Groves

History

In 1886, Sam Courville moved his family from a Sabine Lake settlement in Port Arthur to a new home on of land. In that general area around 1911, John Warne Gates purchased additional tracts of land. The land was conveyed to the Griffing brothers of Port Arthur in 1916, and three years later Griffing Brothers Nursery employee Wiley Choate supervised the planting of several thousand pecan trees on a tract. A post office was established in 1927, a school opened in 1929, and a public library opened in 1930. The community rapidly developed as a stop on the Kansas City Southern Railway. By the early 1950s, Groves had an estimated population of 1,300. In 1952, Groves voted to incorporate as a city. Rapid population growth followed, surpassing 17,000 in the 1960 census and reaching 18,067 by 1970. During the rest of the 20th century, the population slowly declined. In 2000, Groves was the fourth-largest city in Jefferson County, after Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Nederland.

Geography

Groves is in eastern Jefferson County, southeast of downtown Beaumont. The city of Port Arthur borders Groves on three sides (southeast, southwest, and northeast), while Port Neches lies to the northwest. Three State Highways—73, 87, and 347—pass through or near the city. Sabine Lake, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico, is to the southeast. According to the United States Census Bureau, Groves has an area of , of which , or 0.28%, is water. Most of the city sits at an elevation of above sea level.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,482
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,762
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,447
• White-winged Dove

  Zenaida asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,412
• Great Egret

  Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,409
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,287
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,259
• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  1,234