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History
in a Seashell
For the first 60 years of it's life Port Neches was
known as Grigsby's Bluff. Settlers found that the area had previously been
an Indian village and started retrieving relics from the time they arrived.
In the 1830s a man named McKinney surveyed his land on which he was planning
a town he wanted to name Georgia. McKinney sold the property, however and it was
bought by Joseph Grigsby who had no intentions of naming the place Georgia. Grigsby
modestly named the place Grigsby's Bluff and established a plantation and boat
landing.
In 1862 The Confederate Army erected Fort Grigsby to
block a Union invasion of the area. Federal forces were repulsed in October 1862,
and Fort Grigsby was abandoned in January 1863.
A post office was opened
shortly before the war, closed for the war, reopened and closed again (for good)
in 1893 when the population of Grigsby's Bluff was less than 100 persons.
On its way to Port Arthur, the Kansas City railroad put a stop at Grigsby's
Bluff and called it Port Neches. Even though there was no post office to
officially undergo a name change, Port Neches sounded like growth to the citizens
and the Grigsby name was soon dropped.
The newly-formed Texas Oil Company
from nearby Spindletop
opened a refinery at Port Neches in 1906.
In 1915 rice production and
oranges groves were major crops, but interest in citrus waned after hurricanes
and frosts. With the demand for refinery and oil well workers, Port Neches grew
rapidly during World War II. | |
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