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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
TE photo 9-04 |
| | View
of the entire Kyle Block looking south
TE Photo 5-03 |
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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. |
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A view of the
library, theater and the railroad bridge over the Neches River
TE Photo |
| | 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 BeaumontDick
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... |
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The Jefferson Theater
Marquee
TE Photo |
Beaumont
Tourist InformationBeaumont
Chamber of Commerce
409-838-6581
1110 Park St, Beaumont, TX77701
http://www.bmtcoc.org/ | |
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