|
|
Beaumont's
pride is demonstrated by its numerous restorations and a vibrant reclamation
of the downtown area. The Hotel Beaumont, the Tyrrell
Historical Library , the 14 story Art Deco Jefferson
County Courthouse, a beautiful Federal Building and the current
restoration of the Jefferson Theater and Hotel Beaumont makes this
city an example for others.
Parking is not a problem in a downtown that practically shines. Be
sure to check out The
Kyle Block - one of the best examples of Zig Zag architecture
in the state. |
|
|
Crockett
Street
Photo by John Troesser 9-04 |
|
|
View
of the entire Kyle Block looking south
Photo by John Troesser, 5-03 |
| Among
the city's museums are the John J. French Museum, the Gladys City
Boom Town Museum (a full-scale replica of the Spindletop boomtown),
the Texas Energy Museum with a large collection of Thos. Edison mementos
and the Texas Fire Museum - with an excellent collection of vintage
fire-fighting equipment. |
|
|
A view of the library, theater and the railroad bridge over the Neches
River
Photo by John Troesser |
|
|
The Neches
River as seen from Hotel Beaumont
Photo by John Troesser
|
|
|
Aerial view
of the Neches
River and downtown Beaumont
Postcard courtesy Cruse Aviation
|
|
|
The Neches
River in Beaumont
Postcard courtesy Cruse Aviation
|
History
in a Seashell
Beaumont
dates from 1824 when it was known as Tevis Bluff after Noah
and Nancy Tevis - the first settlers. In 1835, Henry Millard and partners
bought the Tevis' property for a planed town. Millard's wife's maiden
name was Beaumont.
The First Congress of the Republic of Texas granted it a charter in
1838 and Beaumont was designated the county seat for Jefferson County.
... Beaumont
History Continued |
Beaumont
History
A
Brief History of Pioneer Entertainment in Beaumont, Texas
by W. T. Block, Jr. ("Cannonball's Tales")
Miss
Rita of Beaumont's Dixie Hotel by John Troesser
The Philanthropic Madam of Oil City
“Godfather
of Beaumont” by Fred B. McKinley
Frank Yount and the Yount-Lee Oil Company, “the Godfather and
Financial Gibraltar of Beaumont.”
Home
of the Cardinals by Archie P. McDonald (from "All
Things Historical" column).
Lamar University in Beaumont
Dick
Dowling by Archie P. McDonald (from "All Things
Historical" column). Sabine Pass' commander, Lieutenant
Richard William Dowling, namesake of the Dick Dowling Junior High
School.
The
Case of Beaumont's Missing Marble Corpse by W. T. Block,
Jr. ("Cannonball's Tales")
It was July of 1901 in Beaumont, and the frenzy of oil excitement
rushed on unabated. Gusher No. 15 had just blown in on the hill,
and each arriving train deposited a new horde of traders and roughnecks,
boomers and hangers-on of every hue in a city that was already smothering
with new population... In the midst of all the oil madness, there
emerged one of the strangest tales ever to unfold in the "sawdust
city," the case of Beaumont's missing corpse that had turned to
stone...
YOCUM'S
INN: The Devil's Own Lodging House by W. T. Block, Jr.
("Cannonball's Tales")
Located on the old Opelousas cattle trail northwest of Beaumont.
"A gentleman's life... held no attraction for Squire Yocum,
a man who literally was nursed almost from the cradle on murder
and rapine, and for many years Yocum's Inn was actually a den of
robbers and killers."
Olive,
Hardin County, Texas
- An Extinct Sawmill Town and the Olive-Sternenberg Partnership
That Built It by W. T. Block, Jr. ("Cannonball's Tales")
"Three miles north of Kountze, in Hardin County, Texas, where
once the burly and towering pine trees shaded the forest floors
beneath them, the town of Olive thrived between 1881 and 1912. It
took its name from Sidney C. Olive of Waco, who was one-half of
the partnership of Olive, Sternenberg and Company, the owners of
the large Sunset Sawmill, which spawned the community.
In 1876, while Beaumont was celebrating the hundredth anniversary
of the United States, the same owners built the Centennial Sawmill
on Brake's Bayou, Beaumont's first large lumber mill, and operated
it until 1883...."
The
Tale of Hardin County's Wild Family by W. T. Block, Jr.
("Cannonball's Tales")
What 'boy' is there among us, either youthful or aged, who has not
experienced a longing at some time or another to escape to the forest
-- far from the amenities of civilization, such as table manners
and school bells -- to live carefree and survive, Tarzan-like, from
the products of the thickets and streams?...
Beaumont
Hotels > Book Your
Hotel Here & Save
|
Beaumont
People
"Babe"
Didrikson by Archie P. McDonald
The outstanding woman athlete of the twentieth century.
"The Babe, who earned her nickname from sandlot baseball companions
who thought she batted like Babe Ruth, was born in Port Arthur,
Texas, on June 26, 1911, to Norwegian immigrants Ole and Hannah
Didriksen. The Babe later changed the spelling of the family name
slightly. The Didriksen’s moved to Beaumont in 1915..." more
Napoleon
Bonaparte Wiess
by W. T. Block
Steamboat Captain and Confederate Soldier.
Capt.
William E. Rogers: Beaumont Steamboatman by W. T. Block,
Jr.
Perhaps no one in early Beaumont was as popular and well-known as
the steamboat captains, and one of them whose biography comes readily
to mind was Capt. W. E. Rogers...
Former
slave's death in 1889 attracted rare news coverage
by W. T. Block, Jr.
In February 1889, Beaumont Enterprise published an obituary about
a Black centenarian, nicknamed "Old Sock," in an age when Black
obituaries were usually printed only in Negro newspapers...
The
Magnificent Montague by Bill Cherry
His real name is Nathaniel Montague, but probably less than a handful
of people know his given name. To the public, he’s always been known
as The Magnificent Montague. He was born in New Jersey, left there
before he graduated from a black military school to travel the seas
as a merchant marine. And he got off of his ship in Galveston because
he heard there was a disc jockey position open at a Beaumont radio
station. He wanted to play music. It was 1954...
|
|
|
The Jefferson Theater Marquee
Photo by John Troesser |
Beaumont
Tourist Information
Beaumont
Chamber of Commerce
409-838-6581
1110 Park St, Beaumont, TX77701
http://www.bmtcoc.org/
|
|
|
