Full History
The Texas Energy Museum opened in January 1990, but its roots go back years before. The Museum is the combination of two earlier museums – the Western Company of North America Museum in Fort Worth and the Spindletop Museum of Lamar University in Beaumont.
The brainchild of H.E. (Eddie) Chiles, the Western Company Museum was created in 1979 to illustrate petroleum geology, historical and current technology of petroleum engineering. The Western Company, which he founded in 1939 with two trucks and three employees, grew into a major oil equipment and service company and offshore drilling rig producer with revenues exceeding $700 million annually. However, the company underwent bankruptcy in 1988, and Chiles began dismantling his operations. At the same time, he donated the company museum to an interested coalition of Beaumont city officials, Lamar University regents, and private citizens.
The City of Beaumont offered to construct a modern facility, to raise an endowment for operating funds, and to combine the Chile’s collection with that of the Spindletop Museum. The Spindletop Museum opened in 1951 inside an exposition hall at the current site of the old South Texas State Fair (the current Beaumont Art League grounds) in Beaumont in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of oil at Spindletop.
The exhibition added artifact donations to those of the Lucus Gusher Monument Association created in the 1940s. In 1971, the collection found a new home in the former general offices of the Sun Oil Company. Lamar University assumed control of the museum in 1975, and with state funding opened a new Spindletop Museum in one wing of a former elementary school building on its campus in 1976.
At the same time, local citizens were working with the university to build an outdoor re-creation of the 1901 oil boom town, Gladys City. The Gladys City Boomtown complex exists today as a sister institution to the Texas Energy Museum.
In 1987, a coalition of residents, local and state foundations, petroleum companies such as Texaco and Chevron, Lamar University, and the City of Beaumont joined forces to create the Texas Energy Museum. Today, the Texas Energy Museum tells the story of oil through colorful, state-of-the-art exhibits. The exhibits depict petroleum geology, formation of oil and gas, history and technology of oil production, and refining and petrochemicals. Talking cine-botic characters relate their stories of early Texas oil drilling amid historical surroundings and working artifacts.
In 2012, the museum completed a million-dollar interactive exhibition that explains the chemistry of refining and petrochemicals in a popular and entertaining format. Unlocking the Energy of Oil is a 2,000 square foot exhibition that interprets the science, chemistry, and technology of petroleum refining and petrochemical production with visitor-friendly, engaging, and exciting exhibition methods. Using innovative and interactive techniques, the exhibition allows visitors to explore, discover, and experience the inner workings of the creation of gasoline and the myriad of oil-related products. Unlocking the Energy of Oil also takes the visitor from moving crude oil to refineries via a crude tanker up the environmentally sensitive Sabine-Neches waterway.
The Texas Energy Museum is an important resource to public and private schools in the region. Each year, thousands of school students from a five-county region participate in one of the Museum's school education programs. Relating closely to the local population, approximately 40% of Southeast Texas children that participate in museum programming declare that they currently have a family member that works in a oil, gas or LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) related job.
Museum programs offer curriculum in history and science for Pre-K through high school. The museum serves Lamar University with tours for visiting faculty and adjunct programs for engineering, geology, history, and education. Industry new-hires and visiting employees come to the museum to help them better understand how and why Beaumont, and Southeast Texas, became one of the largest refining and petrochemical centers not just in the nation, but in the entire world.
Annual public educational programs for children and families include Dinosaur Day (the popular outdoor program where children can excavate real fossils); Rock the Science (a free family science program with hands-on experiments); and Energy Express (a traveling program that brings local history and STEM activities to an audience that cannot physically or financially visit the museum).
The museum is a member of the Downtown Beaumont Cultural Arts District and the Southeast Texas Arts Council. The Texas Energy Museum is an active part of the continuing revitalization of Beaumont's downtown district. It combines innovative science and history exhibitions with the area's surrounding contemporary art exhibitions, exciting dining, entertainment venues, and performing arts presentations. The Texas Energy Museum's unique, state-of-the-art exhibitions continue to attract visitors from around the world and serve as a valuable resource to introduce and acquaint Southeast Texas newcomers to its place in the history of the oil industry.
The brainchild of H.E. (Eddie) Chiles, the Western Company Museum was created in 1979 to illustrate petroleum geology, historical and current technology of petroleum engineering. The Western Company, which he founded in 1939 with two trucks and three employees, grew into a major oil equipment and service company and offshore drilling rig producer with revenues exceeding $700 million annually. However, the company underwent bankruptcy in 1988, and Chiles began dismantling his operations. At the same time, he donated the company museum to an interested coalition of Beaumont city officials, Lamar University regents, and private citizens.
The City of Beaumont offered to construct a modern facility, to raise an endowment for operating funds, and to combine the Chile’s collection with that of the Spindletop Museum. The Spindletop Museum opened in 1951 inside an exposition hall at the current site of the old South Texas State Fair (the current Beaumont Art League grounds) in Beaumont in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of oil at Spindletop.
The exhibition added artifact donations to those of the Lucus Gusher Monument Association created in the 1940s. In 1971, the collection found a new home in the former general offices of the Sun Oil Company. Lamar University assumed control of the museum in 1975, and with state funding opened a new Spindletop Museum in one wing of a former elementary school building on its campus in 1976.
At the same time, local citizens were working with the university to build an outdoor re-creation of the 1901 oil boom town, Gladys City. The Gladys City Boomtown complex exists today as a sister institution to the Texas Energy Museum.
In 1987, a coalition of residents, local and state foundations, petroleum companies such as Texaco and Chevron, Lamar University, and the City of Beaumont joined forces to create the Texas Energy Museum. Today, the Texas Energy Museum tells the story of oil through colorful, state-of-the-art exhibits. The exhibits depict petroleum geology, formation of oil and gas, history and technology of oil production, and refining and petrochemicals. Talking cine-botic characters relate their stories of early Texas oil drilling amid historical surroundings and working artifacts.
In 2012, the museum completed a million-dollar interactive exhibition that explains the chemistry of refining and petrochemicals in a popular and entertaining format. Unlocking the Energy of Oil is a 2,000 square foot exhibition that interprets the science, chemistry, and technology of petroleum refining and petrochemical production with visitor-friendly, engaging, and exciting exhibition methods. Using innovative and interactive techniques, the exhibition allows visitors to explore, discover, and experience the inner workings of the creation of gasoline and the myriad of oil-related products. Unlocking the Energy of Oil also takes the visitor from moving crude oil to refineries via a crude tanker up the environmentally sensitive Sabine-Neches waterway.
The Texas Energy Museum is an important resource to public and private schools in the region. Each year, thousands of school students from a five-county region participate in one of the Museum's school education programs. Relating closely to the local population, approximately 40% of Southeast Texas children that participate in museum programming declare that they currently have a family member that works in a oil, gas or LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) related job.
Museum programs offer curriculum in history and science for Pre-K through high school. The museum serves Lamar University with tours for visiting faculty and adjunct programs for engineering, geology, history, and education. Industry new-hires and visiting employees come to the museum to help them better understand how and why Beaumont, and Southeast Texas, became one of the largest refining and petrochemical centers not just in the nation, but in the entire world.
Annual public educational programs for children and families include Dinosaur Day (the popular outdoor program where children can excavate real fossils); Rock the Science (a free family science program with hands-on experiments); and Energy Express (a traveling program that brings local history and STEM activities to an audience that cannot physically or financially visit the museum).
The museum is a member of the Downtown Beaumont Cultural Arts District and the Southeast Texas Arts Council. The Texas Energy Museum is an active part of the continuing revitalization of Beaumont's downtown district. It combines innovative science and history exhibitions with the area's surrounding contemporary art exhibitions, exciting dining, entertainment venues, and performing arts presentations. The Texas Energy Museum's unique, state-of-the-art exhibitions continue to attract visitors from around the world and serve as a valuable resource to introduce and acquaint Southeast Texas newcomers to its place in the history of the oil industry.
