Grigsby's Bluff
Port Neches, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1834-1902) Joseph Grigsby (1771-1841) and family migrated from Kentucky to the Sabine area in 1827. He is said to have been the first grower of cotton in East Texas. In 1834 he received a grant of 17 labors (3,009 acres) of land on the Neches. Here he built a wharf for sidewheel steamers and founded town of grigsby's Bluff. He served in 2nd, 3rd and 5th congresses of the Republic of Texas. His settlement became Port Neches, and his family has given many leaders to Texas. A huge pecan tree (at Texaco Refinery, 6 blocks SE) marks site of Grigsby's Bluff.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Joseph Grigsby brought his family from Kentucky to the Sabine country in 1827 and is remembered as perhaps the first cotton grower in East Texas. On a large grant along the Neches he built a wharf for sidewheel steamers and founded Grigsby's Bluff, serving in three congresses of the Republic of Texas. The town he started grew into present-day Port Neches.
Why it matters
Grigsby's wharf and river town show how planter-settlers of the Republic era planted the commercial roots of Southeast Texas.
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Related people
- · Joseph Grigsby
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Abraham Winfree
Orangefield, TX
A Louisiana native, Abraham Winfree brought his family to the Texas frontier in the early 1830s, settling on Cow Bayou near the old Opelousas Trail while Texas was still winning its independence. He made his living as rancher, cattle drover, shingle maker, and logger, and in 1836 his home hosted the election of a delegate to the Congress of the young Republic of Texas. The community that grew up around him still bears his name, though he asked to be buried without a stone in an unmarked grave.
Nancy Tevis
Beaumont, TX
In 1825 Nancy Nixon Tevis and her husband Noah settled a bluff on the Neches, becoming the first known Anglo-Americans there and later receiving a Republic of Texas land grant covering much of what became Beaumont. Widowed young, Nancy held her ground with eight children through the Runaway Scrape of 1836, ran a profitable ferry, and joined with others in 1837 to found the town — renaming it from Tevis Bluff to Beaumont. Fiercely protective of her rights, she once appealed directly to President Sam Houston over a land dispute.
Site of Collier's Ferry
Beaumont, TX
A crossing near this spot on the old Opelousas Trail carried travelers over the Neches as early as 1750, when Spanish, French, and Anglo explorers, priests, and traders followed Indian traces toward Louisiana. Its greatest era came from the 1820s to 1900, when great cattle herds forded here to bypass the streets of Beaumont. Though many operated it, the ferry took its lasting name from the Collier family, who ran it for fifty years.
Tex Ritter
Port Neches, TX
Woodward Maurice "Tex" Ritter, born in Panola County in 1905, grew from a Texas farm boy into one of America's most beloved singing cowboys. He carried cowboy ballads from a Houston radio station to Broadway—where he earned his nickname—and then into a long run of western films in the 1930s. A Country Music Hall of Fame member, he is best remembered for singing the haunting title song of the film "High Noon."