, both spiritual and literal. Organized way back in September of <say-as interpret-as="date"…
One Field, Two Crops: The Crawfish Cycle · 16.6 mi
The secret behind the Crawfish Capital is a clever piece of biology. Red swamp crawfish evolved for wetlands that flood and dry with the seasons, and rice farmers turn that instinct into a second crop from the same…
Mauriceville, TX · 16.6 mi
Mauriceville's history began with the construction of two railway lines, the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway in 1898 and the Orange and Northwestern Railway in 1902. The community was named in honor of Maurice Miller,…
Abraham Winfree · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the area that became known as Winfree, named for Abraham Winfree, a Louisiana native who settled here in 1833. He was a rancher, logger, and more, and his home on Cow Bayou was a stop on an…
Winfree Baptist Church · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Winfree Baptist Church. It began in 1915 as Burton Baptist Church with 23 members, named for its first pastor. By 1923, a larger building was constructed and it was renamed Winfree…
Orange County's Longest-Running Party · 17.1 mi
Every spring the whole community turns out for the Mauriceville Crawfish Festival, now run as the Crawfish Bash by the Mauriceville Heritage Association. It began in 1981 and is the longest continuously running festival…
Cow Bayou Swing Bridge · 17.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Cow Bayou Swing Bridge, completed in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1940</say-as>. It's one of only a few highway swing bridges left in Texas. This vital connection between Orange and…
Mauriceville, TX · 17.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Mauriceville, a community born from the iron horse. Right here, in the late 1890s, two railroads, the Texarkana and Fort Smith and the Orange and Northwestern, converged. The town itself was named…
A Tiny Town The Legislature Made A Capital · 17.6 mi
In 1983 the Texas Legislature made it official: Mauriceville is the Crawfish Capital of Texas. The honor came through House Concurrent Resolution 42, passed in the 68th Legislature and championed by State Representative…
Named For The Railroad President's Son · 17.6 mi
Mauriceville owes its name and its start to steel rails. Two lines crossed here at the edge of the East Texas pine belt. The Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway arrived in 1898, and the Orange and Northwestern followed in…
From Sawmills To Rice To Mudbugs · 17.6 mi
Mauriceville has reinvented its economy more than once. In the early 1900s, lumbering was the chief business, feeding the sawmills of Orange County's longleaf pine country. In 1917 the R.W. Wier Lumber Company built a…
Mauriceville · 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mauriceville, a town born from the rails. Two railroads, the Texarkana and Fort Smith in 1898 and the Orange and Northwestern in 1902, laid the groundwork for this community. It was named for…
Peyton Bland · 17.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orange County, heading past the site of a true Texas character: Peyton Bland. Born in Louisiana in 1815, Bland came to Texas as a young man and immediately enrolled to fight in the Texas…
Orangefield · 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Orangefield, a community born from the oil boom. The first well here in 1903 was a dry hole, but in 1913, Rio Bravo Oil drilled a 'wonder well' producing 150 barrels a day. By 1921, another well…
Linscomb Cemetery · 18.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Linscomb Cemetery, a final resting place with roots stretching back to the Texas Revolution. Joseph Linscomb, a veteran of that fight for independence, moved his family to this area around 1835.…
First Baptist Church · 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bridge City's First Baptist Church. Organized in 1940 with 28 charter members, it aimed to meet the community's spiritual needs. The church has since been active in community service,…
The Day the Gulf Came to Town · 19.0 mi
In September 2008, Hurricane Ike wasn't even a direct hit, but it taught Bridge City a terrifying lesson in hydrology. As the storm churned in the Gulf, its massive size pushed a wall of water into Sabine Lake. The lake…
Building a Bridge to the Sky · 19.0 mi
When you see the Rainbow Bridge, you're looking at a piece of 1930s ambition. Before it was built, getting between Port Arthur and Orange meant a long drive or a slow ferry. A bridge was needed, but the War Department…
Engineering the Rainbow Bridge · 19.0 mi
The Rainbow Bridge is a classic example of problem-solving with steel and concrete. The engineering challenge in the 1930s was immense: span the wide Neches River with a bridge strong enough for traffic but also high…
The Woo: A High School Football Legend · 19.0 mi
Every Texas town dreams of a football hero, and in 1966, Bridge City had Steve Worster. He wasn't just a great player; he was a phenomenon. A bruising fullback with surprising speed, he was nicknamed 'The Woo' and…
Bridge City, TX · 19.0 mi
Bridge City has been home to several individuals who made their mark in professional sports.
Two Storms, and the Town That Rebuilt · 19.2 mi
Wedged between the Neches River and Sabine Lake, Bridge City sits low, and twice in three years the Gulf tested it. First came Hurricane Rita in September 2005. Orange County ordered a mandatory evacuation on the…
Tex Cobb, the Man Who Made Cosell Quit · 19.2 mi
One of Bridge City's toughest sons was born here on May 7, 1950. Randall Craig Cobb, known as Tex, turned an iron chin into three careers, first as a knockout kickboxer, then as a heavyweight boxer who finished 42 wins,…
From Prairie View to Bridge City · 19.2 mi
Before it was Bridge City, this was Prairie View, a name earned honestly from the flat coastal grassland where cattle grazed among scattered homes, roughed-out roads, and ferry crossings in southern Orange County. The…
King, Richard · 19.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through South Texas, and right here, you're passing through the heart of what became the legendary King Ranch. It all started with Richard King, a riverman who made his fortune on the Rio Grande. After…
Andross, Mills DeForrest · 19.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, but right here, in the shadow of the Alamo, is a story that began far away in Vermont. Mills DeForrest Andross, born in Bradford, Vermont, was a painter by trade before he came to Texas. He…
Kishi Colony, TX · 19.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Kishi Colony was one of at least three small Japanese settlements established on the Texas coastal plains during the early twentieth century. The community, about ten miles east of Beaumont in central Orange County,…
Echo, TX (Orange County) · 19.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Orange, Texas, and you might just be passing through a place called Echo. It wasn't named for a sound you'd hear in a canyon, but for the way sounds bounced around the Sabine River swamp. Back in…
Sabine River and Northern Railroad · 19.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Orange County, near the Louisiana border, and right here is the territory served by the Sabine River and Northern Railroad. Chartered in 1965, this railroad wasn't built for passengers or general…
Connell, TX · 19.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Connell is on the Southern Pacific Railroad east of State Highway 105 and eight miles east of Beaumont in west central Orange County. The western end of a siding on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad was called Diana as…
Terry, TX · 19.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Terry is at the junction of the Southern Pacific Railroad and Farm Road 1135, eleven miles east of Beaumont in central Orange County. Terry was one of the earliest stops in Orange County on the Texas and New Orleans…

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