The night before the dedication of the Rainbow Bridge in September 1938, state and local dignitaries gathered for a special dinner at one of the most elegant places in Orange, the Pinehurst Stables owned by Edgar Brown Jr.
“Pinehurst Dinner Boosts Orange Hospitality Stock” and “Span Speakers and Builders Royally Feted” read the headlines in the local newspaper on September 8, 1938.
Brown was a grandson of the timber baron Henry Jacob Lutcher and wife Frances Ann Lutcher. He built a country club and the elaborate stables off the highway known as The Old Spanish Trail, or U.S. Highway 90. The stables were part of his horse farm by the Pinehurst Country Club, according to the book “Picturing Orange” by Dr. Howard Williams.
At the time of the dedication, the bridge was known in Orange as the “Port Arthur-Orange Bridge.” Brown and his wife, Gladys, lived in their mansion on Green Avenue that is now Orange City Hall. After World War II, they built their antebellum-style mansion, Linden, next to his farm property off Highway 90. Today it is the Brown Estate of Lamar State College-Orange.
Pinehurst Stables was an expansive building for raising and training show horses that traveled the country in competitions.
“Southeast Texas people, especially those of Orange, have manifested a very keen interest in the records of these fine animals from Pinehurst Stables, reputed to be the finest and most beautiful in the country,” The Orange Leader reported on November 2, 1936.
Edgar Brown III, the son of Edgar Jr., oversaw the stables, which had professional trainers. On July 25, 1935, the newspaper said “Five of the fine thoroughbred show horses of the E.W. Brown Jr. Pinehurst Stables left by express (train) to tour northern and central states” in competitions at livestock exhibitions and state fairs. The horses competed in “fine harness and saddle racing.”
A horse magazine at the time showed that some of the horses at the stables were names Golden Dreams, Copper King, Favored Son, Proctor Red Light and Estrilieta. The local newspaper often reported horses winning ribbons and trophies at shows.
The dinner at Pinehurst Stables before the bridge opening was held in the club room of the stables with “a bountiful repast,” according to the paper.
“The superior horsemanship of Mrs. E.W. Brown Jr. and the very fine animals that she exhibited constituted a very pleasing feature of the evening’s program. The fact was brought out during the evening that the phaeton drawn by a pair of hackney ponies was an ancient vehicle on the streets of Paris perhaps 100 years ago by ladies of that ancient and quaint city in making afternoon and evening calls. The vehicle shined as brilliantly in this exhibition as it did when it was manufactured some place in Europe,” a reporter wrote.
The Brown family provided other entertainment. “Music furnished by Lutcher Slade Brown, accomplished son of Mr. And Mrs. E.W. Brown, had much to do with the success of the occasion,” the paper said. Slade Brown went on to produce the Tony-award-winning musical “Bye Bye Birdie” on Broadway in 1960.
Edgar Brown Jr. was a son of Dr. Edgar Brown and Carrie Lutcher Brown. The Texas State Historical Association biography reports he was born in 1894. His businesses included Levingston Shipbuilding, Gulfport Shipbuilding and Higman Towing.
His passion for horses and ranching drew him to be a big supporter of the Houston Fat Stock Show, later named the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show. He served as a director of the program and was named a life member. In 1974, the entire show was dedicated to him. His contributions to the show and the Houston area brought the Variety Club of Houston to name him Man of the Year in 1967 for his philanthropy.
Brown died in 1976. A fire destroyed the Pinehurst Stables in 1980.
Social Media