Name: Winnie, Texas
Address: Winnie, TX

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.

5.2 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.

14.7 mi away

Meaux, Huey P.

1950

Huey P. Meaux, music producer, promoter, and studio owner, was born on March 10, 1929, in Louisiana. Nicknamed the “Crazy Cajun,” Meaux pioneered “swamp pop” of the Gulf Coast. An owner of Houston’s influential SugarHill Studios , Meaux is perhaps best-remembered in music for his role in creating the Sir Douglas Quintet and reviving Freddy Fender ’s career. Meaux was the son of Stanislaus “Pappy Te-Tan” Meaux. His parents were Cajun sharecroppers who worked in the cotton and rice fields around Kaplan near Lafayette, Louisiana. When Huey was twelve, the family moved to Winnie, Texas, near Port Arthur. He grew up in an atmosphere of hard field work during the week, punctuated by lively Saturday night dances. His father, also an accordionist, headed a band for which Huey played drums when he was a teenager. By the 1950s, after serving in the United States Army, Meaux opened a barbershop in Winnie. At nights he worked as a disc jockey for KPAC radio in Port Arthur. In this capacity he got to know other deejays and musicians in the business, such as Moon Mullican , J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson , and George Jones . Meaux was riding in a car with Richardson to Houston’s Gold Star Studios when the Bopper penned his hit “Chantilly Lace.” Meaux also learned the ins and outs of the music business from Bill Hall, a local record producer and manager of the Bopper. In 1959 Meaux produced his first hit—Jivin’ Gene Bourgeois’s swamp-pop classic, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do”—in his own barbershop. Meaux was on his way to pioneering the Gulf Coast “swamp pop” sound. In 1962 he produced Barbara Lynn’s “You’ll Lose a Good Thing,” which hit Number 8 on the charts. He also produced regional hits, such as Joe Barry’s “I’m a Fool to Care,” while working with other artists, including Lightnin’ Hopkins and Archie Bell. He found success with acts such as Sunny and the Sunliners (“Talk to Me”), Roy Head and the Traits (“Treat Her Right”), and Dale & Grace (Dale Houston and Grace Broussard), whose song “I’m Leaving It Up to You” reached Number 1 on Billboard in October 1963. Meaux’s uncanny instinct for sniffing out hits led singer Roy Head to describe the producer as a “metal detector in the business.” When the British Invasion landed in Texas in the early 1960s, Meaux, by this time based out of Houston, dissected the sound of the Beatles and other groups. In response he persuaded Doug Sahm and his group of Tex-Mex musicians from San Antonio’s West Side to pretend to be British, and the Crazy Cajun dubbed them the Sir Douglas Quintet. In 1965 the group’s “She’s About a Mover” became a hit. Later, when the Sir Douglas Quintet appeared on television with its Hispanic members, the truth was revealed. Meaux made use of the diverse array of ethnic music and musicians in Texas and the Gulf Coast to seek out stand-out sounds for the recording industry . According to writer Joe Nick Patoski, “For two generations of Gulf Coast rock and rollers—or any musicians from Baton Rouge to San Antonio—he was the pipeline to the big time.” Despite Meaux’s successes in the music business, the hedonistic Cajun also had the shady reputation of shortchanging his artists as well as womanizing. Around the end of the 1960s, he was prosecuted for violation of the Mann Act (for driving a prostitute across state lines) and was sentenced to the state penitentiary. By late 1971 Meaux was out of prison and purchased the former Gold Star Studios at a bankruptcy auction. He now owned the Houston studio where he had produced many of his artists through his years of turning out hits, and he renamed the facility SugarHill Studios and set about remaking it as his own. Meaux also entertained listeners on his Friday night radio show on KPFT-FM in Houston. He regained success in 1974 with Freddy Fender’s comeback. Meaux released Fender’s “Before the Last Teardrop Falls” on his Crazy Cajun label. The song became a Number 1 country single and a pop crossover success along with his follow-up “W

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Winnie

1835

Site is on 1835 James Hoggatt grant from Mexico. As late as 1890s, small tracts were homesteaded here. Named for Fox Winnie (1843-1927), a contractor and investor of Newton, Kans., who with L. P. Featherstone in 1895 built Gulf & Interstate Railway through the area. An 1896 storm destroyed G. & I. R. rail bed. The train, caught in Galveston, waited three years to make return run through Winnie to Beaumont. Winnie Loan & Improvement Company sold acreage and town lots from its offices in Galveston, 1896-1911. Late 1800s economy, based on raising of rice, cattle, fruit, and cotton, suffered from 1895 snow, hurricanes in 1896, 1900, and later, and a severe freeze in 1916. Pioneer religious worship, held in homes, was led by such settlers as the Rev. T. W. White, a Presbyterian. Churches were built by Baptist, Church of christ, First Assembly of God, Latter Day Saints, Methodist, and Roman Catholic congregations. The one-room early school evolved into a system with several buildings. Site of Chambers County sub-courthouse, Winnie benefits from payrolls of petroleum and chemical industries, and rice, beef, and catfish farming. Great annual celebration is the Texas Rice Festival.

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Winnie, TX

1895

Winnie, at the junction of State Highway 124 and Interstate Highway 10, twenty-five miles southwest of Beaumont in eastern Chambers County, was named for Fox Winnie, a contractor on the Gulf and Inter-state Railway. The town plat was filed in 1895 by E. Dee Normandie and L. P. Featherstone, president and secretary, respectively, of the G&I, after the line's completion. A post office was secured the same year. The Hankamer-Stowell Canal Company started construction of ditches in 1899 and helped to open the Winnie-Stowell area to farming. F. W. Schwettman of Winnie was one of the principal organizers of the company. The Winnie and Loan Improvement Company took charge of developing interest in Winnie, attempting to sell small lots to perspective settlers. Growth proved slow, however, and the company was dissolved in 1911. A devastating hurricane and severe declines in post-World War I rice prices impaired local agriculture, which depended heavily on the rice and cattle industries. Efforts to develop fruits and vegetables in the region also proved unsuccessful. The exception to this was the fig industry, which was successful in the Winnie-Stowell area during the early 1900s. Several fig-processing plants were built in the area, but the industry died out around 1920. Poor drainage, a lack of roads, and the somewhat undependable service of the G&I line kept the community largely isolated during the 1920s, when the population stood at 200. In 1926 the arrival of a German seismographic crew in search of oil in the Winnie-Stowell area foreshadowed change. The Stowell oilfield was discovered north and east of Winnie in 1941. Prominent oilman Glenn H. McCarthy developed the area fields and established a large gas plant east of town. By the early 1960s Winnie had over 1,100 residents. The population grew rapidly with new oil and gas explorations and the construction of Interstate Highway 10. By 1980 the population was estimated at 2,500. Although the oil glut of the mid-1980s severely hurt the region's economy, Winnie remained the largest community in Chambers County; the county maintained a variety of offices there. In 1931 the East Chambers County Consolidated School District was organized, when the Winnie and Stowell schools were consolidated. The school district is one of only three in Chambers County. The Winnie depot was given to the East Chambers Agricultural and Historical Society. Winnie was also the home of the Gulf Coast News and the Winnie Chronicle , and, with neighboring Stowell, has cohosted the annual Texas Rice Festival since 1970. In 1990 the population of Winnie was 2,238. The population reached 2,914 in 2000.

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Winnie-Stowell

1895

Winnie and Stowell are two communities in northeastern Chambers County that were founded in the mid-1890s on the Gulf & Interstate Railway. The towns share a common economic history and cultural heritage and often are referred to simply as Winnie-Stowell. The town of Winnie was organized by the Winnie Loan and Improvement Co., a corporation based in Galveston that promoted settlement in the townsite. A school and bank were in operation by 1910, and Winnie became the retail center for the surrounding area. Early settlers in Stowell included the W. W. Gregory and Spencer families and F. W. Schwettman. In 1899 Schwettman helped build the Farmers Canal, which served the area's irrigation needs. The canal proved very successful until a 1915 storm ruined it and most of the surrounding rice fields. during the 20th century irrigation systems improved, which allowed for the successful commercial development of orange, fig, and rice production in the area. In 1931 the school systems of Winnie and Stowell were combined into one district. This system, along with the establishment of Winnie-Stowell Park in 1957, has provided the two towns with shared interests that have brought them together over the years.

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Stowell, TX

1894

Stowell is at the intersection of State Highway 124 and Farm Road 65, twenty-six miles southwest of Beaumont in eastern Chambers County. It was named for railroad engineer H. C. Stowell and organized in the mid-1890s as a townsite on the newly built Gulf and Interstate Railway. Its first settlers included W. W. Gregory and his family, who established a homestead in 1894. The post office was opened in 1900, by which time Stowell had become the largest community in the county, with a population of 176. The Farmers Canal Company established its headquarters at Stowell, further encouraging local development. Growing a variety of fruits as well as the rice staple, area farmers, many of whom were recent immigrants, did well until a series of disasters-the 1915 hurricane, a severe freeze, low prices, and the encroachment of salt water into canals and waterways-caused severe hardships. By 1920 the population in Stowell had fallen to forty-six. Slow recovery began soon thereafter, with the arrival of a German seismographic team in 1926, a precursor of the region's future oil boom. The Stowell oilfield was discovered in 1941, with noted wildcatter Glenn McCarthy taking an active role in the rush that followed and establishing a large gas plant east of Stowell's larger neighbor, Winnie. Agricultural stability was provided when the Devers Canal Company assumed most of the operations of the defunct Farmers Canal Company. Subsequent oil and gas explorations fostered additional growth. By the late 1970s Stowell had a population of 1,500. Along with Winnie, Stowell is the site of the Texas Rice Festival, held annually since 1970. In 1990 Stowell had a population of 1,419. The population was 1,572 in 2000.

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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)

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Winnie, Texas

Music in Winnie

Songs About Winnie

Artists From Winnie

Rivers & Roads in Song near Winnie

History of Winnie

Hamshire, TX RoadyGoat

Galloway, TX RoadyGoat

Meaux, Huey P.

Winnie

Winnie, TX

Winnie-Stowell

Stowell, TX

The Mayumi Legacy

Things to Do in Winnie

Everything Near Winnie