DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for La Porte tells it this way, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most towns out on the Texas Gulf Coast got their start from somebody's big dream and somebody else's bigger checkbook — and La Porte is no different. Back in 1890, four Colorado-based land developers by the names of A.
M. York, J. H.
York, I. R. Holmes, and Tom Lee got together and formed the La Porte Land and Town Company.
They reached into their pockets, pooled their ambitions, and purchased over a thousand acres of land in this area. By the fall of 1891, they were out there laying out town lots like men who fully intended to collect on their investment. Then a third York brother — Edward — joined A.
M. and J. H. to help organize what became the La Porte Investment Company. Now they had family skin in the game.
These developers weren't whispering about their new town to neighbors over a fence, either. They were advertising to prospective settlers all the way up in New York State and out across the midwest. And by January of 1892, lots were selling.
Before long, a hotel went up, a general mercantile store opened its doors, and a United States Post Office set up shop. A real town was taking shape on the Texas coast. That same year, 1892, the La Porte, Houston, and Northern Railroad was chartered, and by 1899 it had completed a line all the way out to Sylvan Beach Resort.
That beach, along with agriculture, became the town's main economic mainstay. So far so good. But here's where the story gets complicated, the way Gulf Coast stories tend to do.
The original investment company went insolvent by 1895 — five years in, and the money had run out. A new company stepped in, purchased the land in 1898, and kept the development effort alive. Then the storms came calling.
The 1900 storm hit with what the marker calls disastrous effects. As if that weren't enough, another storm and a fire both struck in 1915. Then in 1916, the Goose Creek oil field was discovered.
And after World War II, industrialization swept through the area. Each one of those events — the disasters, the oil, the industry — pushed population upward and pulled the town further away from the agricultural character it started with. La Porte began as a Colorado land developer's bet on a patch of Texas coast, and the coast, the storms, and the oil fields decided how that bet would pay out.
What the marker says
Colorado-based land developers A. M. York, J. H. York, I. R. Holmes, and Tom Lee formed the La Porte Land and Town Company in 1890. They purchased over 1,000 acres of land in this area and began laying out town lots in the fall of 1891. Edward York later joined his two brothers and the other investors to organize the La Porte Investment Company. Advertising to prospective settlers in New York State and the midwest, the developers began selling lots by January 1892. Soon a hotel, general mercantile store, and U. S. Post Office opened in the new town. The La Porte, Houston, and Northern Railroad, chartered in 1892, completed a line to Sylvan Beach Resort in 1899. Along with agriculture, the beach became the town's main economic mainstay. The original investment company became insolvent by 1895, but a new company purchased the land in 1898 and continued development efforts. Disastrous effects of the 1900 storm, as well as another storm and a fire in 1915, the discovery of the Goose Creek oil field in 1916, and the industrialization of the area following World War II, resulted in an increased population and a shift away from the agricultural character of the town.