floor. and at one time this was just a seri rooms. it was a long hall, and there were also living quarters for rita ainsworth, proprietor of the dixie, and her family. her daughter, she sent her daughter off to an exclusive catholic school because she didn't want her to know what she did for a living. the daughter didn't know until she was in high school that her mother ran a bore dell oh. she had an unusual but efficient system set up to preserve her patrons' privacy in that there was a system of locks and bells. when a patron came in to go to one of the rooms with the girl, the rest of the room doors were locked until he was safely inside the room with the girl, and this was in order that no

other people might come out of the hotel room when he was going in, so that these people did not see each other, and didn't have to acknowledge each other's presence in the hotel. don james was a state representative. he was young and ambitious and idealistic, and there was a fear at that time that national organized crime was going to come in and take over parts of texas, and he and other members of the commission, it became named after him because he was the chairman, and the james commission was a state legislature mandated group that came down, not just to beaumont, not just to jefferson county, but also to other parts of texas, galveston being one that comes to mind. they were to investigate the dossibility that orga had already penetrated these

areas. i don't think they really found national organized crime but they found lots of local crime. so there was a united citizens for law enforcement, ucle was fofrmd, they tried to get action taken. there were eventually indictments against some of the local officials, some of them were removed from office, others just weren't elected. the dixie was ultimately closed down, although miss rita continued to operate in another set of buildings and operated out of her house some years, but she died in the '70s. crockett street today, this part of it, is wonderful. you can go dance at the dixie dance hall, which is a country, western venue made from the old dixie hotel. >> hosted by time warner cable, american history tv in beaumont tekds this weekend to explore its history in lit rather

culture. it is the site of one of the largest oil fields in american history. was oil was discovered there in 1901, the population grew from 9,000 to 30,000 in three months. learn more about beaumont, texas all weekend long on american history tv. here at the texas energy museum, we talk about science, primarily oil. through the refining of final products we use every day. texas wasn't of course the first oil state. oil was first found in the united states in 1859 in titusville, pennsylvania. that's where rockefeller became famous and wealthy. oil production in pennsylvania, ohio, those areas. as oil was moving west, people were trying to find oil everywhere, this is turn of the century, looking for oil in california, kansas, oklahoma, small shorings.

texas had a small well in corsicana, only produced 25 or 30 barrels a day. couldn't market it, wasn't a refinery nearby. couldn't do anything with it. in 1901, spindle top came about. typical well produced 600 barrels a day. spinned he will top blew in at 100,000 barrels a day. that ushered in a completely new industry and people were looking for oil. at the turn of the century, it was cotton and cattle, main production, agricultural state. almost overnight, texas was transformed into an industrialized economy, based on oil. in the early part of the united states history of oil well drilling, it was pretty much used with a cable tool rig. with this equipment, you take a heavy steel bit, and then it is picking it up, dropping it over and over, like you were on the back end of a post on the end of

a see saw, rocking it up and down. as the driller is controlling the drop or the rate of which cable and the bit is dropped into the ground, only picking up the bit three or four inches at a time, dropping it again. this is fairly light weight equipment, it wasn't heavy enough to drill spindle top in 1901. they brought in heavier equipment which we call the rotary rig. that became more common in texas after 1901 because it was heavier, able to take the spindle top production. the culture and folk lore of the oil industry is rampant with stories of different types of people that worked on the rig. early cable tool guys considered themselves experts at drilling. there was a high degree of technology, took a lot of experience drilling with the cable tool rig.

these guys were coming into texas from other parts of the country, gotten a start in pennsylvania, ohio, li and wered that the techniques and experience they had. the rotary drilling took less education to really work in those types of rigs. and these two groups of people, if one used cable tool same fie folks working rotary drilling, they to talk to each other. it was antagonism and hostilities would rotary drilling is what's used today exclusively throughout the world. even offshore drilling, anything like that. oil vest cost tee. it has several characteristics. can have different color and viscocity. you can see the viscocity, first you look at different colors. there's a thinness to thickness.

what i am goto i am going to rotate this wheel. we should be able to capture the flow which indicates the viscocity. what makes a difference, when oil is priced, you say the spot price of oil is $90 or $100, it is based on what they call intermediate or west texas intermediate, a nice grade of oil. oil as it is sold is sold different prices based upon the number of characteristics, one viscocity, other sulphur or other impurities. one of the things about getting oil from canada, sands, it is thick embedded in loose sand rather than rock and it is thicker oil and it is tougher to produce and refine. you can have very light oils, which would have less impurities in them, and really an

indication all oil is made of carbon and hydrogen, and all different compounds are in this oil. as you refine oil, what we are basically doing is separating the hydrocarbons and different compounds out of the oil. some of the early crude oils you found in pennsylvania or crude oils, easier to refine, have kerosene cuts. they made it well for that. when spindle top was famous in 1901, its crude oil was a fairly thick crude oil and had a lot of sulphur in it. at the time, the main product was kerosene. spinned he will top didn't make kerosene well. it ins city debated a new market for crude oil, one was firing sugar refineries in louisiana, and also started to use it on steam ships, they replaced coal with fuel oils, processed out of

spindle top. they are steam powered, but using the oil to fire the burners. we have an exhibit that talks about distillation refining. one process in refining. in this instance, we heat it up. anything distilled, it is heating into vapors or gases, then it is condensed. refining, what the first step in refining is is to take crude oil, heat it so various compounds separate in the they separate in what we might think of now in terms of products, from heavy asphalts at the bottom to diesels and fuel oils up to kerosenes and gasoline, and up to lighter gases. as the gases condense or cool down, they can be pulled off. that's where you get the various products. one of the things that's always inherent dealing with oil is the environment. we have had some disasters.

obviously the bp oil disaster and spill in the gulf was a disaster that shouldn't have happened. and the industry as a whole, going back hundreds of years, we have to look at an industry that evolved. early days, there were no environmental regulations. you drilled a well, oil went everywhere. so obviously we have come a long way since then. so it comes with combination of public concern, governmental action and the industry themselves. i think all those things come together. today i think you see a lot more of the companies and companies that we deal with every day are very concerned about the environment. i think there are issues today. you think of issues when you talk about the fracking jobs and some of the shale formations and what that's doing to the aqua fers underneath. i think we are seeing things work together now, it is all a balance. you might say the easy oil to

find and get out of the ground has been found. we have drilled for it and produced it. the oil that's still there, again, we think we have huge reserves still available to us, but it is deeper, in harder formations to get out. big issues coming out, big issues are increases in technology and finding ways to safely and people's safety, environmental safety to get oil out of the ground in a costmann. but the technology is going to this weekend, american history tv is in beaumont, texas, expanding our reach from washington, d.c. for programming smeome to the first major oil field in the united states and has a population of about 120,000 people. learn more about beaumont, texas all weekend long on american

history tv. not a conservative democrat, just democrat. actually most democrats in texas are fairly conservative.to have they want to help people, but be reasonable about it. i think most of them agree with get down to it, that you ought to be interested in helping to interested in helping everybody. >> jack brooks grew up in beaumont, attended lamar university, university of texas, and was elected congressman in 1952. and he served the people of beaumont and southeast texas for 42 years. and he was a very powerful democrat. relations with the

labor unions and he did many economic development projects for beaumont, port arthur, southeast texas region. he was very close to speaker sam rayburn, and also to majority leader of the senate, lyndon b. johnson, who was later vice president and then president of the united states. in working with lyndon johnson, jack brooks voted for some very important and controversial new laws, especially the civil rights act in 1964. before this law in 1964, there was widespread discrimination and segregation against black people in the united states, especially in the southern united states. black people were barred from going in restaurants and cafes, motels, and movie theaters.

they could work there, but weren't welcome as customers or clients. there was widespread discrimination. many people thought that should be changed. during the year of 1963, proposw civil rights law, and he was doing this in part based on rising tensions in the south, especially in birmingham, alabama. and president kennedy in his administration introduced a sweeping civil rights bill, but now, and wasn't being passed. there was opposition from the south and other people, and then they made the trip to dallas. president kennedy andhnson made in november of '63, while pendi. and a number of people went with them, including congressman

brooks. lyndon johnson were in the motorcade in downtown dallas, november the 22nd, when president kennedy was assassinated. president johnson went back to the airplane, air force one. he oath of office. the presidency with jack brooks and other people looking on. in that year of '64, after the assassination, after kennedy, i ights billr johnson became was brought forward, and with president johnson's leadership and the leadership of others, including jack brooks, they brought that bill to fruition and it was passed and became law. i believe it was signed july 2nd, 1964. and that changed everything in

the south in the united states with respect to segregation. that broke the back of segregation in the south. it was a huge step for johnson and brooks and other americans. brooks was one of 11 southern congressmen who voted for it. all the other southerners voted against it, including many texans. so brooks was a major player in this huge change. he went w in the voting acts right of 65 and housing act of 1968. so jack brooks who is featured on this statue on the lam ar campus was a major playing in civil rights in the united states. he is known for many things he did for the region and for lamar university campus. all weekend long, american history tv is in beaumont, texas. to explore the history and lit

rather culture of a city where the oil industry in texas got its start. you're watching american history tv. 48 hours of people and events, telling the american story. it is 50 years of beaumont history, 1900 to 1950, in microcosm, it shows how a wealthy southeast texas family lived in the first half of the 20th century. the mcfaddens were a family that came to texas from tennessee. first in the 1820s, and they settled in this part of texas, far southeast texas in 1833. they had cattle and later on they began to acquire land to put the cattle on. when oil was discovered in this area in 1901, it brought the mcfaddens a lot more money than they had already had. they were already pretty comfortable in their own right,

but when oil was discovered in this area, the land that the lucas gusher, the original well was on, plus a lot of the land that wasssfuy belonged to the mcfadden family, because they had spent so many years accumulating all that pastureland for cattle. it was in the middle of where the oil was found. just the whole area profited so much from the oil. william mcfadden was a tough man, some called him ruthless. his life was built around acquiring as many cattle and as much land as he possibly could. he didn't have a lot of education. it was said he couldn't really read or write. unlike h is f could, who came from tennessee, but the educational facilities in texas were slim and none. there just were not many places to have schooling, even though they periodically tried toef one

in this area. this was the wife of welcome perry mcfadden, welcome mcfadden's son, william perry married ida, he was a widower with three children. ida first came to beaumont from west virginia, a very prominent west virginian family, she went to school in virginia with a girl from beaumont. she came to beaumont to visit the friend. she will also been told by a doctor she had throat trouble. he said the dry air in texas will help you, not knowing the air in southeast texas is anything but dry with humidity here. she came down to visit her friend. in the process met wph, a dashing widower, 16 years older than she was, still very handsome, they fell in love and got married. this house is perfect for entertaining. all of the public rooms on the first floor open into the

central hall. and big houses like that were just perfect for someone like ida, social, loved to entertain. so they had many, many large parties here, receptions and teas, where several hundred people circulated through. we're standing in the dining room right now and this was the formal dining area, of course. and it was decorated in a colonial revival style and a howed the mcfaddens to show off a lot of their fine pieces because there's a plate rail that runs around the room and it holds the fine silver or crystal or whatever they wanted to dis play at that time, plus the vitrines and the sideboards provide more space. i would definitely describe this furniture as ornate. the fabric in the upholstery is a brocade and it is definitely heavily carved, as is much of

the furniture in the mcfadden home. everything in this house is original to the mcfadden family. we did not go out and buy things that were just true to the period. these were things that the mcfaddens had. they saved them. mrs. mcfaddened them, mrs. ward purchased them. when mrs. ward died house was frozen in time and it was with these possessions that the house became a museum. we're coming into the bedroom, the bedroom that ida and wph mcfadden shared. we interpreted it after his death, though in 1935. we kind of call it command central because ida was so active in civic and charitable and social work, plus after all of her brothers died she became president of her father's company in huntington, west virginia. she remained very busy the rest

of her life. these are members of ida's family, mostly, including her children. the large picture in the center was made in 1894 when she and wph got married and the people on the back row, ida and wph on left and ida's sis it ter and her husband, pratt, on the right. ida's maiden name are caldwell, these are members of the caldwell family. along the bottom ida's children. that's perry jr. on the left, mamie in the middle, the woman who donated the museum, created the museum, and youngest son. we're standing on the third floor billiard room. it was builts a billiard room. and the table has actually been know how it came the house was to be here. it is a single piece.

it does not break down. i don't think there would have been any cranesve lifted it thr front. we have heard that it was liftgn the center of the house and that the hole was later closed up and that's as good an explanation as any. but this was a game room. and when the two mcfadden boys, perry and caldwell, got to be teenagers they moved up to this third floor and it became a man space. and the -- one of the domestic employees years that they had parties up here and they would bring their friends up here. so we have re-created it as their entertainment area and also as a mr. mcfadden because we've left his desk here, as it was, wheni. well we're coming into the kitchen of the mcfadden ward house ands sort of the area where the domestic

employees gathered a lot of times because they could eat al. they would be, you know, eat the same meals that the mcfaddens had and just eat kitchen. but the kitchen was actually sort of reigned over by a cook, lewis lemon. he had been the cook four 37 years and he did not really like a lot of visitors in his kitchen. he tolerated other employees there when they came to eat but if people came and invaded hess kitchen too much he had been known to put red peppers in the burners of the stove. he lived in the carriage house in his rooms until he died. it was said that mrs. mcfadden knew she could host any party from the size of a huge bayne k banquet to fixing breakfast and knew that lewis could do it. communications in a house this big could have been problematic because of the sheer size. but they did have what was

state-of-the-art communications high here, there's an announciater box and there is a corresponding button in all of the rooms. for instance, if ida wanted to summon one of the domestic employees, for them to come up to her room she would punch the button in her room, the arrow corresponding air ro to that room would drop as a bell sounded and the domestic employee would know he needed to go up to ida's bedroom and see what she needed. the mcfaddens were demanding employers. but they did pay average -- above-average wages and had many ways of taking care of longtime employees, such as paying medical bills funeral expenses and helping them out in the other way. one of the lodgetime employees, whose name was albertine parker they were go to you but you didn't go there to sit down.

mamie mcfadden was their oldest child, only daughter. mamie grew up, of course in the house. she was about mov here. and she loved this house and when she married, carol ward, they came back here to live. the house was big enough, presumably, for everyone. and she lived -- carol limped the rest of their lives in this house. when mamie began to get older she worried about this house. she didn't want it to begin to look shabby or be broken up into apartments or turn into a funeral home as so so many other grand houses in beaumont had done. she even considered demolishing it, but several friends prevailed on her to try to figure out a way to keep it. she ultimately established a foundation that would administer it and she even created a board of directors so that the minute she died, it became a museum. it much of what

has gone on in this in town and in this country and state for the past 100 years and it's a wonderful vehicle to show people this. the physical, the visual impact is just how you get them here. and then after that, you can talk to them about the history. >> we're in courtroom number one, which was the courtroom in which judge lamar cecil presided. i think 1954 through '58. in this courtroom, he made two decisions with respect to desegregation in bow month. there had been the famous case, brown versus board of education which ordered desegregation of public schools, ruled separate but equal was not constitutional. and so based on that, there were cases around the united states challenging the jim crow segregation systeming like americans were barred from hotels, restaurants and cafes,

golf courses. and in beaumont, texas, black golfers were barred from playing at terrele park public golf course here in beaumont, it was a municipal golf course. black americans, black beaumonters could work there and caddie there, and they could play there when the course was close the but because of their color, because of jim crow's segregation, they were not permitted to play there when the course was open. there were six black golfer whose put together a challenge tosegregation. booker face and joe griffin and bill johnny parker and earl black golfers are wanted to challenge the system at terrell park and they joined with three black lawyers, two young lawyers from beaumont,

just graduated from howard who university in washington, and then a black lawyer from dallaa. they put a lawsuit against bow month, booker facen versus elmo beard versus the city of beaumont in the summer of '55. in order to set up the case, several of them went out to the golf shop at the terrell, offered to pay money, they were refused and so they got the case set up like that. and then after they set up the case, then johns and willard and tate filed the suit papers in beaumont, challenging the fact that they were not permitted to play the terrell because of their color. and the new judge, he had just