Abandoned Historic Places Southeast Texas
Southeast Texas's history is written in its buildings — from Gilded Age mansions to oil-boom structures and forgotten Gulf Coast communities. Here's a visual tour.
History in Southeast Texas is not always found in museums. Sometimes it's found in the crumbling brick walls of an early 20th-century downtown, in the ghost of a refinery town swallowed by the marsh, in the Gilded Age ballroom of a mansion that hasn't been opened in decades. The oil boom built this region fast and furiously, and it left behind a remarkable architectural record — some of it beautifully preserved, some of it slowly returning to the earth. If you have a thing for history, architecture, or the particular beauty of decay, Southeast Texas has an itinerary for you.
The McFaddin-Ward House — Beaumont's Best Preserved Gilded Age Home
The McFaddin-Ward House on Calder Avenue in Beaumont is one of the finest Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival mansions in Texas. Built in 1906 by oil and cattle baron W.P.H. McFaddin, the house and its grounds are preserved exactly as they were when the family occupied them — down to the original furniture, china, and personal belongings. Tours offer an extraordinary window into how wealthy Southeast Texas families lived in the early 20th century. [/category/museums-history] [/city/beaumont-tx]
Downtown Port Arthur — Faded Grandeur on the Gulf
Port Arthur's historic commercial district dates to the early 20th century and includes buildings of remarkable architectural quality — ornate terracotta facades, cast-iron storefronts, and civic structures built when Port Arthur was booming. Many now stand vacant or underutilized, creating the particular melancholy of a city that was once thriving. Urban explorers and photographers have documented the district extensively. The Rose Hill Manor (built 1906 for oil magnate James Hopkins) is an extraordinary Colonial Revival mansion preserved as a historic house museum. [/city/port-arthur-tx] [/category/museums-history]
The Sabine Pass Lighthouse and Orange's Stark Mansion
The Sabine Pass Lighthouse, built in 1857 and still standing near the Sabine Pass community southwest of Port Arthur, is one of the oldest standing structures on the Texas Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, Orange has some of the best-preserved historic architecture in Southeast Texas — the W.H. Stark House on Green Avenue is a Victorian mansion museum offering tours, and the surrounding historic district preserves the Stark family's extraordinary legacy in wood, brick, and ornamental plasterwork. [/city/port-arthur-tx] [/city/orange-tx]
Gladys City — A Recreation of History
The Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum near Beaumont recreates the original Gladys City — the oil boomtown that erupted near the Spindletop gusher site in 1901. Walking through the recreated saloons, wooden buildings, and equipment sheds is a genuine step back into the chaotic, raucous reality of America's first great oil boom. The replica Lucas Gusher periodically erupts to give visitors a sense of what January 10, 1901 looked and sounded like. [/category/museums-history] [/city/beaumont-tx]
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