Francis John (Frank) Trost (June 24, 1868 - August 4, 1944)

An AAPG Search and Discovery abstract says Trost sold more than 45,000 prints of the gusher within a few months, and photographed closely packed derricks, the field's first oilfield fire and several early gushers as well. In 2026 Lamar University's Spindletop Boomtown Museum received a rarer second exposure from the same day, taken from a different position. The donor, Judge John Stevens, points to the same horsemen in both pictures as proof the scene was not staged later, and appraiser Will Sapp traced it to the February 2, 1901 Scientific American.

What the plaque says

Francis John (Frank) Trost (June 24, 1868 - August 4, 1944) Francis John (Frank) Trost (June 24, 1868 - August 4, 1944) Frank Trost, the photographer of record on the day the Lucas Gusher erupted in the Spindletop Oil Field, came to Port Arthur in 1895 from Kansas City, Missouri, where he had been involved in real estate. He opened a photography studio at this site and turned his hobby into a successful business. On January 10, 1901, Trost was notified of the events at Spindletop, just south of Beaumont. With his unwieldy camera equipment in tow, he managed to take at least one photograph of the gushing oil before sundown. Photographic methods were still in their infancy, so the image was created with a glass negative Trost manufactured in his studio. The photo appeared in newspapers all over the United States and in some foreign countries. It was in such demand that Trost made as many as 250 prints per day and sold them as quickly as they were printed. Aside from his significance as a recorder of this momentous moment in Texas history, Frank Frost also served his adopted hometown as a city alderman, city commissioner and fire chief. Trost died at home in 1944 and is buried in a local cemetery. He was survived by his wife, Katherine, and two daughters who continued his work at the Trost Studio. (2002)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of the Gulf Coast — steps away
  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.
• Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site — 11 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 — 13 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.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 14 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

• Port Arthur-Beaumont Interurban Railway — 0.2 mi
• Arthur Edward Stilwell — 0.4 mi
• Gates Memorial Library — 0.5 mi
• Port Arthur College — 0.5 mi