High gasoline prices and an economy still struggling to fully reboot means that Greater Port Arthur people may enjoy “staycations” this summer, reveling in the tourism sites within easy driving distance. The News will highlight 10 of these this summer, places we’d all do well to visit.

By Ken Stickney

ken.stickney@panews.com

It started in the ‘50s and ‘60s, with an avid historical society and a few photos.

The thirst to capture Port Arthur’s history and relate it to others grew with every collected artifact. Eventually, the lot of it was stored in a glass room at the Merchants National Bank building.

The collectibles — it wasn’t a collection yet — included photos of early people, some oil and gas relics, an ax handle that Carrie Nation gave to a saloonkeeper who had moved the teetotaler off his premises, gently, in downtown Port Arthur.

“He was the nicest person to ever throw her out of a bar,” said Museum of the Gulf Coast director Tom Neal.

Then came the ‘80s, and a permanent exhibit on area musicians — Janis Joplin, Johnny Preston, Johnny and Edgar Winter — at the Gates Memorial Library. That was the first step toward a real museum, which came to life in 1994 with the Museum of the Gulf Coast, which now includes galleries for maritime, music, art, sports and more inside a comfortable 39,000 square feet.

The museum’s a treasure, Neal says, but sometimes a hidden one inside Port Arthur. Nestled next to the Port Arthur Police Station downtown — it fronts Procter Street, with an entrance and parking on Lakeshore Drive — it recounts this area’s story from pre-history to pop culture.

Janis and more

“Janis” — as in Joplin — “is by far one of the big draws,” Neal says. The ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll icon from Port Arthur draws Joplin aficionados from around the globe; visitors from eight to 20 countries visit the museum every month.

“We have things of hers only because the family shared them,” Neal said. Joplin’s West Coast friends took a lot of her keepsakes after she died, eager to remember the rock legend.

Neal said a couple of visitors recently flew into Houston from London, made the trek to Port Arthur for Joplin, then discovered the rest of the museum. They didn’t have time to see it all — “They’d never seen a museum like this,” Neal said — and returned a few weeks later.

Popular, too, is the Robert Rauschenberg gallery, which tells the story of the Port Arthur High graduate who was a forerunner of pop art. A limited edition album cover for The Talking Heads, in the gallery, won a Grammy. There’s a signed print, the third of 10, of a Rauschenberg work.

“When the shah or Iran fled,” Neal said, “he took two or three Rauschenbergs.”

People’s museum

“We have research materials,” Neal said, but the museum is a “people’s museum.” That’s why it includes artifacts of luminaries from this coastal town who made their popular imprint on the world, people like Leah Rhodes, who started as a window designer in Port Arthur and earned an Oscar for costume design in “The Adventures of Don Juan,” a 1948 Errol Flynn film; Andy Green, a Thomas Jefferson High grad and Lamar engineer whose innovations included revolutionary efforts in both Grand Prix races and Olympic sailing; Wade Phillips and Jimmy Johnson, NFL coaches.

There are other surprises: an ancient artifact from the Spanish sailors who explored the Texas Coast; Victorian-era furniture; and one of three existing copies of House Resolution 2, the joint resolution that brought Texas into the Union in 1845. The other two copies are in the Library of Congress and at the University of Texas in Austin.

Some 200 people have been inducted into the Museum: musicians, war heroes, inventors, political figures — in a town but 12 decades old. What was there about Port Arthur that gave launch to so many remarkable careers?

Talents converge

Neal suggests the community was innovative beyond its size because the oil and gas industry led so many creative and innovative thinkers to Port Arthur: craftspeople, designers, engineers, managers.

“If I had to guess, it was a convergence of talented people from all over the country and world,” he said.

Nonetheless, he said, it’s sometimes easier to lure people from around the globe to the museum than it is to lure them from Mid County. The museum, he said, can be a hidden treasure to some local people.

Neal said the museum is promoting its membership drive in an effort to bring people to its doors. Even those who’ve visited the museum before, he said, will find it evolved with new inductions and new collection materials.

Some portions of the museum give children a chance to be hands-on; inductions are public and events such as a recent book signing by Cajun and country musician Jo-El Sonnier drew a large crowd.

Neal said he hopes those visitors will return — with family and friends.

 

Museum of the Gulf Coast

700 Procter St., Port Arthur

9-5, Monday through Saturday

Adults, $6; seniors and college students, $5; children 4-18, $3; children 3 and under, free.

Memberships available

409-982-7000