Texas Energy Museum

Jarrod, Peyton and my mom were my travel buddies for my latest excursion.  I wanted to hit some museums in Beaumont, which is about a 2-hour trip from Spring.  The Texas Energy Museum was our first stop in Beaumont.  The museum shares information about petroleum science and the geology involved with it.  It also shares the history of oil discovery, production and refinery.

The Texas Energy Museum is a located in Beaumont's downtown museum district.  As we entered the museum, we were greeted by a friendly lady who was working at the front desk, Ms. Vicki.  I sparked a conversation with her about Spindletop, expressing my interests in learning more about it.  She told me that I would see a lot about Spindletop on the second floor of the museum.  I told her that we also planned to go to the Gladys City Boomtown Museum, and she said it was a really neat place.  She also suggested that I check out the Tyrrell Historical Library which was located right next to the Texas Energy Museum.  She explained that they held a lot of documents pertaining to Spindletop and the city of Beaumont.  I asked if she knew how to get to the Gladys City Boomtown Museum because we had planned to go there next.  She had some maps and told me she would mark a route for us while we walked around the museum.  Ms. Vicki then explained to us where to start on our tour and we set off to learn more.



Checking viscosity of different oils



Beginning of the Tour










Steering a tanker down
the Neches River

  

"Texas Christmas Tree"
(on its side)

Example of an oil bit

The first floor of the museum shares information about the formation and exploration of oil.  The mechanics of oil drilling is explored and refining methods are also shared.  The second floor shares more history about Spindletop.  Displays with life-size mannequins, are used for sharing the story of early oil drilling.  At first, I couldn't figure out why all the mannequins had bright-white faces until we found one that worked.  A face is projected onto the mannequin which gives it a very life-like appearance.  My mom was fascinated with how real it looked.  We sat and listened to Mr. Patillo Higgins share his story about his role in the discovery of oil at Spindletop.

 



Patillo Higgins - you can just
barely see his face



The Texas Energy Museum is great place to learn about the petroleum industry.  They offer a virtual tour of the museum on their website, along with activities for grades K-5 that have been correlated to the TEKS.  Admission is only $2 for adults, $1 for children and $1 for seniors.  If you're ever in the Beaumont area, make sure you put this on your list of things to do.  If Ms. Vicki is there, tell her I said, "Howdy!"