Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Vidor, TX

Vidor was founded in 1898 in western Orange County and grew up around the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railroad, which arrived in the area about 1896 to haul out the region's abundant pine timber.

The town is named for Charles Shelton Vidor of Galveston, a lumber magnate who co-founded the Miller-Vidor Timber Company on the site of the present city.

Lumber was Vidor's chief industry from 1913 until 1924, when the Miller-Vidor company moved its operations to Lakeview.

Vidor nearly died out after the timber boom - by 1920 its population had fallen to just 50 people - before a late-1920s subdivision revival and post-World War II growth brought it back.

Vidor was not incorporated until 1960, and it became a home rule city in 1967.

Vidor's population peaked at 11,834 in 1980 and stood at 9,789 at the 2020 census.

Vidor has around 3,937 households, about 70% of its homes are owner-occupied, and its median household income is about $62,192.

Vidor functions mainly as a bedroom community for the refining and petrochemical complexes of nearby Beaumont and Port Arthur, and it is part of the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area.

The city sits at the junction of Interstate 10 and Farm to Market Road 105, about 6 miles northeast of Beaumont near the Neches River.

In August 1976 the Georgetown Texas Steel Corporation opened a $100 million steel mill in the Vidor area along the Neches River.