RIVER, KARANKAWAS, and CONFEDERATE VICTORY

Port Neches is a Riverfront Community located in the Mid County area of Jefferson County. It is located entirely in the Texas Coastal Prairie, on the west side of the Neches River, and eight miles north of the Inter-coastal Waterway and Sabine Lake. The City of Port Neches is interlinked with the Neches River. From agriculture and timber to oil and synthetics, the City has depended heavily on the river as its lifeline. Today, the greater Neches River Basin is attractive for people wanting fishing, hunting, birding, boating or many other out-door experiences that are abundant and readily available.

Port Neches area's earliest inhabitants were the tribes of the coastal-dwelling Karankawa and Atakapa Indians. Port Neches is also the site of Fort Grigsby, a set of American Civil War-era defenses intended to stop a Union advance up the Neches River. The fort was constructed in October 1862, and abandoned sometime after July 1863. Its guns, munitions, and stores were moved to the then-unfinished Fort Griffin which was the scene of the famous Second Battle of Sabine Pass, often credited as the most one-sided Confederate victory of the American Civil War.