After more than two years of closure because of Hurricane Rita damage and re-construction, the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum will reopen its doors to the public with a ribbon-cutting and special grand reopening event Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008.
Activities – from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – will be open to the public without charge.
The grand reopening will begin at 10 a.m. in front of the museum’s Visitor Center with a short program of speakers, including former Beaumont Mayor Evelyn Lord; Richard Bothel, Lamar University executive director of continuing and distance education; and Lamar University President James Simmons.
Featured speaker will be Darrell Jacob, plant manager of Total Petrochemicals in Port Arthur. The ribbon-cutting is planned after the program.
At 10:30 a.m., the museum’s replica gusher will blow, complete with costumed re-enactors. From 10:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., the “boomtown” buildings of the museum will be open for visitors to tour. Activities throughout the afternoon will include historical “skits,” an old-time piano player in the Log Cabin Saloon, continuous showings of a short film about Spindletop history, and a performance by the Spirit of Southeast Texas Chorus.
At 2 p.m. in the museum’s Visitor Center, history professor Joe Pratt of the University of Houston will give a talk on the history of the oil industry, entitled “Texas Oil: From Spindletop to the Last Drop.”
After the grand-reopening date, the museum will resume its regular hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum is on U.S. 69 at University Drive on the Lamar University campus in Beaumont. For more information, call (409) 835-0823.
