The area known as Port Neches was once inhabited by tribes of the coastal-dwelling Karankawa and Atakapa Native Americans.

Smith's Bluff (the future site of Sun Oil and Union Oil of California riverside property) and Grigsby's Bluff (now Port Neches) were the only two high land bluffs on the Neches River south of Beaumont, whose name is believed to have been derived from the Caddo word "Nachawi", meaning "wood of the bow", after Spanish settlers called it Río Neches.

[5] Before 1780, Grigsby's Bluff, specifically that part of Port Neches immediately east of Port Neches Park, had been a Native American town for at least 1,500 years, at first of the Karankawa tribe, whose 7-foot (210 cm) skeletons were often found in the burial mounds there; and after 1650 of the Nacazils, a sub-tribe of the Attakapas, who were a short and stocky people before their extinction about 1780.

Its guns, munitions, and stores were moved to the then-unfinished Fort Griffin,[7] the site of the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, often credited as the most one-sided Confederate victory of the American Civil War.

In 2003, his son, W. T. Block Jr., was appointed a Knight of the Royal Order of Orange-Nassau for his work in reconstructing the history of Dutch settlers in the area.

[citation needed] The greater Neches River Basin is an attraction for fishing, hunting, birding, and boating.

[10][11] The blasts started a chemical fire that prompted a mandatory evacuation of approximately 60,000 residents from several nearby cities.

The next day air monitors posted elevated levels of butadiene, prompting a second evacuation.

[20] The Port Neches-Groves Independent School District has a long history involving its continued use of their mascot, the Indians, despite years of controversy and calls of racism.

During the performance at the park, the team shouted chants of "Scalp 'em" and enacted simulated war dances.

[24] After the performance, Cherokee Nation's Principal Chief, Chuck Hoskin Jr, released a statement once again requesting that the school remove the mascot stating: "Port Neches-Groves Independent School District continues to use offensive and stereotypical depictions of our tribe, and this is yet again exampled by their cheer team recently in Orlando.

For the past couple of years, we have written to the Port Neches superintendent and school board asking them to cease using this offensive imagery, chanting, symbolism and other practices in their school traditions as this does nothing but dishonor us and all Native American tribes who are making great strides in this country.