The Port Arthur Refinery

Gulf's money came from Pittsburgh. The Handbook of Texas says the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company was organized in May 1901 and bought the Spindletop interests of Anthony Lucas and John Galey; Guffey held seven-fifteenths and the Mellon family and associates the rest. Gulf Oil Corporation followed in January 1907 with A. W. Mellon as president, and Guffey's stake was bought for about $3 million. A 400-mile pipeline from Port Arthur to Glenn Pool, Oklahoma, began carrying crude in 1907, and output soon outran the refinery's 11,000 barrels a day.

What the plaque says

The Port Arthur Refinery The eruption of the Lucas Gusher at the Spindletop Oil Field in January 1901 established Texas as a major oil source and signaled the beginning of a significant economic boom to the state. The new town of Port Arthur benefited tremendously from its proximity to the oil field. In early 1901, a consortium of men from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, formed the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company to finance and develop an industry for the oil from its Spindletop leases. In need of refining facilities and a sales organization, the consortium chartered the Gulf Refining Company on November 10, 1901, and built a refinery at Port Arthur for the purpose of making the crude oil into a usable commodity. Early products of the refining company included gasoline, kerosene and engine oil. In 1907, assets of the J. M. Guffey Petroleum and Gulf Refining companies were merged into the Gulf Oil Corporation. At the end of 1910, Port Arthur was the company's lone refinery until a second was built in Fort Worth the following year. Innovative production, refining and retailing techniques after World War I kept the company on solid economic footing. Expansion continued after World War II, and by 1955, Gulf Oil was the nation's largest producer of ethylene. By 1960, the Port Arthur facility was refining 270,000 barrels of crude oil per day into 600 different products. Gulf Oil became part of Chevron in 1984. In 1995, Clark Refining took ownership of the Port Arthur plant, and in 2000, Clark's name was changed to Premcor. Upholding an excellent safety record, the Port Arthur refinery has been a significant factor in the city's development as a major petrochemical center. (2001)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 2.4 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.
• Sea Rim State Park — 12 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

• Early Oil Tanker Service — 0.8 mi
• Rock Island Baptist Church — 1.4 mi
• St. Paul United Methodist Church — 1.6 mi
• Port Arthur-Beaumont Interurban Railway — 2.3 mi