Why visit Sour Lake
Townapedia lists 1 park or trail, 7 places to eat and 1 place to stay in and around town.
August is the warmest month, with average highs of 93°F; January lows average 42°F.
Weather in Sour Lake
Forecast from the National Weather Service. Full forecast
About Sour Lake
Sour Lake is a city in Hardin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,773 at the 2020 census. It was originally named "Sour Lake Springs", after the sulphurous spring water that flowed into the nearby lake. The city is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From the Wikipedia article Sour Lake, Texas (this version), under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Parks, trails and playgrounds1
Restaurants and cafes7
Where to stay1
Churches and places of worship8
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History
Sour Lake was first settled around 1835 when the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas granted Stephen Jackson one league of land covering 4,428 acres (17.92 km2) by land grant. Sam Houston visited Sour Lake in his later years. The town is home to one of the biggest sinkholes in Texas.
Sour Lake became a short-lived boomtown with the discovery of oil in 1901, shortly after oil was found at the nearby Spindletop salt dome. It is known as the birthplace of Texaco. Formed in 1903, the Texas Company (Texaco's former corporate name) is one of the three major oil companies that can trace its origins to the oil fields around Southeast Texas. The Sour Lake oilfield produced about 90,000,000 barrels (14,000,000 m3) of oil up to 1948, when it was producing about 3,500 barrels (560 m3) daily and new drilling was still underway. Today the Sour Lake oilfield is the oldest continuously producing oil field in the world.
The town of Atcheson in Bruce McCandless's 2012 novel Sour Lake appears to be based at least loosely on the real Sour Lake. Atcheson, like the real-life Sour Lake, is situated in the Big Thicket and experienced a short-lived oil boom in early years of the 20th century. Yvette Benavides, in a San Antonio Express-News review of the book, noted, "There is a lot that is historically factual in this novel. That's part of the fun of reading Sour Lake."
From the History section of Sour Lake, Texas on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Shopping3
Gas and EV charging3
Schools, colleges and libraries5
Healthcare1
Brookshire Brothers Pharmacy
Clinic and pharmacy
285 State Highway 105, Sour Lake
Map of Sour Lake
29 places. The map loads OpenStreetMap tiles when you open it.
Climate by month
Monthly table
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 62°F | 42°F | 4.8 in |
| Feb | 66°F | 46°F | 3.6 in |
| Mar | 72°F | 53°F | 3.9 in |
| Apr | 78°F | 59°F | 3.6 in |
| May | 85°F | 67°F | 5.1 in |
| Jun | 90°F | 73°F | 7.6 in |
| Jul | 92°F | 74°F | 5.4 in |
| Aug | 93°F | 74°F | 6.4 in |
| Sep | 88°F | 69°F | 6.5 in |
| Oct | 81°F | 60°F | 5.3 in |
| Nov | 71°F | 50°F | 4.7 in |
| Dec | 64°F | 44°F | 5.0 in |
U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 for Beaumont Rsch Ctr (8 mi away), NOAA NCEI.
People and cost of living
American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020-2024, U.S. Census Bureau. Estimates have margins of error, larger for small towns.
Disaster history
Hardin County has had 24 federal disaster declarations since 2000, most often for hurricanes.
- 2024-07-09: Hurricane Beryl (Hurricane)
- 2024-05-17: Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding (Flood)
- 2021-02-19: Severe Winter Storms (Severe Ice Storm)
- 2021-02-14: Severe Winter Storm (Severe Ice Storm)
- 2020-08-24: Tropical Storms Marco And Laura (Hurricane)
- 2020-03-25: Covid-19 Pandemic (Biological)
OpenFEMA disaster declarations summaries.
Getting there and nearby towns
Beaumont Municipal Airport (BMT) is the nearest airport with scheduled flights listed in OpenStreetMap, 12 miles away.
- Lumberton 14 mi northeast, about 23 min by car
- Beaumont 16 mi east, about 26 min by car
- Kountze 17 mi north, about 27 min by car
- Fannett 17 mi southeast, about 28 min by car
- Central Gardens 25 mi southeast, about 40 min by car
- Beauxart Gardens 25 mi southeast, about 41 min by car
- Nederland 27 mi southeast, about 43 min by car
- Port Neches 29 mi southeast, about 47 min by car
- Groves 32 mi southeast, about 52 min by car
- Port Arthur 35 mi southeast, about 56 min by car
Drive times are estimates from straight-line distance, not routes.
Local news
Headlines from INDB, the NEMICO news database.
Reviews, tips and questions
Loading what members have shared...
Sources and licences
- NCES EDGE (Public domain): public schools
- NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (Public domain): climate by month
- OpenFEMA (Public domain): disaster declarations
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0): places, airports, map data
- U.S. Census Bureau (Public domain): population, income, housing, education, commute
- Wikidata (CC0 1.0): elevation, founding date, time zone, website
- Wikimedia Commons (see each image): photos
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0): overview and history text
Photo credits
- Sour Lake, Texas (2014), Nicolas Henderson from Coppell, Texas, CC BY 2.0
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