BEAUMONT, Texas, July 30 -- Lamar University issued the following news release:
A rare original photograph capturing one of the most pivotal moments in American history now has a permanent home at Lamar University's Spindletop Boomtown Museum.
During a ceremony Wednesday, Judge John Stevens and his wife, Marcia, donated an original Frank Trost photograph of the Lucas Gusher, preserving a piece of Southeast Texas history for future generations.
The photograph was taken Jan. 10, 1901, the day the Lucas Gusher erupted at Spindletop, launching the Texas oil boom and ushering in the modern petroleum industry. The discovery transformed Beaumont from a lumber town into the center of a rapidly expanding energy economy that reshaped the region, t...