City of Three Rivers history

Jacob McInterfer, who arrived in 1828 and established his home, was followed by several other families.

The village of "Lockport" was platted in 1836 and in the same year, Hon.

Live Oak County traces its history to 1856 when it was officially organized.

Due to stagecoach traffic travel, Gallatin City (#1) gradually moved two miles south and across the river to Gallatin City (#2). Montana became a Territory in 1864 with nine counties.

On March 11, 1865 Gallatin City actually became the original seat of Gallatin County.

The seat was lost just two years later to Bozeman on January 25, 1867.

The old Akins hotel, built in 1869, is still standing at the visitor station of the Headwaters State Park.

In 1871, this city annexed Lockport.

Paul and Hanley sold their lands in Bridgeville in 1882, to a group of Englishmen who settled the area and platted the entire town, officially calling it Three Forks.

By 1907, Chicago, Milwaukee and St Paul Railway reached Three Forks’ (again one mile south of the townsite). John Q. Adams, proprietor of the Milwaukee Land Company, founded Three Forks.

The Milwaukee Railroad offered an excursion train from Chicago to Three Forks for a public auction lot sale on September 17, 1908.

Three Forks was officially incorporated on February 23, 1911, with their first mayor and four alderman elected.

Three Rivers traces its beginnings to July 4, 1913 with a grand opening and first sale of land by Charles R. Tips.

The county seat was in Oakville until January 1919 when the citizens voted to move it to George West.

The establishment of the Three Rivers Glass Company in 1922 was one of the most significant chapters in Three Rivers’ history.

Today Three Rivers is a prosperous community of 2,000, many of whom work at the Three Rivers-Valero Refinery, originally Three Rivers Refinery started in 1933, or the Federal Bureau of Prisons Correctional Institution.

Although the company had financial ups and downs it managed to capture a major share of the Texas commercial glassware market before its sale to a major competitor in 1937 and its ultimate closure.

A Benedictine monastery of the Episcopal Church, known as the St Gregory's Abbey, was established in Three Rivers in 1946.

First opened in 1948, the theater was the hang-out for two generations of Three Rivers’ families–the venue for countless first dates and dreams of yesteryear.

The theater closed in 1981.

When the first frames of “Pearl Harbor” flickered across the Rialto’s big screen on June 22, 2001, it was the culmination of months of planning and hard work–not to mention the dreams of many in the small town of Three Rivers.