Port Arthur Independent School District Revenue and Competitors

In 1896, it is doubtful if there were more than one dozen houses located in the territory between Sabine Lake and Beaumont. All of these were ranch houses, most of them containing one or two rooms. Between what is now the little city of Nederland and the Sabine Lake, there were one house and one tree. These were located in the territory now known as the city of Port Arthur. The tree stood immediately in front of the present Gates' home, and the one-room ranch house was only a few feet away. Both the ranch house and the tree are now gone. In 1896 the town site of Port Arthur was surveyed. The Townsite Company, which was a subsidiary organization to the Kansas City Southern-Railroad Company, was organized for the purpose of constructing a port within the fresh water territory as a terminal for the Kansas City Southern Railroad. These promoters of the railroad planned to connect Taylor's Bayou with Sabine Pass by constructing a channel through the Lake.