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The Tyrrell
Historical Library
Beaumont, Texas
695 Pearl Street
A. N. Dawson, Architect
Built in 1903 as the First Baptist Church
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The
most eye-catching building in downtown Beaumont
is the Tyrrell Library. Constructed in 1903 as the First Baptist Church
of Beaumont, it replaced a red brick church that had previously occupied
the site.
The rough-quarried limestone exterior instantly reminds the first-time
viewer of a medieval castle (with stained-glass windows). The building
is an example of Richardsonian design. Professor Jay C. Henry in his
book Texas Architecure 1895 - 1945 states that it might pass for Richardsonian
Romanesque "were two great Gothic windows not used to light the sanctuary."
We were about to say the same thing. |
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Postcard of
the building when it was still the First Baptist Church
Courtesy
THC
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The
Tyrrell Historical Library tower
Photo by John
Troesser, 5-03 |
Twenty
years after it was built, the Baptist congregation had outgrown the
church and so it was put on the market. Captain William C. Tyrrell
purchased the building, stained-glass windows and all, and donated
it to the city for use as a public library - an act that almost certainly
saved it from eventual destruction. It has retained the name Tyrrell
but has since become a historical and genealogical research library.
© John Troesser
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Tyrrell Public
Library
My
Brief Stroll Down the Tobacco Road by Frances Giles
The Tyrrell Public Library in Beaumont, Texas during the years of
my childhood was the site of many happy hours spent browsing for
books to read...more
Subject:
My First Visit
I must have been about ten, and a student at St Anthony's Grammar
School. We had been studing about Libraries and how they worked,
and that must have peaked my interest in books something that had
not been apparent before. It must have been 1938 and a saturday
so I highed myself by foot the twelve or fifteen block downtown
to the Tyrell Library.
It is an expoerience that is seared into my memory even today. I
entered the massive doors in front and I distintly remember that
when I stepped inside the floor squeeked, and there was a smell
that I can still smell today, but for the live of me cannot describe.
Dust particles hung in the diffused light clear up to the vaulted
ceiling like a gentle London fog.
As I hestantly walked furthur in to the huge open room out of the
fog emirged a large figure dressed in black and scramed at me "What
do you want young man?". It later turned out that she was not large,
only about 5 feet tall, not dressed in black, it was grey and didn't
scream. But my heart was pounding and I was speachless, something
my parents would find hard to believe.
I finally sputtered out the name of the book I wanted and she took
me in tow and found it for me and then asked me for a library card.
It was at that point that I knew the dream was about to shatter.
What Library card, I didn't know anything about cards. That was
the catch, they said it was a free library but you to have a card
and you had to buy it and it probably cost a dollar or more. I guped
real hard and confessed that I didn't have one. At that point she
won my heart forever by saying "That's alright Hugh come with me
to the checkout desk fill out this little form and I will type one
up for you." She must have really like me because she spent
the next fifteen minutes explaining how books are our friends and
we never turn down their ears or write on their pages and we always
return them a day early so that others can also enjoy them.
She lauched me on a wonderious journey of the printed page that
has lasted til today. I am now 82 and as long as my eyes hold out
I will continue my treak into the unkown. - Hugh Nini, Sr., February
06, 2011
Subject:
Library comment
In your introductory photo of Beaumont,
I see the tower of the old Tyrrell Public Library in the foreground.
When we moved to Beaumont in June of 1968, I was nine. Our house
was only the second one to be built on our block so there weren't
any other kids to play with. My mother would take us to the library
every week.
The library was in an old church downtown next to the city auditorium.
The children's collection was in the turret room at the top of winding
stairs. On one of the landings was a glass display case with a vintage
doll collection. I always had to stop and admire all of the dolls.
They were historical figures in elaborate costumes and I loved the
detail and colors of the fabric.
I got my first library card, a pale blue one with a metal ID number.
Children were limited to eight books. A feminist at an early age,
I loved the biography series for children which included famous
women. I read about Marie Curie, Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth
Blackwell, and Babe Didrickson Zaharias - who was actually from
Beaumont and grew up on streets we drove by on our way to the library.
- Anne L. Cook. Austin, October 04, 2004
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Texas
Escapes,
in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas,
asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
and vintage/historic photos, please contact
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