Water Rails & Oil - Historic Mid & South Jefferson County

Stilwell attempted to purchase land for
facilities in Sabine Pass from Herman and
Augustus Kountze, developers of the Sabine and
Eastern Railroad which served passenger and
freight users between Sabine Pass and Beaumont,
but they did not reach an agreement. Enroute
home to Kansas City on the Kountzes’ railroad,
when the train passed the north shore of the lake,
Stilwell told a traveling companion, “This is the
future terminal of our road.” He designated
locations for wharves and docks and decided that
the new city would be known as “Port Arthur.”
Hearing Stilwell’s report, his board of directors
abandoned the purchase of the HE&WT and
authorized $2 million for the purchase of land
and facilities under the corporate direction of the
Port Arthur Townsite and Land Company. The
company acquired 4,000 acres through a
subsidiary, the Port Arthur Canal and Dock
Company, purchasing “all the land between the
townsite and Taylor Bayou.” The company laid
out the townsite on the memories of old Aurora.
The new city’s first residents lived in tents while
they built more permanent shelter. Joseph Bash
opened a general store, the city’s first, in May
1896, in the 300 block of Procter Street, named in
honor of soap manufacturer Colonel William
Procter, whose name remains associated in the
twenty-first century with Procter & Gamble, a
mega business and international enterprise. At the
time, two plowed furrows represented what
eventually became Port Arthur’s “main street” and
center of its retail and professional activity during
the first three quarters of the twentieth century.
Peter Stock’s Port Saloon, located on the corner of
Procter and Austin Avenue, joined Bash’s store,
and E.A. Laughlin opened a lumberyard, all
before the month ended. The birth of Arthur
Stilwell Smith, the city’s first recorded birth, may
not have been the result of a Brownie, but it was a
good omen nonetheless.
By March 1897, Stilwell had completed the
Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf’s first depot in the
city, the first pier, Hotel Sabine, and a large
natatorium were under construction and deepwater
wells were completed. To help in
the development of agriculture in the
area, Stilwell hired Frank Hammon,
superintendent of the Darby Fruit Company of
Kansas City, to establish an experimental farm
near Port Arthur. Hammon did so on a threehundred-acre
tract, later known as Griffing, and
began experimenting with the growth of
vegetables, fruit trees, and tobacco.
❖
Stilwell’s Experimental farm located
on 320 acres, now Griffing Park.
Frank Hammon, of the Darby Fruit
Farm in Kansas City, Missouri came
to Port Arthur in 1896 and laid out
the vegetable and flower gardens and
fruit orchards. Due to the excellent
soil and climate conditions, potatoes,
beans, peas, figs, oranges, lemons,
limes, citrons, and pomegranates were
grown for the market. John W. Gates
later purchased the Farm, renamed it
Port Arthur Nurseries, and began
selling trees and plants. He gave the
city 1,000 eucalyptus trees to be
planted along the streets, having
grown some 17,000 for market.
COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF THE GULF COAST,
PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS.
Chapter II ✦ 15