The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 25
566 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Arthur E. Stilwell and the Founding of Port Arthur
trust company and its railroad and real estate affiliates." The addi-
tional capital from Holland became a major influence on the urban
promotions of Stilwell and his companies.
A characteristic of Stilwell's methods was to name his townsites
for officers, employees, and investors in his rail lines. To indicate
the importance of their funds, to flatter them, and to gain additional
capital, Stilwell created a series of towns named for his Dutch allies
and their homeland. Amsterdam, Missouri; DeQueen, Mena, and
Vandervoort, Arkansas; and DeRidder, DeQuincey, and Zwolle, Lou-
isiana, were townsites developed by various Stilwell enterprises. Other
communities-such as Gentry and Gillham, Arkansas; Amoret, Stotes-
bury, and Drexel, Missouri; and Hornbeck, Louisiana-were named
for business associates, while Stilwell, Indian Territory, was the first
of several communities named for the promoter himself. Excursions,
circulars, and advertisements in newspapers and agricultural journals
boomed the merits of these incipient metropolises." None of these
hamlets and towns, however, would become more than county seats
and local trading centers." Stilwell's most successful promotion would
be the southern terminus of the railroad.
From its inception, Stilwell maintained that the railroad to the
Gulf would terminate at Sabine Pass, Texas. Sabine Pass was located
on a long, narrow channel of the same name, which connected the
Gulf of Mexico with Sabine Lake, a large inland body of water.
Seventeen miles long, shallow and muddy, the Lake provided access
to the Sabine and Neches rivers. A sizable inland trade developed
from the Pass, where cargoes from oceangoing ships were trans-
ferred to lake and river boats, barges, and lighters. Newspaper articles,
charters, reports in railway publications, and even company stationary
indicated that Sabine Pass was the ultimate destination of the line.
The first hint that this was no longer true came in January, 1894,
when the directors raised the question as to the goal of future con-
struction. Stilwell later declared that he had never intended to build
to Sabine Pass, and those who said he had were "absolutely in-
2"Engineering News, XXXIX (February 17, 1898), 117; Stilwell, "I Had a Hunch"
(December 31, 1927), 26, 77-78.
"SClark, Then Came the Railroads, 189, 198.
"2By 191o the largest of these towns were Mena, with 3,953 people, and DeQueen with
2,o18. Neither has grown greatly since. U.S. Census Office, Thirteenth Census of the
United States: 19o. Population, II (Washington, 1913), 104, 1o6, 764, 767, 769, and 1071.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972, periodical, 1972; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101201/m1/37/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.