Hamshire, TX RoadyGoat

Hamshire, Texas. It's a small spot on the map, down in Jefferson County, not far from Beaumont and the Gulf Coast. Folks might drive through on Highway 12 and not think much of it, but this little community has quietly contributed its share to the world. You might not realize it, but a number of notable figures spent formative years right here.

8.7 mi away

Galloway, TX RoadyGoat

Galloway, Texas, it’s a little spot you might miss driving through Rusk County. But this place has a history that stretches back further than you might think, a history that's touched by some pretty remarkable people. While it might not be plastered on billboards, Galloway's story is etched into the very soil. Folks around here know that Galloway has been a home to folks who chased big dreams.

9.9 mi away

The Well That Changed the World RoadyGoat

1901

On January tenth, nineteen oh one, a drill bit punched through the Spindletop salt dome outside Beaumont and unleashed a gusher that blew one hundred thousand barrels of oil a day for nine straight days before anyone could cap it. That was more oil than every other producing well in the United States combined. Beaumont's population of ten thousand tripled in three months. More than five hundred companies were formed within a year. Gulf Oil and Texaco were both born here. Before Spindletop, oil was primarily a lamp fuel and lubricant — the quantities were too small and expensive to burn for anything else. After Spindletop, burning petroleum for mass consumption became economically possible for the first time. The oil age, the automobile age, the modern economy — all of it traces back to a single drill hole outside Beaumont.

12.9 mi away

Richardson, Jiles Perry [Big Bopper]

1958

The Big Bopper, disc jockey, songwriter, and singer, was born Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., on October 24, 1930, in Sabine Pass, Texas. He was the son of Jiles Perry Richardson, Sr., and Elsie (Stalsby) Richardson. He usually went by the initials J. P. and briefly used the nickname Jape, before settling on the pseudonym, "The Big Bopper," on air and when recording. He is best-known for his hit, "Chantilly Lace," which reached Number 6 on the charts in 1958, and for dying in a plane crash with Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly . His family moved to Beaumont when he was very young. At Beaumont High School he sang in the school choir as well as played on the football team. He graduated from Beaumont High School in 1947 and enrolled at Lamar College. While still a teenager Richardson began working as a disc jockey at KTRM radio in Beaumont, and he soon left college to work full-time. He eventually became program director while still working as a disc jockey. His colorful on-air personality (a stark contrast to the naturally shy Richardson) made him a very popular disc jockey in the Golden Triangle area. Richardson was influenced early by country singers but soon moved into the realm of rock-and-roll. In 1958 he traveled to Houston's Gold Star Studios to record songs for Pappy Daily 's D Records . Richardson recorded his novelty song, "Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor," as the A-side of a single that he hoped would capitalize on the popularity of other novelty songs that had recently been released. For the B-side he recorded "Chantilly Lace," which he reportedly penned as an afterthought in the backseat of the car while driving to the session. At the recording session, he also reportedly formally adopted his nickname "The Big Bopper" as his musical persona. Unexpectedly, the record's B-side, "Chantilly Lace," quickly gained the attention of radio programmers and listening audiences, and Daily released it on his D label and subsequently leased it to Mercury Records for national distribution. "Chantilly Lace" became very successful and would eventually go gold and multi-platinum as an early hit in rock-and-roll history. It was by far the most famous record on Daily's D label. Songs from the Gold Star sessions comprised Richardson's only album, Chantilly Lace . He followed with "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Big Bopper's Wedding," which were also hits but not of the same caliber as "Chantilly Lace." Richardson's song, "White Lightning" became the first Number 1 hit for George Jones in 1959. Later that year, his song "Running Bear" became a Number 1 hit for fellow Texan Johnny Preston . The Bopper wrote about thirty-eight songs during his life and recorded twenty-one of them. Most of his recordings were classified as novelty songs that did not have lasting popularity. His appeal was largely in his flamboyant stage performances. He wore checkered jackets and zoot suits and used a prop phone during "Chantilly Lace" to talk to his girl. In 1958 he also made a pioneering video for the hit song and later coined the term "music video" for the production. In order to maintain his showman image, he did not wear his wedding ring in public and generally kept his marriage to Adrianne "Teetsie" Fryou (married on April 18, 1952), a secret from his fans. The couple had two children. With his newfound fame, Richardson resigned his position as disc jockey at KTRM in Beaumont in order to perform full-time by November 1958. In this capacity, he appeared on the top pop shows of the day and was booked on the "Winter Dance Party" tour with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. On February 2, 1959, Richardson, Holly, and Valens played a show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. They were scheduled to play in North Dakota the next day. After the show Holly and Valens chartered a plane so that they could rest before their bands arrived. Richardson, who had the flu, was supposed to take the bus, but at the last minute switched places with Holly's band memb

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Spindletop Oilfield

1901

The Spindletop oilfield, discovered on a salt dome formation south of Beaumont in eastern Jefferson County on January 10, 1901, marked the birth of the modern petroleum industry. The Gladys City Oil, Gas, and Manufacturing Company, formed in August 1892 by George W. O'Brien, George W. Carroll, Pattillo Higgins , Emma E. John, and J. F. Lanier, was the first company to drill on Spindletop Hill. Three shallow attempts, beginning in 1893 and using cable-tool drilling equipment were unsuccessful; Lanier and Higgins had left the company by 1895. Anthony F. Lucas , the leading United States expert on salt dome formations, made a lease with the Gladys City Company in 1899. Higgins and Lucas made a separate agreement a month later. With Lucas in charge of the drilling operation, another attempt was made on the John Allen Veatch survey on Gladys City Company lands. Lucas was able to drill to a depth of 575 feet before running out of money. He was also having great difficulty with the tricky sands of the salt dome. Despite the negative reports from contemporary geologists, Lucas remained convinced that oil was in the salt domes of the Gulf Coast. He finally secured the assistance of John H. Galey and James M. Guffey of Pittsburg. Much of the Guffey and Galey support was financed in turn by the Mellon interest; their terms excluded Higgins and left Lucas with only a small share of the potential profits. Nonetheless, Lucas pressed ahead in his effort to vindicate his theories. Galey and Guffey played a crucial role by bringing in Al and Curt Hamill, an experienced drilling team from Corsicana. Lucas spudded in a well on October 27, 1900, on McFaddin-Wiess and Kyle land that adjoined the Gladys City Company lands. A new heavier and more efficient rotary type bit was used. From October to January 1901, Lucas and the Hamills struggled to overcome the difficult oil sands, which had stymied previous drilling efforts. On January 10 mud began bubbling from the hole. The startled roughnecks fled as six tons of four-inch drilling pipe came shooting up out of the ground. After several minutes of quiet, mud, then gas, then oil spurted out. The Lucas geyser, found at a depth of 1,139 feet, blew a stream of oil over 100 feet high until it was capped nine days later and flowed an estimated 100,000 barrels a day. Lucas and the Hamills finally controlled the geyser on January 19, when a huge pool of oil surrounded it, and throngs of oilmen, speculators, and onlookers had transformed the city of Beaumont. A new age was born. The world had never seen such a gusher before. By September 1901 there were at least six successful wells on Gladys City Company lands. Wild speculation drove land prices around Spindletop to incredible heights. One man who had been trying to sell his tract there for $150 for three years sold his land for $20,000; the buyer promptly sold to another investor within fifteen minutes for $50,000. One well, representing an initial investment of under $10,000, was sold for $1,250,000. Beaumont's population rose from 10,000 to 50,000. Legal entanglements and multimillion-dollar deals became almost commonplace. An estimated $235 million had been invested in oil that year in Texas; while some had made fortunes, others lost everything. The overabundance of wells at Spindletop led to a rapid decline in production. After yielding 17,500,000 barrels of oil in 1902, the Spindletop wells were down to 10,000 barrels a day in February 1904. Deposits from the shallow Miocene caprock seemed to diminish, but the Spindletop oilfield had not yet dried out. A second boom came when Marrs McLean speculated that production could be found on the flanks of the dome. Miles F. Yount also believed more oil was present at deeper depths. Their convictions proved correct; on November 13, 1925, the Yount-Lee Oil Company brought in a flank well drilled to 5,400 feet. This and other discoveries on the flanks of the salt dome set off another speculative boom. The Gladys C

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Dowling, Richard William

1863

Richard William Dowling, businessman and Civil War hero, son of William and Mary Dowling, was born in Tuam, Galway County, Ireland, in 1838. After 1846 the family migrated to the United States and settled in New Orleans. In the early 1850s, after the deaths of his parents, Dick Dowling worked his way to Texas and eventually settled in Houston. The likeable, red-headed Irishman quickly made a reputation as an enterprising businessman. In October 1857 he opened the Shades, the first of his successful saloons. He probably received financial backing for this enterprise from Benjamin Digby Odlum , whose daughter, Elizabeth Ann, Dowling married in November 1857. By 1860 he had sold his interest in the Shades and had purchased the popular Bank of Bacchus near the Harris County Courthouse. Still later he operated the Hudgpeth Bathing Saloon as well as a Galveston-based liquor-importing firm. With the outbreak of the Civil War Dowling joined the Jefferson Davis Guards as first lieutenant. Capt. Frederick H. Odlum was commander. During the first part of 1861 Dowling and his associates raided United States Army outposts on the Texas-Mexico border. When the guards were designated Company F of the Third Texas Artillery Battalion in October 1861, Dowling's theater became the upper Texas Gulf Coast. By 1862 the battalion was upgraded to a full regiment, the First Texas Heavy Artillery, under the overall command of Col. J. J. Cook. Dowling's early Civil War exploits were consistent but not spectacular. On January 1, 1863, he participated in Gen. John B. Magruder 's recapture of the port of Galveston ( see GALVESTON, BATTLE OF ). Three weeks later, after the transfer of his company to Sabine Pass, which controlled access to the Sabine River, he earned his first individual praise. As artillery commander aboard the steamer Josiah A. Bell , he took part in a naval battle on January 21, 1863, with two United States vessels. In a two-hour engagement the Confederate forces achieved a victory, in part because of Dowling's accuracy with the eight-inch Columbiad gun, which he commanded. Not only was he singled out for making some of the "prettiest shots" but also for saving the Bell 's magazine from flooding. Throughout the spring and summer of 1863 Odlum, Dowling, and the guards manned defensive positions at Sabine Pass, including Fort Griffin, a nondescript post on the west side of the pass that controlled both the Texas and Louisiana channels of the river. By August 1863 Odlum was in charge of forces at nearby Sabine City, and Dowling commanded Company F, which consisted of forty-seven men armed with six cannons, at Fort Griffin. On September 8, 1863, the United States forces attacked the area in what became known as the battle of Sabine Pass . Dowling directed such intense and accurate fire from his guns that two of the United States gunboats, the Clifton and the Sachem , were disabled, and the remaining United States vessels withdrew. As a result of federal ineptitude and Dowling's leadership, Dowling and his men captured two ships and 350 prisoners and routed the invasion without a single casualty. The battle at Sabine Pass was the pinnacle of Dowling's career. During the remainder of the war he was a recruiting officer for the Confederacy, until his discharge with the rank of major in 1865. He returned to Houston, managed the businesses he had owned before the war, and acquired new businesses, including real estate, oil and gas leases, and an interest in a steamboat. His financial successes appeared to ensure a bright future, but he became ill with yellow fever and died on September 23, 1867. He was survived by his wife, a daughter, and a son and was buried in St. Vincent's Cemetery, Houston.

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The Mayumi Legacy

1905

The modern Texas rice industry was shaped in part by the Mayumi brothers, who arrived here from Japan in the early twentieth century. Rice had been grown in limited quantities in Jefferson County since the 1840s, but production remained relatively low for decades. Many believed that with improved agricultural practices the crop could become successful in the region. In 1902, Japanese consul general Sadatsuchi Uchinda attended a Beaumont meeting of the Rice Growers Association of America, who offered an open invitation to Japanese rice farmers. Yoshio Mayumi, a banker and landowner from Mie prefecture on the main island of Honshu, visited this area in 1904 and returned the following year to purchase more than 1,700 acres near Taylor Bayou. Mayumi brought fifteen workers from his hometown, and the farming community included a three-story house for Mayumi's family, another building for the workmen and a community dance hall. Although Yoshio's only crop was rice, he also owned and raised livestock, including hogs and cattle, and to help with farm work, mules and horses. The agricultural experiment showed early promise, but several factors led to its eventual decline. Yoshio returned to Japan in 1915 and left the operation to the management of his brother Yasuo. Economic difficulties and repressive immigration laws led the Mayumi family to sell the land in 1924. The Mayumi legacy, centered on a family fondly remembered for its many contributions to the rural community, is important because it presaged the success of the Texas rice industry, which is today and economic mainstay of the upper Texas Gulf coast. (2006)

Historical Marker → · 3.5 mi away

Craigen, Leon Edward

1861

(1845-1910) During the Civil War, Leon Edward Craigen joined the Confederate Army of the Mississippi and was wounded at Shiloh. Following surgery to remove his leg, he served with the Cavalry until the end of the war. In 1879 he became a teacher at Taylor's Bayou School near Hamshire. One year later he married Ellen Aurelia Schneider, one of his students. From 1895 until his death in 1910, Craigen served as rural mail carrier for the Fannett area.

Historical Marker → · 6.7 mi away

Spindletop Gusher

1901

On January 10, 1901, the Lucas Gusher at Spindletop Hill erupted, launching the modern petroleum industry and transforming Texas and the global economy.

Historical Marker → · 13.7 mi away

Jefferson, Texas

Music in Jefferson

Songs About Jefferson

Artists From Jefferson

Rivers & Roads in Song near Jefferson

History of Jefferson

Hamshire, TX RoadyGoat

Galloway, TX RoadyGoat

The Well That Changed the World RoadyGoat

Richardson, Jiles Perry [Big Bopper]

Spindletop Oilfield

Dowling, Richard William

The Mayumi Legacy

Craigen, Leon Edward

Spindletop Gusher

Things to Do in Jefferson

Everything Near Jefferson