Port Arthur Coffee Company was one of the coffee distributors located in Port Arthur, Texas during the 20th century. The company was also known as Port Arthur Coffee Company Wholesale and Retail Coffee. This news article will explain and share some of the history behind Port Arthur Coffee Company. 
Port Arthur Coffee Company was established at the address of 613 Procter Street, Port Arthur, Texas in 1912 as a warehouse. Port Arthur Coffee Company specialized in coffee wholesale and retail coffee. Here Port Arthur Coffee Company would operate at this location for many years. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/38625558/)
Port Arthur Coffee Company began using the slogan “Where Coffee is Fresh Roasted” in their advertisements advertised in the Port Arthur News newspaper and products during the 1920s. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/38627148/)
The Houston Post reported that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) penalized Port Arthur Coffee Company for failure to file applications within the fixed time despite having already applied for a license. This lead Port Arthur Coffee Company to become a forfeited franchise that year. Port Arthur Coffee Company was forfeited in 1918 and could no longer operate as a business. That is how their right to transact business in Texas was forfeited and terminated. This business would remain inactive for close to 5 years. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/95038650/)
“Those who owe applications on or before May will be required to suspend business for two weeks. Just what penalty will be meted out to those who delay beyond that day has not been announced. The food administration gave out the following list of Texas firms who have already applied for a license, but are being penalized for failure to file applications within the fixed time: Sidney Myers Produce company, Houston; Jean E. Long, Beaumont; Port Arthur Coffee company. Port Arthur; Nelson Davla & Son. Austin; J. W. Calhoun A Sons, Victoria; V. T. Richard, Galveston; Pan-American Coffee company, El Paso; Central Grocery and Martin Tea and Coffee company. Corpus Christi.”
In 1918 the original owners of Port Arthur Coffee Company sold the building and warehouse property to a business owner who operated a store at this location. This business owner operated a store at this location for a few years. (Ref: Port Arthur News, Page 1, Friday, November 10, 1922)
Port Arthur Independent School District (Port Arthur ISD) began using the building as an art exhibit on a rent lease during the late 1910s and early 1920s as reported by Port Arthur News. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/38640527/)
[“The exhibit of work done in Port Arthur schools will be set up in the store on Procter Street formerly occupied by the Port Arthur Coffee company, and will be open free to the public Saturday, Sunday and Monday.” George M. Sims, superintendent of the Port Arthur schools, said today.]
However there was hope for Port Arthur Coffee Company to be reinstated and revived as a business. Mrs. O. R. Williams and S. W. Williams came to Port Arthur in November of 1922 and bought the Port Arthur Coffee Company from the original owners. They own and operate this business together for more than 10 years. (Ref: Port Arthur News, Page 14, May 24, 1936)
Port Arthur Coffee Company moved to the new Terminal Realty building on 300 Austin Avenue in late December 1922 as recorded by Coffee and Tea Industries and the Flavor Field, Volume 45. (Ref: https://books.google.com/books?id=dMM6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA2256&lpg=PA2256)
The building, facade, and appearance of Port Arthur Coffee Company were completely changed, rearranged, and renovated in 1932. The Port Arthur News called the setting of the Port Arthur Coffee Company “building unusually attractive”. This is because Port Arthur Coffee Company had changed the scenery and setting into an attractive Japanese setting hence the Japanese decorations of their coffee booth. (Ref: https://newspaperarchive.com/port-arthur-news-jan-29-1932-p-1/)
Mrs. O. R. Williams and S. W. Williams came up with the idea to change the design of their building and coffee booth into a Japanese setting for a change of scenery.
“The Port Arthur Planing booth, both held jointly by the Federal Bakery and Port Arthur Coffee company, have practically been completed and are unusually attractive Japanese setting is being carried out in the decoration of the bakery and coffee booth.”
Port Arthur News reported about Port Arthur Coffee Company moving to a different location in 1934. Port Arthur Coffee Company moved from 719 Procter Street to 1133 Procter Street in 1934. Port Arthur Coffee Company would no longer operate at 719 Procter Street. (Ref: https://newspaperarchive.com/port-arthur-news-nov-04-1934-p-19/)
ANNOUNCING the removal of the PORT ARTHUR COFFEE COMPANY from 719 PROCTER to 1133 PROCTER PHONE 829 MRS. O. R. WILLIAMS
Mrs. O. R. Williams sold Port Arthur Coffee Company to a business owner named F. D. Ransom in late October 1935. F. D. Ransom was made the owner. (Ref: https://newspaperarchive.com/port-arthur-news-may-24-1936-p-14/)
“Mrs. Williams came here in November 1922 and bought the Port Arthur Coffee company and was actively engaged in that business until October 1935 when she sold the company to F. D. Ransom, the present owner. She is president-elect of the Civic Club for next year.”
F. D. Ransom shut down and dissolved Port Arthur Coffee Company sometime in 1943 for unknown reasons. The building would serve as a warehouse for many years.
The building at 1133 Procter Street was sold to a club called CLUB MIRA MAR in 1974. The club operated for more than 20 years. This club would later become what was called the 1133 Club at 1133 Procter Street in 1976. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30188413)
F. D. Ransom sold the Port Arthur Coffee Company property to a laundry mat called The Home Laundry in 1974. The Home Laundry had already been operating on Proctor Street for many decades prior to moving to this location. Here The Home Laundry was a highly reputed laundromat by Port Arthur residents. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2830420/home-laundry-pics/)
The Home Laundry sold the Port Arthur Coffee Company property to Jackie Harmon in 1976. Orange car dealer Jackie Harmon had purchased 10 buildings in the downtown area, including the historic Goodhue Hotel all in that year. He was process of closing a deal for the building that housed the Retail Merchant's Association. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30178352/)
The warehouse was put on the market for sale more than 3 times in 1977 but was ultimately abandoned because Jackie Harmon could find any potential buyers interested in purchasing the property. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30192063/)
According to Galveston Daily News and Associated Press, Doug Clark had purchased the Port Arthur Coffee Company warehouse and building in 1989. The building had served as a laundry mat called The Home Laundry prior to being abandoned. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/16711871/)
[Doug Clark stooped to examine a brick threshold in a dark, mosquito-ridden room of an abandoned laundry where shards of multicolored glass crunched underfoot. "I wonder how many feet have walked across this," he said ponderously. "See how the brick has been worn down over the years?". The tone in Clark's voice as he wondered aloud betrayed why a sculptor and rice-farmer-gone-bankrupt saw potential in three run-down brick buildings on Procter Street that housed The Home Laundry for many years and countless winos, vagrants and rats once the laundry closed.
One of the buildings, the site of the first schoolhouse in the city, was so overgrown with weeds and vines "I've gone by here many times before and never knew the building was even here," Clark said. Needing a studio for the bronze sculptures he is becoming known for but unable to finance any fancy accommodations, Clark started noticing older structures with the space he needed.
That's when the one at 719 Procter St., that in a downtown the oil bust turned into a ghost town, caught his eye. To appreciate the work he, his friends and family have done in the past two months to two of the buildings, visit the third one. The floor is covered with glass, paint chips, nails, fast-food containers and a stray sock in one of many pools of water that serve as breeding grounds for mosquitos. Stairs to the second floor have no steps on them.
Vagrants stripped the place of wire — anything within their reach — to sell. An overturned sink punctuates the vast, trash-strewn room, dimly lit by weak sunlight through broken windows. As soon as Clark finishes the necessary paperwork to own the buildings, he plans to put new roofs on them. "You've got to take the building quickly or there won't be much left to take," he said. Clark said he wants to immediately weatherize the building to prevent further deterioration by repairing holes in the walls and replacing window panes — most of them broken — with Plexiglass so they won't break during high winds.
But the first two buildings, for the time being, will accommodate his immediate space needs, he says. And a sculptor needs a lot of space. He began work recently on a statue of Gen. Sam Houston, for which he was commissioned by the Port Arthur Historical Commission and the Dick Dowling Lion's Club for the Sabine Pass Sesquicentennial. This past year, he was commissioned to sculpt a large bust of Janis Joplin, which was unveiled on her birthday in January 1988.]
Douglas Clark opened up Port Arthur Art Foundry at 719 Procter Street in 1998. He had already owned the property for some time then. (Ref: https://newspaperarchive.com/port-arthur-news-mar-07-1998-p-1/)
[Interesting and colorful shapes seem to be sprouting from the front lawn of the Port Arthur Art Foundry. Mixed-media artist Randy Raab’s work is on display in an exhibit titled “Peaceful Co-Existence” at the foundry, 719 Procter St. “All the pieces are driftwood,” he said. “I get all my driftwood here in Port Arthur.” Raab’s work may have started out as driftwood, but you wouldn’t find any of the intricately designed shadowboxes, undulating boxwork sculptures, or brightly painted constructs on the beach. “I just started making stuff for my own home,” he said. “I saw some stuff in Houston one time. I was going to buy something, and then I looked at it and I said ‘I can make that.’” Raab’s work has evolved over time, and his show at the foundry features at least three distinct types of pieces. One type features brightly-painted pieces of driftwood. Some are painted with intricate patterns, while others feature bold solid colors, mainly neon green, orange, and yellow, and creative “add-ons”: other driftwood pieces or sharpened dowels set into holes drilled in the main piece. “It’s mostly just driftwood that’s been sealed up and painted. Most of them are roots,” he said. “I took broomsticks and ground them down, drilled holes and placed.]
Some of the businesses that used the building at 719 Procter Street were Webworkz Network, Inc. Art Foundry of The Gulf Coast, Douglas Noel Clark, Web Works (WEBWORKZ NETWORK), and STONEHOUSE ARCHITECTURAL INC. (Ref: https://clustrmaps.com/a/1lkpuh/)
STONEHOUSE ARCHITECTURAL INC used their warehouse as the architectural firm for almost 3 years from 1999 until 2002. This is because State of Texas shut down STONEHOUSE ARCHITECTURAL INC for non-payment of taxes. When the State of Texas shut down STONEHOUSE ARCHITECTURAL INC, the firm was forced to the building and move. (Ref: https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_tx/0154705900)
WEBWORKZ NETWORK would be the next business that would operate inside of this building.WEBWORKZ NETWORK (Web Works) specialized in the field of computer processing services which included computer processing and data preparation. Their phone number was 409-985-7564. The yearly estimated revenue for Web Works was $558,000. (Ref: http://www.salespider.com/b-298714456/web-works)
WEBWORKZ NETWORK used the back building that once belonged to Port Arthur Coffee Company for 2 years until 2003 when the State of Texas shut down WEBWORKZ NETWORK for non-payment of taxes. (Ref: https://clustrmaps.com/c/12h3mk-fmr2k)
Art Foundry Of The Gulf Coast incorporated as a business at the address of 719 Procter Street, Port Arthur, Texas, US 77640 in 2002 as reported by the Beaumont Enterprise. The incorporators were Douglas Clark and Julie Clark. An art gallery was established here. (Ref: https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/DBAs-753434.php)
Shockingly, the property was involved in a sheriff’s sale in 2018 in an order of sale case entitled JEFFERSON COUNTY VS. KELLY E DRAPER, ET AL. The property had an adjusted value of $10,770.00 dollars and an estimated bid of $8,120.28 dollars. (Ref: https://jeffcotax.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Sheriff-Sale-04-07-20.pdf)
Today the building that once served as Port Arthur Coffee Company is now home to an art gallery called Art Foundry Of The Gulf Coast. Now Art Foundry Of The Gulf Coast has operated at this location for more than 20 years. (Ref: www.artfoundrygroup.com)
Port Arthur Coffee Company was located at 719 Procter Street, Port Arthur, Texas, US 77640.
Port Arthur Coffee Company had several locations over the years. The other locations for Port Arthur Coffee Company are as follows.:
613 Procter Street, Port Arthur, Texas, US 77640
719 Procter Street, Port Arthur, Texas, US 77640
1133 Procter Street, Port Arthur, Texas, US 77640
300 Austin Avenue, Port Arthur, Texas, US 77640
310 Austin Avenue, Port Arthur, Texas, US 77640
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