Gladys City Boomtown Museum

After visiting the Texas Energy Museum in Beaumont, we drove over the Gladys City Boomtown Museum.  Located near Lamar University, the Gladys City Boomtown Museum is a little treasure chest full of artifacts from the early 1900's, when oil was discovered under a hill called Spindletop.  The replica buildings that make up Gladys City Boomtown were built using photos taken during that time period as a reference.  Except for air conditioning in a few of the buildings (thank goodness!), each building takes you back in time, giving a glimpse of what life was like in Gladys City.  Gladys City got its name from Patillo Higgins, naming it after a young girl in his Sunday School class.  The town never lived up to what Higgins had hoped it would become, an industrial city much like those he had visited in Pennsylvania.

Oil Derrick



Spindletop Monument



 



 

Museum Entrance



Before starting the tour of Gladys City, it is recommended that you watch a 6-minute video that give you a little history about the town.  We watched the video and then began our self-tour.  The buildings are set up like a small town with a boardwalk leading from one building to another. In the center of the "town" is a large oil derrick, sitting on a platform.  Each building has a plaque attached near its entrance, giving information about the building.  Artifacts from the early 1900's, most of which have been donated, fill each building.  My daughter was amazed with all the "weird stuff" we came across.  And, my mother enjoyed sharing stories about items that brought back memories of her childhood.  Exhibits included a saloon, a barber shop, a dry goods store, an oil exchange, a photo studio, a general store, a drug store with a soda shop and doctor's office, and a stable. 

The building that amused us all the most was the Barber's Shop.  Not only could you get a haircut, you could also have your teeth pulled or get your hair singed.  Peyton really liked the drug store because of the soda shop, but found it strange that there was a doctor's office in the same building.  Jarrod liked all the old cameras in the photo studio.  He said he saw a Kodak 1, which would have been the first Kodak camera.  My mom enjoyed all the gadgets in the general store, and I liked the home above the general store the best.

After our self-tour through all of the exhibits, we spent some time chatting with Mark Osborne, the new director of the Gladys City Boomtown Museum.  He explained that the museum is on Lamar University's campus and shared more information about Spindletop and Gladys City with us.  I shared pictures of my grandfather at Spindletop with him.  He told me that I was the second grad student from SHSU to stop by that day.  He had offered the other student a free Gladys City Coloring Book, so he said I could have one too.  Yea!  I've had a hard time finding any picture books that have to do with Spindletop, so I plan to count the coloring book as my picture book!  The drawings in the book are by Steve Cooper.  The first page gives a brief story of Spindletop and Gladys City Boomtown, and every page that follows contains pictures with short descriptions. 

There is no technology used with the exhibits, but I think technology would throw off the feel of being back in time.  The video shown before the tour is shown on a flat-screen television with a DVD.  When we were leaving, Jarrod spotted a bar code like we saw at the Houston Children's Museum posted in the gift shop.  The barcode leads you to the museum's Facebook page.

The Gladys City Boomtown Museum in Beaumont is a must see for all of those interested in Texas history.  The museum offers a glimpse of life in a bustling Texas oil boom town during the early 1900's.  Fun and educational!