The Kountze tract blocked the first plan. Sabine Lake got the city instead.
The Handbook of Texas says Arthur Stilwell aimed the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf at Sabine Pass, then platted Port Arthur on Sabine Lake. Jefferson and Orange counties are both on the row. Combined sales tax is 8.25 percent. City tax is 1.5 percent. No transit authority is on the row.
Port Arthur is in Jefferson County and Orange County. The census counted 56,039 people. Combined sales tax on the Comptroller city file is 8.25%. City tax is 1.5%. No transit authority is listed. No special-purpose district is listed. State tax 6.25% plus the named local pieces equals 7.75%. Combined is 8.25%. The 0.5% gap is unnamed in those columns. Do not invent a district. County sales tax on the county file, not added on top of the combined city rate: Jefferson 0.5%; Orange 0.5%. Business personal property rendition is due April 15 to the appraisal district for the county of the property (Jefferson County or Orange County). Franchise (margin) tax report is due May 15. A no-tax-due threshold exists. Its dollar amount is not printed here. Texas has no personal income tax. The permit sets monthly, quarterly, or yearly sales-tax filing. Dock work uses the construction guide.
Arthur E. Stilwell, a Kansas railroad promoter, launched the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf to reach the Gulf of Mexico. He first aimed at Sabine Pass, then changed course when he could not agree with Luther and Herman Kountze, the New York bankers who held most of the land there. He acquired the western shore of Sabine Lake instead, platted a city named for himself, and pictured both a seaport and a resort. State Highway 87 runs on that lower west bank. The Neches River Rainbow Bridge is to the west, toward Beaumont. Jefferson is the main county and Orange is also on the tax row.
Stilwell is the promoter, not a payer. Sabine Pass is the terminus he abandoned. A ticket that says Sabine Pass leaves. The Kountze tract is why he left, not a modern land deal you should reconstruct. Sabine Lake is the water beside the plat. A resort vision is not room revenue unless you actually run lodging, and even then the lodging has to be in this city. A cargo over the docks is the seaport, not the hotel.
City tax is 1.5 percent, combined 8.25 percent, no transit authority. Beaumont, up the road, is the other point of the old Golden Triangle and has its own row. Orange paper stays in Orange even though Orange County touches this row. Name Jefferson or Orange for the building. The lake shore and the abandoned pass and the docks are three places. Write the one on the face.
Dock work is the construction guide.
Other trades are on the industry list.
Book a time and send one dock paper and any page that says Sabine Pass or Beaumont. No Port Arthur room is offered.
Sources: Handbook of Texas, Port Arthur (https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/port-arthur-tx).