City of Beaumont · 1936
City of Beaumont, Named in Honor of Mary Dewleigh Borlace Warren Beaumont by Her Husband, Henry Millard Who Laid Out the Town in 1835 on a Site Known as Tevis's Bluff, Incorporated 1838
View on map ↗Jefferson County, Texas
Historical Markers in Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is home to 58 official Texas Historical Commission markers — each one telling a piece of the city’s story. Browse the markers below, then find them on the map and discover more nearby with RoadHistorical.
Site of Spindle Top Hill Confederate Camp · 1936
Here, from 1862 to 1864, camped Colonel A. W. Spaight's Battalion, 2nd Texas Infantry, Confederate States Army, composed of soldiers from Jefferson, Liberty, and Chambers counties. Their presence here served to prevent…
View on map ↗Site of the Home of Noah Tevis · 1936
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View on map ↗The Lucas Gusher · 1936
Discovery well of the Spindletop Oil Field and the first important well on the Gulf Coast. It blew in on Jan. 10, 1901, flowing 100,000 barrels of oil a day from a depth of 1020 feet. The oil production which resulted…
View on map ↗Andrew F. Smyth · 1962
(Star and Wreath) Officer in the Jasper Volunteers during the Texas War for Independence.
View on map ↗First Security National Bank · 1966
Oldest bank between Houston and the Louisiana border. Organized on April 9, 1889, with capital of $100,000, as First National Bank of Beaumont, it was granted National Bank Charter No. 4017. First president was…
View on map ↗William McFaddin · 1966
(1819-1898) Served in Texas War for Independence at first Siege of the Alamo and San Jacinto. Supply agent in Civil War. McFaddin, noted for his hospitality and generosity, founded empire in ranching that survives today.
View on map ↗Beaumont · 1967
County seat of Jefferson County. Settled in 1825 as Tevis Bluff; incorporated as Beaumont Dec. 16, 1838. Early trading post, riverboat port, lumber, rice and ranching center. Near site of Spindletop gusher, where oil…
View on map ↗Beaumont · 1967
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View on map ↗Police Chief Reid Tevis · 1967
(April 1, 1878 - April 15, 1925) Began lifetime career as a police officer at age 19. Was chief of detectives for Beaumont Police Department many years; chief of police, 1923 to 1925. Started police benefit fund,…
View on map ↗Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias · 1968
(June 26, 1914 - Sept. 27, 1956) At 18, set two world records in the 1932 Los angeles Olympic games-- in 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw. Excelling at all sports, became a professional athlete and won 5 major titles…
View on map ↗Site of Collier's Ferry · 1968
Main crossing on Old Jasper Road and alternate crossing on Opelousas Trail from Liberty through Beaumont to Louisiana. Used as early as 1750, route followed Indian traces and was highway for explorer-settlers, priests,…
View on map ↗Texas' First Rice Mill · 1968
Beaumont Rice Mill, founded 1892 by J. E. Broussard, was developed after first commercial planting of rice in Texas in 1863. Earlier crops, due to dependence on rain, were dubbed "Providence Rice." Broussard, pioneer…
View on map ↗French Trading Post · 1970
Built 1845 by John J. French (1799-1889), merchant and tanner who came from Connecticut and New York to Texas in 1830s. Served as home and store, with tannery nearby. Early settlers came to "French Town" to trade…
View on map ↗First United Methodist Church of Beaumont · 1973
In 1839, Methodist Missionary Samuel A. Williams (1810-66) conducted first religious service in Beaumont, followed in 1840 by another Methodist minister, Henry Stephenson (1772-1841), organizer of first Protestant…
View on map ↗First Baptist Church of Beaumont · 1976
The Rev. J.W.D. Creath and the Rev. J.H. Fant organized this church in 1872. Baptist and Methodist congregations joined in 1877 to erect a frame church building at the corner of Main and Fannin streets. For the belfry,…
View on map ↗Jean Baptiste Chaison · 1976
(August 7, 1745 - July 20, 1854) Jean Baptiste ("Jonas") Chaison was born in Nova Scotia, of French parents. After imprisonment by the British during the French and Indian War, he and his parents fled in 1763 to France,…
View on map ↗McFaddin-Ward House · 1976
This classical revival mansion was erected on the homestead of William McFaddin (1819-1897), who received land from the Republic of Texas for service at the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto. He later acquired more property…
View on map ↗Nancy Tevis · 1976
(1795-1863) Nancy Nixon Tevis, a native of Louisiana, came with her husband Noah (1772-1835) and children in 1825 to settle this bluff beside the Neches. They were the first known Anglo-Americans here. They received in…
View on map ↗Tyrrell Public Library · 1976
Built in 1903 as the First Baptist Church, this limestone structure replaced a red brick church on the same site. Architect of the Romanesque Revival style edifice was A. N. Dawson and contractor was G. D. Patterson. In…
View on map ↗Beaumont: Lumber Mill City of the Nineteenth Century · 1977
Beaumont, situated in forests, was a timber town at birth, and marked this site "Steam Mill Square" on its original plat. By 1840, Lucien Hopson had a saw pit on a canal to the south, floating in logs and floating out…
View on map ↗Jefferson Theatre · 1978
Built in 1927 by the Jefferson Amusement Company, this theatre quickly became a landmark in downtown Beaumont. Emile Weil, Inc., a New Orleans architectural firm, designed the structure. The interior is a showcase of…
View on map ↗Westminster Presbyterian Church of Beaumont · 1979
Presbyterian worship services were led in this area by traveling preachers until the Rev. S. F. Tenney and the Rev. W. C. Wallace organized the First Presbyterian Church of Beaumont on February 28, 1880. The Rev.…
View on map ↗Young Men's Christian Association of Beaumont · 1979
The 1901 Spindletop oil boom brought vice, corruption and inadequate housing problems to Beaumont. H. G. Behrman, a young man who was sleeping in a tent in his friend's backyard, met W. M. Lewis, state secretary of the…
View on map ↗Jefferson County Courthouse · 1980
The first county building constructed at this site was a jailhouse completed in 1838, two years after the organization of Jefferson County. Located on land acquired from Nancy Tevis, a pioneer settler of the area, it…
View on map ↗Saint Anthony's Cathedral · 1980
Traveling priests visited this area as early as the 1850s, conducting Catholic services outdoors, in homes, and later in the town Temperance Hall. The first church building was constructed in 1881 under the leadership…
View on map ↗Young Woman's Christian Association of Beaumont · 1980
Established in 1911 with ten members, the Beaumont Young Women's Christian Association was officially chartered three years alter. Meetings were held in the town Temperance Hall until a separate building was constructed…
View on map ↗The Clubhouse, The Woman's Club of Beaumont · 1981
Early meetings of the Woman's Reading Club, now the Woman's Club of Beaumont, were conducted in area homes, churches, and public buildings until 1909, when this two-story frame clubhouse was built. Constructed during…
View on map ↗The Woman's Club of Beaumont · 1981
On January 18, 1895, Mrs. Hal W. Greer hosted a meeting at her home which resulted in the formation of this club. Present were Mrs. Greer's friends Mrs. E. C. Weiss, Mrs. T. A. Lamb, Miss Mary Lamb, and Miss Harriet…
View on map ↗Caroline Gilbert Hinchee House · 1982
A descendant of a distinguished pioneer Connecticut family, Caroline "Carrie" Gilbert (1863-1913) was born in Beaumont. Educated at leading art institutions, she was an accomplished artist and art teacher. In 1900 she…
View on map ↗Sanders House · 1982
Tennessee-born Robert Washington Sanders (1850-1916), a master wood carver, was drawn to Beaumont in 1878 by the newly-emerging lumber industry. He worked in several local lumber mills until 1902, when he went into…
View on map ↗Central Fire Station · 1983
This structure was built in 1927 to house the Beaumont fire Department. Organized in 1881. Designed by the architectural firm of Livesay and Wiedemann, the building was constructed on the site of two earlier fire…
View on map ↗Travis Street Substation · 1983
When Gulf States Utilities Company built this Travis Street substation building in 1929, a new era of progress began in Beaumont and all of southeast Texas. Additional farms, homes, and industries received access to…
View on map ↗Beaumont Enterprise · 1984
Near this site on November 6, 1880, the first "Beaumont Enterprise" came off the press. The newspaper, founded by John W. Leonard, is one of southeast Texas' oldest continuing business institutions. Over the years, "The…
View on map ↗Holmes Duke House · 1986
A native of Carthage, Texas, Holmes Duke came to Beaumont in the late 19th century and purchased property at this site in 1898. Construction on his home began shortly thereafter. Completed in 1899, the Holmes Duke house…
View on map ↗Magnolia Cemetery · 1986
The Magnolia Cemetery Company was granted a charter by the State of Texas on August 3, 1887. The following month the company's five trustees purchased thirteen acres of land on which to locate the graveyard, and burials…
View on map ↗Port of Beaumont · 1986
The city of Beaumont, 41 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, was served from its founding in 1837 by schooners and sternwheelers navigating the Neches River. The three-foot depth of Sabine Lake between the river's…
View on map ↗South Park High School · 1988
Built by the South Park Independent School District in 1922-1923, this structure also housed classes of South Park Junior College for ten years. Renamed Lamar Junior College in 1932 and Lamar University in 1971, the…
View on map ↗Spell Cemetery · 1988
The land on which this graveyard is located was designated a family cemetery in 1873 by the Marble family. The earliest known burial is that of Martha Marble (d. 1864), whose husband John S. Marble was also buried here…
View on map ↗First National Bank Building · 1989
Founded on April 9, 1889, the First National Bank of Beaumont enjoyed an economic revitalization in the 1930s after the area's second major oil boom. A special meeting of the bank's board of directors was held on…
View on map ↗Congregation Temple Emanuel · 1990
The first recorded Jewish worship services in Beaumont were held on Yom Kippur in September 1887. The congregation's first synagogue was built at the corner of Broadway and willow streets in 1901. In 1923, under the…
View on map ↗Dr. Charles F. L. N. Graham · 1991
(1889-1943) Born in British Guiana (Guyana), Charles Frank Luckett Nordman Graham attended college in Alabama, Ohio, and Iowa. He came to Beaumont in 1918 on behalf of the American Missionary Association and founded…
View on map ↗Henry Millard · 1991
A native of Saratoga County, New York, Henry Millard moved to Missouri with his family while still a child. As a young man he moved to Natchez, Mississippi, where in 1826 he married Mary Warren Beaumont. While living in…
View on map ↗Site of Santa Anna · 1992
The Santa Anna townsite was platted in 1835 by surveyor and land speculator David Brown of San Augustine County. It became the center of political and military activities for the area west of the Neches River to the…
View on map ↗First Christian Church of Beaumont · 1994
Dallas evangelist A. J. Bush heeded the call of a local group of Christians and conducted a number of religious meetings in the area in 1894. A structure donated by a local Episcopal church was relocated and used as a…
View on map ↗Mildred Buildings · 1999
Constructed in 1929-1930 for $700,000, this complex was built by Miles Frank Yount and named for his daughter. Yount was a founder and partner in the Yount-Lee Oil Company, which made its fortune in the second…
View on map ↗Evergreen Cemetery · 2001
(Historic Texas Cemetery medallion)
View on map ↗J.P. Richardson, Jr: The Big Bopper · 2005
Jiles Perry "J.P." Richardson, Jr. was born on October 24, 1930 to Jiles and Elsie Bernice (Stalsby) Richardson in Sabine Pass (26 mi. SE); the family moved to Beaumont when he was six. As a teenager, Richardson began…
View on map ↗The Mayumi Legacy · 2005
The modern Texas rice industry was shaped in part by the Mayumi brothers, who arrived here from Japan in the early twentieth century. Rice had been grown in limited quantities in Jefferson County since the 1840s, but…
View on map ↗Blind Willie Johnson · 2010
Willie Johnson was born near Independence, Texas, in 1897 to Willie and Mary (Fields) Johnson. His family moved to Marlin when Johnson was a young boy, and it was there that he first learned gospel songs at church; his…
View on map ↗Prater Cemetery · 2010
Prater Cemetery is a small family cemetery in what was once known as the Rosedale community of north Jefferson County. Edwin Prater, founder of the cemetery, bought a half acre of land for $10 from his daughter…
View on map ↗Aubrey Wilson "Moon" Mullican · 2012
Born in the small town of Corrigan in 1909, Aubry Wilson Mullican became famous as a country and western singer and songwriter. His father was a farmer and the African-American farm workers and sharecroppers influenced…
View on map ↗Harry James' Childhood Homesite · 2012
Henry Haag "Harry" James was an American musician who became famous as one of the most popular bandleaders during the "Big Band" or "Swing Band" era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was born in 1916 in Albany, Georgia. When…
View on map ↗Magnolia Missionary Baptist Church · 2012
This historic congregation began in November 1890 with a group of Christians holding services in a schoolhouse. Worship extended to prayer meetings held in various homes. Eventually the congregation purchased land at…
View on map ↗North End Methodist Church · 2012
(Wesley United Methodist Church) In 1835, Henry Millard and the Thomas Huling Company of Jasper County purchased land from Nancy Tevis, wife of original land owner Noah Tevis, and established the town of Beaumont. The…
View on map ↗West Beulah Missionary Baptist Church · 2014
WEST BEULAH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH During the “Black Church Expansion” between 1875 and 1925, the West Beulah Baptist Church was founded in a shotgun-style house that was common in the south following the Civil War.…
View on map ↗William G. "Bill" Hall · 2020
(1929-1983) Music publisher William G. Hall helped start and promote the careers of dozens of musicians. Hall was raised in Beaumont’s Multimax Village and graduated from South Park High School and Lamar State College.…
View on map ↗Sprott Hospital · 2023
In 1944, African American physicians and brothers Dr. Edward D. Sprott, Jr. and Dr. Curtis B. Sprott founded Sprott Hospital in order to provide quality care for Black patients of Beaumont often denied care in other…
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