- Port Arthur
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1. Lüshun.2. a seaport in SE Texas, on Sabine Lake. 61,195.3. See under Thunder Bay.
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city, Jefferson county, southeastern Texas, U.S., 90 miles (145 km) east of Houston. It is a major deepwater port on Sabine Lake and the Sabine-Neches and Gulf Intracoastal (Gulf Intracoastal Waterway) waterways, 9 miles (14 km) from the Gulf of Mexico. With Beaumont and Orange, it forms the “Golden Triangle,” an important petrochemical complex. Atakapa Indians occupied the region before 1800. Several early settlements, including Aurora (1840), were unsuccessful. In 1895 Arthur E. Stilwell organized a town (which was named for him) as a port and terminus for the Kansas City, Pittsburg, and Gulf Railroad (now Kansas City Southern Railway). In 1899 a canal was dredged for oceangoing vessels. Two years later the gusher Spindletop blew a few miles away, and the port became a major outlet for oil and a wide range of other products.Industrial activities in the city include oil refining, shipbuilding, and the manufacture of chemicals. CavOILcade is the city's annual (October) salute to the petroleum industry. Lamar University at Port Arthur originated in 1909 as Port Arthur College; on the campus is the Gates Memorial Library (1916), an important repository of local history. Sea Rim State Park and Sabine Pass Battleground State Park and Historic Site are located just to the south, as are McFaddin and Texas Point national wildlife refuges. In 1988 the Janis Joplin (Joplin, Janis) Memorial, honouring the Port Arthur native and blues and rock-and-roll singer, was inaugurated, and the city now hosts an annual music festival that draws many visitors. Inc. 1898. Pop. (1990) city, 58,724; Beaumont–Port Arthur MSA, 361,226; (2000) city, 57,755; Beaumont–Port Arthur MSA, 385,090.inlet of the Tasman Sea on the south coast of the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, Australia. It is known for the settlement (penal colony) established there in 1830 by George Arthur (Arthur, Sir George, 1st Baronet) as the major site for punishing transported convicts who had further transgressed. A model reformatory for boys also existed from 1835 to 1849 at Point Puer, a rocky headland in the inlet. Although transportation of convicts ceased in 1853, the complex functioned for another 24 years, and altogether some 12,000 to 14,000 prisoners were there at one time or another. The partially restored ruins of the penal colony, including a church built by convicts (1836–40) and the spot called “Isle of the Dead” (with many unmarked graves, mainly of convicts), are now prime tourist attractions. Port Arthur is accessible from Hobart, 63 miles (101 km) northwest, by the Arthur Highway. The whole Tasman Peninsula is registered as part of Australia's National Estate (places preserved as part of Australia's national heritage). On April 28, 1996, a gunman killed 35 people at the convict site.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
