Texas Town Named
In 1867 miners discovered sulfur in Louisiana but it was beneath quicksand which prevented mining. In 1894 Herman Frasch discovered a method of sulfur removal using pipes to bypass the quicksand. The process used heated water to bring the molten sulfur to the surface. In 1901 discovery of the Spindletop oil field in Texas provided cheap fuel oil to the region. The Frasch process began production at Sulfur Mine, Louisiana in 1903. The US Gulf Coast came to dominate world sulfur production.
The second Frasch-process mine opened in 1912 in Brazoria County, Texas. The company was founded as the Freeport Sulphur Company and the company founded Freeport, Texas that same year, near its new sulphur mines, then the largest in the world.
On November 12, 1912 a naming ceremony was held at the Tarpon Inn in Freeport, Texas with Governor O B Colquitt delivering the dedication address.
The naming ceremony for Freeport, Texas
November 12, 1912
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