(The following story by Paul S. Martinez appeared on The Beaumont Enterprise website on February 11.)
SILSBEE, Texas — Allen James Scott, 86, proudly pointed out his father sitting on top of a locomotive in an old black and white photo from the 1920s.
His father’s task was building and maintaining the Santa Fe Railroad hub at the foot of the Piney Woods that would transport cargo such as paper, lumber, petrol products and other Southeast Texas products in all directions.
The history of the railroad – more specifically the early black employees – is the subject of a Black History Month special exhibit at the Ice House Museum and Cultural Center in Silsbee.
The exhibit features people like Ollie “Smiley’ R. Holmes who became the first black train conductor in 1965 and Rhonda Hollis Dyson who became the first female black train conductor in 1975.
Scott worked for the Santa Fe Rail for 40 years, starting as chair car attendant and eventually becoming a conductor before retiring in 1983.
“I think the train is special because it allowed me to provide for my family,” the grandfather of ten said.
The railroad hub was originally built by John Henry Kirby, an early Southeast Texas entrepreneur, as a means to transport his products.
Kirby secured financing from Bostonian investor Nathaniel Silsbee, thus the name of the town where the railroad hub was built.
Not long after its completion, Kirby sold the understructure to the Santa Fe Railroad.
The railroad shaped the early history of town. A picture dated 1903 in the exhibit shows the first school in Silsbee – a couple donated box cars.
Scott’s father, Fred Scott, was one of the men who came to work at the railroad early in the 1900s.
He was a janitor and a messenger, Scott recalled.
So it continued for about another half century. Before the civil rights movement of 1965, blacks were only allowed to do the more medial jobs, such as brakeman or a switcher.
Once given the opportunity, blacks would excel as train conductors and other upper-level positions as the exhibit demonstrates.
Sam Bean, legendary Beaumont civil rights leader, was an early black conductor before losing both legs in an accident in 1977.
Walter Land, 66, currently an assistant city judge in Silsbee, also was a conductor.
The Santa Fe Railroad has merged with other companies twice and Silsbee is no longer a train hub, but the railroads still provide many good-paying jobs, Land said.
The exhibit is about the people who laid down the foundation for the industry that exists today.
“This (industry) didn’t just happen,” Land said. “It was built on the backs of many people, and that’s who we are trying to recognize.”