In
Jefferson County, Port Arthur is southeast of
Beaumont on US 96 near
Sabine Lake and the Gulf of Mexico.
Port Arthur became an official port of entry in 1906, and by 1908 the Sabine-Neches canal had been deepened and extended up the Neches River to Beaumont and Orange. Extension of the canal was not an unmixed blessing, though, for it cut Port Arthur off from Sabine Lake and thereby diminished the city's prospects as a tourist resort, but the eruption of Spindletop on January 10, 1901, secured its future. Major oil companies-Gulf, Magnolia, Humble, and Texaco-all emerged from the Spindletop oilfield boom.
Port Arthur is part of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas metro area.
By 1909 Port Arthur had become the twelfth largest port in the United States in value of exports, and by 1914 it was the second largest oil-refining point in the nation. Development as a major petrochemical center was reflected in population growth. In 1990 it was 58,724.
