Arthur E. Stilwell, at age 34
and a legendary pioneer in the fields of insurance,
transportation, and finance, came to the southeastern coast
of Texas in 1895. Stilwell "had a hunch" and upon
advice of his "Brownies", built the Port Arthur
Canal from Sabine Pass to Taylor's Bayou. He created a
deep-water port, "a landlocked harbour, safe from the
most devastating storms," which he named after himself,
"Port Arthur." Stilwell proceeded to procure over
$2 million in financing and on March 17, 1897, the first
excursion train arrived over the newly completed Kansas
City, Pittsburg, & Gulf Railroad. The Port was opened for
sea-going shipping with the arrival of the British steamer Saint
Oswald in August 1899. Stilwell founded the City of Port
Arthur in 1898. Port
Arthur pioneers promptly set to work to build homes and
businesses for the hundreds of people who would come to
Southeast Texas...farmers, seamen, businessmen, and their
families. Stilwell built the spectacular Sabine Hotel on
Lakeshore Drive, a natatorium to serve all the citizens, an
Export Pier into Lake Sabine and brought 300 Dutch colonists
to begin a new life as farmers in this rich coastal prairie.
In
1899, Stilwell invited his friend, John W. Gates, to visit
Port Arthur. Gates was feted at a sumptuous banquet in the
Sabine Hotel and quickly decided that he, too, wanted to
have an interest in the development of this new and
promising town. Upon being denied a position on the Board of
the KCP&G Railroad, he, by questionable means, had
Stilwell's interest declared bankrupt and Gates made himself
President of the newly named Kansas City Southern Railroad.
With this inauspicious beginning, Gates became the moving
force in the development of Port Arthur. Aided by the
effects of the Spindletop Gusher in 1901, he built the Mart
Gates Hospital in 1909 and founded the Port Arthur Business
College the same year (now Lamar State College-Port Arthur.)
Gates built a magnificent home on Lakeshore Drive at a cost
of $50,000.
The
Texas Company and the Gulf Refining Company were created as
a result of the Lucas Gusher at Spindletop in 1901. The
thriving shipping industry was instrumental in Port Arthur's
becoming a Port of Entry in 1906. By 1947, Port Arthur was
known as the center of the world's prosperous oil refining
facilities. Today, Port Arthur has a large, diversified and
talented work force.
The
first school district in Texas to adopt a twelve-grade
system, the Port Arthur Independent School District set the
pace for all Texas schools to follow. Parochial and private
schools are also in the area.
A city
manager-council form of government guides the City and the
area is home to more than one hundred churches. The
population is made up of many ethnic groups, each contributing
their own specific talents and lifestyles to the area. There
are two hospitals in Port Arthur, Christus St. Mary Hospital,
and Park Place Medical Center.
Notable
citizens of Port Arthur have left their impact on the
country -- Mildred "Babe" Didrikson, Robert
Rauschenberg, Alan Shivers, Jimmy Johnson, Janis Joplin,
Evelyn Keyes, Buddy Benz, Mack H. Hannah, Jr., G. W. Bailey,
Andrew Green, and many others. These notable citizens are
honored in the wonderful Museum of the Gulf Coast in
downtown Port Arthur.
The DAR Insignia is the = property of, and is copyrighted by, the National
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
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