Port Arthur (Texas)

Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont−Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small portion extends into Orange County. It is 91mi east of Houston. It is host to the largest oil refinery in the United States (the 600,00 bpl Saudi Aramco - Motiva refinery).The population of Port Arthur was 53,818 at the 2010 census. Early attempts at settlements in the area had all failed. However, in 1895 Arthur Stilwell founded Port Arthur, and the town quickly grew. Port Arthur was incorporated as a city in 1898 and soon developed into a seaport. It eventually became the center of a large oil refinery network. The Rainbow Bridge across the Neches River connects Port Arthur to Bridge City.HistoryAurora was an early settlement attempt near the mouth of Taylor Bayou on Sabine Lake, about 14mi long and 7mi wide. It is a saltwater estuary formed by the confluence of the Neches and Sabine rivers. Through its tidal outlet 5mi long, Sabine Pass, Sabine Lake drains some 50000sqmi of Texas and Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico.