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The Temple to
the Brave, Pipkin Park, Beaumont, Texas
Photo
by John
Troesser, 2000 |
In
Beaumont's
Pipkin Park - a stone's throw from the Jefferson
County Courthouse, stands a rusticated building that resembles
a chapel in the English countryside. Except, in this case, there are
no tombstones. It sits on a large open yard.
It is a memorial erected to dead of the First
World War by the Daughters of the American Revolution. |
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The date of
the dedication - October 18, 1932 corresponds to the day 18 years
earlier when American forces suffered some the heaviest casualties
of the war - just a few days before the armistice of November 11,
1918 was signed.
It's an understated building with a steep pitched roof that once
was made of slate shingles from the old Jefferson
County Courthouse (1893). The school children of Beaumont
contributed $300, which was spent on re-roofing the building. The
roof is now composed of asphalt composition shingles. It's regretable
that material recycled from the old courthouse was disposed of in
favor of an inferior material. Eight tight buttresses line the sides,
framing three small stained glass windows. The wooden doors are
fitted with wrought iron hinges and hardware.
Local Oilman Frank Yount donated the granite stone from which it
is constructed as well as a large stained glass window on the back
(West) wall of the building. The Colonel George Moffett Chapter
of the Daughters of the American Revolution donated the Gothic stained-glass
windows in the front.
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Across
the Street from the Temple to the Brave
Photo
by John
Troesser, 2000 |
The
structure sits across the street from a military docking facility
of the Port of Beaumont.
June 2001
© John
Troesser
Source:
Beaumont Enterprise July 15, 1956 page 9, Section "C"
Our Thanks to the Main Reference Desk of the Beaumont Public Library
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| Anyone wishing
to share stories or photos of their fathers, uncles, grandfathers
or great grandfathers who served in WWI,
WWII and
other wars, please contact
us. |
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