Port Arthur, Texas: The Cajun Capital of Texas

We had a friend and his mom lived in Port Arthur. I'd never heard of it. Since we were in this part of Texas, we stopped to check it out.

You know what I love? Those cool post card-like murals that cities paint somewhere in town. It's your job to find it and record it. Port Arthur doesn't have one. But what they do have is a cool museum.

This is the Museum of the Gulf Coast. It doesn't look like much from the outside but for $8, you can go in and learn all you need to know about the history of the area.

Inside one big wall to the left is a huge mural that shows the history of the area starting here with the dinosaurs that once ruled the roost.

The end of the mural documents the discovery of oil at Spindletop.

This is a photo of an exhibit showing the items found in a pioneer log cabin. The rope bed, for example, is a series of ropes that support the hay stuffed mattress. "Sleep tight" is a reference to the tightness of the ropes of the bed. The wood burning stove would be used to heating items like the iron sitting on top of it or the room that is in as well as potentially for cooking. No indoor plumbing in those days so you used a chamber pot for restroom visits (and I assume you shared) and the pitcher and washbowl to clean up after.

Hello, Baby! You've heard the song about the day the music died? Bye Bye Miss American Pie? That's about the plane crash that killed these three musicians. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, aka JP Richardson. His song, "Chantilly Lace" started out with the words, "Hello Baby!" There's a whole section on the second floor dedicated to musicians who were from the Beaumont/Port Arthur area.

This was so cool. One room had an exhibit of photographs taken by Thomas Mangelson, a wild life photographer. I can't imagine being close enough to a bear to take this photo but it's pretty cool, no?

One of the most famous, if not THE most famous, people from Port Arthur is the legendary Janis Joplin. There's a lovely tribute to her at the museum. This is a replica of her 1965 Porsche Cabriolet. 

The museum also describes the founding of the city. It started out in 1837 as a town called Aurora but it never took off. Then John Sparks and his family settled here a few years later and named their town Sparks. The Eastern Texas Railroad came through and it seemed like the town got a little traction but then came the Civil War. The rail lines were removed. In 1886, the final blow came when a hurricane hit the town and destroyed what was left. At that point, any remaining residents moved to Beaumont.

In 1898, Arthur Stilwell came to town. He bought the land that included the two places mentioned above and planned a town that would be the end of the road for the Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf Railroad. He named the city after himself. In 1901, after the Spindletop discovery, The Texas Company (later Texaco) built an oil refinery in Port Arthur and by 1915, it was the biggest in the US.

The hey-day of the Central Business District in Port Arthur was the during the 1900s. As wealthier people slowly moved out of Port Arthur, they took their businesses with them leaving boarded up buildings like this one. This looks like it might have been either a very nice home or, more likely, a masonic lodge.

The Hotel Sabine is still on Proctor Street but is no closer to being revitalized. It was built in 1929 and originally operated as Vaughn Hotel. It's 10 stories tall, still the tallest building in Port Arthur. It was a luxurious hotel with beautiful columns in the lobby, grand ballrooms and a rooftop garden. There was a restaurant that offered fine dining. Now it's fenced off and slated for demolition and has been for a long time. The hotel closed in the 70s. Then it became a retirement home but that closed in the 80s. There's a video in YouTube where a guy actually goes into this building and you can see remnants of its glory days but you can also see what it would take to renovate the building. The elevator shafts are flooded and it looks like portions of the floors have caved in. It's sad.

Port Arthur is part of the "Golden Triangle" that includes Beaumont and Orange. They had interurban rail service that would go between Port Arthur, Beaumont, Nederland and Orange. This was the station. 

Port Arthur is in Jefferson County and while it's not the county seat, they do have a sub courthouse. I guess during the days of the oil boom, it was too far to go all the way to Beaumont so they opened a "branch" courthouse here in Port Arthur.

This is the Woodworth Mansion aka Rose Hill Manor. This 14 room house includes 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms and was built in 1906 by Rome Hatch Woodworth. He was a banker and the mayor. He "allegedly" left money in a trust with an agreement with the city to maintain the house in perpetuity. I read an article that says the city can't find either. The house is available for events but closed to the general public for restoration. This photo and the one below are from the internet because the road to the houses was closed. 

This pink house is called the Pompeiian Villa and was built in 1900 as a winter resort for Isaac Ellwood. He's the guy that developed barbed wire. Who knew? Anyway, he didn't own it very long. H sold it to a guy named James Hopkins in 1901. Hopkins owned a company called Diamond Match Company. Those are the stick matches in the little boxes. I read that his wife didn't like Port Arthur so he turned around and sold the house to George Craig. He lived here until the 1950s. When he died another couple bought it and they lived here until they died in the late 1960s. When George Craig bought this 10 room house, he traded stock worth a few thousand dollars for the Texas Company. Now that Texaco stock is probably worth hundreds of millions. If you want to see the house you have to call and schedule a tour.

For the most part, Port Arthur's Central Business District is pretty run down and vacant. The gorgeous old buildings were abandoned and just left to rot. Luckily, there's a company that has bought these three buildings and is restoring them and repurposing them for their use. This building is the A. E. Scott Furniture building. It was erected in 1911. I couldn't find out much about the company or A. E. Scott  other than when the building went up. It's a cool looking building so I'm glad it's going to be renovated.

Across the street from the furniture store is the old Federal Building. It was built in 1911 and once housed the US Post Office, a federal courthouse, the customs office and other government functions. It was vacated sometime in the early 2000s and left to decay. 

This building was built in 1924 by John R. Adams during the oil boom days. The Adams building was home to doctors and lawyers. In the 1960s it was renamed the World Trade Building. It was later abandoned like the downtown area. I'm very excited for the city of Port Arthur if this company does indeed revitalize the city and restore these buildings. I know they're working on it. When we were there all the streets were blocked off and construction was taking place!

One last cool building I saw. You know I'm a sucker for them. This is the First National Bank Building. It was built in 1930. Port Arthur Savings is engraved in the stone above the entrance. This is now home to the Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce.

There are about 56K people that live here. The vibe, at least for now, is a "run down Beaumont". Despite the fact that the downtown area is virtually deserted, there are lots of students that attend Port Arthur College about half a mile up the road. It's mostly an oil town supported by Motiva, which is an oil refinery, and Huntsman, which is a petrochemical company. The other large employer in the area is the Port Arthur ISD.

I didn't see a lot of chain restaurants but they had all your standard fast food and more than one H-E-B as well as a Walmart for grocery shopping. Port Arthur has a lot going for it. It would seem to have jobs and they are right on the Sabine Lake. A few miles down the Sabine Pass and you're in the Gulf of Mexico!

If nothing else, they have a fantastic museum and that's worth a visit. If you're in the area, check it out!