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150-572: The museum is on the campus of Lamar University , which owns and operates the museum. The name “Spindletop” dates from before the Civil War when a slight rise of the ground just south of Beaumont, Texas, became known as Spindletop Hill. One theory about the origin of its name is that the heat waves, rising from the surrounding prairie, gave a grove of trees on the hill the appearance of a spinning top. Many ghost stories were associated with Spindletop Hill. St. Elmo's fire , actually static electricity,

300-461: A 24-hour period depending on the zone in which the people were located. The scheduled times were set well in advance of the storm's possible landfall later in the week, but not soon enough to ensure that all residents could evacuate safely in advance of the storm. Nonetheless, many residents remained in the county because they were either unaware of the danger of the storm or believed that it was more important to protect their belongings, particularly in

450-516: A 66 kn (76 mph; 122 km/h) gust. On the Florida mainland, gusts peaked at 55 mph (89 km/h) at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport , while sustained winds topped out at 39 mph (63 km/h) at Miami Beach . The passing hurricane generated a 3–5 ft (0.91–1.52 m) storm surge along the Florida Keys, with the highest storm surge occurring along

600-570: A 6–3–2 record in 1979 . LU set all-time attendance records under Kennan by averaging 16,380 fans in 1980 . Games against Louisiana Tech (17,600) and Langston University (17,306) rank second and third, respectively, behind the standing-room-only 18,500 Baylor drew for the 1980 opener. The football program's signature win came on September 5, 1981 , in Waco with an 18–17 victory over the No. 20 (UPI) Baylor Bears . In 1987 LU football went independent to join

750-491: A Category 1 hurricane by 12:00 UTC, while maintaining a minimum barometric pressure of 985  mbar ( hPa ; 29.09  inHg ). Six hours later, Rita intensified further into Category 2 before subsequently passing approximately 45 mi (72 km) south of Key West, Florida . Aided by favorable outflow and anomalously warm sea surface temperatures  (SSTs), the trend of rapid deepening continued, and Rita reached Category 3 status upon entering

900-473: A National Historic Landmark by the federal government. On January 10, 2001, former president George H.W. Bush and approximately 20,000 attendees from around the nation participated in the centennial celebration of the Lucas Gusher at the museum. Country music artist Tracy Byrd, a Beaumont resident, wrote and performed an original song about the history of Spindletop for the event. Lamar University reopened

1050-739: A bachelors, masters and doctoral degree. The bachelor’s program in each department (except the new computer engineering program) is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. The university established the College of Business in 1972. Before this time, degrees in business and economics were granted by the Division of Business, which was established in 1951, and the School of Business, established in 1954. All undergraduate and graduate degree programs of

1200-458: A chance to exhibit their own work. Admission is free. The museum's permanent collection includes 19th- and 20th-century paintings from American and European artists, as well as tribal art from Africa , New Guinea and Pre-Columbian Mexico . The Spindletop-Gladys City Museum is an open-air museum. The museum commemorates the 1901 discovery of oil by Lucas Gusher in Beaumont. The oil discovery

1350-507: A crevice at 1,060 feet. At approximately 10:30 a.m. on January 10, 1901, while the Hamill brothers were attempting to free their drill from the crevice, the famous Lucas Gusher blew in. Oil sprayed more than 100 feet above the derrick for nine days until the well was capped. It was the greatest oil well ever seen. Although Lucas estimated its flow at 6,000 barrels per day, it was actually flowing 80,000 – 100,000 barrels per day. No longer

1500-551: A diverse 24/7 schedule of programs including NPR news morning, midday and afternoon, as well as locally produced music programs, local, features and radio documentaries, etc. As part of the university's College of Fine Arts and Communication and the Lamar University Media Alliance, KVLU also serves as a real-world laboratory, providing training in audio broadcasting and radio production for students interested in pursuing careers in communication. The station

1650-444: A dozen people were rescued after venturing into the rough seas generated by Rita off Pensacola Beach . Two were hospitalized and one person died after collapsing offshore, though it was unclear whether the fatality was directly attributable to the hurricane. Another person drowned in a rip current off Miramar Beach . With an estimated cost of $ 8 billion in damages, Hurricane Rita's impact across Louisiana varied. One person

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1800-636: A federal state of emergency for the entire state. Refugees still at the New Orleans Convention Center and Superdome were being evacuated as a precaution, and national guard troops and other emergency personnel in for the Hurricane Katrina aftermath were being mobilized to evacuate. Select military personnel stayed in New Orleans for Hurricane Rita including Task Force California (2-185 Armor and 1-184 Infantry). By

1950-573: A graduate of Charlton-Pollard High School, applied to Lamar. His parents were laborers and members of the Beaumont chapter of the NAACP . The admissions office notified him that based on his transcript, he was qualified to enroll for the spring term of 1951. On January 29, when Briscoe went to register for classes, Lamar's acting president G. A. Wimberly explained that a mistake had been made and suggested he apply to TSUN, now named Texas Southern University . State law, he said, created Lamar for whites only. In

2100-849: A large low-pressure area over the lower Mississippi Valley by September 26. In Louisiana , Rita's storm surge inundated low-lying communities along the entire coast, worsening effects caused by Hurricane Katrina less than a month prior, such as topping the hurriedly-repaired Katrina-damaged levees at New Orleans. Parishes in Southwest Louisiana and counties in Southeast Texas where Rita made landfall suffered from severe to catastrophic flooding and wind damage. According to an October 25, 2005, Disaster Center report, 4,526 single-family dwellings were destroyed in Orange and Jefferson counties located in Southeast Texas. Major damage

2250-638: A minimum barometric pressure of 895 mbar (hPa; 26.43 inHg), making it the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico and up until that point the third strongest hurricane in Atlantic history . At the time, it was located 310 mi (500 km) south of the Mississippi River Delta . Rita maintained Category 5 hurricane intensity for 18 hours before an eyewall replacement cycle took place, weakening

2400-606: A month prior. Power outages affected around 126,000 electricity customers in primarily Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Rough surf generated by Rita later caused minor to moderate beach erosion along the coast of the Florida Panhandle on September 22, including Franklin , Taylor , Walton , and Wakulla counties. Rita's effects exacerbated the erosion caused by a string of several other nearby storms beginning with Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The damage from coastal erosion amounted to roughly $ 200,000. Over

2550-722: A new state-of-the-art Dauphin Athletic Complex. In October 2014, Lamar broke ground for an administration building to be named the Wayne A. Reaud Building. The building houses the newly established Reaud Honors College. Another recent project included renovation of the Setzer Student Center. The renovation project had a $ 28 million cost. The renovated building was opened on April 12, 2018. Lamar offers 96 undergraduate, 50 master's and eight doctoral degree programs in seven academic colleges. The academic colleges are

2700-564: A public junior college in Beaumont's South Park area at the direction of the South Park School District. Lamar University started on September 17, 1923 as South Park Junior College , operating on the unused third floor of the new South Park High School . Pietzsch acted as the first president of the college. South Park Junior College became the first college in Texas to receive Texas Department of Education approval during

2850-517: A remnant low by 06:00 UTC that day. The frontal boundary subsequently absorbed the remaining system six hours later over the southern Great Lakes region. At 0300  UTC on September 18, a tropical storm warning was issued for the Turks and Caicos and the Southeast and Central Bahamas . At the same time, a hurricane watch was also issued for the northwest Bahamas. By 0600 UTC

3000-533: A total of 1,486 shelters were opened, most of which were filled during the evacuation. On September 18, when Rita was declared a tropical storm, phased evacuations began in the Florida Keys . All tourists were told to evacuate the Lower Keys immediately and residents in mobile homes were told to prepare to evacuate. By September 20, mandatory evacuations were in place for the 80,000 residents of

3150-499: A wellness and fitness center, health food café and juice bar. The lounge areas include pool tables, air hockey, foosball and large-screen TV. The center is home to the Recreational Sports Office, which organizes and hosts intramural sports leagues and sport clubs teams such as volleyball, basketball, flag football, cricket, badminton, indoor soccer, pool and tennis. The tennis club made back-to-back appearances at

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3300-526: A width of 800 yd (730 m). The tornado caused $ 2.5 million in damage and injured three people after destroying one building and severely damaging several homes and farms. Throughout the state, 2,127 residences lost power due to high winds. The impact of Rita, limited to Southeast and East Texas, varied, with both wind and storm-surge damage impacting communities in various ways. Hurricane-force winds extended over 100 miles (160 km) inland across eastern Texas, causing extensive damage to trees in

3450-406: Is estimated at $ 18.5 billion. The reported death toll for Hurricane Rita was 120. Only seven were direct deaths. One was caused by a tornado spawned in the storm's outer bands, one was due to storm surge flooding and three others were caused by trees blown down in the storm. The two Florida deaths both occurred in rip currents caused by Rita's distant waves. Direct deaths are those caused by

3600-513: Is home to the JoAnne Gay Dishman School of Nursing. The College of Fine Arts and Communication consists of six departments: Art & Design, Communication & Media, Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Music, Speech and Hearing Sciences, and Theatre and Dance. Communication degree programs include journalism, broadcasting, film, American Sign Language and Interpretation, speech-language pathology and audiology. Lamar University

3750-708: Is known to have drowned during the event. Due to the hurricane's storm surge, which topped levees and inundated low-lying coastal communities, the greatest amount of damage extended across most of southern Louisiana, from the Mississippi River delta to the Sabine River. Widespread power outages affected roughly 1 million customers, with Entergy Louisiana reporting the largest outage of 601,183 customers losing power. In southeast Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish , storm surge reached 7 ft (2.1 m) flooding an estimated 10,000 homes. Virtually every levee

3900-525: Is largely member with additional support coming from the university and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as well as program underwriters. Hurricane Rita Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season , which included three of

4050-628: Is located off of Martin Luther King Boulevard, near U.S. Highway 69 , in the southeast part of Beaumont, Texas . The campus is 7 miles (11 km) from the Jack Brooks Regional Airport , 2 miles (3.2 km) from the Neches River and 5 miles (8 km) from Downtown Beaumont . The Big Thicket National Preserve , Village Creek State Park and the Gulf of Mexico are all located within 30 minutes of

4200-801: Is offered online through Lamar University Academic Partnerships. Lamar was ranked in Tier Two of "National Universities" by the U.S. News & World Report 's 2015 ranking. According to the site, 76.6% of students who applied to Lamar in 2013 were admitted. Lamar is ranked in several 2015 U.S. News & World Report categories. Lamar was ranked #602 in Forbes ' 2014 America's Top Colleges report. The College of Engineering consists of five departments, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Each of these departments offers

4350-539: Is one of five universities in Texas that offer a clinical doctorate in audiology program. The Department of Communication & Media operates LUTV, a local educational access television station, and KVLU (FM 91.3), a National Public Radio station. Fine arts degree programs include studio art, graphic design, art education, music performance, music education, acting, technical theatre and dance. The Department of Art's faculty includes artists Keith Carter and Prince Varughese Thomas . The Reaud Honors College, established in

4500-460: The Bahamas , swells produced by Rita reached 10 ft (3.0 m) and storm surge was estimated at 3 to 5 ft (0.91 to 1.52 m). Strong winds were reported across the islands, but no damage resulted from the storm. The eye of the hurricane tracked 54 mi (87 km) north of Havana at around 4 p.m. local time on September 20. Heavy rains and strong winds associated with

4650-839: The Big Black River in the span of a few hours. The heavy rainfall caused significant flooding in Yazoo and Warren Counties. In Yazoo, numerous homes had water inside and countywide damage amounted to $ 6 million. Damage in Warren County was less than Yazoo, amounting to $ 2.7 million. Holmes , Hinds and Madison Counties also had flooding, with damage in all three counties amounting to $ 2 million. Several roads were also flooded in Monroe County after 6 inches (150 mm) of rain fell. Winds up to 70 mph (110 km/h) downed numerous trees throughout

Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum - Misplaced Pages Continue

4800-805: The Cardinals and Lady Cardinals, respectively. The "Lamar Cardinals" (or "Cards") refers to the collegiate athletic teams of Lamar University. The inception of the nickname "Cardinals" dates back to the school's name change to Lamar in 1932. Lamar fields teams in 17 sports sponsored by the Southland Conference . LU sponsors 17 teams (8 men's and 9 women's). The Cardinals participate in men's and women's basketball , men's and women's golf , men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field , men's and women's cross country , men's and women's tennis , women's soccer , softball , women's volleyball , baseball and football . The newest teams are

4950-449: The Gulf of Mexico by 06:00 UTC on September 21, making it a major hurricane . Once in the Gulf of Mexico, Rita passed over the extremely warm Loop Current during the midday hours of September 21, enabling continued strengthening. As a result, the hurricane's wind field significantly expanded and the storm's barometric pressure quickly fell. By 18:00 UTC that day, Rita attained Category 5 hurricane intensity,

5100-501: The Midland / Odessa area when hotels began to sell out in other areas. On Wednesday, Houston mayor Bill White urged residents to evacuate the city, telling residents, "Don't wait; the time for waiting is over," reminding residents of the disaster in New Orleans. After heavy traffic snarled roads leading out of town and gas shortages left numerous vehicles stranded, Mayor White backed off his earlier statement with, "If you're not in

5250-462: The Piney Woods . Communities near and along the west side of the Sabine River, from the Gulf coast up to Toledo Bend Reservoir , saw the greatest measure of damage. The worst damage in the state occurred in several counties in Southeast Texas, including Jefferson , Orange , Hardin , Jasper , Newton , and Tyler counties, where damage to electrical and communication services was severe. Power

5400-576: The Strand Historic District ; the Galveston fire department reacted quickly and was able to contain and douse the wind-whipped blaze, limiting damage and preventing the fire from spreading throughout the city. No serious injuries were reported, though several historic buildings were either gutted or damaged; a fire-weakened wall of the vacated Yaga's Cafe and Bar collapsed several hours later, likely due to lingering wind gusts. For

5550-569: The Texas State University System . Lamar and Kunming University of Science and Technology in southwest China have an exchange program that allows Chinese students to attend Lamar for one year while pursuing their bachelor's degree. The university also has many academic units that fall outside of the five main colleges. The College of Graduate Studies handles graduate students. The Center for Teaching and Learning Enhancement offers training and support to faculty and runs

5700-503: The University of Texas at Arlington to create an online dual credit program for high school students in Texas, stateu.com. The partnership between the two universities operates on the website stateu.com. Online dual credit courses are available for free to high school students through state funding via House Bill 3646 . The BAAS online degree completion program, an expansion of a degree the university has offered for almost 20 years,

5850-796: The seawall . The 5 inches (130 mm) of rain expected to fall overnight in New Orleans as Rita came ashore also did not happen, and the pressure on the levee system was eased. Still, a storm surge of up to 18 feet (5.5 m) struck southwestern Louisiana, and coastal parishes experienced extensive damage. In Cameron Parish , the communities of Holly Beach , Hackberry , Cameron , Creole and Grand Chenier were essentially destroyed. There were also severe impacts, mainly due to wind, in inland parishes and counties across Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas , respectively. Cities such as Beaumont, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana , as well as surrounding communities, suffered extensive wind damage. An estimated two million people lost electricity . Total damage

6000-451: The volleyball program. The naming of the center was made possible by a $ 5 million donation by local attorney Walter Umphrey in 2005. The 129,550-square-foot (12,036 m ) center includes a 13,000-square-foot (1,200 m ) cardiovascular room, a one-tenth-mile walking/jogging track, a 43-foot (13 m) climbing wall, basketball, indoor floor hockey/soccer arena, volleyball, badminton courts and racquetball courts. The center also sports

6150-584: The 1950s and 1960s, reaching 10,000 students. Graduate work was authorized in 1960 when master's degrees were offered in several fields. In 1969, Lamar State College opened its first branch at a center in Orange, Texas . In 1970, Lamar State College began offering its first doctoral program, the Doctor of Engineering. In 1971 the college's name was officially changed to Lamar University. A group of African-American veterans of World War II , barred from admission on

Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum - Misplaced Pages Continue

6300-516: The American South Conference, and the program was dropped altogether after 1989 . On January 30, 2008, 78% of LU students voted to approve the athletics fee required for football's resurrection. This vote set in motion the football team's return for the 2010 season. Regents of The Texas State University System approved the athletics fee to reinstate football at its regular meeting February 20, 2008. On May 19, 2008, Ray Woodard

6450-645: The Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). Lamar is among the largest educator preparation programs for teachers in the nation due to its large Master in Education programs. The College of Arts and Sciences' fields of study include Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Nursing, Music, English, Earth Science, Foreign Language, History, Political Science, Criminal Justice and Psychology. The College

6600-622: The Cardinals to a 7–5 record and a third-place finish in the Southland Conference in 2018 , his second season. After a 1–4 start, LU closed the regular season by rattling off six straight wins to earn the program's first berth in the NCAA FCS Playoffs . In the first round, Lamar fell at Northern Iowa by three points, 16–13. Founded in 1924, the men's and women's basketball teams at Lamar have both advanced deep into

6750-499: The College of Business are accredited by AACSB International. The College of Education and Human Development comprises five departments: Educational Leadership , Nutrition, Hospitality & Human Services, Health & Kinesiology , Counseling and Teacher Education. The undergraduate teacher preparation program, the graduate state certification programs in school counseling, and the Principal Program are accredited by

6900-561: The College of Engineering, College of Education and Human Development, College of Business, College of Fine Arts and Communication, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Graduate Studies, and the Reaud Honors College. Lamar is classified as a Doctoral Research University by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and is one of only two universities classified as such within

7050-479: The Florida Keys. The storm surge in Key West advanced four blocks inland, flooding streets to a depth of 3 ft (0.91 m) and inundating the runway at Key West International Airport. As many as 200 residential properties were damaged by the surge in the city. One bicyclist was seriously injured by the high waves in Key West. High waters also advanced over U.S. Route 1 at Islamorada . Wind damage from

7200-454: The Hamill brothers of Corsicana, Texas, the best rotary drillers available. Al and Curt Hamill arrived in Beaumont and began drilling on the adjoining McFaddin-Weiss & Kyle tract of land in October 1900. In spite of tremendous difficulties they reached 1,000 feet by Christmas. After returning from the holidays, they encountered new problems. Upon reaching solid rock, their drill lodged in

7350-508: The Interior shut down all national parks in Florida and evacuated workers in low-lying areas. Military cargo planes evacuated hospital patients from three acute-care hospitals in the Keys. On Tuesday, Sep 20, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco issued a state of emergency for all parishes in the southwestern region of Louisiana and requested in writing of President George W. Bush that he issue

7500-519: The Keys. Both lanes on Route 1 were directed northbound to speed up evacuations. City busses picked up those who did not have transportation out of the Keys. An estimated 2.3 million people in Miami-Dade County were warned about the possibility of a direct hit on Miami and told to prepare to evacuate. A State of Emergency was declared ahead of Rita later that day by President George W. Bush . This would allow federal assistance to aid

7650-747: The Lucas Gusher Monument is a 58-foot pink Texas granite obelisk erected by the Lucas Gusher Monument Association. The monument was originally placed at the site of the Lucas Gusher, approximately three-fourths of a mile south of the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum. It was moved to the Gladys City site in 1978 due to soil subsidence and accessibility. The monument and the entire Spindletop field have been designated

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7800-485: The Lucas Gusher. Gladys City was given to the State of Texas and Lamar University for continued care and development as an educational resource. The buildings in Gladys City are all patterned after buildings that were at Spindletop in the early 1900s oil boom. Many of the artifacts used to furnish the exhibits are from the time of the boom. Commemorating the discovery of oil at Spindletop Hill and dedicated January 10, 1951,

7950-562: The NCAA tournament. The men's team has participated in four NITs and six NCAA tournaments , including four second-round appearances and one sweet 16 appearance. The women's team has participated in four Women's National Invitation Tournaments , two NCAA tournaments including one Elite Eight appearance. The men's program has been coached by fifteen head coaches including Billy Tubbs , Pat Foster , Pat Knight , Tic Price and Alvin Brooks ,

8100-490: The NHC estimated that the storm system had organized enough to be classified as a tropical depression , the eighteenth disturbance during the hurricane season to do so. At the time, the disturbance, classified as Tropical Depression Eighteen, was roughly 80 mi (130 km) east of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos and had developed banding features . In generally favorable conditions for tropical development,

8250-521: The Southland Conference at the NCAA Division I level. Current head coach Will Davis was hired from LSU in January 2016 to replace legendary coach Jim Gilligan. A former player, Gilligan guided the program for all but five seasons (1987–91) from 1973 through 2016. The LU Hall of Honor and Texas Baseball Hall of Fame member won more than 1,300 games during his career. The Cardinals baseball team leads

8400-483: The Southland Conference with ten regular-season titles and has participated in the NCAA Division I Regionals 13 times. In fall 2021, Lamar enrolled over 17,000 students, made up of 36% males and 64% females. Ethnically, 47% identified as White, 25% Black/African American, 18% Hispanic or Latino, 4% Asian, 3% International and 2% Other. The University Press , also known as the UP , is the student newspaper of Lamar. The paper

8550-648: The Texas Legislature to promote Lamar College to a four-year state college. The initial attempt in 1947 was led in the Texas House of Representatives by Jack Brooks and in the Texas Senate by W. R. Cousins Jr. , failed, but the following year the two sponsors again advanced the bill through both houses. On June 14, 1949, Governor Beauford Jester signed the bill creating Lamar State College of Technology . Enrollment continued to grow throughout

8700-416: The affected areas in the wake of the storm. Throughout Florida, a total of 340,000 people were placed under mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders. Five shelters were opened in southern Florida with a total capacity of 4,335 people. Tolls on northbound roads were lifted in Monroe County . A total of four hospitals, three assisted living facilities, and two nursing homes were evacuated. Military support in

8850-486: The area in advance of the storm. As an estimated 2.5 – 3.7 million people evacuated the Texas coastline, a significant heat wave affected the region. The combination of severe gridlock and excessive heat led to between 90 and 118 deaths even before the storm arrived. Reports from the Houston Chronicle indicated 107 evacuation-related fatalities. Texas Representative Garnet Coleman criticized

9000-463: The area waiting months for utilities to be restored. Allen , Beauregard , Jeff Davis , and Vernon parishes suffered lesser, yet still significant, degrees of wind damage and flooding damage due to heavy rain. After weakening to a tropical storm, Rita entered DeSoto and Caddo Parishes . The center passed just west of Downtown Shreveport before crossing the Arkansas border. At the height of

9150-603: The campus gates and throughout the region which continued for several weeks until Texas Rangers arrived and the rule of law was restored. In 1975, the university merged with Port Arthur College in Port Arthur, Texas , creating Lamar University–Port Arthur. In 1983, state Senator Carl A. Parker sponsored a bill creating the Lamar University System. In 1986, Lamar University–Orange and Lamar University–Port Arthur were granted accreditation separate from

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9300-678: The coast of West Africa . It moved westward, and after passing through the Florida Straits , Rita entered an environment of abnormally warm waters. Moving west-northwest, it rapidly intensified to reach peak winds of 180 mph (285 km/h), achieving Category 5 status on September 21. However, it weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana, between Sabine Pass, Texas and Holly Beach, Louisiana , with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). Rapidly weakening over land, Rita degenerated into

9450-463: The company that provided the nursing home with it. In some areas, the effects of Hurricane Rita were not nearly as severe as anticipated. The storm surge feared in Galveston and Houston struck farther east as the storm's center came ashore at the Louisiana border. Winds blowing offshore in Texas actually flattened the surge, which was only 7 feet (2.1 m) in Galveston, well below the height of

9600-615: The country. Rita's effects produced widespread damage both in northern and southern parts of Cuba, but did not cause fatalities. Most affected were the provinces of La Habana , Havana, and Matanzas . Slight damage was wrought to the Cuban power grid, resulting as many as 400,000 people losing power in Havana. High waves from Rita inundated 20 low-lying city blocks in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana between noon September 19 and

9750-407: The current head coach. The women's team has been coached by thirteen head coaches including Larry Tidwell, Robin, Harmony and current coach Aqua Franklin. Over the years, both the men's and women's programs have had the highest average attendance in the Southland Conference —both play in the 10,080-seat Montagne Center . The Lamar Cardinals baseball team represents Lamar University and competes in

9900-720: The damage was devastating, with the communities of Grand Lake, Hebert's Camp, Lowry, Pelican Point, and Sweetlake suffering from extensive flooding and wind damage. Over a decade later, many communities south of the Intracoastal Waterway are still recovering, with their populations significantly lower than pre-Rita levels. To the north in Calcasieu Parish , the cities and communities of Iowa , Lake Charles , Moss Bluff , Sulphur , and Westlake suffered severe wind damage, and some areas also received flooding due to both storm surge and heavy rain. In Lake Charles,

10050-408: The depression quickly organized and attained tropical storm strength at 18:00 UTC that day based on data from reconnaissance flights , nearby ships, and weather buoys . As a result, the tropical storm was named Rita . However, an increase in moderate southerly vertical wind shear as the result of a nearby upper-level low subdued continued intensification and displaced convective activity to

10200-624: The designation of zones A, B, and C would help prevent bottlenecks in traffic leaving the area similar to those seen at New Orleans prior to Katrina and Hurricane Dennis earlier that year. Also, people in certain zones were to be forced to go to certain cities in Texas and were not allowed to exit their designated routes except for food and gas – another feature of the evacuation plan which officials hoped would keep traffic flow orderly. The evacuation-destination cities included Austin , College Station , San Antonio , Dallas , Huntsville , and Lufkin , Texas. Evacuees were asked to try hotels in

10350-483: The direct effects of the winds , flooding , tornadoes , storm surge or oceanic effects of Rita. Indirect deaths are caused by hurricane-related accidents (including car accidents, crimes , fires or other incidents), cleanup and evacuation incidents and health issues (such as poisoning , illnesses , and lack of emergency aid). As Rita developed near the Turks and Caicos Islands , it dropped up to 5 in (130 mm) of rain but caused little damage. Throughout

10500-407: The disturbance was not monitored by the National Hurricane Center  (NHC) for tropical cyclogenesis . Convection associated with the system increased briefly late on September 13 before dissipating shortly thereafter. At roughly the same time, a remnant surface trough had developed from a dissipating stationary front and began to drift westward north of the Lesser Antilles . Meanwhile,

10650-412: The downplay of the deaths in the evacuation and questioned whether the storm would be deadlier than the preparations. According to local officials, the traffic reached a point where residents felt safer riding out the storm at home rather than being stuck in traffic when Rita struck. Many evacuees periodically turned off their air conditioning to reduce fuel consumption as well as drank less water to limit

10800-529: The enormous and unprecedented number of people fleeing from the Houston area prior to the departure of local residents. By the time Jefferson County began their mandatory evacuation, local roads were already full of Houstonians. Traffic on designated evacuation routes was forced to go far slower than the speeds experienced with any previous hurricane. By late Thursday (22nd) morning, the contraflow lanes had been ordered opened after officials determined that

10950-450: The evacuation zone, follow the news," advising people to use common sense. However, by 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, the freeway system in Houston was at a standstill. To the east of Houston, officials had set up evacuation routes in response to the slow evacuation of residents prior to Hurricane Lili . During the Rita evacuation, these preparations and their execution were overwhelmed by

11100-840: The evening of September 20. Officials in Cuba warned residents of possible impacts from Rita and closed public facilities in northern areas. Some evacuations took place in villages near the northern coastline and several shelters were opened. An estimated 150,000 people were evacuated in northern Cuba ahead of the storm. About 600 shelters were opened in Havana which could house a total of 120,000 people. In western Cuba, more than 42,000 were given shelter in Matanzas, 31,000 in Villa Claro and 6,300 in Sancti Spiritus. In Havana, power

11250-630: The fall of 2014, became the ninth honors college in Texas. The honors program has been part of the university's academic offering since 1963. The 45,000-square-foot (4,200 m ) Wayne A. Reaud Building, which houses the honors college as well as university administration offices, broke ground on October 7, 2014. The honors college is a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council and the Great Plains Honor Council. The Lamar University campus

11400-461: The first year of operation and became fully accredited in 1925. In 1932, the college administration, recognizing that the junior college was serving the region rather than just the community, renamed it Lamar College . It was named for Mirabeau B. Lamar , the second president of the Republic of Texas , who arranged to set aside land in counties for public schools. A statue of him was installed in

11550-560: The following day, the hurricane watch was upgraded to a hurricane warning for the northwest Bahamas excluding Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands which were later put under a tropical storm warning. Several hours later, a hurricane warning was issued for Exuma and Andros Island . At 1800 UTC, the tropical storm warning for the Turks and Caicos was discontinued as the threat from Rita diminished. This discontinuation later included

11700-982: The form of 7,000 soldiers, eight Black Hawk helicopters , two Chinook helicopters , three Kiowa helicopters , one Huron aircraft , one Short 360 aircraft , one Hercules aircraft , and one Metroliner aircraft was provided. A task force was put on standby in Homestead Air Reserve Base to quickly deploy in affected areas. The United States Department of Agriculture prepared food to deliver to affected areas after Rita. The United States Department of Defense deployed personnel to coordinate evacuations. The United States Department of Health and Human Services sent fully equipped medical teams and supplies if needed. The United States Department of Homeland Security pre-positioned over 100 trucks of ice and packed food to deliver following Rita. Two helicopters and one Cheyenne aircraft were also provided to assist with recovery efforts. The United States Department of

11850-601: The grounds of race and calling themselves the Negro Goodwill Council, protested to Governor Beauford Jester about the exclusion of blacks from Lamar State College. They attempted to block the passage of the bill to change Lamar into a state-supported senior college, which resulted in John Gray, Lamar's president, creating a black branch of Lamar called Jefferson Junior College. It opened with evening classes at Charlton-Pollard High School. In 1952, James Briscoe,

12000-455: The highest category on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale . Rita's intensification phase was accompanied by an unprecedentedly abundant outbreak of lightning within the storm's eyewall . Favorable conditions allowed for additional strengthening, and at 0300 UTC on September 22, Rita reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (285 km/h) and

12150-469: The hurricane and its subsequent remnants. Throughout the path of Rita, damage totaled about $ 18.5 billion (2005 USD). As many as 120 deaths in four U.S. states were directly related to the hurricane. On September 7, 2005, a tropical wave emerged off the west coast of Africa and moved westward into the Atlantic Ocean. Failing to produce organized, deep atmospheric convection ,

12300-611: The hurricane continued to weaken. Rita weakened to Category 3 strength before making landfall at 07:40 UTC on September 24 in extreme southwestern Louisiana between Johnson Bayou and Sabine Pass . At the time of landfall, Rita was a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) and a barometric pressure of 937 mbar (hPa; 27.67 inHg). Once inland on September 24, Rita began to rapidly weaken. The tropical cyclone had been downgraded to tropical storm intensity nearly 12 hours after landfall. Proceeding northward roughly parallel to

12450-431: The hurricane in the Keys was limited to roofing and trees, with the bulk of wind damage occurring in Key West. About 7,000 electricity customers were without power on the Florida Keys on the night of September 18. Damage was relatively light on the Florida mainland, where no casualties were reported. Flooding was also generally minor on the mainland, though the hardest-hit areas were affected by Hurricane Katrina

12600-495: The hurricane to Category 4 intensity by 18:00 UTC on September 22. As a result of the cycle, a new, larger eyewall consolidated, resulting in Rita's wind field expanding. At the same time, the tropical cyclone began to curve northwestward around the southwestern periphery of a ridge of high pressure over the Southeastern United States . Due to wind shear and cooler continental shelf waters,

12750-420: The industry. The boom at Spindletop was short lived. Overproduction depleted the oil and ruined many wells. By 1903, the field had begun to decline and within 10 years Spindletop Hill was virtually a ghost town. In 1926, Spindletop boomed again when new technology led to the discovery of oil on the flanks of the salt dome through deeper drilling. Better conservation methods prolonged Spindletop's second life and

12900-572: The islands. Sustained tropical storm-force winds affected much of the Keys; tropical storm-force gusts extended farther into the southern Florida Peninsula south of Lake Okeechobee on September 20. A Coastal-Marine Automated Network station on Sand Key measured winds of 63 kn (72 mph; 117 km/h) from an elevated position, sustained over 10 minutes, and a peak gust of 80 kn (92 mph; 150 km/h). At Key West International Airport , two-minute sustained winds peaked at 54 kn (62 mph; 100 km/h), punctuated by

13050-413: The lack of adequate equipment. Higgins left the company in 1895. Although Higgins had promised to make his partners wealthy, they began to lose faith in the whole project. Higgins became known jokingly as the “Millionaire.” An Austrian-born mining engineer, Capt. Anthony F. Lucas had heard of Spindletop Hill while developing salt mines in Louisiana. After traveling to Beaumont, he became convinced there

13200-618: The largest evacuation in United States' history. Officials in Galveston County (which includes the city of Galveston ), which was devastated by the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 , ordered mandatory evacuations, effective September 21 at 6 p.m., in a staggered sequence. Officials designated geographical zones in the area to facilitate an orderly evacuation. People were scheduled to leave at different times over

13350-610: The late 1990s, Lamar began undertaking campus improvement projects. In 2001, the university began replacing its 1960s-vintage residence halls with new apartment -style housing facilities, dubbed "Cardinal Village." In March 2005, the gym underwent extensive renovation and adjacent to it, a new recreational sports center was built. The $ 19 million center, named the Sheila Umphrey Recreational Sports Center, opened in April 2007. In August 2007,

13500-477: The little Gladys City community remained active until the site was cleared during sulfur mining activities in the 1950s. The Gladys City Oil Company still exists and continues its involvement at Spindletop today. The Lucas Gusher marked the beginning of a new age for the world – the Petroleum Age. Although Pennsylvania was the location of the first commercial oil well and Russia could claim the first gushers,

13650-666: The lower floors of the Lake Charles Civic Center. At a hotel on a section of the Contraband Bayou near Interstate 210 and Prien Lake Road, water reportedly rose as high as the second floor. There was extensive minor-to-major structural wind damage across the entire area, including the near-devastation of the Lake Charles Regional Airport south of the city. Damage to the entire region's electrical and communications infrastructure

13800-563: The main campus. Lamar Institute of Technology was created in 1990 in Beaumont to provide technical, business, health and industrial education through programs two years or fewer in length. In 1995, the Lamar University System was incorporated into the Texas State University System . In the fall of 1998, the Lamar University faculty numbered 423 and student enrollment was 8,241. Total enrollment reached 15,000 students in Fall 2012. In

13950-429: The morning of September 20. Flash flooding also impacted parts of downtown Havana after roughly 5 in (130 mm) of rain fell over the city. The torrential rains led to the collapse of 34 homes in the city. Storm surge along the southern coast of La Habana advanced 1 mi (1.6 km) onshore at Guanímar , prompting evacuations. No casualties were reported by Agencia de Información Nacional (AIN),

14100-448: The morning of Wednesday, Sep 21, as Rita's strength, course and speed became clearer, officials of Cameron Parish , Calcasieu Parish , and parts of Jefferson Davis Parish , Acadia Parish , Iberia Parish , Beauregard Parish , and Vermillion Parish began to strongly encourage residents to evacuate ahead of the storm, with a 6:00 p.m. Thursday deadline set. Most residents followed the recommendations of their respective officials, hitting

14250-563: The most deaths from the hurricane, where 113 deaths were reported, 107 of which were associated with the evacuation of the Houston metropolitan area. Moderate to severe damage was reported across the lower Mississippi Valley. Rainfall from the storm and its associated remnants extended from Louisiana to Michigan . Rainfall peaked at 16.00 in (406 mm) in Central Louisiana. Several tornadoes were also associated with

14400-457: The museum after it received extensive damage from Hurricane Rita in 2005. Lamar University Lamar University ( Lamar or LU ) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas , United States. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System . As of the fall of 2024, the university enrollment

14550-455: The nation's largest refiner, stated on September 21 that Rita could have caused gasoline prices to rise well above $ 3 per US gallon ($ 0.79/L), at a time when the U.S. average price was $ 2.77/gal. Just three weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the northern Gulf Coast, the threat of yet another major hurricane prompted mass evacuations in coastal Texas. An estimated 2.5 – 3.7 million people fled prior to Rita's landfall, making it

14700-455: The national tournament as they won Club of the Year in 2015 and 2016. The university's Brooks-Shivers Dining Hall was completed in 2006 for $ 6.2 million and is named for Southeast Texas congressman Jack Brooks and former Texas governor Allan Shivers. The 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m ) hall is set on a food court-style floor plan that offers a variety of seating areas. A $ 1.2 million renovation

14850-424: The normal distance expected. Average travel times to Dallas were 24–36 hours, travel times to Austin were 12–18 hours and travel times to San Antonio were 10–16 hours, depending on the point of departure in Houston. Many motorists ran out of gas or experienced breakdowns in temperatures that neared 100 °F (38 °C). Traffic volumes did not ease for nearly 48 hours as more than three million residents evacuated

15000-503: The north of Rita's center of circulation. Once the upper-level low weakened, Rita's center of circulation reformed to the north, compensating for the disorganization that resulted from the wind shear. Consequently, the tropical storm resumed its previous strengthening trend as it was steered westward across The Bahamas along the south periphery of a ridge . Upon entering the Straits of Florida on September 20, Rita strengthened into

15150-482: The number of restroom stops. According to a post-storm study, which reported 90 evacuation-related deaths, nine people perished solely as a result of hyperthermia . However, it was suspected that most of the 67 deaths attributed to heat stress were a combination of hyperthermia and chronic health conditions. In addition to the heat-related deaths, 23 nursing home evacuees were killed after a bus caught fire on Interstate 45 near Wilmer . The bus erupted into flames after

15300-451: The outer rainbands of Hurricane Rita buffeted the northern coast of Cuba, with sustained winds potentially reaching as high as 60 mph (100 km/h). In a two-hour span, more than 8.2 in (210 mm) of rain fell in Bauta . Tropical storm-force winds were primarily limited to the northern coasts of Cuba's western provinces, with heavy rainfall extending into interior portions of

15450-480: The quadrangle of the campus near the Setzer Student Center. In 1933, the college was moving toward independence from South Park High School when construction began on new facilities. By 1942, the college was completely independent of the South Park school district, and operations moved to the current campus. With the end of World War II , an influx of veterans boosted enrollment. The Lamar Board of Trustees asked

15600-561: The reinstated football team beginning in 2010, and women's softball which began play in the 2013 season. Note: Separate championships are held for indoor and outdoor track. A founding member of the Southland Conference, LU has competed in the conference in several stints ranging from 1963 to 1987, 1998 to 2021, and then again beginning in 2022 following a single year in the Western Athletic Conference . Under former head coach Larry Kennan , his first team complied

15750-428: The renovation and remodeling of the Setzer Student Center. The vote was passed with 81% approval. The $ 28 million project was completed in 2018 with the reopening of the center on April 12, 2018. The Dishman Art Museum serves as a teaching facility and art museum for Lamar. It was established in 1983. The museum offers students an opportunity to experience diverse styles that reflect international trends, as well as

15900-596: The response. On September 22, Governor Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation implemented a contraflow lane reversal on Interstate 45 north towards Dallas , on Interstate 10 west towards San Antonio , U.S. Highway 290 northwest to Austin . As part of the evacuation, Johnson Space Center in Houston handed off control of the International Space Station to their Russian counterparts. Concerns had been raised over

16050-581: The road by the deadline, though many returned home and waited until early the next morning after encountering severe traffic delays. Southern Cameron Parish residents, used to frequent evacuations, were gone by noon on Thursday; when parish officials returned to the Hwy. 27 "Gibbstown Bridge" that crosses the Intracoastal Canal into Lower Cameron Parish two days later in preparation of damage inspection and rescue of any stranded or injured residents, no one

16200-466: The same percentage of pecan trees suffered similar fates. The water treatment plant in Port Neches was heavily damaged. Governor Rick Perry declared a nine-county disaster area as a result of the significant damage in those communities. In Galveston, Texas , parts of the coast not protected by the sea wall experienced minor storm-surge flooding. At the height of Rita's landfall, a fire broke out in

16350-413: The school. Facilities include the 10,080-seat Montagne Center , the eight-story Mary and John Gray Library , and the 16,000-seat Provost Umphrey Stadium . Cardinal Village is the university's community of apartment-style dormitories, part of Lamar University's investment in student life on campus. As of 2010, there were five "Phases" of Cardinal Village with the capacity to house 2,500 students. During

16500-514: The southeast Bahamas. By 1500 UTC on September 20, all watches and warnings for the islands were discontinued as Rita moved into the Gulf of Mexico . Residents in the Bahamas were urged to board up their homes and stock up on emergency supplies. At least one shelter was opened and schools throughout the country were closed. The Nassau International Airport was also closed due to the storm on September 19 and would remain closed until

16650-528: The southern shores of the Lower Keys. Observed rainfall accumulations in the Keys reached 2–4 in (51–102 mm), though radar estimates suggested accumulations may have exceeded 6 in (150 mm) in parts of the Upper Keys. Accumulations may have also exceeded 10 in (250 mm) within a 20 mi (32 km) wide swath over southwestern Miami-Dade County and Monroe County, Florida . Homes and businesses were damaged by storm surge in

16800-490: The state amounted to $ 14.5 million. An F1 tornado killed one person after tossing a mobile home into the air and destroying it. Two other occupants sustained serious injuries. Another F1 tornado struck a mobile home park, destroying eleven homes, injuring seven people and leaving $ 2 million in damages. Six F2 tornadoes touched down in Mississippi. One of these tracked for nearly 18 miles (29 km) and grew to

16950-465: The state border between Louisiana and Texas , radar imagery indicated that the storm soon lacked winds of tropical storm-force. Therefore, the NHC classified the system as a tropical depression while it was over Arkansas by 06:00 UTC on September 25, shortly before it turned northeastward ahead of an approaching frontal boundary . Early the next day, the depression lost much of its convection over southeastern Illinois , and degenerated into

17100-617: The state near where Rita made landfall was undeniably the worst impacted region in Louisiana. In Cameron Parish , the damage was catastrophic, particularly along the coastline and north to the Intracoastal Waterway. Coastal storm surge was estimated around 18 ft (5.5 m), with lower levels farther inland from the coast, yet much of north-western and north-central Cameron Parish experienced significant flooding. The southern Cameron Parish communities of Cameron, Creole, Grand Chenier, Holly Beach, Johnson Bayou, Little Chenier, and Oak Grove were either heavily devastated or entirely wiped out by

17250-411: The state news agency. Rita's maximum sustained winds reached 100 mph (160 km/h) when the storm made its closest approach to Key West at around 18:00 UTC on September 20, making Rita at the time a Category 2 hurricane. The strongest winds associated with Rita remained south of the Florida Keys , though hurricane-force winds may have briefly affected the southernmost parts of

17400-419: The state of the oil industry in response to Rita. The storm threatened a large amount of oil infrastructure that was left undamaged by Katrina . The Texas Gulf Coast is home to 23% of the United States' refining capacity, and numerous offshore production platforms were in Rita's path. A direct strike on Houston could disable more than a quarter of the United States' fuel-making capacity. Valero Energy Corp ,

17550-407: The state's highway system had become gridlocked . The Texas Department of Transportation was unprepared to execute such a large-scale evacuation. Coordination and implementation of the contraflow plan took 8 to 10 hours as inbound traffic was forced to exit. Police were stationed to assist with traffic flow. Evacuees fought traffic Wednesday afternoon through mid-day Friday, moving only a fraction of

17700-663: The state. In Adams County , winds caused several trees to fall on homes in Natchez , leaving $ 270,000 in damage. In Warren County, a mobile home was destroyed after a tree was downed by high winds. An unusually large amount of tornadoes touched down in the state due to Rita, with 49 confirmed in Mississippi alone. The size of the tornado outbreak ranked it as the largest recorded by the National Weather Service office in Jackson . Damage from tornadoes alone in

17850-753: The storm surge that traveled up the Calcasieu Ship Channel from the coast was estimated to be up to 8 ft (2.4 m). A casino boat secured at the north end of the lake, and several barges secured at the Port of Lake Charles, broke free from their moorings, floating loose until running into the Interstate 10 bridge over the Calcasieu River, causing minor damage. Other areas of Lake Charles also experienced severe flooding, with reports of water rising 6–8 feet, at one point inundating

18000-418: The storm surge, with nearly 95% of homes, businesses, and infrastructure completely destroyed. Closer to the Intracoastal Waterway, communities shared a similar fate; Big Lake, Deatonville, Gibbstown and Hackberry were all devastated or heavily damaged. In Hackberry, an unofficial wind gust of 180 mph was recorded on a boat tied up to a local dock. Above the Intracoastal Waterway in northern Cameron Parish,

18150-642: The storm, over 175,000 people had lost power in the National Weather Service Shreveport's forecast area, mainly across Deep East Texas into northwest Louisiana. Two fatalities occurred in the Ark-La-Tex . A tree fell on one person; the other fatality occurred when a teenager was electrocuted when picking up a "hot" power line. Shreveport recorded its 2nd lowest pressure ever recorded as the center of Rita moved through Shreveport around 6 p.m. Saturday evening. The pressure recorded

18300-425: The summer of 1955, Versie Jackson and Henry Cooper Jr. became the lead plaintiffs of a class action lawsuit, Jackson v. McDonald, which sought to end Lamar's policy of racial segregation. Lamar Cecil , federal judge, ruled on July 30, 1956, that Lamar's "white youth" only admissions policy was unconstitutional, and that September, a total of twenty-six black students were admitted to the college amid violent protests at

18450-598: The summer of 2011, all five phases of Cardinal Village were renamed for previously demolished residence halls on campus: Phase I – Gentry Hall, Phase II – Morris Hall, Phase III – Combs Hall, Phase IV – Campbell Hall, and Phase V – Monroe Hall The tallest structure on campus at eight stories, the Mary and John Gray Library holds extensive physical and digital collections, including 395,003 physical books, 99,548 e-books and 142 digital databases, and provides access to current journal content from 48,851 journals. On November 22, 2021,

18600-449: The top ten most intense Atlantic hurricanes in terms of barometric pressure ever recorded (along with Wilma and Katrina ), Rita was the seventeenth named storm, tenth hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of the 2005 season . It was also the earliest-forming 17th named storm in the Atlantic until Tropical Storm Rene in 2020. Rita formed near The Bahamas from a tropical wave on September 18, 2005, that originally developed off

18750-400: The tropical wave slowly became better organized and was first noted in the NHC's Tropical Weather Outlooks on September 15 while northeast of Puerto Rico . The wave merged with the surface trough two days later, triggering an increase in convective activity and organization. A subsequent decrease in wind shear enabled additional organization, and at 00:00  UTC on September 18,

18900-489: The university announced Texas Legislature approval of $ 44.9 million in capital construction assistance toward expansion and improvements to the library. The planning phase for the three-year project began in 2022. The Sheila Umphrey Recreational Sports Center was completed for $ 19 million. The construction included renovation of the McDonald Gym , which had previously served as the university's sports center and home of

19050-461: The university completed construction on Cardinal Village IV, a $ 16 million expansion of its residence halls. The university completed construction of Cardinal Village Phase V in August 2010 bringing on-campus housing capacity to 2,500 students. The university, in anticipation of the return of the football program in 2010, renovated and upgraded Provost Umphrey Stadium (formerly Cardinal Stadium) and

19200-618: The university's Active and Collaborative Engagement for Students (ACES) Program. The ACES program is designed to provide support to high-risk students and integrate active learning methods into all core courses at LU. The university also provides secondary education through the Texas Academy for Leadership in the Humanities , stateu.com and the Texas Governor's School . In the summer of 2009, Lamar University partnered with

19350-487: The vast quantities of oil discovered at Spindletop first made possible the use of oil as an inexpensive, lightweight and efficient fuel to propel the world into the 20th Century. The reconstruction of Gladys City was a Bicentennial project of the Lucas Gusher Monument Commission. Lamar University dedicated the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum on January 10, 1976, the 75th anniversary of

19500-407: The vehicle's rear axle overheated due to insufficient lubrication. According to a resident near the site of the accident, there were three explosions. Many of the passengers were mobility-impaired making escape difficult or impossible. In June 2009, nearly four years after the fire, families of those who died in the accident won an $ 80 million settlement against the manufacturer of the bus and

19650-542: The wake of looting following Hurricane Katrina. The evacuation included transfer of all inpatients from the University of Texas Medical Branch hospital to other regional hospitals. 400 patients were prisoners under the ward of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice . These patients were systematically transferred to the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler. Officials of Harris County hoped that

19800-425: The way up to the communities of Abbeville , Gueydan , and Lake Arthur . The 10 ft (3.0 m) surge completely flooded Pecan Island , Intracoastal City , and Delcambre . Nearly all of the structures on Pecan Island were destroyed. Rescue efforts were undertaken for up to 1,000 people stranded by local flooding. On Saturday, September 24 alone, 250 people were rescued. However, the southwestern region of

19950-531: Was 17,850 students. Lamar University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and named for Mirabeau B. Lamar , the second president of the Republic of Texas. The university campus has an urban setting and the core campus of LU is 299-plus acres. LU is organized into five undergraduate colleges, one graduate college and an honors college. Louis R. Pietzsch founded

20100-477: Was 29.05 inches of mercury (984 mb) which was only .01 inch higher than the lowest pressure on record of 29.04 inches back on February 27, 1902. In Mississippi , Rita produced widespread rainfall upon its landfall in Louisiana; however, most of the rain fell early on September 25 as a band of heavy rain developed over parts of western Mississippi, northeast Louisiana and southern Arkansas, resulting in up to 10 in (250 mm) of rain around

20250-737: Was Patillo Higgins laughingly called the “Millionaire.” Practically overnight, thousands of sightseers, speculators, promoters, fortune seekers and “boomers” poured into Beaumont as news of the discovery spread. Gladys City was only one of the several concentrations of buildings that sprang up on Spindletop Hill. Businesses and residences were also located in the “Spindle Top,” Hogg-Swayne, Keith-Ward and Yellow Pine districts. By 1902, 285 active wells were operating on Spindletop Hill. More than 600 oil companies had been chartered. Although most vanished overnight, some such as Texas Company (Texaco), J.M. Guffey Petroleum Company (Gulf), Magnolia Petroleum Company (Mobil) and Sun Oil Company went on to become giants of

20400-637: Was available at Spindletop. Capt. George Washington O’Brien had known of the possibility of producing oil from Spindletop Hill as early as 1865 and had acquired more than 1,000 acres of the John Allen Veatch survey in 1888. Higgins interested his friend George W. Carroll in purchasing the other major portion of the Veatch survey. In 1892, the men decided to pool their interests and formed the Gladys City Oil, Gas and Manufacturing Company. It

20550-530: Was breached. Some people were stranded in flooded communities and had to be rescued by boat. At least 100 people were reported rescued from rooftops. Already devastated by Hurricane Katrina , the Industrial Canal in New Orleans was again flooded by Hurricane Rita as the recently-and-hurriedly-repaired levees were breached once more. In south-central Vermilion Parish , storm surge reached all

20700-564: Was chosen as head coach for the football program. Aided by a major gift from an anonymous donor, the football field now bears the name W.S. "Bud" Leonard Field, named for a former player and longtime Lamar advocate and regent. After twenty seasons without a football team, the Lamar University Cardinals returned to the gridiron on September 4, 2010 , and compiled a 5–6 record. The Cardinals opened Southland Conference play in 2011 . The return of football to Lamar University

20850-561: Was completed in 2024 offering a new modern look for faculty, staff, students and community to enjoy. The Setzer Student Center, known colloquially as "The SET", hosts social and cultural activities throughout the year and is the hub for campus student organizations. During the Spring 2012 semester, the Student Government Association, led by then-president Andrew Greenberg, passed a student-wide referendum to finance

21000-415: Was in part due to a major donation from Beaumont-based law firm Provost Umphrey. To help renovate the stadium, Walter Umphrey and his wife Sheila also made a personal donation; it is now Provost Umphrey Stadium . In December 2016, Mike Schultz was named the program's second head coach since its return. After recording just one winning record in its first nine seasons since being brought back, Schultz guided

21150-545: Was known to have remained. Texas Governor Rick Perry recalled all emergency personnel, including almost 1,200 Texas National Guard , 1,100 Texas State Guard , and several hundred Texas Game Wardens from Katrina recovery efforts in anticipation of Hurricane Rita's arrival. In addition, the Federal Government deployed 11 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs), staging them in mobile field hospitals across eastern Texas. The teams treated 7500 patients during

21300-564: Was located on Spindletop salt dome in South Beaumont. Lamar competes in the Southland Conference in NCAA Division I athletics for all of its varsity sports and at the NCAA Division I (FCS) subdivision level in football. Lamar has participated in practically every level of collegiate athletics from its inception as a junior college in 1923 to its gaining university status in 1971. The men's and women's teams are named

21450-518: Was not restored in some areas across the region for weeks to even months. Cities in the "Golden Triangle" formed by Beaumont , Port Arthur , and Orange, TX sustained extensive wind damage, whether directly from wind or collaterally from wind-fallen trees, tree branches and other detritus. In Beaumont, an estimated 25% of the trees in neighborhoods across the city were uprooted or heavily damaged, and in Groves (home of "The Texas Pecan Festival"), about

21600-492: Was often seen dancing there in the moonlight. The Spindletop salt dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of Jurassic age. In 1889, Pattillo Higgins, a young Beaumont man, became interested in the possibility that Spindletop Hill covered a vast pool of oil. Higgins was a self-taught geologist and from his extensive studies and observation of surface indications, he concluded that an abundance of cheap fuel

21750-535: Was oil at Spindletop and leased land from the Gladys City Company in 1899. When his first attempt failed, Lucas was ready to quit until his wife urged him to seek outside financing and try again. Lucas went to the famous Pittsburgh wildcatting team of James Guffey and John Galey. They were interested in Lucas’ prospects and approached Andrew Mellon for money to continue operations. Guffey and Galey hired

21900-412: Was one of the earliest oil companies incorporated in Texas. Their plan was to find oil and use it to develop a model industrial city called Gladys City. Higgins named the town and the company for his Sunday school pupil, Gladys Bingham. The Gladys City Company was the first oil company to drill on Spindletop Hill in 1893 with no success. They tried again in 1895 and in 1896, failing each time because of

22050-612: Was previously known as the S'Park Plug and the Red Bird before becoming the University Press in recognition of Lamar gaining university status in 1971. 91.3 FM KVLU public radio is an NPR affiliate station broadcasting throughout southeast Texas. It is licensed to Lamar University with studios located on campus and a transmitter site located in Rose City. Launched in 1974, the station operates independently and features

22200-491: Was severe, and authorities warned returning residents that restoration of services to some areas would take weeks to months. In the western Calcasieu parish communities of Vinton and Starks, wind damage was also severe. The roof was torn off of the Vinton Recreation Center, and many homes were damaged by fallen trees and utility poles. Damaged utility towers made power restoration problematic, with much of

22350-424: Was sustained by 14,256 additional single-family dwellings, and another 26,211 single-family dwellings received minor damage. Mobile homes and apartments also sustained significant damage or total destruction. In all, nine Texas counties and five Louisiana Parishes were declared disaster areas after the storm. Electric service was disrupted in some areas of both Texas and Louisiana for several weeks. Texas reported

22500-629: Was turned off at noon on September 19 to protect transformers, this also led to the disruption of natural gas lines. A large-scale preparation was put in place by the Ministry of Health in Cuba. A total of 14,859 medical personnel were mobilized to quickly assist residents impacted by Rita. The personnel consisted of 3,767 doctors, 5,143 nurses, 2,139 specialists, 1,072 health officials, and 2,738 other staff members. A total of 519 vehicles were also mobilized; it included 241 ambulances, 36 trucks, 21 panels, and 221 other vehicles. Throughout northern Cuba,

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