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Sabine Pass, Texas

Unincorporated community in Jefferson County · Not an incorporated municipality

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About Sabine Pass

Sabine Pass is a neighborhood in Port Arthur, Texas. It had been incorporated in 1861 before being formally annexed by Port Arthur in 1978. However, Sabine Pass retains its own distinct identity with its own school district, post office, and port authority. The Port Arthur Convention and Visitors Bureau stated that Sabine Pass is "often regarded as" being a "self-contained" community.

Sabine Pass was the site of two naval battles, the First Battle of Sabine Pass, and the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, as well as land skirmishes that occurred around the historic Sabine Pass Lighthouse during the Civil War.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

How Sabine Pass is governed

Sabine Pass appears to be an unincorporated community or a census-designated place, so it may have no city government of its own — services usually come from Jefferson County and its elected officials. The chart below is a generic template; readers can correct it if Sabine Pass does have local officials.

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0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

Residents of Sabine Pass

Registered voters elect the officials below.

  • Mayor

    Executive

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    The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

    • City Manager / Administrator

      Executive

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      The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

  • City Council

    Legislative

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    The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

    • City Clerk

      Administration & departments

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      Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

    • City Attorney

      Administration & departments

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      The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

    • Boards & Commissions

      Legislative

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      Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

  • Municipal Court

    Judicial

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    Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

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History

In 1832, Thomas Corts (of England) and John McGaffey (of New Hampshire) were among the first settlers of the Sabine Pass area. Stephen Hendrickson Everitt (1806–1844) wrote a letter to Republic of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar on March 11, 1839, seeking to establish a post office in the area. A Republic of Texas custom's house, established in 1837, and a United States customs house at Garrison Ridge were already active, and the nearest post office was 40 miles away. On October 19, 1839, Everitt, representing John Bevil, filed an intention with Chief Justice Palmer in Jasper County to form a city to be known as City of the Pass with 1600 acres and 2500 lots, but was unsuccessful. Some confusion exists whether this was Sabine Pass that he had previously written about or an intended city to the south. Records also indicate that in 1839, Sam Houston, along with Philip Sublette and associates, laid out what is referred to as "the first townsite of Sabine", containing 2,060 lots, with Niles F. Smith as the agent. Niles was appointed collector of revenue for the port of Sabine 1842. Philip Sublett and Houston were friends and associates. Houston stayed with Sublett while recuperating from wound received at San Jacinto. In 1836, Sublett nominated Houston for president of the Republic of Texas.

According to the Adams-Onis Treaty, the Louisiana boundary was "to landfall" on the west bank of the Sabine River, but a border dispute still existed between the United States and the Republic of Texas. The U.S. claimed jurisdiction down the Sabine River to the Gulf of Mexico. while Texas claimed it ended at the Sabine River delta. By 1838, the U.S. assigned the revenue cutter USRC Woodbury to patrol the Sabine Lake as part of the Gulf of Mexico patrol. By 1844, the Republic of Texas had the Santa Anna patrolling the area. One instance occurred that could have led to war between the United States and the Republic of Texas. The Santa Anna had instructed two schooners loading cotton to stop at the customs house to pay a tonnage fee. The customs house had two cannons, and when the schooners attempted to run the customs port, the agent fired a warning shot across the bow of each ship and then six more in an attempt to sink them. Both schooners weighed anchor and settled the matter.

Community name

The name of the community evolved over time from City of Sabine, to Sabine City, and then to Sabine Pass. Although requested in 1839, and a steam lumber mill was in the community in 1846, a post office was not established until 1847, as the Sabine City Post Office. In 1841, William Kennedy, in The Rise, Progress and Prospects of the Republic of Texas (published in London in 1841), mentioned the settlement of the area and wrote, "Taylor's creek, a small stream that enters Sabine Bay from the west, a few miles above the city of Sabine ...", By not capitalizing "city" it appears that the city was named Sabine. No records indicate that the settlement was ever called just "Sabine" so this might have been referring to the name of the place as "City of Sabine". There is reference that General J. B. Magruder, "ordered construction of a major fortification of five redoubts seven miles west of Sabine City ..." in 1863, but Sabine Pass was incorporated on June 15, 1861.

Sabine Pass and the Civil War

During the American Civil War, Fort Manhassett, Fort Sabine, and Fort Griffin (not to be confused with the later frontier fort) were built by the Confederacy to protect the waterway of Sabine Pass, the Sabine River, and the Neches River under General J. B. Magruder.

Two battles, the First and the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, both occurred around the Sabine Lake estuary, in Sabine Pass, between the southern end of the current community of Sabine Pass, Texas, and the Sabine Pass Lighthouse on the Louisiana side. In 1970, construction crews attempting to repair SH-87 accidentally dug up Civil War era ammunition. The following is an excerpt from Texas State Highway 87:

In 1970, road machinery used in its construction accidentally dug up several cannonballs and crumbling kegs of black powder about 10 miles west of Sabine Pass. Further excavation eventually produced more kegs of black powder and several hundred cannonballs. The ammunition had been buried there by Confederate soldiers in what were the diches of Fort Manhassett in 1865. Fort Manhassett was a series of earthworks constructed by the Confederacy in 1863 to defend the western approaches to Sabine Pass.

After the Civil War

The expectations of the earlier settlers, as well as the founders of Sabine Pass, never materialized. By 1895, Arthur Stilwell had original plans for the southern terminus of the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad Company to be Sabine Pass, but the Kountze brothers, who owned the land Stilwell needed for the railroad, refused to make a deal, so Port Arthur was born. Port Arthur annexed Sabine Pass in 1978.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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