At the beginning of the 20th century, Southeast Texas relied on subsistence agriculture and lumber to support the economy, and although people suspected oil in the area for hundreds of years, it wasn’t until 1901 that the Spindletop gusher forever changed history of the region.
Since its dedication in 1976, Lamar University’s Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum has proudly preserved the rich history of the discovery that led the world into the industrial age. After being closed for more than two years because of extensive damage caused by Hurricane Rita, the museum will prove its resilience by hosting a grand reopening event Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008.
The event, which is free to the public, will feature speakers, re- enactments and other activities from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“It will be a wonderful opening,” said Evelyn Lord, chairman of the Spindletop-Gladys City reopening committee. “Our centennial event which featured former President George H. W. Bush attracted nearly 20,000 people and sparked a renewed interest in the history of Spindletop among the young people in our area.”
The 2001 centennial event allowed the recreated Gladys City to boom with people, just as it did in the 1900s. Visitors came from across the nation to partake in the event, and country music artist Tracy Bird wrote and performed an original song about the history of Spindletop.
Prior to the event, Sigma Engineers Inc. was contracted to build a 65- foot-tall replica of the original Lucas Gusher. The wood and steel replica gusher was designed to withstand 120 mph wind and emulates the original oil flow.
However, the replica derrick is not the only thing the centennial event created; interest in the great history behind the Spindletop was ignited.
The Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum has attracted over one half a million people since it began serving Southeast Texas. Scholars, researchers, history buffs and more have enjoyed the rich history boomtown has to offer.
The museum recreates Gladys City with clapboard buildings and artifacts, and maintains business papers, maps, news items and photos detailing the history of Spindletop and the region. The Lucas Gusher Monument commemorates the beginning of the world’s modern petroleum industry. In short, the museum preserves the history of the discovery that propelled the world into the 20th century.
Born in Sabine Pass and raised in Beaumont, Pattillo Higgins is the person primarily responsible for the Texas oil industry. He noticed the salt deposits and gas seepages in the area as early as 1889 and became convinced of the presence of oil.
Higgins persuaded his friend George W. Carroll to purchase the land that encompassed Spindletop, Veatch survey, from Capt. George Washington O’Brien. The men formed the Gladys City Oil, Gas, & Manufacturing Co. in 1892 and began drilling for oil in 1893.
The plan was to find oil and create a model industrial town named Gladys City. After many dry holes, numerous disagreements and inadequate equipment, Higgins left the company and began searching for a new partner.
The man he found was Capt. Anthony F. Lucas, an Austrian-born mining engineer who was in search of salt domes and sulphur deposits in Louisiana. Lucas had previously heard of Spindletop and, after becoming convinced there was oil at Spindletop, Lucas went to the famous Philadelphia wildcatting team of James Guffey and John Galey.
Interested in Lucas’s endeavors, Guffey and Galey secured funding from a businessman named Andrew Mellon. The best rotary drillers, the Hamill brothers of Corsicana, were then hired – and drilling on Spindletop began again.
Thanks to Higgins’ persistence and Lucas’ knowledge and resources, the Spindletop gusher blew at 10:32 a.m. on Jan. 10, 1901. More than 800,000 barrels of oil escaped in the nine days before the gusher could be capped.
The event changed Southeast Texas forever. In the three months after the gusher, the area’s population tripled. More than 600 companies were chartered with more than 285 active wells on Spindletop Hill in the first year. More than 20.99 billion barrels of oil were produced in the first two years.
Unfortunately, overproduction caused the boom to quickly come to a close. Spindletop was virtually a ghost town within 10 years. Luckily, a second boom took place in 1926 when more oil was discovered deeper in the flanks of the dome. Better conservation allowed this second boom to be prolonged.
After affecting the entire country, the Spindletop era finally came to a close in the 1950s when the area was cleared for sulfur mining. Many well-known oil companies such as Guffey Oil Co. (Chevron), Humble Oil Co. (Exxon) and Magnolia Petroleum Co. (Mobil) were founded during the boom. Beaumont has always been, and will always be, known for the Spindletop gusher.
The grand reopening event will begin at 10 a.m. in front of the museum’s Visitor Center. The featured speaker is Darrell Jacob, plant manager of Total Petrochemicals in Port Arthur. Lord, a former Beaumont mayor; Richard Bothel, Lamar’s executive director of continuing and distance education; and James Simmons, president of Lamar University, will bring greetings before a ribbon-cutting.
The action-filled portion of the day will begin at 10:30 a.m. Volunteers from the Southeast Texas Living History Association will re-enact the historical blowing in of the gusher. The playing of Tracy Byrd’s original “Spindletop Song,” and costumed acting will lead to the blowing of the replica gusher at 10:32 a.m., the same time the original gusher blew.
Beginning at 10:45 a.m., the 15 “boomtown” buildings of the museum will be open for the public to explore. The Log Cabin Saloon will feature an old-time piano player, and the Spirit of Southeast Texas Chorus will perform at the oil derrick stage. Visitors can enjoy a barbershop quartet and the historical skits taking place hourly at various buildings throughout the day.
A short film about Spindletop history will be played continuously in the Visitors Center, and guests are encouraged to visit the new gift shop, which resembles an old General Store.
The day will conclude with a speech by history professor Joe Pratt of the University of Houston. The lecture, “Texas Oil: From Spindletop to the Last Drop,” will begin at 2 p.m. in the Visitor Center. Guests will be invited to continue exploring the buildings until 3 p.m.
After the event, the museum will return to normal operating hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission prices are: $3 for adults, $2 for seniors, $1 for children age 12 and under, and free to Lamar University students with a valid ID.
The Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum is at the intersection of University Drive and U.S. Highway 69 on Lamar University campus in Beaumont.
For more information, call the museum at (409) 835-0823 or visit www.spindletop.org.
