Spindletop-Gladys City set to celebrate 113th anniversary of Lucas Gusher

Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum, on the Lamar University campus, will mark the 113th anniversary of the Lucas Gusher at Spindletop on Saturday, Jan. 11, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a day packed with re-enactments, activities, craft demonstrations and entertainment.

“There is so much to celebrate when it comes to the history, significance and legacy of Spindletop,” said museum director Mark Osborne. “This year, we have put together a celebration second only to the great events of 2001.”

This rollicking celebration of Beaumont’s boom days will feature some visitor favorites as well as some new activities, including a nod to Gladys City’s connection to the Temperance Movement of the early twentieth century.

The museum’s own Ladies Temperance Union will take over the Log Cabin Saloon for the day to offer a special tea times honoring Underhill Carroll, wife of G.W. Carroll, the first president of the Gladys City Oil, Gas & Manufacturing Company in 1892, and fervent temperance supporter.

Visitors are encouraged to wear their best “tea-time attire,” or they may choose from a selection of dress up clothes in the museum’s dry goods store.

Also new, this year, visitors can learn period dances and enjoy an old-fashioned “drillers lunch” of brisket, beans & cornbread.

Special guests for the Reunion include the Big Thicket Outlaws, the Golden Triangle Quilt Guild, the Woman’s Club of Beaumont, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Dick Dowling Camp, the Southeast Texas Wood Carvers Guild, the Beaumont Camera Club, and students from the Dishman Department of Nursing at Lamar University who will provide free blood pressure checks in the museum’s drug store.

The day will be rounded out with blacksmithing and printing demonstrations in the museum’s new print shop; plus button sewing, butter churning, soap making and wood carving demonstrations. Children and adults, alike, can try their hand at the Oil Derrick Ring Toss, Wildcatter Challenge, calf roping, old-time games, or compete in a number of contests, including stick-horse race, “cow patty” toss, pie-eating contest and tug-o-war. The museum’s Lucas Gusher Re-enactment is scheduled twice at 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. as the climax of the day’s festivities. For a complete list of activities, visit www.spindletop.org.

Admission for the Drillers Reunion is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors age 60 and over, and $2 for children 12 and younger with free admission for visitors wearing period costume. Lunch may be purchased for an additional $10 for adults and $5 for children.

Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum is located on Hwy. 69 at Jimmy Simmons Boulevard in Beaumont. Plenty of free parking is available. For more information, please call (409) 880-1750 or email the museum at [email protected].