Talk:Texas City, Texas

Explosion-Prone

The author mentions that Texas city is "explosion-prone", which seems rather subjective. Also, there are only two mentions of explosions. I understand that both are quite substantial (the 1940's explosion is regarded as the largest insdustrial accident in US history - and is appropriately noted here). Also, I'm not familiar enough with history to know if other explosions occured. However, I think the description "explosion-prone" should be removed unless more explosions can be cited. Trigam41 14:16, 16 April 2007 (UTC) There were more along the lines of 1500 killed in the disaster.

Negativity/Explosion-Prone

This article references Texas City with much negativity, essentially calling it a death trap, which is entirely not true. It is not 'explosion-prone', I've never heard of it as the city that would not die, and as the above mentioned, only 2 explosions have been referenced, which are the fault of the companies involved. Yes, the first disaster was bad, but the 1940's was full of it's share of problems. This does not justify portraying the city in such a negative light. By this logic Honolulu, HI is one of the most dangerous cities in the US, due to its close proximity to Pearl Harbor. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.248.146.61 (talk) 10:00, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Plagarism concern

There appears to be at least some plagarism in the history section. Comparing to the Handbook of Texas article I notice the following identical statements.

The community established the Texas City Independent School District on July 11, 1905.

Since the Axis threatened England and Holland, the only two sources of tin smelting in the world, the Defense Plant Corporation under Jesse H. Jones decided in 1940 to build a tin smelter in the United States. By 1911 the number of inhabitants had grown to 1,169, and on September 16, 1911, the city incorporated under the commission form of government with William P. Tarpley, state representative for Galveston County in 1901, as mayor. H. M. Coats and Frank B. Davison were the first commissioners.

I also notice other statements that are nearly identical with only minor changes.

In 1891 while on a duck-hunting trip in the marshlands near a small community known as Shoal Point, three brothers from Duluth, Minnesota , Jacob, Benjamin and Henry Meyers, decided that the area had great potential as a major port.

Other Duluth shippers joined in the project and the Meyers brothers purchased 10,000 acres of Galveston Bay frontage, including the community of Shoal Point, and renamed the area Texas City.

Looking back at the history it looks like at least some of these overly similar statements were added by Mastercylinder back in Oct 2008.

Anybody know more about this? I don't know if there might be more copying from other sources as well. I would propose that either the section needs some immediate attention or it should be removed until such time as attention can be given.

--Mcorazao (talk) 18:03, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

I agree that the the copyright violations should be removed first. We can rewrite the removed material later. Thanks, Postoak 22:39, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

I don't know if these that I pointed out are the only statements (I just picked a few that I noticed and, as I say, I don't know if there are other sources plagarized). The fact that the whole thing is missing citations is a problem. Is there anybody with an active interest in the topic who wants to take a stab at just cleaning up the section as a whole rather that butchering it to remove these concerns? --Mcorazao (talk) 19:46, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

OK, well, I went ahead and did the butchering. It looks pretty ugly now. I still don't know that there may not be other plagarized parts. --Mcorazao (talk) 16:04, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

May I make a suggestion, take the 'Plagarized Material' and instead of butchering the article, rewrite it in your own words; whoo, everyone wins. Simply removing to 'rewrite later' doesn't really solve anything, we should take it and rewrite on spot.--The Navigators (talk)-May British Rail Rest in Peace. 03:40, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Proposed changes to history of Texas City

After starting a rewrite of the earlier History section, I realized that the section was becoming quite long, compared to the rest of the main article. It seems to me that a separate article about the history of the city would be merited, and that a more condensed history section should appear on the main page. Accordingly, a draft of the new article can be seen at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/History of Texas City, Texas. The proposed condensed history appears below:

Short History of Texas City

In 1891 three brothers from Duluth, Minnesota noticed that a location named Shoal Point, along Galveston Bay, had the potential to become a major port. Shoal Point had existed since the 1830s, when veterans of the Texas Revolution were awarded land for their services. The name was applied to the community when a post office opened in 1878. After the hunters returned home, they formed a syndicate, convinced other investors to put up money to buy 10,000 acres of Galveston Bay frontage, including Shoal Point, and renamed the property Texas City. By 1893, the investors had formed the Texas City Improvement Company (TCIC), which plotted and filed the townsite plan. A post office opened in 1893, to serve approximately 250 people who had moved there from Minnesota and Michigan. TCIC also received permission from the Federal Government to dredge an eight-foot-deep channel in the bay from Bolivar Roads (at the east end of Galveston Island) to serve Texas City. In 1894, the channel was first used commercially. TCIC also built a 4-mi railroad to the Texas City Junction south of town, where it connected to Galveston and Houston via two existing rail lines. Despite these successes, TCIC went bankrupt in 1897. Its assets were reorganized into Texas City Company (TCC), and Texas City Railway Terminal Company (TCRTC). These companies were chartered on February 4, 1899.TCC acquired 3,000 city lots and provided water, gas and electricity to the town. TCRTC operated the railroad.

In the summer of 1900, the Federal government granted permission to dredge the Texas City channel to a depth of 25 ft. The 1900 Galveston Hurricane interrupted the project, washing the dredge ashore. However, the port remained open after the storm passed. Even before the channel dredging was complete, the first ocean-goingship, SS Piqua, arrived at the port from Mexico on September 28, 1904. Dredging was completed March 19,1905, and the government opened a customs house in Texas City. Port growth progressed rapidly after this, from 12 ships in 1904, to 239 in 1910.Texas City incorporated in 1911 with a mayor and commission form of government, and held its first mayoral election on September 16. A division of the United States Army deployed to Texas City in 1913 to guard the Gulf Coast from incursions during the Mexican Revolution. The division moved to San Antonio after the August 1915 hurricane completely demolished the encampment and killed nine soldiers. In 1921, TCRTC took over operations of the port and began an ambitious expansion program. This effort attracted a sugar refinery, a fig processing plant, a gasoline cracking plant and a grain elevator. By 1925, Texas City had an estimated population of 3,500 and was a thriving community with two refineries producing gasoline, the Texas City Sugar Refinery, two cotton compressing facilities, and even passenger bus service.

The Great Depression caused the sugar refinery to fail in 1930. Economic hard times afflicted the city for a few years until the oil business returned to expansion. Republic Oil Refinery opened a gasoline refinery in 1931. In 1934, Pan American Refinery (later known as Amoco) began operating. Moore was able to win this refinery from the Houston Ship Channel because of Texas City's location nearer the Gulf of Mexico. By the end of the 1930s, Texas City's population had grown to 5,200. Prosperity and industrial expansion returned as the United States became more involved in World War II. Enemy submarines had almost completely stopped the shipment of petroleum products from the Middle East, South America and Southeast Asia. The federal government decided to build a tin smelter in Texas City, since the enemy controlled access to refined tin elsewhere. The government also funded construction of a petrochemical plant to make styrene, a vital raw material for synthetic rubber. Monsanto Chemical Company contracted to operate the facility, which it expanded into an even large petrochemical complex after the war. Texas City refineries and chemical plants worked around the clock at full capacity to supply the war effort. By 1950, the local population had reached 16,620.

Post-war prosperity was interrupted on the morning of April 16, 1947, when the S.S. Grandcamp, containing ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded, initiating what is generally regarded as the worst industrial accident in U.S. history, the Texas City Disaster. The blast devastated the Monsanto chemical plant and offices, across the slip from the Grandcamp, blew away the warehouses, showered shrapnel from the ship in all directions, and ignited a second ship, the S.S.High Flyer, docked at an adjacent slip. Released from its mooring by the blast, the blazing High Flyer rammed and ignited a third ship, S. S. Wilson B. Keene, docked across the slip. Both ships also carried ammonium nitrate fertilizer and they, too, exploded. The explosions killed 581 and injured over 5,000 people. The explosions were so powerful and intense that many of the bodies of the emergency workers who responded to the initial explosion were never identified. The entire Texas City and Port Terminal Fire departments were wiped out.

The Texas City disaster is widely regarded as the foundation of disaster planning for the United States. Monsanto and other plants committed to rebuilding, and the city ultimately recovered from the accident. The city has often referred to itself as "the town that would not die."

On March 23, 2005, the city suffered an explosion in the local BP (formerly Amoco) oil refinery which killed 15 and injured over 100. The BP facility in Texas City is the United States' third largest oil refinery, employing over 2,000 people, processing 460,000 barrels (73,000 m³) of crude oil each day, and producing roughly 4% of the country's gasoline needs every day.

The Texas City Dike was overtopped by a greater-than 12-foot (3.7 m) storm surge when Hurricane Ike barreled through the region in the early-morning hours of September 13, 2008. Although all buildings, piers and road were destroyed, the dike itself weathered the storm. Even in the widespread destruction throughout Galveston County caused by the wind and surge associated with Ike, Texas City was largely spared the devastation that other low-lying areas suffered. Texas City is mostly surrounded by a 17-mile-long (27 km) levee system that was built in the early 1960s following the devastating floods from Hurricane Carla in 1961. Together with pump stations located at various places throughout the northeast periphery of the city adjoining Galveston, Dollar Bay, and Moses Lake, the levee and pump system may have saved the city from wholesale devastation at the hands of Ike's powerful tidal surge. Damage in the city was largely limited to that caused by Ike's powerful winds and heavy rains. The dike was closed for three years while the road and supporting facilities were rebuilt. It was reopened to traffic in September 2011.

Action request

I request a review of and comments on the above proposed changes by others interested in this project. Thank you. Bruin2 (talk) 15:06, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

References

Appearance in GI Joe 1985 - 87 cartoon

The cities port also made brief cameos in the 1985-87 GI Joe cartoon in Part 1 and 2 of the episode "The Traitor" LReyome254 (talk) 16:49, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

Chambers County and Galveston Bay

I am copying the following from my talk page and Danorton's talk page for future reference. Laura1822 (talk) 19:16, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Recent edit to Texas City, Texas

Re your recent edit to Texas City, Texas, I am stumped to understand how any part of Texas City could possibly be in Chambers County, as the two are separated from one another by the bay. I do see a "Anahuac CCD 90075" that is in both Chambers County and in Texas City, but that's a U.S. Census designation (CCD=Census county division) that has no legal authority outside the scope of the census. Can you elaborate on your source, with references? —Danorton (talk) 23:36, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I was stumped too. I came across it in the article on Shoreacres. I grew up in La Porte and never heard of such a thing. However, it is shown clearly on several maps, including official Texas highway maps and US census maps (such as the one on the Shoreacres article). Apparently, Chambers County has jurisdiction over Trinity Bay (upper Galveston Bay) such that if, for example, one were caught out in a boat committing a crime, it would be up to the Chambers County sheriff and courts to charge and convict you.

La Porte apparently claims no part of the bay within its city limits, but Shoreacres does (probably because of the yacht club) as does Texas City. The southern part of the bay is all in Galveston County, however. But if you look at the map, part of Texas City's claimed city limits extends into the upper part (Trinity Bay), which is jurisdictionally within Chambers County.

I took at look at the Chambers County website and wasn't able to confirm this absolutely, but was satisfied that between the official Texas state highway maps and the federal maps, they must be right. I might note also that I did this little bit of research only after I had edited the Shoreacres page (and its map image on Commons) rather incredulously, and duly had to undo my edits. I edited the Texas City article to make it consistent with Shoreacres and another article, whose name I forget right now, gotta run. Cheers! Laura1822 (talk) 00:00, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Now, that is one cool timestamp, if'n I do say so myself! Happy New Year! Laura1822 (talk) 00:50, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Again, Laura1822, will you please cite the references? I don't understand your reference to "the article on Shoreacres." If by "federal maps" you mean the U.S. Census maps, those are not authoritative and specifically qualify themselves as authoritative for census purposes only, and do not necessarily represent political boundaries. —Danorton (talk) 00:53, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

I meant Shoreacres, Texas, of course. The third city was Seabrook, Texas. If you look at Category:Cities in Chambers County, Texas you'll see these three Harris County cities in the list-- I didn't do that, and almost undid it, before looking into it. I do agree that a better source is needed; I assumed at first that the feds had simply gotten it wrong on their census maps (and the citation in the Shoreacres article states "Ohio" so requires further checking). As I stated above, an official Texas State Highway map was my other source (I also checked a commercial map and asked a 20-year resident, but didn't think any of them were appropriate to cite, though they all agreed). A definitive answer could probably be had from phoning the county and/or cities, but it might be hard to find another published source citeable here, if something firm can't be dug up on the Chambers County or various city websites. But in the absence of a published source stating something contrary, I don't see how anyone could justify removing the information. Therefore I left it intact (or removed my initial edits) and attempted to clarify and harmonize the (preposterous-sounding) information across the three city articles. Hope this helps. Laura1822 (talk) 01:13, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Are you refusing to cite sources? —Danorton (talk) 02:11, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

No, I am refusing to take on the responsibility of removing the work and citations of previous editors without justification. You have challenged me as if I had made the whole thing up, or perhaps you think I should have made a different judgment about the work of previous editors and their citations. Instead I merely encountered this information somewhat randomly, judged it absurd, started to remove it, questioned my initial judgment, researched it minimally, restored the information, and then did what I could to harmonize the related articles and clarify the problem for future readers and editors. Oh, yes, and responded cheerfully explaining my actions and motivations when asked about it.

If this is insufficient, then take responsibility yourself for researching it in-depth (and producing what you consider sufficient citations), or for removing the information without a published source supporting the removal. Please note that this includes not only the Texas City article, but the other two city articles, templates and categories for Chambers County (and its own article), map descriptions on Commons, Talk page notifications, and possibly other items. I will copy our exchange to the relevant talk pages, and then I'm done. Have a nice day. Laura1822 (talk) 19:11, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

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