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THE SILSBEE BEE • www.silsbeebee.com • Sesquicentennial 2008
HARDIN COUNTY: Celebrating 150 Years
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Santa Fe Railroad & the Harvey House
Harvey House provided a taste of civilization during railroad days A Harvey House in Silsbee? Where is Silsbee? This question must have been asked many times by the readers of the Texas Almanac, that prestigious publication considered as the final word on the growth and condition of Texas counties. The 1904 edition of the Texas Almanac listed as the principal towns of Hardin County as Sour Lake, Batson, Saratoga and Kountze. Silsbee, at that time still in its infancy, was not mentioned, though it had been laid out on May 1, 1894 as a sawmill site and
named after Nathan D. Silsbee, a financier. It was also known as “Old Town.” On Oct. 1, 1902, the Gulf Colorado and Santa Fe opened a line through the Big Thicket of Southeast Texas from Conroe to a junction with the Gulf Beaumont and Kansas City Railroad a half mile south of Old Town. This was named Silsbee Junction or South Silsbee and was to be the location of a Fred Harvey Hotel and Dining Restaurant. Much has been written of the merits of Fredrick Henry Harvey, often call the “Civilizer of the
From Pastor Daryl and First Lady Audrea Gilbert and the 1680 Sweat Rd. • Silsbee, Texas
West” and how his epicurean expertise and flair for elegance replaced the old “eating houses” along the railroads with “Meals by Fred Harvey” into “Harvey Houses.” This reputation, along with detailed descriptions of the new Harvey House in Somerville, built in 1900, served to whet the appetite of his rural community that would one day be the cultural center and largest city in Hardin County. By the end of 1902, a depot had been built and plans were formulated to build a roundhouse and clubhouse for employees similar to the joint Depot and Harvey House in Somerville. This was announced on June 1, 1905 by the Beaumont Enterprise. The Beaumont Journal reported on June 26, 1905 that plans had been revised, that the Depot was to be remodeled and enlarged and a Harvey Hotel to be erected a short distance from the Depot. The contract to build was reportedly let to W.C. Whitney of Beaumont. By August, a 50-acre tract of land had been surveyed for a South Silsbee Townsite plat. This was to be Woodrow, a development for Santa Fe employees. Progress was almost certain. Murphy’s Law was inevitable; a threatened strike by a machinist union and the resulting lockout by Santa Fe in May 1904, which had produced little or no effect at this point in time, now became a reality as the roadhouse and machine shop were involved. The management of Santa Fe issued a warning to strikers “Not to trespass or interfere with business of the Company.” Mr. L.L. Smith, supervising architect of Gulf, Colorado and
This two-story depot was built in Silsbee to handle the passenger, luggage and freighter traffic. The second floor ws used for living quarters by the depot agent and his family. There were four passenger trains that operated through town daily and this service continued until about 1956 when the automobile replaced the passenger coach as the principal mode of travel. This building was enlarged and remodeled in 1905 and modernized in 1958 for use as an office for the roadmaster and his staff. The building was bulldozed in the mid 1960s.
Santa Fe Railroad, appeared in Silsbee to investigate buildings being erected by outside contractors. He allegedly stated that “a contract for the erection of the Harvey eating house had not yet been let.” Thus as the year of 1905 ended, so it appeared, that the prospect of a Harvey House in Silsbee also faded. The people of this growing community were not to be intimidated by minor adversities. On the evening of Nov. 11, 1905, 24 Masons, leading citizens and railroad men of Silsbee, requested of Pine Lodge in Kountze a recommendation to Grand Lodge of Texas for a charter to forma Masonic Lodge in Silsbee. The petition was immediately honored and Silsbee Lodge No. 927 AF&AM was granted a charger on Dec. 7, 1905. THe new year of 1906 showed promise. By Feb. 17, material was on site for erection. Previous and subsequent reports disclosed a question of priorities as to a rooming hotel for railroad men or a Harvey House for railroad men and traveling public. Santa Fe opted for both, which led people to refer to both as “Harvey Houses” and created some confusion in distinction in later years. The March 23 issue of the Beaumont Enterprise reported “The Harvey House is being complted for railroad men containing bath, billiards and reading room.” ON April 24, the same paper reported “Work progressing rapidly on Harvey Hotel in Silsbee and will soon be ready for business.” The Harvey Hotel burned in 1906. The date of the fire, if recorded, has been lost to time.
Rendition for Hardin County taxes of June 18, 1906 for hotel and fixtures was $3,000. These were reduced to $480 on July 4, 1906, suggesting that the hotel was opened under the auspices of Fred Harvey, but the building was property of Santa Fe. Plat maps reveal that the hotel foundation was 88.5 feet by 65.5 feet, 8 inches thick and 24 inches above ground level. This was further described by Mrs. D.D. McGowan who moved to Silsbee in 1912. According to Mr. Otis Thomas, bookkeeper of Harvey Houses, there was a basement containing a barber shop and pool tables. 1906 proved to be an exciting year for this burgeoning community. The jail cell, on the courthouse square in Kountze, was ordered moved to Silsbee on Feb. 22, 1906. By April 8, a U.S. Post Office had been moved from Mill Town to Junction. Silsbee Junction was incorporated on May 7, 1906 and the election of mayor, marsall and five aldermen was June 2, 1906. There has been much specula-
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tion as to why the Harvey Hotel was not rebuilt. Perhaps the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe considered that passenger traffic was insufficient to justify the large rooming house as the railroad yards and a Harvey HOtel. Whatever the reason, it was announced in the October 1908 issue of the Santa Fe magazine that the new Harvey House was rapidly filling up. This Harvey House was a Santa Fe restaurant located 200 feet southeast of the original Harvey Hotel, on track No. 20. It was 24 feet by 80 feet long with a 24x24 dining room. This dining room was often utilized by the community for conferences or social functions. As the automobile began to replace the passenger coach as a principal mode of transportation, so were the Meals by Fred Harvey served by neatly dressed Harvey Girls replaced by drive-ins. The Harvey facilities were closed in 1923 and ordered to abandon on Jan. 24, 1927 by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company.
From Section 3, Page 10
rainy weather, crewmen “corduroyed” the roads with logs and drug equipment out to the fields with the assistance of mules and oxen. Seven days a week the oil men slogged through mud to work the rigs and fight runaway fires in the fields. Sleeping cots were never allowed to cool with the rigging crews working twelve hour shifts, changing at sunrise and sunset. The risk of danger was imminent—on the field and off. Crew members routinely fell off derricks and were killed from the impact of failing equipment. Many were blown to bits by unexpected explosions; others were succumbed by poisonous gases trapped in low relief areas. Off the job, shoot-outs and knifings were common. Oil men worked hard and played hard, often placing their lives on the line as stakes. Policing the violence and crime in the camps became such a problem that offenders were occasionally bound to trees with tracing chains until a law enforcement officer could be summoned. Eventually, the Texas Rangers were called in
to keep law and order. Ada Belle’s production level decreased steadily in 1904 from 10,000,000 barrels of oil to 200,000 in 1933. Batson’s boom period ended when the wells began to turn to salt water. Production dropped until it was no longer profitable for the big operators and the crewmen moved on to Humble, Texas, a new boom town. The rig yields of seven barrels of crude a day now, producing an annual income of $200,000. With expenses assessed at $93,500, the well is still profitable and energy efficient. The odor of the field with its venting gases and the rhythmical creaking of the wells and tank engines lulling the crewmen and their families to sleep are all but a memory now as Ada Belle pumps her crude alone in the Big Thicket. In 1977, the National Park System Advisory Board toured the Big Thicket and the Ada Belle Oil Well field. The Board suggested that Ada Belle be studied as a possible National Historic Landmark.
Celebrating a Sesquicentennial is like walking.... One Foot Must Be Solidly In The Past So The Other Foot May Be Confidently In The Future.
St. Mark’s Church 11 Street & Payne Street Silsbee, Texas