Viterbo

Viterbo is on the Southern Pacific railroad and West Port Arthur Road seven miles south of Beaumont in central Jefferson County. The railroad stop, established sometime after 1898, was named after J. and L. Viterbo, rice farmers of Italian descent who came to Texas from the area of Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1895, seeking cheaper land prices. They purchased a 1,600-acre tract north of Hillebrandt Bayou. Using a steam pumping plant for irrigation, the Viterbo farm had planted 800 acres of rice within twenty months and served as a model for developers seeking to promote the agricultural prospects of Southeast Texas. Although hurt by a subsequent decline of the local rice industry, the farm was still listed on a 1928 Corps of Engineers topographical map. As of the 1970s the area was crisscrossed with irrigation ditches, canals, and pumping stations, and the former railroad stop of Viterbo lay across the highway from a residential development, Beauxart Gardens.

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Robert Wooster | © TSHA

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Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Belongs to

Viterbo is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

No

Place type

Viterbo is classified as a Town

Location

Latitude: 29.95576990
Longitude: -94.04295380

Has Post Office

No

Is Incorporated

No