Nederland is on Farm
roads 365 and 366, State Highway 347, and U.S. Highway
69/96/287, seven miles southeast of Beaumont in eastern
Jefferson County. The site was developed by the Port Arthur
Townsite Company and the Port Arthur Land Company as part of
Arthur E. Stilwell'sqv
effort to make his newly built Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf
Railway profitable. Stilwell, who had received much of his
financial backing from Dutch investors, wanted a community for
Dutch immigrants to Southeast Texas. The first such settler at
Nederland was George Rienstra; forty others arrived in November
1897. As other immigrants followed, Nederlanders began
establishing truck and dairy farms. Rice farming was especially
popular until overproduction, overspeculation, and the
depression of 1907 virtually wiped out the rice industry at
Nederland. Many of the recent immigrants left. Prosperity was
restored by the discovery of the Spindletop oilfieldqv
on January 10, 1901. The Sun Oil Company established a major
terminal just to the north at Sun, and the Texas Company built a
plant a mile south of Nederland. An interurban line tied the
former Dutch community with Beaumont and Port Arthur in 1913.
Electricity was provided shortly thereafter, and telephone and
gas service came during the mid-1920s. During the same decade
the Humphrey Oil Company and Pure Oil Company (subsequently
Union Oil) built a refinery at Smith's Bluff to the east,
drawing large numbers of former Louisiana residents to
Nederland. The refineries and related petroleum industries have
continued to be the mainstays of the city's economy. A weekly
newspaper, the Mid-County Chronicle,
was established in 1930. The town incorporated on April 29,
1940, and the population reached 3,801 in 1950. Nederland grew
rapidly as a residential center during the boom years that
followed. By 1970 the number of inhabitants had surpassed
16,000. Though the local economy was hurt by the declining
demand for petroleum during the 1980s, the city's rated
businesses increased from 136 in 1972-73 to 401 in 1984-85. The
population was reported at 16,855 in 1980 and 16,192 in 1990. At
that time Nederland had two museums, the Dutch Windmill Museum
and La Maison Acadienne. They stood side by side in Tex Ritter
Park, situated in the heart of Nederland. By 2000 the population
was 17,422.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mrs. J. M.
Fleming et al., comps., Nederland,
1898-1973: Diamond Jubilee
(Nederland, Texas: Nederland Publishing, 1973).
W. T. Block, Marie Rienstra
Fleming, and W. D. Quick
- Handbook of Texas
Online, s.v. ","
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/NN/hen1.html
(accessed March 3, 2008).
(NOTE: "s.v." stands for sub verbo, "under the word.")
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