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| | Ships
across from Pipkin Park in Beaumont
Photo by John Troesser, 2000 |
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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.
By
the early 1900s the city had four railroads and a population of 9,427.
The city's history - as well as the State's - is divided by the discovery of oil
at nearby Spindletop.
They were only a few days into 1901 when Spindletop blew in - reportedly
on the last length of pipe sunk before the well was abandoned.
Three
major oil companies - the Texas Company, Gulf Oil and Humble - were formed within
a year of one another in 1901-02. |
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The Neches River as
seen from Hotel Beaumont
Photo by John Troesser, 5-03 |
1908:
The Neches River was joined to Port Arthur by dredged canal.
1910: Population
20,000
1920: Population 40,000
1925: A second oil discovery was made at
Spindletop
1930: population 58,000
1941: Wartime prosperity comes with
shipbuilding and increased oil
1943: Martial law is declared after the Beaumont
race riot erupts
1950: Population 94,000
1960: Population 119,000
In the early 1960s the police department was reorganized after an investigation
by the Texas House of Representatives looking into prostitution and gambling -
unsavory residue from the oil boom.
1970: Population 115,000
1980: Population
118,000
Beaumont
Hotels > Book Your Hotel Here &
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Native
Daughters & Sons
"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 |
Beaumont Chronicles
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. |
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Giant Under the Hill: History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas,
in 1901 | |
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| Black
Gold To Bluegrass: From The Oil Fields Of Texas To Spindletop Farm Of Kentucky
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