Pompeiian Villa

Arthur Stilwell's name is on the plaque but his story is not. His Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf line reached Sabine Lake in 1897. The original terminus was Sabine Pass, but his syndicate founded Port Arthur instead, and a canal around the lake to the pass was finished in 1899. The railroad failed that year and Stilwell lost control, blaming Wall Street financiers, John Gates above all. He died in New York in 1928, and in his later books he credited his railroad and city plans to 'brownies.' The villa has been on the National Register since 1973.

What the plaque says

Pompeiian Villa The last remaining landmark of the "dream city" planned by the founder of Port Arthur, railroad magnate Arthur E. Stilwell (1859-1928). The house was built in 1900 as the winter resort home of Isaac L. Ellwood (1833-1910), the developer of barbed wire. The same year financier John W. "Bet-A-Million" Gates (1855-1911) had a mansion built nearby. It was razed in 1960. Ellwood sold the villa in 1901 to James Hopkins of St. Louis, who in 1903 sold it to George M. Craig (1862-1950), principal developer of Port Arthur, for 10 per cent of the Texas Company (present Texaco, Inc.). Craig lived here until his death. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 0.9 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Sea Rim State Park — 14 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.

More markers nearby

• Federated Women's Clubs of Port Arthur — steps away
• Birthplace of Babe Didrikson Zaharias — 0.4 mi
• Port Arthur College — 0.4 mi
• Gates Memorial Library — 0.4 mi