The property reflects the evolution of Bolivar Peninsula as a farm community and summer resort, co-populated by year-round farming residents and part-time vacationers.
FOUNDING OF COMMUNITY
Bolivar Peninsula is a sand bar that runs 27 miles long in a northeasterly direction and is about 3 1/4 miles at its widest point. The south or beach-side of the peninsula fronts the Gulf of Mexico. The north or backside faces Galveston Bay. The length of the peninsula is bisected by the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway on the bayside, and by the two-lane State Highway 87.
Once inhabited by Atakapan-speaking Indians, the peninsula was well-known to explorers, hunters, and fishermen by the early nineteenth century. By the 1840s, lands were being acquired for ranching and farming use -- activities encouraged by Galveston's growth both as a city and a port across the bay. Following the 1901 Spindletop oil discovery, Bolivar Peninsula offered the closest desirable beach for wealthy Beaumontians to have vacation houses. "The Breakers" property fits within these dual development patterns.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROPERTY
In 1884-85, Terrence Meche built the farmhouse that eventually became "The Breakers." Galveston County tax records document that by the early 1880s, Meche, who was born in 1850 in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, was grazing cattle and living on rented land on Bolivar Peninsula -- a groundrenter's status he shared with many other individuals in the area.
In 1884, Meche married, then purchased 148 1/2 acres from two adjoining tracts on the peninsula. Two years later, he is assessed not only for land and livestock but also for the first time, for improvements, suggesting that construction of the frame house probably straddled the years 1884-85. Oral tradition credits Meche as builder of the house.
THE GREAT HURRICANE OF 1900
Sometime in the late 1890s, the Meche family moved to an adjoining county. Their abandoned farmhouse was one of the few buildings on Bolivar Peninsula that suffered only minor damage in the great hurricane on September 8, 1900.
PURCHASE BY THE GORDON FAMILY
After Meche died in 1904, his widow reclaimed and sold the property in 1905 to W.D. Gordon and Marrs McLean. William Durr Gordon was a lawyer who with his wife Ruth McLean Gordon, moved to Beaumont following the Spindletop oil discovery in 1901.
Eventually, the property was used exclusively as a summer retreat by the Gordon family and is now owned and maintained by Barbara Gordon McNeill and her Lawyer-Rancher husband, Alan McNeill. They also farm a 40 acre Pecan Grove. Barbara holds a B.S. in Nursing from T.C.U. and Alan has degrees from University of Texas. They have restored three 19th century buildings, two of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
SUMMARY OF PRESERVATION EFFORTS
Over the years, the Gordon family has maintained the property and enjoyed its continuous us as a beach house. The alterations that they have made have respected the building architecturally. Essentially, the building as seen today is the same as photographed in 1937 with only minor changes.
Most of the furniture is original to the house - iron beds, twin beds, rocking chairs and three wonderful swinging beds on the sleeping porches.
Old quilts and rag rugs decorate the beds and old wood floors. Ceiling fans, heating, air conditioning and additional showers have been added. There is a large south and north deck for viewing sunrises and sunsets.
