The town of Sabine Pass once was a thriving port, and seemed destined to be one of Texas' most important cities.
Hurricanes dictated otherwise.
From the 1886 hurricane that destroyed the town to Hurricane Rita in 2005, this town has been wiped off the map many times by the weather.
Hurricanes may have destroyed the town repeatedly, but they did not diminish the area's strategic importance.
During the Soanish American War the US Government decided to build defensive artillery emplacements at Texas Point, and Congress appropriated the funds for them. But the war was over before the project could be started, so the guns were never installed.
Texas Point's strategic and defensive importance was not forgotten, however. During WWII a large artillery emplacement and defensive presence was finally built at Sabine Pass.
While the guns were removed after the war, the massive concrete emplacements remain.
From Remembering Sabine Pass by Stan Weeber, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology, McNeese State U.: (
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Even if people forget that Hurricane Rita made landfall near Sabine Pass, Texas in September of 2005 – and they probably will – history still provides much to remember about this small town that is the southeastern most place in the state of Texas.
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The natural topography of Sabine Pass became one of the primary points of defense along the Gulf Coast during World War II. In 1941, the U.S. Navy established a Harbor Entrance Control Post (HECP) at the Pass to provide defenses against potential enemy activity in the area. Soon after, the U.S. Army installed artillery emplacements at Texas Point, about 3 and one half miles to the south, that included two 155mm Howitzer guns on Panama mounts, as well as four munitions magazines at this site. The Army's lease of land at Sabine Pass resulted in the location of a temporary harbor defense unit manned by the 256th Coastal Artillery Regiment at Texas Point. Other elements of the defense system included two base end stations, an observation tower, signal stations, large coastal searchlights, a battery commander post and part of the Coast Guard lifeboat station. The munitions magazines also held other ordnance for area installations. Working together, the HECP and the Army post utilized these storage magazines to service the war effort. . . ." [end]