Port Arthur, Texas, United States

🇺🇸 Port Arthur is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, 90 mi (140 km) east of Houston. Part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, Port Arthur lies primarily in Jefferson County, with a small, uninhabited extension in Orange County. The largest oil refinery in the United States, the Motiva Refinery, is located there.

Early attempts at settlements in the area all failed. In 1895, Arthur Stilwell founded Port Arthur, and the town quickly grew. Port Arthur was incorporated as a city in 1898 and soon developed into a seaport. It eventually became the centre of a large oil refinery network. The Rainbow Bridge across the Neches River connects Port Arthur to Bridge City.

Port Arthur is vulnerable to hurricanes and extensive damage to the city has been caused several times.

History Aurora was an early settlement attempt near the mouth of Taylor Bayou on Sabine Lake, about 14 miles (23 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide. It is a saltwater estuary formed by the confluence of the Neches and Sabine Rivers. Through its tidal outlet, 5-mile-long (8 km) Sabine Pass, Sabine Lake drains some 50,000 sq mi (100,000 km²) of Texas and Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico.

The town was conceived in 1837, and in 1840 promoters led by Almanzon Huston were offering town lots for sale. Some were sold, but Huston's project failed to attract many settlers. The area next was known as "Sparks", after John Sparks, who moved his family to the shores of Sabine Lake near the site of Aurora. The Eastern Texas Railroad, completed between Sabine Pass and Beaumont, Texas, passed 4 miles (6 km) west of Sparks. However, the American Civil War soon began, and rail lines were removed. In 1886, a destructive hurricane hit the coast, causing the remaining residents to dismantle their homes and move to Beaumont. By 1895, Aurora had become a ghost town.

Arthur Stilwell led the resettling of the area as part of his planned city as the southern terminus of his Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad, predecessor to the Kansas City Southern Railway. Stilwell named the city Port Arthur after himself, not the British Royal Navy Lieutenant who gave his name to Port Arthur, China.

Pleasure Island now separates the city from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The 18.5-mile (29.8 km) man-made island was created between 1899 and 1908 by the Corps of Engineers to support development of the port.

Arthur Stilwell founded the Port Arthur Channel and Dock Company to manage the port facilities. The port officially opened with the arrival of the British steamer Saint Oswald in 1899.

When oil was discovered at Spindletop, the J.M. Guffey Petroleum Company, later Gulf Oil, had run pipelines to Port Arthur as a shipping point and a location for an oil refinery. In November 1901, the first tanker, the Cardium, departed with Spindletop oil. The refinery was enlarged in 1902, and a pipeline connected to the Glenn Pool Oil Reserve in Oklahoma. The Texas Company, later Texaco, also started building a refinery in 1902. By 1916, the Port Arthur refinery was one of the three largest in the United States.

In 2015, the city council proposed an ordinance to declare Port Arthur a "film friendly city".

In October 2021, Governor Abbott announced that Port Arthur has been declared a "film friendly city" by the Texas Film Commission.

Geography Port Arthur is located on the eastern edge of Jefferson County, on the west side of Sabine Lake. It is bordered to the north-east by Orange County, Texas, and to the south-east, across Sabine Lake, by Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The Port Arthur city limits extend south along the west side of Sabine Pass, the outlet of Sabine Lake, as far as the Gulf of Mexico on the city's southern border. To the north, the city limits extend across the Neches River into Orange County. Port Arthur is bordered to the north-west by the cities of Nederland, Groves, and Port Neches, and to the north-east by Bridge City in Orange County.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 144.1 square miles (373.1 km²), of which 76.9 square miles (199.2 km²) are land and 67.1 square miles (173.9 km²), or 46.61%, are covered by water.

Communities Communities in Port Arthur include: • El Vista • Griffing Park • Lakeview • Pear Ridge • Port Acres • Sabine Pass • West Side.

Economy Home to a large portion of United States oil refining capacity, Port Arthur has seen renewed investment in several key installations. Motiva Enterprises began undertaking a major addition to its western Port Arthur refinery, expanding capacity to 600,000 barrels per day (95,000 m3/d). This $10.0 billion project is the largest U.S refinery expansion to occur in 30 years. Premcor Refining (now Valero) completed a $775 million expansion of its petrochemical plant, and BASF/Fina commenced operations of a new $1.75 billion gasification and cogeneration unit on premises of its current installation, which had just completed its own $1 billion upgrade. These operations are supported by the Port of Port Arthur, one of Texas' leading seaports. Port Arthur still suffers, though, from one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.

The city was the site of an oil spill in 2010, when an oil tanker and barge collided, causing 450,000 gallons of oil to spill into the Sabine/Neches waterway alongside the city.

Central business district disintegration The commercial centre of Port Arthur was at its peak in the early 1900s. Together with the effects of suburbanization, which drew off wealthier residents to new housing away from town, gradually taking businesses with them, from 1960 until 1974, successive waves of economic recession caused much distress in the town. The central business district has many boarded up and vacant locations.

Hotel Sabine The Hotel Sabine opened at 600 Proctor Street in 1929 and operated as the Vaughn Hotel until the mid-1930s. At 118 feet, 10 stories, and the tallest building in Port Arthur, the building is of Beaux-Arts architecture style, built with steel-reinforced concrete and brick on 640 steel-laced wooden cypress pilings driven 60 ft into the ground. It was designed to withstand the most severe coastal storms. The hotel closed down in the mid-1980s.

The Port Arthur News reported August 28, 2010, that "DWA (Digital Workforce Academy) Buys Sabine Hotel", By November 2011, the hotel was reported to be slated for demolition. The cost of renovations were estimated at $10,000,000–12M dollars and demolition estimates as $500,000 to $1.2 million. As of April, 2021, Motiva was still considering buying the hotel, but remained uncertain and uncommitted to it.

Hurricane Rita struck a direct hit on the Proctor Street Seawall, and damaged many downtown businesses and homes. As economic activity picked up in the region, calls for downtown revitalization have been advanced. The true centre of commercial activity has gravitated from downtown to other areas. The main shopping centre is Central Mall, opened outside the downtown in 1982.

Arts and culture Port Arthur's Museum of the Gulf Coast is recognised as the area's definitive collection of items and displays for figures from Port Arthur and the surrounding communities.

UGK, perhaps Texas's most influential hip-hop group, originated in Port Arthur before relocating to Houston.

Government The United States Postal Service operates the Port Arthur Post Office, the Port Acres Post Office, and the Sabine Pass Post Office in Sabine Pass.

State and federal representation In the Texas State Legislation, Port Arthur is in the 4th Senate District, and in the 22nd State House District, represented by Democrat Christian Manuel while the Sabine Pass portion of Port Arthur is within the 21st State House District.

In the United States House of Representatives, Port Arthur is in Texas' 14th congressional district.

Education Lamar State College-Port Arthur Located in downtown Port Arthur, celebrated its 100th birthday in 2009. Offering a full variety of basic core curriculum classes in which credits are transferable throughout Texas public universities, Lamar State College is recognised for associate programs in commercial music, nursing, legal assistant, and process technology. The college also fields competitive teams in men's basketball and women's softball.

Galveston College (for Sabine Pass) The section of Port Arthur within the Sabine Pass School District is assigned to Galveston College in Galveston.

Career and Technical Education Center It was formerly named Stilwell Technical Center and is the second college in Port Arthur. The Port Arthur Independent School District is now headquartered at its former location on 9th Avenue. In 2012 the school was relocated to a new building built on the same property of Memorial High School at 3501 Sgt Lucian Adams Dr.

Primary and secondary schools Most of the city is served by the Port Arthur Independent School District. It operates a single high school, Memorial High School, formed in 2002 by the consolidation of three high schools: Stephen F. Austin, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson.

The portion around Southeast Texas Regional Airport is served by the Nederland Independent School District. Some parts are served by Port Neches-Groves Independent School District. The Sabine Pass community is served by the Sabine Pass Independent School District. There are portions of Port Arthur in Nederland ISD, Beaumont ISD, and Hamshire-Fannett ISD.

The Bob Hope Charter School is located in Port Arthur.

It formerly had a Catholic high school, Bishop Byrne High School, which closed in 1983.

Public libraries The Port Arthur Public Library, at 4615 9th Avenue at Texas State Highway 73, serves as the public library system for the city.

Media: Print The Port Arthur News is the only daily newspaper serving Port Arthur. Operating since 1897 The News is one of the oldest continually operated businesses in Port Arthur. It is currently owned and operated by Boone Newspapers. From 1932–1941 Port Arthur had a second newspaper called The Peoples Press.

Media: Television • KBTV (Dabl) channel 4

Transport: Air The Jack Brooks Regional Airport in the north-west part of Port Arthur serves Beaumont and Port Arthur.

Transport: Bus Local bus service is provided by Port Arthur Transit.

Transport: Rail The nearest inter-city rail station to Port Arthur is Beaumont station in nearby Beaumont, which serves the greater area. The station is served by Amtrak's Sunset Limited line, with a train arriving thrice weekly in each direction.