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Port Arthur, Texas

Everything Port Arthur is known for

119 songs mention this city 6 artists from here

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Port Arthur, Texas, located on the Texas-Louisiana border, is recognized as the official Cajun Capital of Texas and boasts a rich musical heritage. The city has been home to influential artists across various genres, including rock legend Janis Joplin and hip-hop pioneers UGK. The Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur celebrates this legacy with its Music Hall of Fame, featuring exhibits on Gulf Coast musicians.

With 103 songs in our collection mentioning Port Arthur and 6 artists calling it home, the city's musical impact is evident. Notable tracks like UGK's "Int'l Players Anthem" and Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" showcase the diverse talent that emerged from this Gulf Coast community.

Music in Port Arthur

Songs About Port Arthur

Third Coast
Teezo Touchdown
92%
"I call her Port Art, Port Art, Port Arthur, 'cause baby got that water"
PA Nigga
UGK
90%
"This is that underground shit from Port Arthur, Texas"
Int'l Players Anthem
UGK
90%
La Blues de Port Arthur
Leo Soileau
81%
"TITLE"
Port Arthur
Mamou Prairie Band
80%
"Song about PortArthur"
Port Arthur
Brittani Washington
80%
"Song about PortArthur"
Port Arthur
Ilsen Mirhaidarov
80%
"Song about PortArthur"
Port Arthur
Flame Jazz Messengers
80%
"Song about PortArthur"
The Port Arthur Lament (Rainbow Bridges)
Mayeux & Broussard
79%
"The Port Arthur Lament"
Port Arthur Waltz
Harry Choates
60%
Short Texas
UGK
60%
"Welcome to the world of S-H-O-R-T Texas"
Blues de Port Arthur
Harry Choates
55%
Pushin
Bun B
54%
"Next stop: Port Arthur, Texas, I work it in the Lones"
Meal Ticket
Master P
54%
"The pope of Port Arthur"
Put It Down
Bun B
53%
"They know I'm in a Port Arthur state of mind"
Ego Rock
Janis Joplin
51%
"Port Arthur is the worst place that I've ever found"
Ridin’ Dirty
UGK
51%
"I use to ride them Port Arthur city streets"
Port Arthur Blues
Dewey Balfa
50%
Flying Crow Blues
Washboard Sam
50%
Flatland Hillbillies
Rodney Crowell
50%

Showing top 20 of 119 songs · Hear more in the free iPhone app

Artists From Port Arthur

B
Bun B
hip-hop
P
Pimp C
hip-hop
J
Janis Joplin
rock
U
UGK
hip-hop
D
DJ DMD
hip-hop
J
Jivin' Gene
r-n-b

Rivers & Roads in Song near Port Arthur

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Port Arthur.

Sabine River 13 songs Neches River 2 songs Interstate 10 36 songs US Route 90 9 songs

Musical Heritage

The Refinery Town That Kept Producing Music RoadyGoat

For a midsize refinery city, Port Arthur has thrown an absurd number of musicians at the world, and from wildly different traditions. Janis Joplin grew up here and went to Thomas Jefferson High School before her blues-soaked voice became a centerpiece of 1960s rock; her relationship with the town was complicated, marked by both early church and blues influences and real bullying and alienation. Pimp C and Bun B formed UGK here and helped invent the slow, blues-tinged sound of Southern rap, and Bun B has been clear that he was raised and schooled in Port Arthur, not Houston. Barbara Lynn, the left-handed guitarist and R&B songwriter, came up here too, as did Clifford Antone, who founded the legendary Antone's blues club in Austin after a Port Arthur childhood steeped in Black blues, Cajun fiddle and Louisiana radio. Add Cajun players like Harry Choates and you get a town where refinery wages, church singing, swamp-pop and dance-hall music all collided. The Museum of the Gulf Coast keeps the whole roster in its music gallery. (Source: Museum of the Gulf Coast.)

History of Port Arthur

Port Arthur, TX RoadyGoat

Port Arthur carries a weight, a palpable sense of resilience you can almost taste in the humid air. It's a place where marsh grasses meet the edge of industry, where alligators lurk in the drainage canals, a constant reminder of the wildness that surrounds us. You can drive down Highway 87 towards Sabine Pass and feel the pull of the Gulf, the same pull that shaped this land and its people. It’s easy to understand why the city is vulnerable, sitting just a few feet above sea level, and the scars of Hurricane Harvey are still visible in places, a testament to the forces we contend with. But Port Arthur isn’t just about struggle. It’s a place that breeds a certain kind of soul, a grit and passion that’s hard to find anywhere else. Think about Janis Joplin, born and raised right here. You can almost imagine her, a young girl absorbing the sounds and the stories of this place, the blues and the bayous mixing in her blood. She left, of course, but something of Port Arthur went with her, that raw, untamed energy that defined her music. And she’s not the only one. This city, named for Arthur Stilwell, has seen its share of characters walk these streets, people who felt the pull of this place and carried a bit of it with them, no matter where they went.

Port Arthur, TX RoadyGoat

On September 11, 1897, Port Arthur celebrated the completion of the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad. The next day, a major hurricane struck, causing water to flow five feet deep in the streets, leading to the collapse of an unfinished railroad roundhouse that killed four people seeking shelter, and a total of 13 deaths. This event is a stark example of the city's vulnerability to extreme weather.

RoadyGoat →

Port Arthur, TX RoadyGoat

Port Arthur is inextricably linked to oil. You can smell it in the air sometimes, a faint, almost metallic tang mingling with the salty breeze off Sabine Lake. That connection started in the late 19th century, with the vision of Arthur Stilwell, who believed this location could become a major port. But it was the Spindletop gusher, just north of here, that truly cemented Port Arthur's fate. Suddenly, there was a need for refineries, pipelines, and a deep-water port to handle the booming oil trade. The city became a hub, attracting workers from all over. Refineries sprang up along the waterways, transforming the landscape. Marsh grasses still grow in the wetlands, and you might even spot an alligator sunning itself near a drainage canal, but the skyline is dominated by the industrial architecture of the energy industry. Even today, despite the economic ups and downs and the constant threat of hurricanes – Harvey's devastation is still fresh in many minds – the refineries continue to operate, a testament to the enduring, if sometimes uneasy, relationship between Port Arthur and the black gold that flows through its veins.

Zaharias, Mildred Ella Didrikson [Babe]

1911

Mildred Ella (Babe) Didrikson Zaharias, athlete, Ladies Professional Golf Association founder, and olympian, was born on June 26, 1911, in Port Arthur, Texas, the sixth of seven children of Norwegian immigrants Ole Nickolene and Hannah Marie (Olson) Didriksen. Ole Didriksen was a seaman and carpenter, and his wife was an accomplished skater in Norway. In 1915 the family moved to Beaumont, Texas, where the children, with the encouragement of both parents, became skilled performers on the rustic gymnasium equipment that their father built in the backyard. Mildred Didrikson, who changed the spelling of her surname, acquired her nickname during sandlot baseball games with the neighborhood boys, who thought she batted like Babe Ruth. The nickname also originated from the Norwegian word "baden" meaning baby, an endearing term used by her mother. A talented basketball player in high school, Didrikson was recruited during her senior year in 1930 to do office work at Employers Casualty Insurance Company of Dallas and to spark the company's semiprofessional women's basketball team, the Golden Cyclones. Between 1930 and 1932 she led the team to two finals and a national championship and was voted All-American each season. Her exceptional athletic versatility prompted Employers Casualty to expand its women's sports program beyond basketball. Didrikson represented the company as a one-woman team in eight of ten track and field events at the 1932 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Championships. She placed in seven events, taking first place in five-shot put, javelin and baseball throws, eighty-meter hurdles, and long jump; she tied for first in the high jump and finished fourth in the discus throw. In three hours Didrikson singlehandedly amassed thirty points, eight more than the entire second-place team, and broke four world records. Her performances in the javelin throw, hurdles, and high jump qualified her to enter the 1932 Olympics, where she again broke world records in all three events. She won gold medals for the javelin and hurdles and, despite clearing the same height as the top finisher in the high jump, was awarded the silver medal because she went over the bar head first, a foul at that time. Didrikson received a heroine's welcome on her return to Texas. She had started another basketball season with the Golden Cyclones when the Amateur Athletic Union disqualified her from amateur competition because her name appeared in an automobile advertisement. Her family was badly in need of money, and Didrikson turned professional to earn what she could from her status as a sports celebrity. Never hesitant to capitalize on her own abilities or to turn a profit from showmanship, she spent 1932-34 self-promoting and barnstorming. She did a brief stint in vaudeville playing the harmonica and running on a treadmill and pitched in some major league spring-training games; she also toured with a billiards exhibition, a men's and women's basketball team called Babe Didrikson's All-Americans, and an otherwise all-male, bearded baseball road team called the House of David. Since golf was one of the few sports that accommodated women athletes, Didrikson made up her mind to become a championship player, and between engagements she spent the spring and summer of 1933 in California taking lessons from Stan Kertes. Her first tournament was the Fort Worth Women's Invitational in November 1932; at her second, the Texas Women's Amateur Championship the following April, she captured the title. Complaints from more socially polished members of the Texas Women's Golf Association led the United States Association to rule her ineligible to compete as an amateur, thus disqualifying her from virtually all tournament play. Didrikson resumed the lucrative routine of exhibition tours and endorsements, impressing audiences with smashing drives that regularly exceeded 240 yards. She met George Zaharias, a well-known professional wrestler and sports promoter, when she quali

Tsha Handbook → · 3.0 mi away

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

1911

(June 26, 1911 - September 27, 1956) One of seven children, Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson was the daughter of Norwegian immigrants Hannah Marie (d. 1945) and Ole Didrikson (d. 1943). For the first several years of her life, the family occupied a frame house at this location. Later they moved to Beaumont. The Didriksons encouraged their children to develop their natural athletic abilities. Called "Baby" by her family, Mildred was later nicknamed "Babe" for baseball star Babe Ruth. Babe first demonstrated her athletic skill as a high school basketball star. After training in track and field events, she won two gold medals at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. An exceptionally versatile athlete, Babe excelled in baseball, bowling, tennis, and other sports. Eventually she concentrated her efforts on golf and won many tournaments as both an amateur and a professional. The Associated Press named her the "Woman Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century." In 1938 Babe married George Zaharias. Popular with sports fans for her skill and personality, she won further admiration during a long and courageous battle against cancer. She died in Galveston and was buried in Beaumont.

Historical Marker →

Janis Lyn Joplin

1943

(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)

Historical Marker →

Butler, Chad Lamont [Pimp C]

1973

Pimp C, rap artist, was born Chad Lamont Butler in Port Arthur, Texas, on December 29, 1973. He was the son of Weslyn and Charleston Butler. Pimp C is best-known as cofounder and one-half of the Houston rap duo UGK (Underground Kingz) , whose soulful, blues-based version of “Dirty South” hip-hop helped put Texas rap music in the national spotlight. He, along with his UGK partner Bernard Freeman (aka Bun B), helped to define Southern rap. The son of a trumpet player who at one time performed with Solomon Burke, Butler grew up in a home filled with jazz , blues , and soul music. He cited his early influences as B. B. King, Ray Charles, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Marvin Gaye, and many other jazz and blues artists. His parents divorced when he was about six, and his mother married Norwood Monroe. Butler’s stepfather was a band teacher who taught him to read music and later influenced him to incorporate more musical instruments into his sound. Butler first became interested in rap when a friend loaned him an early Run DMC album in 1983. After hearing the record, he began exploring rap’s origins in an effort to learn more about the music that so captivated his imagination. Although his interest in rap music was growing, he also pursued more traditional musical interests. In high school, he studied classical music and received a Division I rating on a tenor solo at a University Interscholastic League choir competition. While still in high school, Pimp C worked with fellow musicians Mitchell Queen, Bernard “Bun B” Freeman, and Jalon Jackson before eventually settling into a rap collaboration with Bun B to form the group UGK. They released a cassette, The Southern Way , on the small Houston label Bigtyme Recordz in 1988. They landed a deal with Jive Records in 1992. During that same year, the duo released its first major label debut, Too Hard to Swallow . It featured the single “Tell Me Something Good,” a laid-back track that contained a sample of Rufus and Chaka Khan’s tune of the same name. Another song from the album, “Pocket Full of Stones,” was featured on the soundtrack to the movie Menace II Society (1993), helping earn the group some national exposure. The song “Pocket Full of Stones” is emblematic of the rise in “gangsta rap” that came to dominate the hip-hop landscape in the early 1990s. In 1994 UGK released Super Tight ; Pimp C produced all the tracks. He also produced most of the songs on UGK’s next release in 1996, Ridin’ Dirty , which reached Number 2 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, proving that the group was much more than a regional act and could sell records on a national scale. Following their success with Ridin’ Dirty , UGK made a number of guest appearances, one on a hit single by Jay-Z entitled “Big Pimpin’” in 1999. This song merged Jay-Z’s Brooklyn-based braggadocio with UGK’s southern slang. The second guest appearance was on a record with the Tennessee-based rap group, Three 6 Mafia, called “Sippin’ on Some Sizzurp,” released in 2000. These recordings boosted the group’s national appeal and proved once again that their fan base extended far beyond the confines of Texas. In 2001 UGK released its fourth album, Dirty Money . It featured several songs that included sexual content and blatant misogyny, such as “Like a Pimp,” “Pimpin’ Ain’t No Illusion,” and “Money, Hoes, and Power.” The album peaked at Number 2 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The year 2002 brought the release of Side Hustles , the duo’s fifth album. It did not sell as well as previous releases, and UGK suffered further setbacks when Pimp C was arrested and jailed on an aggravated assault charge. After violating probation because he ignored a community service sentence, he spent the next three years in prison. During his imprisonment hip-hop fans and rappers, spearheaded by Bun B, launched a grassroots “Free Pimp C” campaign. While Pimp C was incarcerated, his label Rap-A-Lot Records released his solo record Sweet James Jones

Tsha Handbook → · 3.0 mi away

Joplin, Janis Lyn

1943

Janis Lyn Joplin, blues and rock singer, daughter of Seth Ward and Dorothy (East) Joplin, was born on January 19, 1943, in Port Arthur, Texas. She grew up in a respectable middle-class home; her father was an engineer and her mother a Sunday school teacher. The future queen of nonconformity is remembered as a bright, pretty, and artistic little girl. Signs of rebellion, however, against the religious, sexual, and racial conservatism of her environment were evident in junior high school, and by the time Janis graduated from Jefferson High School in Port Arthur in 1960, her vocabulary of four letter words, her outrageous clothes, and her reputation for sexual promiscuity and drunkenness (signs of alcoholism were already apparent) caused her classmates to call her derogatory names. Bereft of friends, without dates for school dances, ashamed of her acned face and overweight figure, Janis responded with contempt and insults to cover the rejection that scarred her for the rest of her life. In her junior year she found acceptance in a small group of Jefferson High beatniks who read Jack Kerouac and roamed the nightspots from Port Arthur to New Orleans, thus mining one of the motherlodes of American ethnic music. There were Anglo, African American, Cajun, Mexican, and Caribbean sounds. There were the lyrics and rhythms of country , gospel , jazz , soul, and the blues. Janis did not read music, but at the roadhouses or at home listening to records of Odetta, Bessie Smith, or Willie Mae Thornton , she had an uncanny ability to imitate the sounds she heard. Out of imitation there slowly developed the timing, phrasing, inflections, and talent at evoking changing moods that were the Joplin trademarks. She found Lamar State College of Technology at Beaumont no improvement over Port Arthur; she was characterized as a rebel in both places. She fled to the University of Texas in Austin in the summer of 1962 to study art. Indifferent to classwork, she found soulmates at the Ghetto, a counterculture enclave, and got gigs around Austin, most importantly at Threadgill's, a converted filling station and late night hangout for lovers of music and nonstop partying. The proprietor, country singer Kenneth Threadgill , offered Janis encouragement and lifelong friendship. Janis craved such acceptance, but her nonconforming behavior often provoked rejection, as when university fraternity pranksters nominated her as their candidate in the annual Ugliest Man on Campus contest. Characteristically, she laughed to cover the hurt, and dreamed of San Francisco, where Beats and Hippies were not outsiders. She spent 1963 to 1965 in the Bay area and won attention from local audiences, until drugs became more important than singing and reduced her to an emaciated eighty-eight pounds. Her friends passed the hat and gave her a bus ticket home. Parental care restored her health, and fear of relapse produced a period of sobriety. Business suits and bouffant hairdos announced conversion to the Port Arthur ethos. But Janis's mind was torn: Port Arthur was safe but dull. San Francisco offered both excitement and potential self destruction. She made her decision after receiving an offer to audition for a new rock band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and headed west in May 1966, toward four years of meteoric fame-and death at age twenty-seven. "Imagine a White girl singing the blues like that!" they said of Big Brother's lead singer. And Joplin's belting of rock gathered huge swaying, clapping, shouting, and dancing audiences. For Janis a good audience was an audience in motion, and her body joined her voice in pleading for audience participation. She stopped the show at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 with "Ball and Chain." That triumph and the album Cheap Thrills (1968) elevated her to national stardom. A new manager, Albert Grossman, whose stable of stars included Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan, urged Janis to dump Big Brother for more versatile and discipline

Tsha Handbook → · 3.0 mi away

Spindletop to Port Arthur Oil Pipeline Corridor

1901

On January 10, 1901, the landscape of Texas changed forever. On that day, the Lucas Gusher came through at the Spindletop oilfield, discovered on a salt dome formation near Beaumont. Flowing at an estimated 100,000 barrels a day, the Lucas Gusher marked the beginning of a Texas oil boom that would last for decades. Many of the nation's biggest oil companies, including the Texas Company (Texaco), Gulf Oil Corporation, Sun Oil Corporation, Magnolia Petroleum Company and Humble (Exxon company), began at Spindletop. Capitalizing on the vast new oilfield, the Port Arthur Townsite and Land Company, which had been creating infrastructure for a railroad and shipping terminal city, deeded an oil pipeline right-of-way to James M. Guffey and John H. Galey. The line transported oil from the Spindletop oilfield to Guffey's refinery, which became the Gulf Refining Company of Texas. Within three years, more than 500 miles of oil pipelines had been constructed in southeast Texas. Further expansion by Guffey's company linked Port Arthur to oilfields in Oklahoma, and his refinery became one of the largest in the United States. Area oil pipelines boosted both the Texas and U.S. economies with new businesses, technology and other advances. The pipelines enabled companies to collect and refine Texas oil reserves, and Port Arthur's location allowed product to be delivered quickly around the country. The Texas petroleum industry played a large role in U.S. involvement in both world wars and helped establish the nation as a 20th-century superpower. 										(2004)

Historical Marker → · 3.9 mi away

Things to Do in Port Arthur

historical 14.6 mi away
Spindletop

On January 10 1901 a well south of Beaumont blew its crown block clean off the derrick and started gushing oil a hundred and fifty feet in the air at nine…
day trip
Day Trip to Port Arthur ⛴ (FULL EPISODE) S11 E6

Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.

Sports in Port Arthur

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 5A · Boys Basketball · 2018

Memorial — 2018 UIL 5A Boys Basketball State Champions

Most recent: 2018 5A

Down in Port Arthur, where the air carries a hint of the Gulf, Memorial High School stands as a proud institution in Class 5A basketball. The boys' basketball program has reached the pinnacle of Texas high school sports, securing a UIL State Championship. This significant achievement reflects the dedication and hard work within the program, bringing a state title back to the community.

The 2018 5A State Championship represents a high point for Memorial High School basketball. This victory is a source of considerable pride for the school and the city of Port Arthur, marking their place among the top teams in the state. The accomplishment is a testament to the consistent effort and spirit present in the Titans' athletic endeavors.

State titles
2018
Most recent
2018
Class
5A
The moment

The Memorial High School boys' basketball team claimed the 5A State Championship in 2018.

Sources: Wikipedia · UIL State Championship Archives

Everything Near Port Arthur

511 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • Port Arthur, TX

    Port Arthur carries a weight, a palpable sense of resilience you can almost taste in the humid air. It's a place where marsh grasses meet the edge of industry, where alligators lurk in the drainage canals, a constant…

  • Port Arthur - Janis Joplin's Hometown · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Port Arthur gave the world Janis Joplin, and Port Arthur never quite forgave her for what she said about it. She was born here in 1943, grew up reading and painting and listening to blues records in a refinery town on…

  • Port Arthur Refineries · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Port Arthur exists because of oil, and the oil exists because of a salt dome nine miles north at Spindletop. After the 1901 gusher, pipelines ran straight to the deep-water port on Sabine Lake, and the refineries…

  • New Hope Missionary Baptist Church · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Port Arthur, where the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church began in 1906. Organized by a small group, it became the first Baptist church for African Americans in town. They held services in a…

  • The Place That Turns Black Goo Into Everything · 0.8 mi

    Crude oil isn't one substance. It's a thick soup of many different hydrocarbon molecules, all tangled together. A refinery's whole job is to separate that soup and convert it into the things we actually use: gasoline,…

  • How a Tall Tower Sorts Oil by Weight · 0.8 mi

    See those tall towers? That's where the first big step happens, and it's called fractional distillation. The crude gets heated until it boils and turns to vapor, then that vapor rises up inside a tall distillation…

  • Breaking Big Molecules to Make Gasoline · 0.8 mi

    Distillation only sorts what's already there, and here's the problem. A barrel of crude doesn't naturally contain nearly as much gasoline as we want. After the tower does its sorting, a big chunk of what's left over is…

  • The Helper That Never Gets Used Up · 0.8 mi

    We keep mentioning a catalyst, so here's what one actually is, and it's one of the quietly amazing ideas in chemistry. A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being consumed by it. Every…

  • Port Arthur Refinery Row · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    Drive into Port Arthur from the west and the skyline is not buildings but distillation towers, flare stacks, and a lattice of pipes that stretches for miles along the ship channel. The Motiva refinery here is the…

  • Stilwell, Arthur Edward · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Port Arthur, a town that owes its very existence to the childhood dreams of Arthur Edward Stilwell. Born in Rochester, New York, in 1859, young Arthur was inspired by his…

  • Francis John (Frank) Trost (June 24, 1868 - August 4, 1944) · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a pivotal moment in Texas history, captured by a local photographer. Francis John Trost, who arrived in Port Arthur in 1895, opened his studio right here. But he's most famous for what he…

  • The Museum That Holds the Whole Coast · 1.0 mi

    If you only stop one place in Port Arthur, the Museum of the Gulf Coast is the one that ties everything together. Its exhibits sweep across Indigenous life on the Sabine Lake shores, maritime commerce, the petroleum…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • Gates Memorial Library · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Gates Memorial Library in Port Arthur, a testament to a man who really did 'bet a million' on Texas industry. John Warne Gates, a titan of barbed wire and early oil, was a key player…

  • Lakeshore/Lions Park · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Lakeshore and Lions Park in Port Arthur. Back in 1898, the Port Arthur Townsite Company planned this spot along the Sabine Lake shoreline as a place for everyone. By 1920, a section was…

  • Port Arthur College · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Port Arthur College, founded in 1909 by John W. Gates, a titan behind Texaco. Gates envisioned this vocational school, focusing on skills like accounting and communications, to support…

  • The architects of Grand Central Station · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Gates Memorial Library in Port Arthur. This beautiful classical revival building, completed in 1917, was the dream of financier John W. Gates. He set aside the land, and his widow…

  • Gates Memorial Library · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    John W. Gates (1855-1911), a noted financier and philanthropist, set aside land at this site for a public library. In 1917, through the efforts of his widow Dellora (1855-1918), this classical revival library was…

  • Ruby Ruth Fuller Building · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Ruby Ruth Fuller Building, a beautiful example of Gothic and Tudor architecture built in 1915. Originally the home of Port Arthur's First United Methodist Church, it featured two asymmetrical…

  • The Refinery Town That Kept Producing Music · 1.1 mi

    For a midsize refinery city, Port Arthur has thrown an absurd number of musicians at the world, and from wildly different traditions. Janis Joplin grew up here and went to Thomas Jefferson High School before her…

  • Babe Didrikson Zaharias · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    (June 26, 1911 - September 27, 1956) One of seven children, Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson was the daughter of Norwegian immigrants Hannah Marie (d. 1945) and Ole Didrikson (d. 1943). For the first several years of her…

  • The City the Spirits Told Him to Build · 1.1 mi

    As you roll into downtown Port Arthur you're entering a city its founder claimed was laid out on supernatural advice. Railroad promoter Arthur Edward Stilwell wanted a Gulf terminus for his Kansas City, Pittsburg and…

  • Forty-Six Men at Sabine Pass · 1.1 mi

    Out at Sabine Pass, on September 8, 1863, one of the most lopsided fights of the Civil War played out in less than an hour. A Union expedition of roughly 20 vessels carrying several thousand soldiers and sailors tried…

  • Those Towers Are Molecule-Sorting Machines · 1.1 mi

    Those refinery towers along the Port Arthur skyline aren't oil tanks. They're giant sorting and rebuilding machines, and they're the city's best STEM story. Crude oil isn't one substance; it's a soup of hydrocarbons…

  • West Port Arthur — the Neighborhood That Disappeared · 1.1 mi

    West of Houston Avenue, close against the refinery property, there used to be a whole world that is now mostly gone. Under Jim Crow, segregation concentrated many of Port Arthur's Black residents on the West Side, right…

  • How a Speculative Port Became an Oil Capital · 1.1 mi

    Port Arthur was first dreamed up as a combined seaport, railroad terminus and tourist resort. Then the ground shifted, literally. In January 1901 the Lucas Gusher erupted at Spindletop near Beaumont, and the Texas oil…

  • Texas Company Refinery at Port Arthur (Port Arthur Works) · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Texas Company Refinery at Port Arthur (Port Arthur Works). The Beaumont-Port Arthur area was booming at the turn of the 20th century after the January 10, 1901, discovery of oil at Spindletop. The…

  • The Party That Ended in a Killer Storm · 1.1 mi

    On Saturday, September 11, 1897, the brand-new settlement of Port Arthur threw a celebration: the railroad connection that finally tied Kansas City to the Gulf was complete. The very next day, a major hurricane slammed…

  • The Empty Tower Downtown · 1.1 mi

    After dark, the ten-story shell of the Hotel Sabine is one of the most conspicuous things in downtown Port Arthur, all dark windows and dead floors rising over a city that mostly emptied out around it. It opened in…

  • Lucian Adams and the One-Man Assault · 1.1 mi

    Port Arthur produced a Medal of Honor recipient, and his story is worth slowing down for. Lucian Adams, born here, served with the 3rd Infantry Division in World War II. Near Saint-Die, France, on October 28, 1944, with…

  • Boudin and Cracklins Since 1927 · 1.1 mi

    If you want a taste of why Texas named Port Arthur the Cajun Capital of the state, pull in at Judice's French Market at 3005 Seventh Street. The Judice family came over from Loreauville, Louisiana, and opened their…

  • Port Arthur-Beaumont Interurban Railway · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past the site of the old Port Arthur interurban railway terminal. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1913</say-as>, this electric line kicked off, connecting Beaumont and Port Arthur. Imagine…

  • A Phantom Jet at the Foot of the Bridges · 1.1 mi

    At the base of the Rainbow and Veterans Memorial bridges sits the Golden Triangle Veterans Memorial Park, a public memorial honoring roughly 10,000 regional service members. It's an unexpectedly powerful stop. Scattered…

  • Vuylsteke House · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Vuylsteke House, a beautiful example of Colonial Revival architecture right here in Port Arthur. Built in just about 75 days back in 1905, this home was originally for Adrianus Vuylsteke, a Dutch…

  • The Fishermen Who Fought the Klan · 1.2 mi

    In the late 1970s, a new group of residents began settling into Port Arthur's shrimping docks. They were Vietnamese refugees, fleeing their war-torn country, and many of them had grown up in coastal fishing villages…

  • The Gusher That Built a City · 1.2 mi

    On January 10, 1901, about 15 miles north of here, a drilling derrick at a place called Spindletop Hill began to tremble. Then, with a deafening roar, a column of mud, gas, and oil shot 150 feet into the air. The Lucas…

  • Janis Joplin's Hometown Blues · 1.2 mi

    Janis Joplin is Port Arthur’s most famous daughter, but during her time here, she felt like its least-loved. Growing up in the 1950s, she was an artist and a poet in a conformist, industrial town. At Thomas Jefferson…

  • Engineering Against the Ocean · 1.2 mi

    As you drive around Port Arthur, you are almost completely surrounded by a massive, yet often hidden, piece of engineering: the Port Arthur Hurricane Flood Protection System. This isn't just one wall; it's a network of…

  • The Spiritualist Who Dreamed a City · 1.2 mi

    The man who founded Port Arthur, Arthur Stilwell, wasn't your typical railroad tycoon. He was a spiritualist who claimed he made his biggest business decisions based on the advice of 'brownies'—spirit guides who spoke…

  • Ellwood-Craig House · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Ellwood-Craig House, a Pompeiian Villa built in 1900. It was the winter home of Isaac L. Ellwood, a principal developer of barbed wire. Architects designed it in a classic revival style, and the…

  • John Warne Gates · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past John Warne Gates. Illinois native John Warne Gates (1855-1911) arrived in Port Arthur in 1899 at the urging of his business partner and town promoter, Arthur Stilwell. Gates' time here as a…

  • Pompeiian Villa · 1.2 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Imagine a piece of Italy right here in Texas: this villa, built in 1900, was designed in the Pompeiian style. The Pompeiian Villa was built for Isaac Ellwood. Architects George C. Nimmons and William K. Fellows designed…

  • The Kansas City Southern Railway in Port Arthur · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Port Arthur, and right here is where a dream of a railroad once stood. Arthur E. Stilwell envisioned a direct line from Kansas City all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, and this depot, finished in…

  • Built for the barbed wire magnate · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Pompeiian Villa, the last echo of Arthur E. Stilwell's 'dream city' of Port Arthur. Built in 1900 as a winter home for Isaac L. Ellwood, the barbed wire magnate, this villa saw…

  • Pompeiian Villa · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    The last remaining landmark of the "dream city" planned by the founder of Port Arthur, railroad magnate Arthur E. Stilwell (1859-1928). The house was built in 1900 as the winter resort home of Isaac L. Ellwood…

  • Israel Chapel A. M. E. Church · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Port Arthur, and right here is the site of Israel Chapel A. M. E. Church. It all started in 1902 when Frederick Shepherd helped establish a mission nearby. The very next year, in 1903, Shepherd…

  • South County Office Building · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the South County Office Building in Port Arthur, a place born from oil and ambition. Back in the early 1930s, the booming petrochemical industry here meant folks needed more county services. So,…

  • Rock Island Baptist Church · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Port Arthur, passing the site of the Rock Island Baptist Church. It began in 1910 as a small group called the Sixth Street Baptist Church. The following year, eleven members formed the Rock Island…

  • St. Paul United Methodist Church · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of St. Paul United Methodist Church. Methodism arrived on Port Arthur's westside in 1915 with Reverend S.D. Hackett and just seventeen members. They started meeting in homes, and by 1920, it…

  • Clubhouse of the Federated Women's Clubs of Port Arthur · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Port Arthur, and right here is the Clubhouse of the Federated Women's Clubs. Built in 1923 and 1924, it was designed by local architect C. L. Wignall, who also incorporated his decorative window…

  • Federated Women's Clubs of Port Arthur · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Federated Women's Clubs of Port Arthur. It began in 1898 as the Women's Self-Improvement Club, a small literary group. Over the years, it grew to include sixteen clubs, combining…

  • Trinity Lutheran Church · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Groves, where the story of Trinity Lutheran Church began in early 1899. Twelve people heard the first German Lutheran sermon in the area, leading to the installation of Pastor H. C. Gaertner later…

  • Lotus Gardens in the Shadow of the Refineries · 1.4 mi

    In a city defined by oil towers and flares, the Buu Mon Buddhist Temple offers a startling contrast: lotus ponds, bamboo, citrus trees, koi gardens and Buddhist statuary. The temple's roots reach back to a Vietnamese…

  • Sparks Settlement Cemetery · 1.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Sparks Settlement Cemetery in Port Arthur. John and Melinda Sparks settled here in 1838 and set aside land for a family burial ground. Today, the only marker remaining is a monument…

  • Morris-Booz-White House · 1.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past White Haven, built in 1915 for Dr. Harvey Morris. This grand home saw major changes around 1923, when they added that impressive wraparound porch and a massive portico with paired Ionic columns.…

  • Site of Old Aurora · 1.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Old Aurora, a town that bloomed and faded like the dawn it was named for. Laid out in 1835 on a Mexican land grant, Aurora planned for at least 160 blocks. Its partner sold the first lots…

  • Sabine-Neches Canal · 1.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past the Sabine-Neches Canal, a vital artery for Texas commerce. Its story starts back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1898</say-as>, with plans to link the Gulf of Mexico to Beaumont and Port…

  • The Woodworth House · 1.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Woodworth House, a grand Classical Revival mansion built in 1906. Look for the impressive columns and wide verandas. This was the home of R.H. Woodworth, a Chicago businessman who moved to Port…

  • Community Retirement Home · 1.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Port Arthur, passing the site of the Community Retirement Home. It started back in 1944 when citizens discussed establishing a place for seniors. Federated Mission Societies from local churches…

  • Harry Henry Choates · 2.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the heart of Port Arthur, where a true Texas music legend got his start. Harry Henry Choates, born in Louisiana in 1922, moved here as a child and began shaping his incredible musical talent. Known…

  • The Hughen School · 2.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Hughen School, a place born from a vision for children with disabilities. Back in 1933, the Port Arthur Society for Crippled Children was formed, and by 1937, they opened this very…

  • The Port Arthur Refinery · 2.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Port Arthur Refinery, a true titan of Texas industry. Born from the Spindletop Gusher in 1901, this facility was built by the Gulf Refining Company to process oil into usable products…

  • Janis Lyn Joplin · 2.9 mi · Historical Marker

    (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…

  • Zaharias, Mildred Ella Didrikson [Babe] · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Mildred Ella (Babe) Didrikson Zaharias, athlete, Ladies Professional Golf Association founder, and olympian, was born on June 26, 1911, in Port Arthur, Texas, the sixth of seven children of Norwegian immigrants Ole…

  • Butler, Chad Lamont [Pimp C] · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Pimp C, rap artist, was born Chad Lamont Butler in Port Arthur, Texas, on December 29, 1973. He was the son of Weslyn and Charleston Butler. Pimp C is best-known as cofounder and one-half of the Houston rap duo UGK…

  • Joplin, Janis Lyn · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Janis Lyn Joplin, blues and rock singer, daughter of Seth Ward and Dorothy (East) Joplin, was born on January 19, 1943, in Port Arthur, Texas. She grew up in a respectable middle-class home; her father was an engineer…

  • Thomas Jefferson High School, Port Arthur (Jimmy Johnson) · 3.0 mi

    Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas — which merged into Memorial High School in 2002 — is where Jimmy Johnson graduated in 1960 as an all-state lineman, a classmate of singer Janis Joplin. He became the…

  • Adams, Lucian · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Southeast Texas, near Port Arthur, where Lucian Adams grew up. He was a staff sergeant in World War II, fighting in Italy and France. On October 28, 1944, near St. Die, France, his unit was trying…

  • Breaux, Zachary Charles · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Arthur, Texas, the hometown of Zachary Breaux. He was a brilliant jazz guitarist, born here in 1960, who played with legends like Roy Ayers and Donald Byrd. Breaux's career took off when he…

  • Chenier, Clifton · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here is where the King of Zydeco made his home. Clifton Chenier, born in Louisiana, moved to Port Arthur in 1947. By day, he worked the oil refineries, but by night, he…

  • Choates, Harry H. · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Arthur, Texas, the hometown of Harry Choates, the man they call the Godfather of Cajun Music. Born in Louisiana in 1922, Choates landed here in Port Arthur as a kid and was playing fiddle for…

  • Courville, John Preston [Johnny Preston] · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Arthur, Texas, the hometown of Johnny Preston, a singer who hit it big in the early 1960s. Born John Preston Courville, he was singing with his band, the Shades, when a local DJ named J.P.…

  • Gates, John Warne · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here, you're near the legacy of John 'Bet-a-Million' Gates. This guy was a barbed wire salesman who revolutionized the industry. Back in 1876, he came to San Antonio and…

  • Matthews, Julius Blackburne · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Arthur, Texas, a city that owes a lot to Dr. Julius Blackburne Matthews. Born in Mississippi in 1896, he eventually earned his medical degree and practiced in Louisiana before settling here…

  • Sweat, Isaac Payton · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here in Port Arthur, Isaac Payton Sweat was born. You might know him as 'Mr. Cotton-Eyed Joe.' He grew up in a musical family, learning banjo, guitar, and bass. By the…

  • UGK [Underground Kingz] · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're cruising down the Texas Gulf Coast, maybe near Port Arthur, and you might just be passing by the birthplace of a legendary hip-hop duo: UGK, the Underground Kingz. <break time="400ms"/> Formed in the late 1980s…

  • Cricchio, Frank Edward · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Arthur, Texas, the hometown of Frank Cricchio, a photographer who became one of the top ten pictorial color print exhibitors in the *world*. He started young, saving up for his first camera…

  • Keyes, Evelyn Louise · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past Port Arthur, Texas, the birthplace of Evelyn Keyes. While many know her as Suellen O'Hara in the epic film Gone With the Wind, she almost played Scarlett herself! Imagine that! She was a finalist for…

  • Port Arthur, TX · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Arthur, a city that owes its very existence to a railroad man's ambition and a seismic shift in Texas industry. Arthur E. Stilwell dreamed of linking Kansas City to the Gulf, and in 1895, he…

  • Dunbar, Theodore [Ted] · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Arthur, Texas, the birthplace of Ted Dunbar, a jazz guitarist and composer who became a legend right here. At just ten years old, he was already playing trumpet and guitar professionally…

  • Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Arthur, home to the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame. Housed inside the Museum of the Gulf Coast, this exhibit celebrates over sixty artists with deep ties to this region. Think Janis Joplin, a…

  • Sabine-Neches Waterway and Sabine Pass Ship Channel · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Southeast Texas, near the Sabine-Neches Waterway. This massive Y-shaped system of rivers and canals, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Port Arthur, Beaumont, and Orange, is the lifeblood of…

  • Confederación de Organizaciones Mexicanas y Latino Americanas · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    The Confederación de Organizaciones Mexicanas y Latino Americanas del Estado de Texas was founded at a state convocation of Texas-Mexican self-help organizations in Port Arthur on November 27, 1938. Its attempt to…

  • Hicks Family · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here in Port Arthur, a Texas radio dynasty got its start. Back in 1959, John Hicks, Jr., a former theology professor and advertising man, bought his first radio station,…

  • Long, James Walter · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Arthur, a city that owes much to Dr. James Walter Long. He arrived here in 1928, starting a medical practice that would span decades. But Long wasn't just a doctor; he was a war hero, serving…

  • Hannah, Mack Henry, Jr. · 3.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Southeast Texas, maybe near Port Arthur, where Mack Henry Hannah, Jr. built an empire. Born in Brenham in 1904, Hannah moved to Port Arthur and eventually became probably the wealthiest Black man…

  • Oil Tanker Service · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Port Arthur, the heart of a massive transportation hub that still moves petroleum around the globe. Just two months after Texas's legendary Spindletop gusher blew in on March 11, 1901, the first oil…

  • Presbyterian Church of the Covenant · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. This congregation formed from two earlier churches in Port Arthur, organized in 1900 and 1924. The two churches merged here in 1979.

  • Memorial High School, Port Arthur (Jamaal Charles) · 3.8 mi

    Memorial High School in Port Arthur, Texas is where Jamaal Charles combined football and track speed before his NFL career. He rushed for over 2,000 yards in each of his junior and senior seasons and won state titles in…

  • Spindletop to Port Arthur Oil Pipeline Corridor · 3.9 mi · Historical Marker

    On January 10, 1901, the landscape of Texas changed forever. On that day, the Lucas Gusher came through at the Spindletop oilfield, discovered on a salt dome formation near Beaumont. Flowing at an estimated 100,000…

  • Central Baptist Church · 4.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Central Baptist Church. On October 14, 1912, fifteen members of Port Arthur's First Baptist Church, including Rev. J. Warren Bates, left and organized Central Baptist Church. Rev. Bates directed the…

  • The Man Who Planted a Town · 4.4 mi

    The very name of this town tells its origin story. Asa E. Groves was a Port Arthur pioneer and the editor of the paper that became the Port Arthur News, and he looked at this flat, cleared coastal land not as empty…

  • The Wall Against the Water · 4.4 mi

    How can a town like Groves exist, sitting just a few feet above sea level and a short drive from the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico? The answer is a massive feat of civil engineering. You can’t see most of it from here,…

  • The Purple and White · 4.4 mi

    In Groves, community identity is painted in purple and white. The town shares a high school and a fierce sense of pride with its neighbor, Port Neches. The Port Neches-Groves Indians, or PNG, are more than a football…

  • When the Gulf Came to Town · 4.4 mi

    For the people of Groves, 2005 is a year they'll never forget. On September 24th, Hurricane Rita came ashore just down the coast at the Texas-Louisiana line as a Category 3, and the winds officially clocked 116 miles an…

  • Groves, TX · 4.4 mi

    Groves is a place built on the promise, and sometimes the peril, of the Gulf Coast. You can feel it in the air, that deep-rooted sense of community, forged by the hard work and shared experiences of generations. The oil…

  • Groves, TX · 4.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Groves, Texas, a town that sprang up around industry. Laid out in 1916 as Pecan Grove, it was soon known simply as The Groves. By 1929, it had a post office, and the Port Arthur Land and…

  • Two-Thirds Below Five Feet · 4.6 mi

    Jefferson County Drainage District Number 7 is the only reason Groves is dry ground at all. The town sits inside it, a system formed in 1946 to drain flat coastal marsh that never wanted to be dry, and Groves survives…

  • Named for a Man, Not the Trees · 4.6 mi

    Almost everyone assumes Groves is named for its famous pecan groves. It is not. The town honors Asa E. Groves, a pioneer Port Arthur figure remembered locally as an early newspaper editor and land developer tied to the…

  • The Largest Pecan Grove in Texas · 4.6 mi

    In 1919, a nurseryman named Wiley Choate, working for Griffing Brothers Nursery, supervised the planting of several thousand pecan trees across a 385-acre tract here. Local lore holds it became the largest pecan grove…

  • The Memoirist Who Called It Leechfield · 4.6 mi

    One of America's most celebrated memoirists was born right here. Mary Karr came into the world in Groves on January 16, 1955, and grew up in this gritty stretch of refinery country before leaving in 1972. Her 1995…

  • The Town the Refineries Built · 4.6 mi

    For decades Groves was a bedroom town, a place where refinery families slept while the plants of Port Arthur ran day and night. The Atlantic Refining plant opened here in 1936, and the postwar oil boom did the rest.…

  • Early Texas Oil Pipelines · 5.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past the birthplace of Texas's first major oil pipelines! Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1901</say-as>, right after the Spindletop gusher blew in just seven miles north, a company rushed…

  • Port Neches, TX · 5.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Port Neches, a town whose identity was forged by oil. Originally settled as Grigsby's Bluff and home to an Atakapa village centuries ago, this area on the Neches River saw early industry with…

  • Ezzell, Margaret Murphy · 5.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Port Neches, and right here, Margaret Murphy Ezzell dedicated years to preserving Texas history. From 1961 to 1976, she served on the Battleship Texas Commission, gathering original artifacts and…

  • The World's Biggest Rubber Plant, In Wartime · 6.5 mi

    When World War Two cut off natural rubber from Southeast Asia, America had to invent its own supply, and Port Neches answered the call. In 1942 five oil companies, Gulf, Pure Oil, Atlantic Refining, Socony-Vacuum, and…

  • The Night of the Explosion · 6.5 mi

    If you’re near Hogaboom Road, you’re looking toward the site of a night this town will never forget. At 1:00 AM on November 27, 2019, a chemical pipeline at the TPC Group plant ruptured, triggering a colossal explosion.…

  • The Race for Rubber · 6.5 mi

    The massive industrial plants you see here in Port Neches are monuments to a feat of chemical engineering born from crisis. When World War II began, Japan quickly seized control of Southeast Asia, cutting off America's…

  • The Oak on Grigsby's Bluff · 6.5 mi

    Near Port Neches Park, on the riverfront, stood one of the most storied trees in Texas. Not an oak, a giant pecan, and it earned its place on the state's register of famous trees. Joseph Grigsby took a grant of better…

  • The Polio Kid Who Jumped to Olympic Gold · 6.6 mi

    One of Nederland's own turned a childhood illness into Olympic gold, and his story is a lesson in human biomechanics. Walter "Buddy" Davis, born in nearby Beaumont in 1931 and raised here in Nederland, caught polio as a…

  • A Diamond Jubilee That Never Stopped · 6.6 mi

    Nederland's biggest party started as a birthday. In 1973 the town celebrated its Diamond Jubilee, marking seventy-five years since its founding. It was such a hit that it never really ended. Today the Nederland Heritage…

  • A Forty-Foot Windmill on Boston Avenue · 6.6 mi

    At 1500 Boston Avenue, a forty-foot replica of a nineteenth-century Dutch windmill rises out of Tex Ritter Park, an unmistakable tribute to the town's Holland roots. The Nederland Chamber of Commerce broke ground on…

  • First Baptist Church of Nederland · 6.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Nederland. This congregation started in 1907 after a revival, with seven charter members. They were known as Peveto Baptist Church until 1925, and early…

  • Rainbow Bridge · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Rainbow Bridge, a massive engineering feat born from a booming petrochemical industry. Back in the 1920s, this area was growing fast, but crossing the Neches River was a challenge. It…

  • Southeast Texas Regional Airport · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past the Southeast Texas Regional Airport, a place that’s been a lifeline for this region since World War II. Jefferson County bought the land in 1941, and by 1944, it was up and running with three…

  • The Six Vanished Shell Mounds of Grigsby's Bluff · 6.8 mi

    On the bluff just east of Port Neches Park once stood one of Texas's great archaeological sites. Six enormous mounds, built of clam, conch, and oyster shell mixed with pottery, bone, and buried dead, rose over the…

  • The Town Named to Thank Dutch Bankers · 6.8 mi

    Nederland exists because a railroad man needed to repay his investors. In the 1890s, Arthur E. Stilwell was pushing his Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway south to the Gulf, and when domestic capital dried up in…

  • From Rice Paddies to Refinery Town · 6.8 mi

    Nederland's first economy grew out of the ground, not out of it. The Dutch settlers plowed the coastal prairie into truck farms, dairies, and above all rice fields, and for a time rice was king. Then overproduction and…

  • When the Merrimans Platted the Town, the Graves Moved · 6.8 mi

    Merriman Street runs through the heart of Port Neches for a reason. The Merriman family owned much of the old riverfront land, and around 1905 they began surveying it into town lots and cutting streets across the bluff.…

  • Nederland, TX · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Nederland, Texas, a town founded with a very specific dream. In the late 1890s, railroad magnate Arthur E. Stilwell wanted to make his new Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway profitable. He…

  • Nederland · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Nederland, a town founded by Dutch immigrants in 1897. They left their homeland, the Netherlands, because of overcrowding, worn-out soil, and a lack of hope. Advertisements from the Port Arthur…

  • The Night the Windows Shattered · 6.9 mi

    Just before Thanksgiving in 2019, the people of Nederland experienced a different kind of holiday rumble. Around 1 a.m. on November 27th, a massive explosion at the TPC Group chemical plant in neighboring Port Neches…

  • Mister Cotton-Eyed Joe · 6.9 mi

    If you have ever been on a Texas dance floor when Cotton Eyed Joe came on, you have heard a Nederland High School graduate. Isaac Payton Sweat was born over in Port Arthur in 1945 and grew up here. He spent the sixties…

  • A Cajun House That Floated In By Barge · 6.9 mi

    In Riverfront Park sits La Maison Beausoleil, a small cypress house far older than the town around it. Built around 1810 in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, this authentic Acadian home was later floated to Port Neches by…

  • Coach Bum Phillips · 6.9 mi

    Before he was the iconic, cowboy-hat-wearing coach of the Houston Oilers, Bum Phillips was simply 'Coach' here in Nederland. From 1951 to 1956, he walked the sidelines for the Nederland Bulldogs, first as an assistant…

  • The Wall Against the Water · 6.9 mi

    As you drive around Nederland, you might not even notice the most important piece of engineering protecting the town. It's not a shiny bridge or a tall building; it's a wall of dirt 36 miles long. This is the Port…

  • A Cajun House in a Dutch Town · 6.9 mi

    Right next to the iconic Dutch Windmill, in Tex Ritter Park, you'll find a much smaller, simpler building that tells the region's other story. It's called La Maison des Acadiens — the Acadian House. It is not an…

  • 176 feet tall, largest in Texas · 6.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past the site of the Rainbow Bridge, a massive engineering feat that helped fuel the booming petrochemical industry in Southeast Texas. Back in 1926, the Dryden ferry just couldn't keep up with the…

  • Rainbow Bridge · 6.9 mi · Historical Marker

    The rapid growth of the petrochemical industry in Orange and Jefferson counties in the early 20th century led to increased population in this area. In order to serve the transportation needs of workers and others in…

  • Nederland, TX · 6.9 mi

    Nederland is a place with deep roots, a town born from big dreams and a little bit of swamp. Back in 1897, a group of Dutch investors saw opportunity in this low-lying land near the Gulf. They named it Nederland, after…

  • First Mercantile Building · 6.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Nederland, and right here is the site of the First Mercantile Building. <break time="400ms"/> In the late 1890s, Dutch immigrant G. W. Kilsdonk, Jr. was busy bringing folks from his homeland to…

  • First United Methodist Church of Port Neches · 7.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Port Neches. Methodists here, then called Grigsby's Bluff, were first served by circuit riders before organizing their own church with sixteen members…

  • 2023 UIL 5A Division 2 Football State Champions · 7.1 mi

    Port Neches-Groves High School (Port Neches, TX): Most recent: 20-17 over Dallas South Oak Cliff · 2023 5A Division 2 final.

  • From Grigsby's Bluff to Port Neches · 7.1 mi

    This town began as Grigsby's Bluff. In the 1830s land claimant Thomas F. McKinney surveyed a townsite here he wanted to call Georgia, but the plan fizzled, and in 1837 he sold two-thirds of his league to Joseph Grigsby.…

  • First Baptist Church of Port Neches · 7.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Port Neches' first Baptist church, organized in October of 1910 with twelve charter members. They met in a schoolhouse until a first building was completed in 1917. The congregation moved…

  • Port Neches, TX · 7.4 mi

    Port Neches, Texas, has a rich history that dates back thousands of years. The area was once home to the Karankawa and Atakapa Native American tribes. Grigsby's Bluff, now part of Port Neches, was a Native American town…

  • Grigsby's Bluff · 7.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Port Neches, and right around here is the site of Grigsby's Bluff. Back in 1827, Joseph Grigsby and his family packed up from Kentucky and headed for the Sabine area. He's said to be the very…

  • Beauxart Gardens · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Nederland, and right here you're passing Beauxart Gardens. This was a New Deal program from the 1930s, designed to help families during the Great Depression. Fifty families got a house and land to…

  • Tex Ritter · 8.1 mi

    You're driving past the birthplace of a true Texas legend, Tex Ritter! Born Woodward Maurice Ritter in Panola County in 1905, he rose from singing cowboy ballads on Houston radio in 1928 to Broadway stardom. It was…

  • Central Gardens, TX · 8.7 mi

    Central Gardens, a census-designated place in Jefferson County, Texas, is part of the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area. It's located in eastern Jefferson County, with Nederland to its southeast. The community is…

  • The Bridge That Turns on a Pin · 10.8 mi

    Bridge City is named for its bridges, plural, and the second one still performs a vanishing trick. The Cow Bayou Swing Bridge, completed in 1940, does not lift or draw open. Its entire center span pivots sideways on a…

  • 1886 Hurricane at Sabine Pass · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, a town that, back in October of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1886</say-as>, was poised for greatness. It was the second largest town in Jefferson County, with a new rail line…

  • City of Sabine and Sabine Pass · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, a place with a history as dynamic as the tides. Back in 1832, John McGaffey and Thomas Courts were the first settlers. By 1839, Sam Houston himself signed the charter for the city of…

  • Spaight's 11th Battalion · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past Sabine Pass, where the 11th Battalion of Texas Volunteers, Confederate States Army, once stood guard. They called themselves the 'Swamp Angels,' a nickname earned by these southeast Texas men…

  • Fort Sabine · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fort Sabine, a crucial Civil War earthwork guarding the channel into East Texas. In September 1862, a small Confederate force here faced a Union naval assault. Though outnumbered, they…

  • Sabine Pass, TX · 10.9 mi

    Sabine Pass has always been a place shaped by the water. The Sabine River gives us our name, the Gulf gives us our livelihood, and the marshlands define our landscape. But in recent years, it’s the constant threat of…

  • Beach Road (State Highway 87) · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising along the coast on what's now Highway 87, but this stretch of road, the Beach Road, has been a vital route for centuries. Native Americans, early settlers, and mail carriers all used this sandy path…

  • United States Forces at the Battle of Sabine Pass · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, the site of a crucial Civil War battle in September 1863. Federal forces, aiming to cut off Texas cotton and push inland, launched an assault. But a small Confederate fort, Fort Griffin,…

  • Dowling, Richard · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Sabine Pass, where one of the most improbable victories in Texas history took place. On September 8th, 1863, Lieutenant Dick Dowling and just forty-seven men, holed up in a muddy fort, faced down…

  • Fort Griffin · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fort Griffin, the scene of a brilliant Civil War victory on September 8th, 1863. Confederates here repulsed a massive Federal fleet trying to land thousands of soldiers. The fort's…

  • Fort Manhasset · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, where the Confederates built Fort Manhasset during the Civil War. Just four days after its construction began on September 4, 1863, a famous victory happened nearby, though this fort…

  • Sabine Pass, Battle of · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a surprising Confederate victory during the Civil War: the Battle of Sabine Pass. On September 8, 1863, Lieutenant Richard Dowling and his small force of fewer than 50 men held off a…

  • Spanish-American War Fortifications · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, where the U.S. prepared for a war that never came to Texas. As tensions with Spain rose in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1898</say-as>, Texas Representative Samuel Bronson…

  • World War II Coastal Defenses at Sabine Pass · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, a place that's seen its share of history. But beyond the Civil War battles, this spot became a crucial line of defense during World War II. Imagine this: in 1941, the U.S. Navy set up a…

  • Capture of the USS Morning Light and USS Velocity · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, where the Civil War brought a unique naval battle. On January 21, 1863, Confederate forces used 'cottonclads' – riverboats armored with cotton bales – to attack two Union warships. After…

  • The Well That Changed the World · 11.5 mi

    On January tenth, nineteen oh one, a drill bit punched through the Spindletop salt dome outside Beaumont and unleashed a gusher that blew one hundred thousand barrels of oil a day for nine straight days before anyone…

  • Dick Dowling’s 47 Men, and the Prisoners They Sent to Camp Groce · 11.5 mi

    At Sabine Pass on September 8, 1863, a Union invasion fleet aimed at conquering Texas was stopped cold by a tiny Confederate artillery company. Lieutenant Richard 'Dick' Dowling and roughly forty-seven men, mostly Irish…

  • Two Storms, and the Town That Rebuilt · 11.5 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 · 11.5 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 · 11.5 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…

  • The Bridge Built Tall for a Ship That Never Came · 11.6 mi

    The bridge that gave Bridge City its name is also a feat of Depression-era engineering hiding in plain sight. The Rainbow Bridge, built under the Public Works Administration and dedicated on September 8, 1938, as the…

  • The Gate That Keeps the Gulf Out of the Rice · 11.6 mi

    The flat land under Taylor Landing sits barely seven feet above sea level, which makes water the central engineering problem here. Taylor Bayou is fresh, but the Gulf is only a few miles downstream, and salt water…

  • The Town That Voted Itself Into Existence · 11.6 mi

    Taylor Landing is one of the youngest towns in Texas, even though people had farmed this ground along Taylor Bayou for well over a century. It sits near the geographic center of Jefferson County, about thirteen miles…

  • Taylor Landing, TX · 11.6 mi

    In a pivotal moment for Taylor Landing, residents voted to incorporate as a city on September 10, 2005. Out of 124 votes cast, 80, or 64.5%, were in favor, while 44, or 35.5%, were against. This decision marked a…

  • The Fertile Bayou That Drew Louisiana South · 11.6 mi

    Long before it had a town charter, this stretch of Jefferson County was known simply as Taylor's Bayou, a scattering of farms strung between Sabine Pass and Fannett. The bayou, once called Bayou los Flores, was renamed…

  • Sabine Pass Battleground · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    On September 8, 1863, a Union fleet of four gunboats and eighteen troop transports carrying over 5,000 soldiers steamed into Sabine Pass to invade Texas. They were met by 47 Confederate soldiers, mostly Irish immigrants…

  • Dorman, Kate · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, where Kate Dorman ran the Catfish Hotel as early as 1847. Her husband died, and she remarried, but the Civil War brought new challenges. In 1862, she nursed yellow fever victims in her…

  • Smith, Niles F. · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the resting place of Niles F. Smith, a true pioneer of Texas. Born in New York, he arrived with Robertson's Colony in 1834 and fought in the Texas Revolution. By 1841, he'd settled in Sabine Pass,…

  • Sabine Pass Cemetery · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Sabine Pass Cemetery, the oldest burial ground still in use in Jefferson County, serving folks since the 1840s. It's a final resting place for heroes from the War of 1812, the Texas Revolution,…

  • Garner, Jacob Harmon · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Sabine Pass, and we're looking at the life of Jacob Harmon Garner. Born in Louisiana in 1814, Garner moved to Texas in 1825, settling near present-day Orange. He fought in the Texas Revolution,…

  • Johnson, Benjamin · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Sabine Pass area, home to Benjamin Johnson, a man who came to Texas in 1832. He fought for Texas independence, serving in Captain Gillaspie's company at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in…

  • Ran a yellow fever hospital · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, where Kate Dorman ran the Catfish Hotel starting in the 1840s. After her first husband died, she remarried and found herself in the middle of the Civil War. In 1862, her hotel became a…

  • Dorman, Kate · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    (1828-1897) Georgia native Kate Dorman and her husband Arthur McGill owned the Catfish Hotel at Sabine Pass as early as 1847. McGill died in an accident in 1858, and in 1859 Kate married John Dorman. In 1862 the Catfish…

  • First Baptist Church · 12.0 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 · 12.1 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 · 12.1 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 · 12.1 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 · 12.1 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 · 12.1 mi

    Bridge City has been home to several individuals who made their mark in professional sports.

  • The Day Oil Blotted Out the Sky · 12.3 mi

    Just south of where you're standing, on a low rise called Spindletop, the modern oil age began. On January 10, 1901, drillers struck the Lucas Gusher, and oil blasted roughly 150 feet into the air, a black geyser that…

  • Spindletop · 12.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Get ready to hear about the gusher that launched the Texas oil boom! In 1901, near Beaumont, a drilling team at Spindletop struck it rich. On January 10th, their well erupted, spewing oil at an estimated 100,000 barrels…

  • The Salt Dome and the Mud That Tamed It · 12.3 mi

    Spindletop wasn't just lucky drilling, it was a geology and engineering breakthrough. The hill sits over a Gulf Coast salt dome: a buried mass of salt that behaves plastically under pressure and slowly pushes upward…

  • Site of Spindle Top Hill Confederate Camp · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Beaumont, and right here, from 1862 to 1864, was the site of a Confederate Army camp. Colonel A. W. Spaight's Battalion, the 2nd Texas Infantry, set up headquarters here. These soldiers, drawn from…

  • Richardson, Jiles Perry [Big Bopper] · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past Sabine Pass, Texas, the birthplace of a rock and roll legend: Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., better known as The Big Bopper! Born here in 1930, he'd go on to write and record hits like "Chantilly…

  • Spindletop Oilfield · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jefferson County, not far from Beaumont, and you're passing through the site of a discovery that changed the world: Spindletop. On January 10, 1901, a well drilled by Anthony F. Lucas, financed by…

  • Dowling, Richard William · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Sabine Pass, Texas, a place that became famous thanks to Dick Dowling and his forty-seven men. On September 8th, 1863, Union forces launched a major invasion here, expecting an easy victory. But…

  • Dorman, Catherine E. Sanders McGill [Kate] · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jefferson County, near Sabine Pass, where in the summer of 1862, a yellow fever epidemic ravaged the community. While many fled, Kate Dorman, owner of the Catfish Hotel, stayed behind. She and a…

  • Fort Griffin · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    The Jefferson County Fort Griffin was a Confederate fort located in the southeastern part of the county on what is now Farm Road 3322, fifteen miles south of Port Arthur. Hoping to block Union threats to the upper Texas…

  • Sabine Pass, TX · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    The town of Sabine Pass is on State Highway 87 at Sabine Pass , thirty miles southeast of Beaumont in extreme southeastern Jefferson County. The townsite, first known as Sabine City, was perhaps laid out as early as…

  • Chaplin, Chichester · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through East Texas, likely near Jefferson County, and you might be passing through territory that was once the heart of the Fredonian Rebellion. Right here, in 1826, Chichester Chaplin was a key player in…

  • Clifton · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Sabine Pass, and right here, the USS Clifton met its end. This steam ferryboat, built in New York in 1861, served the Union Navy throughout the Civil War. She saw action from Mississippi to…

  • Dashiell, William Collier Vauness · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Sabine Pass, Texas, a place that was once the scene of a tense standoff between the Republic of Texas and the United States. In the 1840s, Texas desperately needed revenue, and its customs collector…

  • Garner, David Hess · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jefferson County, and right here, in what was then called Old Jefferson, David Hess Garner organized a company of volunteers to fight Santa Anna. Armed with flintlock muskets and Bowie knives, his…

  • Garner, Jacob Harmon · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jefferson County, maybe near Sabine Pass, a place that's seen its share of Texas history. Jacob Harmon Garner arrived here as a boy in the 1820s, settling near what's now Bridge City. He fought in…

  • Gladys, TX (Jefferson County) · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jefferson County, not far from Beaumont. Right here is the site of Gladys, or Gladys City. In 1892, Pattillo Higgins, a local promoter, had big dreams for this spot. He envisioned a major…

  • Grigsby, Joseph · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jefferson County, and right here, you're passing the site of Grigsby's Bluff. Joseph Grigsby arrived in Mexican Texas in 1828, eventually settling on the Neches River. He built a massive…

  • Johnson, Benjamin · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jefferson County, near Sabine Pass. Right here, Benjamin Johnson was one of the earliest settlers, farming land after fighting in the Texas Revolution. He was at the Grass Fight and the Battle of…

  • Lee, Nelson · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Texas, maybe thinking about the Wild West. Well, right here, you might have been passing through the territory where Nelson Lee claimed to have had his wildest adventures. Born in New York in…

  • McFaddin Ranches · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Southeast Texas, maybe near Beaumont, where the McFaddin Ranches once spanned over 120,000 acres. This wasn't just any ranch; it was a multi-generational legacy, with William Perry Herring…

  • McReynolds, Felix Columbus · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Sabine Pass, and right here, Major Felix Columbus McReynolds took command of Fort Manhassett in 1863. He was charged with defending this vital Texas coastline during the Civil War. During a scare in…

  • Rainbow Bridge · 12.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near the Neches River, connecting Port Arthur and Orange County. Right here, you're near the site of the Rainbow Bridge, dedicated back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1938</say-as>. This…

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