A steady stream of people filled The Port Arthur News new offices Wednesday during an open house ceremony, where the entire community was invited to tour the facility, meet the newspaper staff and enjoy a free hotdog.

“It was a fantastic day. Having more than 200 people in attendance shows support for our new facility and The Port Arthur News as a whole,” Publisher Rich Macke said.

At it’s new location at 2349 Memorial Blvd. in Port Arthur, the spacious newspaper headquarters are more centrally located both to the downtown Port Arthur area, and to other Mid- and South County cities.

“I like it here since it is nearer my neighborhood,” Maggie Henry, 84, of Port Arthur said. “When you want to put something in the paper, it is really convenient.”

Henry toured the offices with her friend, Louella Perry, 84, of Port Arthur.

Both said they were subscribers of The Port Arthur News and had been for many years.

“I love the new building; it has a lot of compartments, and is really nice and lit up,” Perry said.

The open house drew people from not only Port Arthur, but surrounding cities as well, including Chambers of Commerces from Port Arthur, Port Neches, Nederland, Groves and Bridge City.

Local dignitaries were also present, including Port Arthur Mayor Deloris “Bobbie” Prince.

“I am just happy to have you all move closer to downtown Port Arthur, where the Port Arthur News has a history,” Prince said. “Its such a beautiful place, and it looks bigger inside than what it does from the road.”

Prince said the building, which was at one time the Texaco Credit Union and later the Motiva Training Center, had been vacant for a while.

“I had concerns that it was such a beautiful and functional building, and yet was empty, so am glad the paper moved in,” Prince said.

Ronnie Boneau, 65, executive director of the Groves Chamber of Commerce, toured the building and remembered days gone by.

“I got my start here in 1968 when I worked at Texaco Research. This was my credit union. So, this is a homecoming of sorts,” Boneau said.

During Wednesday’s open house customers had opportunity to take guided tours of the facility led by staff members.

“It was heartwarming to see the community come by and visit staff and compliment the work we do,” Many commented on our new location, how easy it was to get to and how much they liked the building. Based upon the comments made the community seemed to embrace their local newspaper and felt like they were a part of what was going on and for that we are very grateful.”

E-mail:sherry.koonce@panews.com

Twitter: skoonce@panews.com