Weaver Shipbuilding
Orange, Orange County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Joe Weaver established Joseph Weaver and Son Shipyard in Orange in 1897. George Levingston, later founder of Levingston Shipbuilding Company, acquired an interest in Weaver and Son in 1898, and the company built barges for the Galveston Navigation District. Levingston later sold his interest in the company to Joe Weaver's son, L.E. "Ed" Weaver. Joseph Weaver and Son built barges, steam tugboats, and performed repair work. Although World War I brought a slight increase in production to Weaver and Son and the entire Orange shipbuilding industry, production slowed again after the war. The death of Joseph Weaver in 1930 signaled the beginning of a new partnership between L.E. Weaver and his son, L.A. Weaver. Upon L.E. Weaver's death in 1941, the company's name was changed to Weaver Shipyards when other family members joined the partnership.World War II again increased production at the Weaver yard, when contracts to construct wooden mine sweepers and sub chasers were awarded in 1941 and 1942. The wooden vessels did not attract the magnetic mines used by the Germans, and were designed to patrol the waters adjacent to their home bases. The first minsweeper, YMS 66, was launched on January 31, 1942.After the frenzied activity of Wolrd War II, Weaver Shipyards continued to build small vessels including wood and steel shrimp boats and also carried on with its ship repair work. The Weaver family sold the company in 1975, but regained control in the late 1980s. The Weaver Shipyards site continues to be owned by the Weaver family and remains invloved in maritime work through lease agreements. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Joe Weaver opened his shipyard on the Sabine at Orange in 1897, and for generations the Weaver family built barges, tugboats, and shrimp boats along the Texas Gulf Coast. During World War II the yard turned out wooden minesweepers and sub chasers — vessels built of wood precisely because they would not trip the magnetic mines the enemy laid in coastal waters. Sold and then reclaimed by the family, the site remains in Weaver hands and in maritime use to this day.
Why it matters
Small Gulf Coast yards like Weaver's were vital cogs in America's wartime shipbuilding effort, proving that even modest family firms could serve the national defense.
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Related people
- · Joe Weaver
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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