Timeline
PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS
Ship commanded by Cabeza de Vaca cast up on shores of upper Texas or Louisiana Gulf Coast, becoming the first Europeans to visit the area.
A giant storm sweeps the expedition of Hernando De Soto ashore in the vicinity of Lake Sabine. De Soto had died in 1542 but the expedition continued under the command of Luis de Moscoso de Alvarado.
French explorer La Salle lands on the Texas Gulf Coast.
French traders from Louisiana come to Southeast Texas to trade with Native Americans.
A land grant, which included the present site of Port Arthur and southern Jefferson County is issued to Thomas Courts.
Texas declares its independence from Mexico.
Sam Houston leads the Texas army to victory over the Mexican forces of Gen. Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto.
Aurora was an early settlement attempt near the mouth of Taylor Bayou on Sabine Lake. The town was conceived in 1837 and by 1840, town lots were for sale. After little success attracting buyers, the area became known as "Sparks" after John Sparks, who moved his family to the shores of Sabine Pass. The Sparks settlement, along with Aurora, eventually disappeared after the Civil War forced the removal of a rail line near Sparks, and a devastating hurricane forced residents to move to Beaumont. By 1895, Aurora had become a ghost town.
The boundaries of Jefferson County, organized in 1836, are defined and include all of what is now Orange County and parts of Hardin and Chambers counties.
Customhouse built at Port of Sabine.
Stephen H. Everett, an attorney in Jasper County, files intention of laying out a city to be known as the City of the Pass on 1,650 acres near Sabine Pass. The proposed city was to have 2,500 lots.
Dr. Niles F. Smith surveys the first townsite of Sabine Pass for Sam Houston (pictured), president of the Republic of Texas.
Arthur Stilwell led the resettling of the area as part of his planned city as the southern end of his Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad, the predecessor to the Kansas City Southern Railway. Stilwell named the city "Port Arthur" after himself.
Celebrations in Port Arthur on completion of the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad between Kansas City and Port Arthur occurred Saturday, September 11, 1897. The celebrations brought additional people into town. The next day, a major hurricane hit Port Arthur. Water flowed five feet deep in the streets. People loaded into the unfinished railroad roundhouse seeking shelter; the building promptly collapsed, killing four. In the end, 13 people died, homes were destroyed, and a pleasure pier was severely damaged.
When a group of concerned citizens realized its town was beset with infrastructure problems, they gathered together and incorporated the City of Port Arthur. Under the new city government, Port Arthur began to undergo a period of rapid growth and development, focusing on improving public services and attracting new business to the region. The City's first mayor was Nat R. Strong, who served from 1898-1899.
The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers created Pleasure Island from deposits dredged while constructing the Port Arthur Canal, completed in 1899, and the Sabine Neches Intracoastal Waterway, completed in 1908.
In 1913 a dance hall and roller coaster were constructed. In 1941 a private investor built the Pleasure Pier Ballroom, a midway, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and the largest roller coaster in the south. A fine 18-hole golf course was enjoyed for years. Pleasure Island was Port Arthur's playground for decades until the Pleasure Pier bridge, which opened in 1931 and was frequently hit by ships, was taken out of service in 1967, making it difficult to reach the island. Storms, fires, and erosion eventually destroyed all of the existing facilities.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge and the Sabine Causeway now connect Pleasure Island to Port Arthur and Louisiana. Residents and tourists alike are enjoying the development of Pleasure Island.
The eruption of the Lucas gusher at Spindletop ushered in the Texas oil boom.
Industrialist and entrepreneur John W. Gates recognized the potential of the Port Arthur's deep-water port as a strategic location for the shipping of oil and other natural resources. He formed the Port Arthur Channel and Dock Company in 1901, with the goal of improving the infrastructure of the port and making it more accessible to larger ships. Under Gates' leadership, the company undertook a number of ambitious projects, including the construction of a new deep-water channel and the expansion of the city's railroad system.
Gates also played a role in the development of the Port Arthur Refinery, which was one of the largest oil refineries in the world at the time. He served as a director of the refinery and helped to secure the financing for its construction.
First "Gates Day" celebration in memory of John W. Gates held in Port Arthur. The annual event was discontinued in 1920 at the request of his family.
The first steel Strauss-Bascule drawbridge opens to Pleasure Pier.
The first natural gas lamps in Port Arthur are lighted at Hart's Drug Store.
Interurban rail line completed between Port Arthur and Beaumont and regular service begins.
Griffing Park laid out as residential subdivision of Port Arthur.
As one of the conditions of a strike settlement, Black and white dock workers labor together for the first time.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias is born in Port Arthur. She would later move to Beaumont and eventually become one of the greatest female athletes in history.
St. Mary School opens in a two-story brick building on Sixth Street as Port Arthur's first Catholic school. It closes in 1988.
A Pleasure Pier was erected, stretching 3,000 feet into Lake Sabine. The cost of the construction was $200,000 (nearly $6 million in 2023 dollars).
Port Arthur is ranked as the No. 12 port in the nation and the second largest oil refining site in the country.
The Port Arthur School Board hires the city's first library, setting aside two rooms on the second floor of the high school and authorizing $1,000 (more than $29,000 in 2023) for books.
The Port Arthur Rotary Club is organized with 36 members. Frank Imhoff is the first president. It's the 13th club established in Texas.
A hurricane and storm surge hit Port Arthur and water stands more than four feet deep in downtown and almost seven feet at the Gulf Refinery. Six are killed and damages recorded in the millions of dollars.
Mrs. John W. Gates donated $55,000 to build a library and $5,000 for equipment for the Mary A. Gates Memorial Hospital.
Actress Evelyn Keyes, who starred in the 1939 film classic "Gone With The Wind," was born in Port Arthur. During her career, she appeared in 47 movies.
The first weather station for Port Arthur is built.
The Port Arthur Founders Lions Club is organized with A.W. Dycus serving as president. It is among the first 25 clubs in Lions International.
The Port Arthur Post Office advances to first-class status.
Gates Memorial Library is dedicated.
The Local 23 is chartered by the AFL Oil Workers International Union.
Mrs. John W. Gates, nee Dellora Baker, dies in New York.
The first Boy Scout troop in Port Arthur is organized by Rev. Otho R. Morris, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
Port Arthur marks Armistice Day at the end of World War I with repeated barrages from a six-pound cannon fired by Charlie Coleman. The explosive celebration wound up breaking half the windows in the downtown area.
A $167,000 (~$2.9 million/2023) bond issue is approved to build Lincoln School. Lamar School is also built.
Population figures show 22,276 residents. It was estimated that the local population was increasing by 300 persons a month.
Lincoln School completed, officially opens.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars post is organized in Port Arthur.
The Local 1175 of the International Longshoremen's Association is founded.
The Port Arthur Telephone Exchange is purchased by Southwestern Bell.
Voters by a 2-to-1 margin approve $675,000 in bonds for school improvements, including two wings to the high school building.
The Elks Theater Club is destroyed by fire.
The Silver Jubilee celebration marks the 25th anniversary of Port Arthur.
Port Acres is platted by Tyrell-Combest Co. of Port Arthur.
A Texas Company explosion kills 10 and seriously injures 28.
The new Department Club clubhouse is constructed in the 1900 block of Lakeshore Drive. The building receives a Texas Historical Subject marker in 1981, designated as a Texas Historical Landmark in 1982.
A two-room school building is constructed in Port Acres.
"Hug-the-Coast Road" opens, linking Port Arthur and Galveston. The new road replaces an old one dating back to the Civil War.
Robert Rauschenberg, who became an internationally renowned artist, is born in Port Arthur. He graduates from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1943.
Superintendent George M. Sims implements a 12-grade school system in Port Arthur, the first school in Texas to offer 12 years of schooling.
The six-story Adams Building is constructed for $750,000 ($12.675 million/2023) in downtown Port Arthur by John R. Adams. The building is renamed the World Trade Building in 1971.
The Gulf tanker Gulf of Venezuela explodes while loading high test gasoline in Port Arthur. Twenty-nine men are killed and scores more are injured.
A free ferry service across the Neches River begins as the Port Arthur-Orange state highway opens. More than 10,000 are on hand for the ceremonies.
Fresh water from the Neches River flows into a $425,000 (~$7.3 million/2023) Port Arthur filtration plant.
Voters approve a $1.5 million ($25.785 million/2023) school bond issue. Improvements include a $570,000 junior high school and three elementary schools.
The Memorial Armory is dedicated.
The Port Arthur Masonic Temple is dedicated.
Arthur E. Stilwell dies in New York. On October 9, his widow, Jennie Wood Stilwell, commits suicide.
More than 2,500 people attend a groundbreaking for St. Mary Hospital.
The Vaughn Hotel, later to become the Sabine Hotel, opens.
The Goodhue Hotel, built for $550,000, opens. It is demolished in 1990.
Eddingston Court opens at 3300 Procter Street as the city's first apartment house. Built by Captain A.T. Eddingston, it cost $250,000 and featured a wall constructed of 6,000 conch shells barged in from the Cayman Islands.
Residents of Griffing, also known as Griffing Park, vote to incorporate as a city.
Port Arthur voters approve a $1.3 million bond issue. They also vote to annex Edgemore, Del Mar, Lakeview, and Griffing. Griffing residents later obtain an injunction preventing their annexation.
Just a year after reaching the UIL State Football Championship, the Yellowjackets returned to the title game where they tied 0-0 with Breckenridge, finishing as co-champions that season. In 1928, Port Arthur lost to Abilene High School 38-0. Tom L. Dennis served as head coach of that team.
St. Mary Hospital, owned and operated by Sisters of Charity, opens on Ninth Avenue, replacing the old Gates Hospital.
A celebration takes place at the Bolivar Ferry Landing, marking the completion of the new Gulf Highway linking Port Arthur and Galveston.
The body of Rudolph Lambert, the first Port Arthur soldier to die in World War I, is returned to the city to be buried with full military honors in Greenlawn Cemetery. A Port Arthur American Legion Post is named in his honor.
Trinity Methodist Church is organized with 40 charter members.
J.P. Richardson Jr., who achieved rock and roll fame as the "Big Bopper" is born in Sabine Pass. He died in a 1959 Iowa plane crash with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens.
Stephen F. Austin and Robert E. Lee Schools are constructed.
The State of Texas contributed $325,000 for a bridge over the Neches River at the Port Arthur-Orange Highway, with Jefferson and Orange counties to pay the other half of the cost of construction.
Gov. Ross Sterling signs a bill providing for a subcourthouse in Port Arthur, the only one of its kind in Texas. The building would be completed in 1936.
A $1.75 million seawall and levee are completed along the Sabine-Neches Waterway to an elevation of nine feet above sea level.
The Port Arthur Noon Business and Professional Women's Club is chartered with 50 members. Lucy Teuton is the group's first president.
The first Port Arthur Kiwanis Club is organized with Ed Laughlin as its first president.
A 1954 Lincoln High School graduate, she coached for 27 years at Prairie View A&M University and was the 1992 Olympic women's track and field coach for the United States. She was also athletic director at PVAMU. A Port Arthur park is named in her honor.
Official announcement made that Port Arthur tanks seventh amongst United States ports.
Voters approved $600,000 in Pleasure pier development bonds.
Jefferson County Airport opens.
Port Arthur chapter of National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) organized.
After tying 0-0 vs. Breckenridge in 1929, the Yellowjackets finally made it back to the state championship game, taking a 20-7 win over Dallas Highland Park to claim the title.
Bishop Byrne High School was the consolidation of two area schools, St. James and St. Mary High Schools. The school closed nearly 40 years later in 1983.
Woodworth Mansion, also known as Rose Hill, was deeded to the City of Port Arthur by Phebe Woodworth, following the wishes of her mother who died in 1946.
Port Arthur Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated chartered.
Golden Jubilee celebration marks Port Arthur's 50th Anniversary.
In June 1957, Hurricane Audrey made landfall just east of Port Arthur in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, as a category 3 hurricane. The storm caused extensive wind damage around the city and significant storm surge flooding just east in Southwest Louisiana.
When James Gamble was discharged from the Army after serving in Vietnam, he set his sites on coaching Bumblebees basketball. Over the next 25 years, he won 670 games, claiming four state championships, five regional titles, 13 bidistrict titles, and 16 district championships. He came out of retirement in 1998 and led the Bees to a 29-6 record and a state finalist finish.
Port Arthur Historical Museum, the forerunner to the Museum of Gulf Coast begins.
Bishop Byrne Catholic High School opens in new facilities at Ninth Avenue and Texas 73 after Sacred Heart, Saint Mary, and Saint James high schools merge. Bishop Byrne closed in 1983.
Port Arthur Yacht Club organized.
Faculty, staff integrated Port Arthur schools in 1965. All Port Arthur schools integrated after Justice Department orders PAISD to abandon its one-grade-a-year plan and speed up the process.
$1.5 million six-story Port Arthur City Hall formally opens at 444 Fourth Street in the downtown area. Groundbreaking had been on October 9, 1968.
Gulfgate Bridge, later to become Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge. formally dedicated by U.S. Rep. Jack Brooks, providing Port Arthur with direct land access to Pleasure Island for the first time since 1968.
Pompeiian villa, 1953 Lakeshore Drive, listed in National Register of Historical Places. The 10-room mansion also is a Texas Historical Society site. It was built as an authentic copy of 74 AD Pompeiian home.
Fina buys Port Arthur refinery from British Petroleum.
Port Arthur announced as winner of coveted All-America city award for 1973, one of 10 U.S. cities so honored. Port Arthur had been among 22 cities nominated for the national award in 1970.
Earl Evans of Lincoln High School chosen most outstanding basketball player in Texas by Amarillo Chamber of Commerce.
Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church founded in Port Arthur.
Sea Rim State Park along Texas Highway 87 opens to public, with beach unit spanning five of Gulf Mexico frontage names for State Senator D. Roy Harrington of Port Arthur. Land acquired by state in 1972.
Sabine Pass annexed by Port Arthur.
Ground-breaking ceremonies for Port Arthur Civic Center and Public Library held at nearby Stilwell Technical School because of rain.
Rose Hill, also known as the Woodworth House, receives Texas Historical Marker and named to National Register of Historical Places.
Bobby Leopold, former Lincoln High School grid star, graduates from Notre Dame and drafted by San Diego Chargers of NFL; goes on to play eight years with the Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, and USFL New Jersey Generals.
Bob Hope School is named for the famed comedian as he takes over the promotion of vocational high school for physically handicapped students at Hughen Center in Port Arthur. Comedian Jimmy Durante donated an indoor swimming pool at the school, and Hope began periodic appearances in Southeast Texas to raise funds for the school.
Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks in Port Arthur.
Staff Sergeant Lucian Adams, Port Arthur's only Congressional Medal of Honor winner, honored at banquet. A park and a street are named for him.
Port Arthur native, Marty Fleckman, who went to star at University of Houston and on pro tour, selected for Texas Golf Hall of Fame.
Port Arthur's Lincoln High School captures its fourth state basketball championship of the 1980s with 66-59 victory Wichita Falls Hirschi in Austin tournament.
1,000 attend first Port Arthur News roast honoring Port Arthur native Jimmy Johnson, coach of national collegiate football champion University of Miami.
Shirley Chisholm, civil rights leaders and former U.S. Congresswoman, speaks in Port Arthur.
Country singing star Willie Nelson headlines Pleasure Island Music Festival staged by Service League of Port Arthur. 7,000 attend festival despite absence of blues legend B.B. King, who cancelled due to illness.
Mary Ellen Summerlin becomes first woman mayor in Port Arthur history. She had been only second woman ever on city council.
Raymond Johnson elected president of the Port of Port Arthur, first African American to hold the position.
Grand opening held for Aurora Building, headquarters for Mardi Gras organization. Building once housed downtown J.C. Penney store.
First Mardi Gras of Southeast Texas staged in downtown Port Arthur; an estimated 100,000 line streets for parades and event.
Port Arthur's Thurman Bartie sworn in as first African American Justice of the pease in Jefferson County, replacing retieed Barbara Dorman who had been first female JP.
Retired Lincoln High School football coach Joe Washington inducted into Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Texas State Historical Marker honoring Port Arthur founder Arthur Stilwell dedicated near Stilwell Boulevard and Lakeshore Drive.
Major ice storm blankets Port Arthur. Thousands lose electricity for up to one week as power lines, tree suffer heavy damage.
Stephen F. Austin High School football coach Richard Marler inducted into Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Lincoln High School Band chosen to represent Texas at 150th anniversary celebration of Washington Monument in Wshingnton D.C.
Dorothy Ingram, retired educator and first female African American principal in the PAISD, chosen Miss Centennial Queen. She also reigned as Miss Emancipation during Juneteenth Celebrations.
Hurricane Rita made landfall between Sabine Pass, Texas, and Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, as a category 3 hurricane. A wind gust of 116 mph was recorded in Port Arthur. The storm caused widespread significant wind damage throughout the city, with power outages lasting several weeks in some locations. Some areas of the city also received flooding due to Rita.
Hurricane Humberto made landfall west of Port Arthur as a category 1 hurricane. The storm moved northeast across the Golden Triangle, causing widespread wind damage; however, most of the damage was relatively minor. An 84 mph (135 km/h) wind gust was recorded at the Southeast Texas Regional Airport just northwest of the city.
Hurricane Ike made landfall on Galveston Island as a category 2 hurricane. Due to the storm's unusually large size, effects were widespread and were felt across much of Southeast Texas. Port Arthur sustained significant wind damage and many of the city's residents lost power. The Port Arthur seawall protected the city from the major flooding that surrounding cities experienced.
After Harvey made a second landfall at tropical storm status, 26 inches of rain fell in a single day at the airport near Port Arthur, triggering widespread flash flooding in the city. According to the Port Arthur mayor Derrick Freeman, 20,000 homes were flooded with up to 6 ft of water. On August 30, Freeman posted on Facebook, "Our whole city is underwater right now."