Industry: It comes with commitment
Published 10:28 am Wednesday, April 3, 2019
The best way to learn something new is to know you know not enough. In my case, that’s not so hard. There’s also something more to read, someplace else to visit.
That’s how I approached a couple of assignments last week in preparation for “Plants, Ports & Pipelines,” our annual Progress edition report — yes, it’s April again — which examines the industrial development of Greater Port Arthur and the region.
Much of that development centers around the 20 impactful years beginning in 1895 and ending around 1915. That’s when Arthur Stilwell, railroad executive and spiritual subject, was led to our shores by both logic and the “brownies,” who delivered “hunches” to the man who founded more than 40 cities — Port Arthur, named for himself, among them. That’s Stilwell’s take — the “brownies,” included — and he never wavered from it, right up until his death.
What Stilwell had in mind for Port Arthur was something different than how the course of events played out during that time period, both for us and for him. He envisioned a rail route from the nation’s heartland, a means for shipping grain from Kansas (and other products along the route south) to the Gulf Coast. That would be cheaper than shipping their products to the Eastern Seaboard and would relieve some financial pressure on the farmers.
Pondering his port and rail line, Stilwell entertained building at both Galveston for the rail terminus and at Sabine Pass. The former, the “brownies” told him, would be devastated by a great storm; the latter didn’t work out financially. Thus, Port Arthur became more promising.
He delivered the railroad to our shores, just as he had delivered rail service elsewhere around the country, starting as a young man. He was the force behind a canal here and a port, too, to complement the railroad and all the good it would do. But what the “brownies” failed to warn him about was an old acquaintance and eventual partner — John “Bet a Million” Gates, who would eventually wrest control of Stilwell’s railroad away from him. That changed the course of Stilwell’s life.
So did the oil boom created at Spindletop, which changed not only Southeast Texas but the world.
And who knew what impact the automobile and mass manufacturing would hold for the oil business? Remember, oil was used mostly for kerosene, for lighting lamps and keeping homes warm. So either the brownies were mum about all of this or Stilwell was the victim of fate.
Here’s what I discovered in my own travels: Motiva has a museum. It’s not open to the public but it’s been around for almost two decades, mostly for the benefit of visitors or during employee events. Its contents — artifacts — include plenty of items or memorabilia that reflect on the hard work of employees for more than a century. It’s a story of family, too, one generation after the next who’ve participated in the plant’s evolution, as grandfathers and grandmothers gave way to generations that would follow.
There’s a lot of pride at the plant, too: That’s something else produced at local refineries. You can sense that in what employees cherished over the generations and donated to the museum: postcards, plates, models of the facility, clothing and more.
Elton N. Gish knows about that. His father worked as a welder at the Texaco plant in Port Neches, so Gish was plenty interested in a refinery career after he completed his chemical engineering degree. He stayed at Motiva for 46 years, collected countless records and photos and eventually wrote the plant history to commemorate its centennial. That’s more than a passing fancy. It’s a lifetime commitment.
Ken Stickney is editor of The Port Arthur News.