Newgulf, Texas

Newgulf was founded as a company town for the Texas Gulf Sulfur Company in 1928 and is reportedly the largest sulfur deposit in the world. Seth Ingram developed a land grant for the community. While it was being built, employees of the sulfur company held a contest to name the community, with Marie Ertz, who worked at the Houston office, as the winner. There were 400 dwellings, with an average of three bedrooms, built in the community as homes for the employees and their families. There were 15 businesses in the downtown area of Newgulf with a single four-lane avenue lined with stores. Businesses in the community during its peak of prosperity included a cafe, two dry-goods and grocery stores, two pharmacies, a barbershop, a tailor and cleaning shop, movie theater, three garages, a hospital, a library, a post office, and a clubhouse that had a golf course with nine holes. There were also four churches for the Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian congregations, two clubhouses for the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, and a guest lodge with two guest houses. Its population zenith was 1,586 in 1940. This developed into a close-knit community with friendships being made among the workers. There were no paved roads when the community was founded, so residents had to travel to nearby Wharton. In the late 1950s, Newgulf began its decline, with the sulfur company producing more sulfur but did not sell well, sulfur prices went down, and new plants were built elsewhere. A 1957 recession also contributed to people being laid off from their jobs. Four years later, abandoned houses were being sold. The demand for more employees was further diminished by new mining techniques and machinery. The population went down to 963 from 1980 to 1990. That year, there were 100 houses, and no businesses left in the community and residents traveled to Boling and Wharton for business. Its first clubhouse and golf course were still in the community, but it was sold to the Newgulf Athletic Club. It remains in operation today. The post office closed in 1993 and mail was sent from Boling. A skeleton crew continued to operate the sulfur mine. Its population was 10 in 2009.[2]

The Congregation of St. Basil began an apostolate serving the Spanish-speaking community of Newgulf in the 1930s.

Twin smokestacks are the main landmark in the community today.[3]

Newgulf is located on Farm to Market Road 1301, 12 mi (19 km) east of Wharton and 3 mi (4.8 km) east of Boling in the extreme eastern corner of Wharton County.[3] It is also on the Boling Dome between the San Bernard River and Caney Creek.[2]

The TGSC built the first school in the community. The Newgulf Independent School District was established in 1928 and two more schools were built. Newgulf and Iago had separate elementary schools with the high school in Boling. All three communities are served by the district. They were in three separate campuses as of 1959. Elementary students were bused to Newgulf, middle schoolers to Iago, and high schoolers to Boling. As of 1995, Newgulf's functioning elementary school is part of the Boling Independent School District.[2]

Newgulf is home to New Gulf Airport, a private-use airport.[4]

• Wayne Moses, football coach who served as running back coach for the Idaho Vandals.[5]

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  Newgulf Elementary School
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  New homes in Newgulf
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  Mostly empty tree-lined streets
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  Row of old company houses
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  Closed Texas Gulf Sulphur Company plant

• Newgulf, Texas
• HAIF's page on Newgulf
• Newgulf: From Sulfur Boomtown to Texas Ghost Town. Southern Methodist University Digital Collections