1886 Hurricane at Sabine Pass

The rescue began with one skiff. David King rowed thirty miles to Beaumont to report the disaster, and the schooner Andrew Boden, which had picked Fred and Reuben Pomeroy out of the wreckage, went back to Orange. Orange sent the steamboats L. Q. C. Lamar and Emily P. with 150 men. Beaumont sent the tug Scherffius, and Galveston sent the revenue cutter Penrose and the tug Estelle. Within a day Beaumont and Orange were each caring for 200 to 300 refugees, a number that grew to 1,200. Galveston and Houston sent supplies and $7,000.

What the plaque says

1886 Hurricane at Sabine Pass In October 1886, Sabine Pass was the second largest town in Jefferson County, boasting a new rail line and an optimistic outlook on continued growth as a major coastal port. On the afternoon of October 12, just two months after a hurricane had destroyed the Texas port of Indianola (200 mi. SW), a fierce storm ravaged the town of Sabine Pass. The hurricane's strength lay in its 100 mile-per-hour winds and the swiftly rising water that swept homes off their foundations and carried people and animals as far as 25 miles away. Eighty-six people, including entire families, were killed, and only two of 77 houses remained intact after the waters subsided. Stories of survival are documented as well, signifying the determination of residents to endure the storm. Rescue and cleanup efforts began promptly, with the citizens of Beaumont, Orange, Galveston and Houston providing boats, rescue teams and financial assistance. Special legislative action provided tax relief for the storm-ravaged area, exempting citizens from payment of state and county taxes in 1886. As one of several difficulties Sabine Pass faced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the 1886 hurricane contributed significantly to the town's decline in the years to come. (2001)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site — 1.2 mi
  A waterfront park at the mouth of the Sabine where the earthwork of Fort Griffin stood, with a Dowling statue, a Union memorial, wartime magazines and a walkway for fishing.
• Sea Rim State Park — 8.3 mi
  Texas's far southeast corner: nearly two miles of Gulf shoreline backed by 4,000 acres of marsh, reached by boardwalk or paddle trail, rebuilt after Rita and Ike.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 9.8 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 23 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.

More markers nearby

• City of Sabine and Sabine Pass — steps away
• Spaight's 11th Battalion — steps away
• Spanish-American War Fortifications — 1.2 mi
• Fort Manhassett — 1.2 mi