End of tidewater navigation of Neches River; called Grant's Bluff in 1840, when Niles F. Smith laid out town and Simon Wiess (1800-68) built wharf and warehouses to ship area products downriver. Post office, established in 1847 at Pattillo's, in Jefferson County, was moved here July 21, 1853. Area flourished about 1885, when J. G. Smyth & Co. built tram roads into forest and began to cut timber. Beaumont Lumber Co. bought out Smyth in 1888. As good timberland dwindled after 1900, local population declined. The Wiess Bluff Post Office closed Sept. 15, 1908.