Historic Beaumont

HISTORIC 

BEAUMONT 

An Illustrated History 

by Ellen Walker Rienstra & 

Judith Walker Linsley 

A Publication of the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce

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HISTORIC 

BEAUMONT 

An Illustrated History 

by Ellen Walker Rienstra & 


Published for the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce 

Historical Publishing Network 

A division of Lammert Publications, Inc. 

San Antonio, Texas

CONTENTS 

4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

5 CHAPTER I water and rich earth 

15 CHAPTER II village on the Neches 

25 CHAPTER III call to arms 

35 CHAPTER IV lumber town 

47 CHAPTER V Spindletop 

59 CHAPTER VI coming of age 

69 CHAPTER VII war and its wake 

79 CHAPTER VIII commemorations and prognostications 

95 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

98 SHARING THE HERITAGE 

204 INDEX 

207 SPONSORS 

208 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

First Edition 

Copyright © 2002 Historical Publishing Network 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing 

from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Historical Publishing Network, 8491 Leslie Road, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (210) 688-9006. 

ISBN: 1-893619-28-1 

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2002115183 

Historic Beaumont: An Illustrated History 

authors: Ellen Walker Rienstra and Judith Walker Linsley 

contributing writer for 

“Sharing the Heritage”: Marie Beth Jones 

Historical Publishing Network 

president: Ron Lammert 

vice president: Barry Black 

project managers: Curtis Courtney 

director of operations: Charles A. Newton, III 

administration: Angela Lake and Donna M. Mata 

book sales: Dee Steidle 

graphic production: Colin Hart, John Barr, and Mike Reaves 

2 ✦ HISTORIC BEAUMONT

In loving memory of 

Our father, John H. “Johnnie” Walker, whose love of his hometown was 

only surpassed by his pride in what his children had done 

and 

L. Wesley Norton, Ph.D., a history professor with the soul of an artist, who furnished us, 

and the City of Beaumont, with a lasting legacy of photographic images. 

Chapter I ✦ 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

This history would not have been possible without the assistance, gladly given, of many individuals. We offer our heartfelt thanks to: 

Delores Black, Music Department, Lamar University 

Rebecca Blanchard, Beaumont Journal 

Pete Churton, Beaumont Enterprise 

Penny Clark and John Swearingen, Tyrrell Historical Library 

Dwain Cox, ExxonMobil 

Christina Delgadillo, Crockett Street Entertainment District 

Scott Hall, Lower Neches Valley Authority 

Colin Hart, Historical Publishing Network 

Carolyn Howard, Beaumont Main Street 

Tanner Hunt, Beaumont attorney 

Evelyn Lord, mayor of Beaumont 

The staff of the McFaddin-Ward House Museum 

Bill McNinch, Community Bank and Trust 

Maurice Meyers, former mayor of Beaumont 

Nancy Neild, Community Bank and Trust 

Jolene Ortego, Beaumont Independent School District 

Jim Rich, President, Beaumont Chamber of Commerce 

John Roby, Port of Beaumont 

Robert Schaadt and Sandra Burrell, Sam Houston Regional Library 

Louise Wood and Cynthia Hicks, Lamar University. 

We also offer our deep gratitude to everyone who has helped us throughout the years in all of our historical endeavors. 

Ellen Walker Rienstra 


Beaumont, Texas 

August 2002 


CHAPTER I 

WATER AND RICH EARTH 

The city of Beaumont, Texas, has been particularly blessed by nature. It lies on a high bluff on the 

western bank of the Neches River at the conjunction of a wealth of richly varied natural resources: 

to the north, the great East Texas piney woods, and to the northwest the vast green presence of the 

Big Thicket; to the southwest, the rich blackland prairies; and forty miles to the south, the Gulf of 

Mexico. Through the years, this favored Southeast Texas spot has attracted a variety of settlers, successive 

actors on this particular stage who have availed themselves of these geographical gifts in their 

own individual ways. Their story is unique to themselves and to this particular spot on earth. 

Aboriginal inhabitants, so-called “Paleo Indians,” came to this area around twelve thousand years 

ago to hunt the coastal prairies. They vanished almost without leaving a trace except flint 

arrowheads, a few crude tools, and fossilized bones. The Attakapas, another group of Native 

Americans, migrated from Southwest Louisiana across the Sabine River approximately two thousand 

years ago and occupied the land from the lower Sabine, Neches, and Trinity Rivers to the coast. 

The Attakapas were a short, stocky people with dark skin, coarse black hair, large heads, and 

features of “an unpleasant cast,” according to an early observer. The name “Attakapas” means “maneater” 

in the Choctaw language; by contemporary accounts, they practiced ritual cannibalism, 

devouring their slain enemies to acquire their strength and to damn their souls. 

They smeared alligator oil on their bodies as a mosquito repellent and burned it in their lamps, 

which they made of conch shells and dried moss. They lived almost entirely off the land, prompting 

the censure of Father Juan Agustín Morfi, an early Spanish missionary: 

❖ 

Always a primary source of food, the 

Gulf of Mexico became an important 

thoroughfare for the European 

explorers who settled in the new land. 

PHOTO BY WESLEY NORTON. COURTESY OF THE 

TYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 

[The Attakapas] live at the mouths of the Nechas [sic] and Trinidad Rivers…they neglect the cultivation 

of their fertile lands, occupy themselves with and live from…the game which abounds in their forests. 

Chapter I ✦ 5

❖ 

Right: The large points in the top row 

of this photo date from the Paleo 

Indians—10,000 to 12,000 years 

ago—and were used to bring down 

mammoth or bison. The Attakapas 

and later dwellers in the Beaumont 

area used the smaller points for lesser 

game and fish. 



Below: These beads were found along 

the coast, indicating that interest in 

ornamentation existed among 

the Attakapas. 



The Attakapas wandered seasonally between 

the rivers and the coast. In the spring and 

summer they navigated the Gulf waters in 

dugout canoes, shooting alligators with bows 

and arrows and catching fish with spears or 

nets of woven brush. They also found on the 

beaches sun-hardened slabs of crude petroleum, 

which they used in caulking their boats and 

making arrows. 

In the winter they moved inland to hunt and 

fish, building rudimentary villages on the banks 

of the Neches near present-day Beaumont. 

(Nineteenth-century Neches River planter 

Joseph Grigsby leveled several of their mounds, 

which contained shards of pottery and human 

bones.) A short distance upriver stood the huge 

East Texas pine and hardwood forests, which 

merged northwestward into the heavy timber, 

tangled briars and poison ivy, and steamy bogs 

and baygalls of the Big Thicket, called by the 

Native Americans the Big Woods. The Attakapas 

hunted the southern fringes of the Thicket for 

bear, deer, and a variety of small game. 

Unable to adapt to a changing world, the 

tribe dwindled in number throughout the 

eighteenth century until, in the first quarter of 

the nineteenth century, they disappeared 

entirely from Southeast Texas. 

The white man first appeared on the Southeast 

Texas horizon in the person of a Spaniard named 

Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, a member of the 

1528 Pánfilo de Narváez expedition, one of many 


launched by the powerful Spanish Empire to 

search for New World gold. 

The Narváez expedition ended when its ships 

were sunk in the Gulf during a hurricane. Cabeza 

de Vaca and three other survivors were cast ashore 

on an island they named Malhado, or “Misfortune” 

(probably Galveston). Cabeza de Vaca was 

captured by the Karankawa tribe, and for eight 

years he survived unimaginable hardship, 

wandering over much of Southeast Texas before 

eventually escaping to a Spanish outpost. 

Spurred by rumors of treasure, Spain began 

sending more expeditions into the new territory. 

One such venture, first commanded by 

conquistador Hernando de Soto, and, after de 

Soto’s death, by Luis Moscoso, explored the East 

Texas woods on its way from Florida overland to 

Mexico in 1543, floating crude boats down the 

Mississippi River into the Gulf, where they 

finally cast ashore near present-day Beaumont. 

They caulked their boats with the petroleum on 

the beaches, describing it as “a scum the sea 

casts up…which is like pitch and is used instead 

on shipping, where that is not to be had.” 

In all, perhaps twenty Spanish expeditions 

ventured into the land of New Spain, as they 

named it. Failing to find gold, Spain gradually 

lost interest in the area, but it remained a 

Spanish possession for 150 years. 

The primeval peace that reigned in Spanish 

Texas during most of the seventeenth century 

would be shattered by the French. In 1684 the 

explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, who 

had claimed all lands east of the Rio Grande for 

France, launched an expedition to settle his 

newly claimed territory. He inexplicably 

❖ 

Above: Bluffs along the treelined 

Neches River first furnished natural 

campsites for Native Americans, then 

townsites for white settlers. 

COURTESY OF THE TYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 

Below: This Native American 

warrior, believed to be an Attakapas, 

was painted circa 1732 by artist 

A. de Batz. 

COURTESY OF THE PEABODY MUSEUM, 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, AND THE TYRRELL 

HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 

Chapter I ✦ 7

overshot the mouth of the Mississippi by some 

four hundred miles, touching at Sabine Pass 

before landing at Matagorda Bay. Realizing his 

error, he twice retraced his steps in order to find 

the Mississippi River. The first venture took him 

as far as the upper Trinity and Neches Rivers; the 

second, in 1687, ended in tragedy when he was 

murdered by his own men somewhere in East 

Texas. The killing supposedly took place near a 

river, about forty miles from the Gulf. A legend 

sprang up that the river was the Neches, and that 

the murder was committed at the Collier’s Ferry 

crossing at the foot of present-day Pine Street, in 

Beaumont. (Historians have since placed the 

location near Navasota, on the Brazos River.) 

Rumors of La Salle’s incursion abruptly 

jerked Spain from its complacent attitude. 

When a hastily dispatched expedition arrived at 

the site of La Salle’s St. Louis colony on 

Matagorda Bay, however, they found no one 

alive; the Karankawa had destroyed the 

settlement. The Spanish burned the remnants of 

the fort, then forged into East Texas to establish 

a mission among the powerful Hasinai 

Confederacy, who could be trusted to act as a 

deterrent to the French. The Spanish 

commander selected a site on the west bank of 

the stream the Hasinai called the Snow River, 

renaming it the Neches after the Neche tribe 

living on its banks, and founded the mission of 

San Francisco de los Tejas in 1690. Thus “tejas,” 

the Hasinai greeting, gave Texas its name. 

In the early eighteenth century, the French 

governor of Louisiana sent a young soldier of 

fortune named Louis Juchereau de St. Denis into 

Texas to investigate expansion of French trade 

with the Native Americans. St. Denis established 

the small settlement of Natchitoches, Louisiana, 

in 1713, then audaciously set out on the old 

Camino Real through the heart of Spanish 

Texas, suddenly appearing, to the Spaniards’ 

astonishment, at the settlement of San Juan 

Bautista on the Rio Grande in July 1714. 

The Spaniards arrested St. Denis and sent him 

to Mexico City, where he convinced the viceroy 

that the French were threatening East Texas. The 

viceroy, taking St. Denis into Spanish pay, ordered 

him to reestablish the abandoned East Texas 

missions. Meanwhile, this eighteenth-century 

double agent secretly warned the governor of 

Louisiana that the Spanish were reopening the 

missions and that the French should establish the 

Louisiana border at the Rio Grande. 

In 1716, St. Denis led an entrada into the East 

Texas woods, establishing six new missions for 

Spain. His efforts were also successful from the 

❖ 

Luis Moscoso led the de Soto 

expedition into East Texas and 

became one of the first to discover the 

utility of the globs of petroleum 

washed up on the beaches. He caulked 

his boats with the substance at Sabine 

Lake, southeast of Beaumont. 

COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND 

THE TYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 


The Treaty of Paris of 1763, which ended the 

Seven Years’ War in Europe, changed the map 

of the entire Gulf Coast. France ceded Louisiana 

to Spain, making the Spanish border missions 

in East Texas unnecessary. But a new menace 

soon reared its head—Englishmen traveling 

the Trinity and the Neches, and English 

settlements being established near the mouth of 

the Neches River. 

The most serious English incursion into 

Southeast Texas came in 1777, when the coastal 

Native Americans brought word to Antonio Gil 

Ybarbo, the captain of militia at the Spanish 

pueblo of Bucareli on the Trinity River, that an 

English ship was stranded at the mouth of the 

Neches. Ybarbo found a stranded vessel 

(actually in Sabine Lake) but no Englishmen, 

❖ 

Left: Just north of the Beaumont area 

lay the Big Thicket, part tangle of 

vines and underbrush, part hardwood 

canopy, and part huge stands of virgin 

pine, laced throughout with streams. 

The Thicket’s shadowy nature 

spawned more legends than did 

ordinary frontiers. 



Below: A sophisticated map of 

eighteenth-century Texas locates the 

various Native American tribes and 

records Spanish activity in the region. 

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON REGIONAL 

LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTER. 

French point of view; by 1730 French trappers 

and traders were crossing the Sabine River into the 

forbidden territory, navigating both the Neches 

and Trinity Rivers and trading with the Native 

Americans. In 1745 a Spanish commandant at the 

Nabidachos village on the Neches recorded that 

Native Americans were carrying French firearms 

and other articles of trade such as knives, combs, 

mirrors, and tobacco. 

As for the ebullient St. Denis, he lived in 

prosperity in Natchitoches with his Spanish wife 

(the granddaughter of the commandant who 

had arrested him at San Juan Bautista) and died 

in 1744. Many of his direct descendants still live 

in the East Texas area. 

In 1754 a French trader was arrested near the 

mouth of the Trinity River, leading the Spanish 

to establish a mission and presidio on the 

Trinity called El Orcoquisac and an outpost near 

the modern town of Liberty named Atascosito, 

or “Little Boggy.” These two settlements were the 

Spanish communities located nearest presentday 

Beaumont. To provide access, the Spanish 

carved a military trail that ran from Goliad to 

Atascosito, then turned eastward to cross the 

Neches at the site of present-day Beaumont. 

This road, known as the Atascosito Trail, or 

from its eastward extension the Opelousas Road, 

became one of the most frequently traveled 

routes in Texas. 

Chapter I ✦ 9

❖ 

Above: A map drawn in 1777 by 

Captain Antonio Gil Yarbo confirms 

the suspected presence of the English 

in Southeast Texas. The number 2 

(upper right) locates the English camp 

along the Neches; the number 11 

(lower right) marks the wreckage of 

the English ship at Sabine Pass; and 

the number 16 (upper right) places 

the “Attakapa” villages on either side 

of the Neches. 

COURTESY OF TEXAS UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS 

AND THE TYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 

Opposite: Stately cypress in the forest 

backwaters were the first to be 

commercially exploited by 

white settlers. 



only a few huts on the riverbank not far, 

according to Ybarbo’s crude map, from the site 

of present-day Beaumont. The Native Americans 

informed Ybarbo that the English had been 

entering the Neches to trade, and that in 1774 

they had stayed long enough to “sow a crop.” 

It was the Anglo-Americans, however, who 

would constitute the ultimate threat to the 

New World empire of Spain. In 1783 a Native 

American in the service of Spain made an 

uncanny prophecy: 

It is necessary to keep in mind that a new 

independent power now exists on this 

continent….Their development will constantly 

menace the dominion of Spain in America … 

The dawn of the nineteenth century rang the 

death knell for Spanish occupation of Texas. 

The sun of Spain’s great New World empire was 

about to set. In 1800 she was forced to cede 

Louisiana back to France. Then, in 1803, 

Napoleon sold the territory to the United States. 

Suddenly Spanish Texas found itself bordering 

the burgeoning young republic to the north. 

Worse, a short-lived insurrection against the 

Spanish government triggered a decade of 

discontent in Spanish-Mexican Texas. 

In the meantime, Galveston Island had 

become a haven for outlaws and Mexican 

revolutionaries attempting to win independence 

from Spain. Luis Michel Aury, a pirate 

masquerading as a Mexican patriot, established 

himself there in 1816 and began harassing 

Spanish ships, then selling the captured slaves 

in Louisiana. 

But Aury was soon to be displaced by that 

consummate corsair, Jean Lafitte, who arrived at 

Galveston Island in 1817, only days after Aury 

had led a revolutionary expedition down the 

Texas coast, and with typical audacity 

ensconced himself on the island. Hero, traitor, 

man of affairs, double agent, Lafitte left his 

indelible mark on the Gulf Coast area. No other 

man so captured the collective imaginations of 

Southeast Texas folk as did this legendary 

privateer and his buccaneers. 

According to a memoir now housed in the 

Sam Houston Regional Library at Liberty and 

allegedly written by Lafitte, the gentleman 

pirate was born in 1782 in Port-au-Prince, 

Haiti, of French-Spanish-Jewish descent. An 

older brother, Alexander, better known as 

Dominique You, initiated Jean and another 

brother, Pierre, into the privateering trade. The 

brothers established a base of operations 

on Grande Terre, in Barataria Bay just south 

of New Orleans. Handsome, cultured, and 

gallant, Lafitte became a colorful figure on 

the fringes of New Orleans society, often 


Chapter I ✦ 11

❖ 

An early nineteenth-century map 

of Spanish Texas identifies the 

“neutral grounds” that were 

established between Spanish 

Texas and French Louisiana. 

COURTESY OF THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN 

HISTORY AND THE TYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 

appearing at the city’s famous quadroon balls. 

After he aided Andrew Jackson in his victory at 

the Battle of New Orleans, he was even regarded 

as a hero. 

Lafitte’s illegal activities finally caught up 

with him, and he was evicted from Barataria 

by the United States government. Then his 

eyes turned westward toward the unsettled 

territory of New Spain. Recruiting several 

hundred renegades, he moved his operations 

to Galveston Island and established his own 

small republic, called Campeche, which, as 

“bos,” he ruled with an iron hand. Complete 

with saloons, a billiard hall, a commissary, and 

living quarters, Campeche was dominated by 

“Maison Rouge,” Lafitte’s own residence, a 

combination house and fort that he painted 

bright red. 

Lafitte, operating under letters of marque 

from the Republic of Cartagena, sent his 

formidable fleet of privateers to prey upon 

Spanish slavers and merchantmen in the Gulf of 

Mexico, transporting the captured slaves either 

by boat across Sabine Lake, or overland across 

the lower Neches and Sabine Rivers to 

Louisiana. There he sold them to his best 

customers, the Bowie brothers, James, Rezin, 

and John, who resold them at enormous profits. 

Lafitte, supposedly sympathetic to the 

Mexican revolutionaries, actually sent word to 

his followers at Bolivar to stay out of the conflict 

in Texas. At the same time, he was in the secret 

pay of his old enemy, Spain. Probably no one 

will ever know where the real sympathies of this 

master of duplicity lay; he remained an 

unfathomable enigma to all but himself. 

Eventually, Lafitte’s luck ran out. Against 

his express orders, one of his privateers attacked 

an American merchantman. Pursued by the 

United States cutter Lynx, the privateer ran 

his ship aground on present-day McFaddin 

Beach, about forty-five miles south of Beaumont. 


Lafitte promptly hanged the offending captain, 

but a similar incident in 1820 brought 

retribution to Campeche in the person of one 

Lieutenant Kearny of the United States brig-ofwar 

Enterprise. Lafitte welcomed him and 

entertained him lavishly aboard his flagship, the 

Pride. Kearny later described the pirate as a tall, 

dark-haired man with a mild countenance and 

very pleasing manners, but with a flashing “black 

eye” which made Kearny think that “when 

aroused, Il Capitano could be a very ugly 

customer indeed.” 

Kearny ultimately delivered his message: 

Lafitte must leave Galveston Island. The “bos” 

dispersed his colony, sending some of his people 

to New Orleans and some inland along the 

Sabine River, thus infusing the population of the 

Sabine-Neches area with the descendants of exprivateers. 

In February 1821 Lafitte gave the 

order to burn Campeche to the ground, then 

sailed away to parts unknown. 

The journal states that after leaving 

Galveston, he lived in hiding while he spread 

conflicting tales of his own demise. On New 

Year’s Day 1826, he and his brother Pierre 

supposedly decided to “give up the cause,” 

terminating their so-called business affairs and 

dividing up their property, Lafitte moving to 

the eastern United States and living in 

comfortable obscurity under the assumed 

name of John Lafflin, dying in 1854 in Alton, 

Illinois. (Some historians accept the memoir’s 

authenticity; some do not. The actual truth may 

never be known.) 

A flamboyant figure in life, Lafitte the man was 

eclipsed shortly after his departure from 

Galveston by Lafitte the legend. Within a few 

years, the entire Gulf Coast was rife with fantastic 

tales of the treasure he had supposedly buried in 

every bayou, inlet, or shellbank from New 

Orleans to Matagorda, each site guarded by its 

own resident ghost. According to the journal, 

Lafitte himself said, regarding his booty: 

Stories have been circulated…that I have 

hidden silver and gold on the sandy islands all 

along the Gulf Coast…. It is true. There are 

things hidden here and there, but I haven’t the 

slightest idea of the exact spots, nor would I 

wish to waste time trying to recover lost 

valuables or buried treasure. 

While Lafitte still ruled Galveston, Natchez 

physician James Long led a filibustering 

expedition into Texas in 1819 to free the 

territory from Spanish rule. Long tried to 

persuade Lafitte to join his cause; the pirate paid 

lip service to him but privately warned his own 

men to remain independent of the venture. 

From the Bolivar Peninsula, Long and his 

men embarked for Mexico, leaving his pregnant 

wife Jane, their two-year-old baby, and a 

slave alone on the narrow spit of land. After 

a harsh winter during which Jane Long 

was forced to deliver her own baby (incidentally 

❖ 

Colonial rivalries and general political 

instability along the Gulf Coast 

encouraged the presence of an 

assortment of pirates, filibusterers, 

and revolutionaries. This image is 

purported to be Jean Lafitte with 

his second wife, after his retirement 

from privateering. 



Chapter I ✦ 13

the first Anglo-American infant to be born in 

Texas), the party was rescued by a fellow 

immigrant. Shortly thereafter Mrs. Long 

received word of her husband’s assassination in 

Mexico City. 

Although James Long’s expedition failed, 

dissatisfaction with the Spanish government 

continued to grow. As the long twilight of New- 

World Spanish rule drew toward its close, there 

remained only three sizeable Spanish 

settlements in the entire province of Texas: San 

Antonio, La Bahía (Goliad), and Nacogdoches. 

A bloodless revolution in 1821 established the 

independence of Mexico, setting the stage for 

the Anglo-American era in Texas and settlement 

of the town of Beaumont. 

❖ 

Jane Wilkinson Long became known 

as the “Mother of Texas,” giving birth 

during the winter of 1821 to the first 

Anglo-American child born in the 

territory. Her husband, Dr. James 

Long, was killed for his rebellion 

against Spanish rule. 

COURTESY OF THE SOUTHWESTERN COLLECTION 



CHAPTER II 

VILLAGE ON THE NECHES 

In response to a new spirit of expansion, Americans began swarming into their nation’s unclaimed 

western territories, in time casting greedy eyes on the rich, unsettled lands of Mexican Texas. In 1821 

a Missourian named Stephen Fuller Austin obtained consent from the Mexican government to settle 

a colony along the Brazos River. The Native American’s prophecy would come true; Anglo-American 

Texas would become a reality. 

Hard on the heels of Austin’s Old Three Hundred, crowds of other Anglo-American settlers poured 

into Texas. Noah Tevis, a Scotsman born in Maryland in 1782, came through Tennessee to Louisiana, 

where he married Nancy Nixon, a lady of French descent, and fathered seven children. Sometime in 

1824, the Tevises traveled westward by covered wagon on the Opelousas Trail and settled on a 

thickly wooded bluff on the west bank of the Neches River. 

Here they built a two-room log cabin with a “dog trot,” or open central hallway, and a mud 

chimney. Tevis cleared a twenty-acre field, put in a subsistence crop, probably of corn and sweet 

potatoes, and planted peach and fig trees. He built a cattle pen and began raising stock with animals 

he had brought, as well as wild cattle he probably caught on the nearby prairies. Here Nancy Tevis 

gave birth to their eighth child, probably the first white baby born in the Sabine-Neches area. 

The Tevis farm and the little community that later grew up around it became known as Tevis Bluff, 

or the Neches River Settlement. In January 1835 Noah Tevis received formal title to the land, half a 

league, or approximately 2,214 acres, on “the western margin of the River Neches.” 

Other immigrants soon began moving into the Trinity-Neches area. Thomas F. and Joshua Lewis 

immigrated to Tevis Bluff in 1830, and a Danish immigrant, Christian Hillebrandt, came to live a few miles 

❖ 

John Jay French built this house, 

store, and tannery a few miles 

north of Beaumont on land thick 

with the oak trees so essential to the 

tanning process. 


Chapter II ✦ 15

❖ 

Right: Lorenzo de Zavala received an 

empresario grant from the Mexican 

government in 1827 that included 

present-day Jefferson County. De 

Zavala, one of the signers of the Texas 

Declaration of Independence, later 

served as interim vice-president of the 

Republic of Texas. 


Below: When building their cabins, 

East Texas settlers squared the logs on 

four sides and joined the corners as 

shown. Clay lined the fireplace, and 

sticks, moss, and mud furnished 

materials for the “mud cat” chimney. 



south of the settlement in 1831. Joseph Grigsby 

trekked in 1834 to a spot on the Neches a few 

miles downriver from the community, where he 

established a cotton plantation, complete with 

several slaves. 

The Ashworth family—Aaron, Abner, 

William, and Jesse—came to live east of the 

Neches between 1831-1834, and grew to be 

among the wealthiest ranchers and slaveholders 

in the area. In 1833 James and Elizabeth 

McFaddin, who had first settled in 1823 at Moss 

Bluff, moved to Tevis Bluff and built a cabin on 

land immediately north of Noah Tevis on the 

Neches River. From this modest beginning 

sprang a dynasty of strong individuals who 

would have a profound influence on the future 

of cattle ranching in the area. 

Kentuckian Dr. John Allen Veatch, who had 

immigrated to Nacogdoches in 1833, became 

intrigued with the region’s mineralogy while 

surveying for the Mexican government. He 

chose as his surveyor’s fee two parcels of land, 

one the low hill south of Tevis Bluff and its 

nearby sour springs, the other a similar spot 

west of town, near present-day Sour Lake. Even 

though he never utilized his land in Texas, it is 

significant that he deliberately chose tracts 

containing two piercement salt domes, where oil 

would be discovered half a century later. 

In 1835, two men arrived who would 

become leading citizens of the future town of 

Beaumont: Henry Millard and Joseph Pulsifer. 

Millard, a merchant from Natchez and New 

Orleans, would become the dominant figure in 

the small community on the Neches as well as a 

Texas statesman and military leader. Pulsifer, 

originally from Massachusetts, would serve as 

the town’s apothecary, first postmaster, and a 

leading businessman until his death in 1861. 

His letters to his sister back in Massachusetts 

furnish a vivid eyewitness account of life in pre- 

Revolutionary Beaumont. 

According to Pulsifer, he and Millard formed 

a partnership in New Orleans with a third party, 

Thomas B. Huling, to establish a mercantile 

business in Southeast Texas. On July 10, 1835, 

Huling and Pulsifer sailed from New Orleans on 

the schooner Commercial, which grounded in 

the muddy shallows of Sabine Lake. Hiring a 

small boat to carry them over the shallow bar at 

the mouth of the Neches, they landed just south 

of Tevis Bluff at Santa Anna, a tiny community 

named in premature zeal for General Antonio 

Lopez de Santa Anna, the head of the Mexican 

government. Millard would join them soon. 

Pulsifer and Huling moved their goods up to 

their store at Santa Anna, then were given a 

guided tour of “town” by Joseph Grigsby, whom 

Pulsifer described as “a patriarchal old 

gentleman with whom I had much pleasant 

conversation relative to the manners and 

customs of the Texians.” Following a footpath 


through the dense woods, the men passed a 

small log schoolhouse and a store owned by 

Captain Samuel Rodgers, a land promoter and 

the Mexican customs official at Santa Anna. 

They paid a visit to Noah Tevis, “a most singular 

being,” according to Pulsifer, who set out “spirit 

and cups” and served them a snack of ripe figs. 

The party then visited several more families in 

the little settlement, which, Pulsifer declared, 

“consisted of but twelve homes and ninety 

individuals great and small.” 

In the fall of 1835, Henry Millard purchased 

fifty acres of the Noah Tevis survey and, with 

Huling and Pulsifer, laid out the town of 

Beaumont. Millard named the town for his 

recently deceased wife, Natchez belle Mary 

Dewburleigh Barlace Warren Beaumont. (He did 

not name Jefferson County, which was originally 

created by the Consultation of 1835 to lie 

entirely on the east bank of the Neches, 

excluding Beaumont altogether. That honor fell 

to Millard’s fellow delegate to the Consultation, 

Cow Bayou resident Claiborne West.) The 

following announcement appeared in the 

October 26, 1835, issue of the Telegraph and 

Texas Register in San Felipe de Austin: 

We are informed that a town has lately been 

laid out on the tidewater of the River Neches, at a 

place known as Tevis Bluff, thirty miles from 

Sabine Bay. Its situation is said to be one of the 

most delightful in Texas and it has already 

commenced improving at a rapid rate. It is 

spoken of as a town which promises to be one of 

considerable importance. It has received the name 

of Beaumont, which, from the description of the 

place, strikes our fancy as very appropriate. 

All plans for the development of the town 

were abruptly halted, however, by the oncoming 

Texas Revolution. Pulsifer wrote from 

Beaumont: “Texas…at that time alone stood out 

against Santa Anna with his mighty power….” 

On July 26, 1835, Pulsifer met with his fellow 

townspeople at Samuel Rodgers’ store to “elect 

officers and form a military company.” That 

September, word came that General Martín 

Perfecto de Cós was marching troops to Texas. 

“Major” Henry Millard, as he was now styled, 

addressed a meeting of the citizens of Beaumont 

and began to drill the military company, the 

“Neches Guards” (their motto: “Try us). On 

October 10 the company elected Millard as their 

delegate to the Consultation at San Felipe, to be 

held that November, and the Beaumont conclave 

sent a group of men to join the Texian army. 

Millard traveled with the Beaumont 

military company as far as San Antonio but 

returned to San Felipe around the first of 

November to attend the Consultation, which 

established a provisional government for Texas 

and appointed Sam Houston as commanderin-chief 

of the army but stopped short of 

declaring independence from Mexico. Millard, 

commissioned as lieutenant colonel of the 

First Regiment of Texas Infantry, departed for 

❖ 

The first marriage in Beaumont, that 

of Mary Tevis to Gilbert Stephenson, 

was officially performed “in bond” 

because of the absence of a priest. 

FROM THE HISTORY OF BEAUMONT BY 

FLORENCE STRATTON. 

Chapter II ✦ 17

Nacogdoches, where he was stationed as a 

recruiting officer. 

Pulsifer remained in Beaumont, tending the 

store, noting the death on December 6 of Noah 

Tevis. At midnight that Christmas Eve he was 

awakened by the gunfire, shouts, and laughter 

of the men who brought news of the victory at 

San Antonio de Bexar. Several Beaumonters had 

been among the three hundred Texian 

volunteers who had followed “Old Ben” Milam 

into San Antonio, including sixteen-year-old 

William McFaddin. A ball was held in Beaumont 

January 1, 1836, to celebrate the victory. 

The triumph was shortlived; on March 6, 

1836, the Mexican army again took San 

Antonio, slaughtering 180 Texian troops in an 

abandoned Spanish mission named the Alamo. 

Beaumonters responded by sending 28 men to 

join the Third Company Infantry, Second 

Regiment, Texas Volunteers, led by Captain 

William M. Logan. 

Henry Millard, a moderate who had been a 

strong supporter of the Mexican Constitution of 

1824, was won over to Texian independence late 

in 1835. He wrote Pulsifer from Nacogdoches: 

I hope I have done with politics except to 

fight for independence; as for the mere shadow 

of a ghost called the Constitution of 1824, I’ll 

none of it nor will any man in the present army. 

Texas must declare for independence or put in 

jeopardy her political freedom. 

The Texian convention, held at the new town 

of Washington-on-the-Brazos in March 1836, 

drafted a declaration of independence, wrote a 

constitution, elected officers, and assumed the 

government of the soon-to-be Republic of Texas. 

But the outlook for the Texian army was grim. 

General Sam Houston ordered a long retreat 

eastward. Rumors flew that the Texians were 

defeated and that Santa Anna, at the head of 

thousands of Mexican troops, was in close 

pursuit. Panic struck the settlers, triggering what 

has become known as the Runaway Scrape. 

Families deserted their homesteads, sometimes 

literally in the midst of a meal, traveling east by 

horse or ox-drawn wagon or on foot toward the 

Sabine River and the United States. As heavy 

April rains poured down, the roads became rivers 

of mud, slowing progress almost to a standstill. 

Families began leaving belongings on the sides of 

the roads. Children fell unnoticed from the 

wagons, to be picked up and cared for by those 

behind them, but often to remain separated from 

their frantic families for weeks. The rains had 

greatly swollen the Trinity, Neches, and Sabine 

Rivers, making them virtually impassable. 

❖ 

William McFaddin moved to the 

Beaumont area in 1833 with his 

parents, James and Elizabeth, and 

married Rachel Williams in 1837. He 

led the McFaddin family to 

dominance in land and cattle. 

COURTESY OF THE MCFADDIN-WARD 

HOUSE MUSEUM. 


Refugees poured into Beaumont but were 

forced to camp for weeks on the banks of the 

rain-gorged Neches. Some went south to 

Grigsby’s Bluff, where they traveled by boat 

across Sabine Lake to Louisiana. Nancy Tevis, 

who had chosen to stay at home rather than flee, 

aided the refugees. The Mexican army was 

rumored to have taken Nacogdoches and to be 

advancing south between the Neches and the 

Sabine, and hostile Indians were said to be 

gathering for an attack on Beaumont. Pulsifer, 

laboring alone in his store to pack his goods with 

moss, declared that the reports were “so 

frightful…that I expected nothing more than to 

see the brown or red forms of the Mexicans and 

Indians peering at me through the woods.” 

As a result of these new threats, some of the 

settlers attempted to fortify Grigsby’s Bluff with 

armed men, cotton bales, and “swivel,” or small 

cannon. Pulsifer, paddling by canoe down the 

Neches to Grigsby’s Bluff, described the scene: 

For a great distance the ground was 

completely spotted with people lying a-sleeping 

and this great number notwithstanding a sloop 

and a large scow had the day before carried as 

many families from there as they could. They 

were taking them all to a cockle shell bluff on the 

American side of the Sabine. 

Houston finally halted his army at Harrisburg 

on the banks of the San Jacinto River (or “Sank-in- 

Sink,” as Pulsifer termed it), where on 

April 21, 1836, he engaged and defeated Santa 

Anna. Henry Millard distinguished himself at 

the Battle of San Jacinto, leading four companies 

of infantry in the charge on the Mexican camp 

and, for his valor, gaining the lasting friendship 

of General Houston. Several area men participated 

in the battle, among them David McFaddin, 

J. J. Brake (whose musket broke during the 

fray), Benjamin F. Harper, Michel Pivoto, and 

Hezekiah Williams. William McFaddin missed the 

action because his company was guarding a 

baggage train three miles away. Pulsifer perhaps 

spoke for everyone when he wrote his sister: “O 

Lucy how my heart did jump for joy to hear this 

most glad tidings; how grateful I felt for the 

relation of them.” 

After the battle, the citizens of the little 

Neches River village of Beaumont returned to 

their daily tasks: clearing land, planting crops, 

❖ 

Top, left: Antonio Lopez de Santa 

Anna, the “Napoleon of the West,” 

suffered defeat at the hands of Sam 

Houston’s Texian Army at the Battle 

of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. 

Houston spared the Mexican 

general’s life. 


Above: Sam Houston, the hero of San 

Jacinto, became the Texas Republic’s 

first president and firm supporter of 

her admission to the Union. He lost 

favor among the people of Texas when 

he refused to endorse the state’s 

secession from the Union in 1861. 



Chapter II ✦ 19

uilding houses, electing leaders, and 

developing their town. In September 1836, they 

helped to elect General Houston, an 

overwhelming popular favorite (forty-three 

Beaumonters voted for Houston, two for 

Stephen F. Austin) as the first president of the 

infant Republic of Texas. 

In the meantime, Henry Millard returned his 

attentions to the townsite of Beaumont, forming 

a real-estate company with Pulsifer and Huling 

❖ 

The founders of Beaumont laid out the 

townsite, reserving squares for mills, 

schools, a courthouse, a market, and 

general public use, with some streets 

named for Texian heroes. 

COURTESY OF WILLIAM T. BLOCK AND 



and adding 50 more acres to the existing 50- 

acre site. The company then took Nancy Tevis 

and Joseph Grigsby into the partnership and 

each contributed 50 acres, making a total of 200 

acres on the high ground along the Neches 

River. The agreement, dated July 12, 1837, 

stated that the partners “have this day entered 

into mutual agreement for the enlargement and 

more perfect formation of the town.” 

In December 1837, the First Congress of the 

Republic of Texas established the county 

system, extending the western boundaries of the 

existing municipality of Jefferson to include 

Beaumont, which prior to that date had been a 

part of the Municipality of Liberty. Henry 

Millard exercised his influence to have the 

county seat of the new Jefferson County moved 

from the old location at Cow Bayou, or 

Jefferson, to Beaumont by January 1, 1838. He 

also accepted President Houston’s appointment 

to serve as the county’s chief justice. 

Beaumont was finally incorporated as a town 

on December 16, 1838, and on August 8, 1840, 

the town’s first elected officials were sworn into 

office. Elected mayor was New Yorker 

Alexander Calder. H. B. Littlefield was elected 

secretary, and Henry Millard, Charles D. 

Swaine, and I. F. Clark were elected aldermen. 

The new mayor appointed committees in 

charge of roads and streets, finances and 

accounts, landings, wharves and ferries, and 

“general expediencies.” 

Of prime concern was the construction and 

maintenance of roads. By 1840, four roads met 

in Beaumont, one going east by Ballew’s Ferry to 

Louisiana, one south to Grigsby’s Bluff, one 

north to Woodville and Town Bluff, and one, the 

old Atascosito Trail, west to Liberty. The board 

of commissioners directed new roads to be cut, 

and Beaumont’s citizens joined in clearing Main 

Street of trees and brush. Appointees of the 

county called “reviewers of roads” kept the 

existing roads under surveillance, drafting 

citizens to repair them if needed. 

Ferries were of vital importance. Collier’s 

Ferry, dating from 1831, traversed the Neches 

five miles north of Beaumont, and downriver, 

ferries ran at Grigsby’s Bluff and Smith’s Bluff. 

❖ 

Above: New Orleans merchant Henry 

Millard joined Joseph Pulsifer, Thomas 

Huling, Nancy Tevis, and Joseph 

Grigsby in laying out the village 

of Beaumont. 

COURTESY OF MARY CLARE PYE WILSFORD AND 


Left: George W. Smyth of Jasper 

County, signer of the Texas 

Declaration of Independence, later 

became the first congressman from the 

district that included Beaumont. 


Chapter II ✦ 21

❖ 

Right: Thomas F. McKinney, a 

resident in Stephen F. Austin’s colony, 

received the first grant in what is now 

Jefferson County. In 1830 he operated 

a keelboat on the Neches River, 

eventually carrying cotton to 

New Orleans. 

COURTESY OF WILLIAM T. BLOCK AND THE 


Below: James Biddle Langham began 

farming Jefferson County in 1836 and 

opened a livery stable in Beaumont in 

1879. In 1860 he owned property 

valued at $25,000. 



From the 1820s Noah and Nancy Tevis had 

operated a ferry at the old Opelousas Trail 

crossing near their homestead. After Noah’s 

death, Nancy continued to run it, building extra 

cowpens for livestock and training several of her 

cattle to lead the herds across the Neches on 

their way to the Louisiana market. 

The fastest and most efficient travel during 

this era remained the waterways. The Neches 

and its tributary, the Angelina, provided access 

by flatboat and keelboat from the East Texas 

settlements down to Beaumont and thence to 

Sabine Pass. Downriver, scows, sloops, and 

shallow-draft sailing vessels linked Beaumont to 

the rest of the world through Sabine Pass, 

Galveston, and New Orleans. 

The Neches itself was treacherous; shallow 

bars, shifting masses of silt, and underwater snags 

forced watercraft to depend upon seasonal highwater 

levels and rapid currents for navigation. Dr. 

Stephen H. Everett, Jefferson County’s senator to 

the First Congress of the Republic of Texas, wrote 

its president, Anson Jones, in 1843: 

There must be some place for the receiving 

and forwarding of the cotton of Texas at the 

mouths of the Neches and Sabine…. it will 

require much labor before steamboats can 

navigate the [Neches]. 

The possibility that the “some place” might 

be Beaumont first occurred to its citizens in the 

mid-1840s, when, against all probability, a large 

ocean-going schooner somehow made its way 

up the Neches to Beaumont. Its captain took a 

sounding in the center of the river, discovering, 

to everyone’s astonishment, that the depth at the 

end of the Pearl Street dock was over sixty feet. 

If the river could be cleared, the town could 

become a deepwater port. 

Meanwhile, settlers continued to move into 

the fledgling town, some providing badly 

needed professional services. Beaumont 

acquired its first physician in the person of 

Henry Millard’s brother, Darcourt Josiah Otho 

Millard, a doctor and apothecary. (In 1841 

Henry Millard had sold his interest in his store 

to another brother, Sidney, and his brother-inlaw, 

George Bryan, and moved to Galveston, 

where he died in 1844). D. J. O. Millard 

followed his brother Henry in office as chief 

justice of Jefferson County in 1841, and in May 

1846 he assumed complete proprietorship of 

the Millard family store. Frederick W. Ogden, 

who came from his native state of Kentucky to 

Beaumont in 1838, was the town’s first lawyer, 

also trained in medicine. From 1839 to 1842 

Ogden served as district attorney for the Fifth 

Judicial District of Texas and as representative to 


the Seventh and Eighth Congresses of the 

Republic of Texas. 

In 1838 Polish native Simon Wiess opened a 

grocery store on Main Street, then moved that 

same year to a site up the Neches River 

afterward known as Wiess Bluff, but his sons 

remained in Beaumont as successful 

businessmen. A Pennsylvanian named Isaiah 

Junker set up his blacksmith shop on the east 

side of the Jasper Road. Junker served Beaumont 

well, not only as its blacksmith but also as 

merchant, legislator, chief justice of Jefferson 

County, and railroad promoter. 

Naturally, the occupations of most of the 

earliest Beaumonters were related to the land. 

Many trapped the abundant game, curing the 

hides and trading them for goods at the stores. 

By the time of the Republic, small sugarcane 

plantations, with horse- or mule-driven mills, 

had begun to appear. Some cotton was grown, 

principally by Joseph Grigsby and J. Biddle 

Langham. Langham, a Tennessean who came to 

Texas in 1836, first picked cotton for Grigsby 

and then grew it on several farms of his own 

near Beaumont. 

Two occupations eventually grew into 

industries. The first to develop was cattle 

ranching. Area farmers captured and raised the 

prairie “mustang” cattle, but soon built their 

herds on the lush grasslands until their wealth 

was told in cattle. In 1839, 6,846 cattle were 

assessed as property on the Jefferson County tax 

rolls, and by 1840 a few settlers were beginning 

to emerge as ranchers, driving their herds east 

on the Opelousas Trail to the New Orleans 

market: Christian Hillebrandt, William 

Ashworth, David Garner (who also served a 

stint as Jefferson County’s sheriff), McGuire 

Chaison, and James and William McFaddin. 

The second important industry to emerge 

was lumber. Cypress trees stood by the 

thousands in the Sabine and Neches River 

❖ 

Bottom, left: By 1860 farmer Luanza 

Calder owned 14 slaves and 400 head 

of cattle. Her husband Alexander 

settled in Beaumont in 1838, became 

clerk of the county court, served as 

Beaumont’s first mayor, and practiced 

law until his death in 1853. 



Below: Christian Espar Hillebrandt 

came from Denmark, settling in the 

vicinity of Beaumont in the early 

1830s. His 1835 land grant was 

4,428 acres, but within four years he 

owned more than 20,000 acres. 


Chapter II ✦ 23

❖ 

John Jay and Sally Munson French, 

both born in Connecticut, chose to 

make their home in Beaumont. French 

built a successful tannery and trading 

post and was one of the first settlers to 

grow rice in Jefferson County. 

COURTESY OF THE BEAUMONT HERITAGE SOCIETY. 

bottoms, providing an almost indestructible 

building material and fostering an early shinglemanufacturing 

business, where shingles were 

shipped via schooner to Galveston and New 

Orleans. Logs from the East Texas forests 

were floated downriver or shipped by flatboat 

or keelboat to Beaumont, then made into 

boards, beams, or other building materials. 

The first mills were small horse-driven “muley” 

or “peck” mills, primitive operations but the 

beginnings of nineteenth-century Beaumont’s 

thriving lumber industry. 

The forests provided more than lumber. In 

1845, Connecticut Yankee John Jay French, a 

tanner by trade, brought his family to Beaumont 

and built his house, store, and tannery some 

miles north of town in a grove of the oak trees 

so essential to the tanning process. 

French had already made at least two trips 

to Texas from his native New England, the 

first in 1832 when he traveled by schooner 

down the Atlantic seaboard. His ship and 

another, carrying most of his goods, were 

caught in a storm. The ship carrying French 

survived, but the other sank. His ship, mastless, 

limped into New Orleans for repairs. French 

made his way via Galveston to Liberty, where he 

peddled his few remaining goods and returned 

to the East. 

In the fall of 1835 he made his final trip 

to Texas, bringing his family by flatboat down 

the newly constructed Erie Canal and the 

Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. After remaining 

in Opelousas for three years to outwait 

the Revolution, the Frenches resumed their 

journey to Texas by covered wagon along the 

Opelousas Trail. They first settled on French’s 

original Mexican land grant on Flores Creek, 

now Taylor’s Bayou, where French tried 

unsuccessfully to grow tobacco. Then, in 1845, 

they moved to the tract north of Beaumont, and 

French returned to his New England profession 

of tanning. Within a few years he was supplying 

shoes, saddles, and other leather goods for 

most of Southeast Texas. 

Before Beaumonters had been Texians, 

they had been Americans. Most wanted Texas 

to be a part of the United States. Beaumont 

residents called a meeting in 1845 to draft 

a set of resolutions annexing Texas to the 

United States, appointing Frederick W. 

Ogden, an ardent annexationist, as chairman of 

the committee. 

Because Texas would enter as a slave state, 

many people in the United States were opposed 

to its joining the Union, but, after many false 

starts and delays, Texas became the twentyeighth 

state on December 29, 1845. 


CHAPTER III 

CALL TO ARMS 

For a time, the little town of Beaumont was allowed to grow in peace. The center of the 

community began to develop where the sharp westward bend of the Neches at the foot of Main Street 

created a natural harbor. There a wooden wharf stood, where riverboats docked to load and unload 

their goods. 

Very few of the streets laid out by Beaumont’s founders had been cleared. Main Street, an extension 

of the Jasper Road, came into town from the north, intersecting the east ends of Austin and Water 

Streets before coming to a dead end at the river. Between Austin and Water, near the dock, was the 

old two-story Millard store, by then Cave Johnson’s tavern and inn. East on Austin Street lay the 

Herring stores and the Red Front Saloon, operated by German immigrant Hilmer Ruff. The 

blacksmith shop of Isaiah Junker was located on the east side of Main, at the foot of present-day 

Franklin Street. 

A log schoolhouse stood in the woods at the intersection of Pearl and College Streets, and at the 

corner of Pearl and Milam, near its modern-day counterpart, a log building, rented by the Jefferson 

County Board of Commissioners for use as a courthouse. (A new courthouse building was 

constructed on the same site sometime after 1854.) A two-story log jail served as the town’s first 

public building. 

Even though its population continued to grow, antebellum Beaumont remained a frontier town of 

log buildings and muddy, newly cleared streets. During the decade before the Civil War, a 

correspondent from the Galveston Weekly News named Henry Green stopped in Beaumont for a short 

time. After first admitting to being “woefully disappointed…as to the appearance of the town…,” 

Green conceived a liking for the little frontier village, perhaps because of the inhabitants, who, he 

❖ 

In 1860 the Beaumont Hotel 

advertised comfortable 

accommodations in the Beaumont 

Banner, Beaumont’s first newspaper. 

The hotel is shown in 1900 in 

this photograph. 


Chapter III ✦ 25

asserted, “for politeness and civility and 

attention to strangers, are certainly remarkable.” 

Northwest of town, in what came to be 

known as French Town, John Jay French had 

constructed next to his tannery a simple twostory 

Greek revival house, built of lumber and 

painted white, perhaps resembling the houses 

he had known from his childhood in 

Connecticut. It is thought to be the first house 

in the area to boast a painted exterior. 

Farther to the north, up the Neches River, 

lay an Indian camp, a reminder that just 

beyond the settled areas lay the wilderness. 

Native Americans, probably Alabamas, 

Coushattas, or Cherokees who had migrated to 

the area in the first quarter of the nineteenth 

century, appeared at Beaumont stores carrying 

gold dust in turkey quills to buy whiskey. (The 

gold’s origin is still a mystery.) One early settler 

remembered Indians during this era “carrying 

water in skins with their squaws trailing behind, 

their papooses strapped to their backs, down 

what is now Pearl Street.” 

A new group of immigrants moved to the area 

in the 1840s: the French Acadians, or Cajuns. To 

the names of Joseph and Michel Pivoto, Jonas B. 

Chaison, and Lefroy Guidry, who had arrived 

before 1840, were added those of Emile and 

Sevan Broussard, Alexis Blanchette, John Jirou, 

and Joseph Hebert, who came to Jefferson County 

in 1842. Hebert became one of the area’s leading 

cattlemen. By the 1850s, such French names as 

Trahan, Boudreaux, LaCour, Thibodeaux, Frugia, 

LeBlanc, and Richard had become part of the 

roster of names in Jefferson County. 

Beaumont households were largely selfsufficient; 

however, if a farmer needed an item 

that he could not grow or make himself, he 

walked or rode his horse or mule to one of the 

riverside stores in Beaumont or to French’s store 

in French Town. Beaumonters boasted ready 

access to items such as molasses, sugar, salt, tea, 

coffee, and tobacco, shipped to Beaumont from 

Galveston and Sabine Pass. John Jay French’s 

1850s ledger shows that many Beaumonters, 

among them Alexander Calder, Nancy Tevis 

Hutchinson, and William McFaddin, brought 

raw deer and cow hides and barrels of corn and 

tallow to trade for such items as shoes, bridles, 

saddles, domestics, calico, buttons, combs, pins, 

razors, flour, and mosquito netting (a must for 

all Beaumont households). French made his own 

whiskey, wine, and brandy, dipping the liquor 

from barrels to sell by the pint, quart, or gallon. 

Diversion was generally work-related. A house 

or barn raising became a social gathering, with 

food and drink and sometimes a fiddler to 

provide music for dancing. A manuscript in John 

Jay French’s handwriting gives evidence that he 

performed magic tricks at frontier socials. Since 

he owned an accordion, he probably played for 

the dancing. Persons in town for court 

proceedings stayed the weekend in the homes of 

friends or in Cave Johnson’s inn, assembling for 

❖ 

This frame building was started in 

1854 and accepted by county officials 

as the courthouse three years later. 

Photographed in the 1880s are (from 

left to right) Captain Peter D. 

Stockholm, unknown, unknown, B. J. 

Johnson, Savinee Blanchette, George 

Millard (?), unknown, Ira Bordages, 

Jim Ingalls, Charles McFaddin, Sab 

Landrum, Tom Langham, and the 

Reverend John F. Pipkin. 

PHOTO BY BUSINESS MEN’S STUDIO. COURTESY OF 



dancing Saturday night in the same courthouse in 

which the trial was being held. 

Holidays in Beaumont were occasions for 

celebration; early news correspondent Henry 

Green described a memorable Christmas spent 

with the McGuire Chaison family, featuring a 

huge Christmas dinner, complete with “allhands-round 

eggnog” and fiddling and dancing. 

It was apparently quite enough for Green; he 

later declared that he was “sicker of eggnog than 

the whale was of Jonah.” 

The social and criminal event of the decade 

was the 1856 hanging of Jack Bunch, an 

eighteen-year-old mulatto who had been 

convicted of killing a deputy sheriff. A huge 

crowd gathered at the courthouse square for the 

execution. Sheriff Jack Ingalls conducted it, 

requesting Bunch to mount the ladder to the 

makeshift gallows, then kicking it from under 

the unfortunate man. 

During the 1850s Beaumont became a part of 

the “Alligator Circuit,” so called because 

ministers who traveled to small settlements in 

Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana killed 

the alligators they found on the swampy trails 

and sold the hides to supplement their meager 

incomes. The populace met in the courthouse 

on Sundays, hearing sermons by a lay preacher 

in the absence of ordained ministers. The 

Reverend John Fletcher Pipkin, who arrived 

with his family in the early 1850s, preached to 

all denominations in homes, brush arbors, and 

borrowed public buildings. 

By the early 1850s Beaumont supported 

several private schools, and settlers such as the 

McFaddins and the Broussards hired “live-in” 

teachers for their offspring and neighboring 

children. In February 1854 the Jefferson County 

Board of Commissioners established five school 

districts in Jefferson County, and in 1858, A. N. 

Vaughan founded the Beaumont Male and 

Female Academy, which offered primary 

geography, higher mathematics, and painting in 

addition to its basic curriculum of reading, 

spelling, writing, and arithmetic. 

Beaumont was improving communication 

with the rest of the world. The Galveston and 

Sabine Bay Stage, owned and operated by 

George Bryan, made a weekly round trip 

through Bolivar, Sabine Pass, Galveston, and 

Beaumont. By the 1850s postal routes were 

established, linking Beaumont with Woodville, 

Jasper, Galveston, Sabine Pass, and other area 

settlements. Mail also came by way of packets 

from Sabine Pass, Galveston, and New Orleans. 

River traffic during the 1850s steadily 

increased in volume. During that time the 

Morgan Steamship Lines began making regular 

once-a-week stops at Sabine Pass. In 1848 the 

first steamer had sailed up the Neches to 

❖ 

Above: Among the people of French 

descent to arrive in pre-Civil War 

Beaumont was Jeff Chaison, 

descendant of Revolutionary War 

veteran Jonas Chaison, and nephew of 

William McFaddin. After the war, in 

which he enlisted in Hood’s Brigade, 

he became a successful rancher and 

realtor and eventually served as 

county judge. 


Left: John Fletcher Pipkin, lay 

Methodist minister, was pastor to all 

faiths for many years, being the only 

resident preacher in the area. During 

the Civil War, Pipkin tended the 

physical and spiritual needs of the 

wounded who were treated in the 

courthouse. After the war he and his 

son-in-law, Dr. M. G. Haltom, bought 

and operated a sawmill. This versatile 

man also served as county judge 

during the last decade of his life. 

COURTESY OF THE FIRST UNITED METHODIST 

CHURCH AND THE TYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 

Chapter III ✦ 27

❖ 

Top, left: Pioneer lumberman John W. 

Keith had enlisted in the Confederate 

Army by the age of sixteen. After the 

war he became a partner in Long 

and Company. 


Top, right: Francis Lafayette Carroll, 

father of George W. Carroll, entered 

the lumber business with James M. 

Long before the Civil War. After the 

war, in partnership with his brotherin-law 

William A. Fletcher and Joseph 

A. Carroll, he organized the Texas 

Tram and Lumber Company. 



Bottom, left and right: James M. Long, 

who settled in Beaumont on the eve of 

the Civil War, joined F. L. Carroll in 

the purchase of the Ross and 

Alexander Lumber Company. The 

war interfered with their plans, and 

afterward they established separate 

companies. Long died prematurely, 

but his widow, Theresa, helped carry 

on the business. 

COURTESY OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 

MRS. ED E. CARROLL, AND THE TYRRELL 


Bevilport, and steamboats had continued to 

grow in number and importance. Sternwheelers 

such as the Neches Belle, the Uncle Ben, 

the Rough and Ready, the Mary Falvey, the Doctor 

Massie, the Pearl Plant, and particularly the 

Sunflower dominated the Neches, hauling cotton 

and hides downriver and other items of trade 

upriver. The largest steamboats based at 

Beaumont were the Josiah H. Bell and the 

enormous two-hundred-foot Florilda. 

In the 1850s, the railroads appeared in 

Southeast Texas. The Eastern Texas Railroad 

began construction of a route from Sabine Pass 

to Beaumont in 1857, but halted a few miles 

south of town when materials gave out. The 

next year work was begun in Houston on the 

Texas and New Orleans Railroad, which by 

1861 had completed track from Houston to 

Beaumont and was laying track to the new 

settlement of Orange on the Sabine River. 


The young lumber industry in Beaumont grew 

during the antebellum period. In 1856 William 

Phillips and Loving G. Clark built a steam mill at a 

spot on Brakes Bayou that had been designated as 

a mill site by the town’s founders. In 1857, John R. 

Ross and James R. Alexander transported a mill 

overland from the Trinity River, setting it up on 

Brakes Bayou near present-day Pine Street. 

Unfortunately, the mill burned, along with sixty 

thousand feet of lumber, in early 1859. The 

owners sold the site and the salvaged machinery to 

Georgian Captain James M. Long and his brotherin-law, 

Louisianan Francis Lafayette Carroll. 

A sawmill bought in 1859 by Otto Ruff from 

the Steadman Foundry in Indiana was shipped 

by boat via New Orleans to Beaumont. This mill 

eventually evolved into the Reliance Lumber 

Company, which, with Long’s company and its 

offshoots, the Beaumont Lumber Company and 

the Texas Tram and Lumber Company, would 

comprise Beaumont’s four lumber giants during 

the last quarter of the nineteenth century. 

Another Beaumont industry was born when 

Acadians such as Joe Hebert brought rice from 

Louisiana about 1849. Rice, like corn, was at first 

grown only for family consumption. Farmers 

never irrigated their rice, depending on the 

rainfall for sufficient moisture to sprout the seeds; 

hence, the term “providence rice.” Gradually, the 

farmers realized that the rich black clay around 

Beaumont was much better suited to the 

cultivation of rice than of cotton, and the crop 

began to assume increasing importance. 

In 1860 schoolteacher A. N. Vaughan forsook his 

teaching profession to become mayor of Beaumont, 

as well as editor and publisher of Beaumont’s first 

newspaper, the Beaumont Banner. Called by a fellow 

area newspaper “an uncommonly neat, spicy, and 

ably conducted sheet,” the Banner enjoyed a 

circulation of four hundred. 

On the national scene, the tension between 

North and South had been steadily escalating 

into open conflict. Sympathies of Beaumonters 

lay irrevocably with the South. In the election in 

early 1861, 141 Beaumonters voted with the 

rest of Texas to secede from the Union; only 

twelve wished to remain a part of it. 

When Confederate forces fired upon Fort 

Sumter April 12, 1861, the Civil War became a 

reality. Municipal government ground to an 

abrupt halt and the Banner ceased publication as 

Mayor Vaughan left to enlist in Company F, Fifth 

Texas Regiment, later known as Hood’s Brigade. 

Others followed, including Jefferson Chaison; 

Mark, William, Massena, and Valentine Wiess; 

and William A. Fletcher, a young Beaumonter 

who was shingling a roof when he learned of the 

fall of Fort Sumter. Fletcher hurriedly completed 

❖ 

Beaumont’s first weekly newspaper, 

the Beaumont Banner, had to depend 

on surrounding communities for 

advertising support. A chilling article, 

typical of Southern newspapers, 

attempts to help owners improve the 

efficiency of slave labor. 


Chapter III ✦ 29

❖ 

Above: William (left), Mark, (center), 

and Valentine (right) Weiss enlisted 

in Hood’s Brigade in Texas’ secession 

in 1861. After the war Captain 

William Weiss became involved in 

steamboating, Mark became 

a successful speculator, and Valentine 

bought out William in 1873. 

Each brother was prominent in 

Beaumont business life into the 

twentieth century. 


Right: Woodson Pipkin, one of thirteen 

slaves owned by the Reverend John F. 

Pipkin, served the Reverend Pipkin as 

valet and bodyguard during the Civil 

War. Woodson Pipkin cofounded the 

first black school in Beaumont with 

Charles Charlton, and was one of 

the founders and eventually pastor 

of the local African Methodist 

Episcopal Church. 


the roof and joined Hood’s Brigade, but a serious 

injury at the Second Battle of Manassas sent him 

to a cavalry unit for the duration of the war. 

George W. O’Brien, a young Beaumont lawyer, 

also enlisted in Company F, even though he had 

voted against secession. O’Brien, the son of 

storekeeper and stage-line owner George Bryan, 

had come to Beaumont in 1852, becoming 

licensed to practice law in Jefferson County a bare 

three months before he joined the Confederate 

army. He was later given the commission of 

captain and the command of Company E of 

Likens’ Battalion, Texas Volunteers. 

In 1861 Federal ships began to blockade the 

Texas coast, and in 1862, Galveston was 

captured by Union gunboats, bringing the war 

much closer to Beaumont. The Gulf Coast of 

Texas was particularly vulnerable to enemy 

attack, and Beaumont, the largest community 

on the Neches, lying as it did just above 

strategically-located Sabine Pass, was potentially 

important to the Federals. 

Troops from Jefferson, Chambers, Liberty, and 

other counties trained in Beaumont, among them 

O’Brien’s company, formerly of Likens’ Battalion, 

then of Spaight’s Texas Regiment. They camped 

south of town at “Camp Spindle Top,” near 

Spindletop Springs, which had acquired the name 

because of a nearby spindle-shaped cypress tree. 

Reportedly, O’Brien noticed globules of natural 

petroleum collecting on the surface of the springs 

on nearby Sour Spring Mound. Perhaps even then 

he had a premonition of their importance. 

On New Year’s Day, 1863, Confederate forces 

under General J. Bankhead Magruder regained 

possession of Galveston, but the rest of the year 

boded ill for the Confederacy. The Union 

command planned an invasion of Texas—a 

coastal offensive at Sabine Pass. Meanwhile, 

frantic preparations were taking place on the 


❖ 

Top, left: William A. Fletcher moved 

to Beaumont in 1856, and was 

engaged in carpentry when the Civil 

War began. After the war he joined 

the Carrolls in the Texas Tram and 

Lumber Company. It was his 

genius as a skilled mechanic and 

millwright that contributed greatly to 

the success of the companies with 

which he was associated. 


Texas coast. A supply depot was established at 

Beaumont and the steamers Josiah H. Bell and 

Uncle Ben were refitted as “cotton-clad” 

gunboats. Troops began gathering at Fort 

Griffin, commanded by Lieutenant Richard W. 

Dowling, an Irish barkeeper from Houston. 

On the morning of September 8, four Federal 

gunboats, the Clifton, the Arizona, the Granite 

City, and the Sachem, appeared off the Pass and 

opened fire, showering on Fort Griffin, 

according to a contemporary observer, “a most 

galling and terrific fire.” When they passed the 

channel stakes marking the range of Dowling’s 

guns, his men opened fire with deadly accuracy, 

crippling the Sachem and grounding her on a 

mud flat. The Clifton also ran aground; a shell 

struck her tiller rope, then exploded her steam 

drum, whereupon she surrendered. The 

Arizona, the Granite City, and the rest of the 

Union forces retreated to New Orleans. The 

Confederate victory at the Battle of Sabine Pass 

had prevented the invasion of the Texas coast. 

The last battles fought anywhere near 

the Beaumont area occurred in Louisiana. 

Top, right: As a boy in 1850, George 

W. O’Brien, working for his father, 

brought the mail by stage from 

Beaumont to Galveston. He later 

became a lawyer, but interrupted his 

practice to join Spaight’s Texas 

Regiment in defending the Texas 

coast. His many interests included 

publication of the Neches Valley 

News and the Beaumont News- 

Beacon, service as county clerk and 

town alderman, and partnership in 

the Gladys City Oil, Gas, and 

Manufacturing Company. 


Below: Several companies of Colonel 

A. W. Spaight’s Battalion, later known 

as Hood’s Brigade, camped at 

Spindletop Springs in 1862. One of 

the soldiers sketched his version of 

the camp. 



Chapter III ✦ 31

❖ 

This drawing shows the position of the 

Union gunboats that met defeat at 

Sabine Pass in 1863. The Sachem and 

the Clifton ran aground and were 

eventually captured. The Arizona and 

the Granite City escaped in spite of 

being temporarily grounded, and all 

Union forces withdrew. 

COURTESY OF TIMOTHY SPELL AND THE TYRRELL 


Beaumonter Andrew McFaddin was killed at the 

Battle of Bayou Fordoche. At the Battle of 

Calcasieu Pass, fought on May 6, 1864, 

Confederate forces, including Captain George W. 

O’Brien’s Company, captured two Union 

gunboats, including the Granite City. Taking part 

in this battle were several other Beaumonters, 

among them hotel owner Cave Johnson. 

The battle was won, but the war, for the South, 

was lost. In May 1865, General Edmund Kirby 


❖ 

Left: The Union ship Clifton sank 

under the cannonade from Lieutenant 

Dick Dowling’s men inside Fort 

Griffin. In 1912 the handwrought 

walking beam was salvaged from the 

Clifton’s wreckage and eventually 

installed in Pipkin Park, overlooking 

the Port of Beaumont. 


Bottom, left: Nathan Gilbert, who 

came to Jefferson County about the 

time of the Civil War, served as the 

Confederate cotton agent at Sabine 

Pass. He was the ancestor of John N. 

Gilbert, who had interests in ranching, 

rice, lumber, and eventually oil. 

COURTESY OF RUTH AND FLORENCE CHAMBERS 


Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans- 

Mississippi Department, boarded a federal ship in 

Galveston Harbor to surrender his command. 

Beaumonters returned from war to face 

formidable obstacles. The first Reconstruction 

Act established military rule in Texas and 

disenfranchised Confederates, and by the 

summer of 1865, Union troops occupied 

Beaumont, running the local government. 

George O’Brien, home from service in Louisiana, 

feared “the current of malice and oppression… 

about to engulf us.” 

The area’s economy had slowed almost to a 

standstill. Cotton exports had dropped; the 

Bottom, right: Lieutenant Richard 

“Dick” Dowling was a hero after his 

astonishing victory over superior 

Union Forces at Sabine Pass. He is 

shown here on his wedding day with 

his bride, Annie Odlum. 

COURTESY OF WILLIAM D. QUICK. 

Chapter III ✦ 33

❖ 

Right: Nora Lee Pipkin Haltom, 

daughter of the Reverend John F. 

Pipkin, was born in Arkansas and 

moved to Jefferson County with her 

family about 1850. She served as 

postmaster of Beaumont during the 

Civil War. 



Below: George W. O’Brien vigorously 

opposed recession, but later 

committed himself fully to the 

Confederate cause. On July 14, 1865, 

he signed this amnesty oath. 


railroads lay in a state of disuse and disrepair. 

The sawmills had stood silent for the latter part 

of the war, and even the number of cattle in 

Jefferson County had been depleted because of 

the Confederate army’s need for beef. 

On April 16, 1870, the military commander of 

Texas, General J. J. Reynolds, restored power to the 

civil government, and for Texas, Reconstruction 

was over. 

Beaumonters gradually began to build up 

their herds of cattle and to work their farms 

again, hiring field hands in place of slaves or 

doing the work themselves. When W. A. 

Fletcher returned to Beaumont, he “gathered up 

father’s old carpenter tools and went on a job at 

a dollar and a half per day, about one hundred 

feet from the place where [he] left off work.” 

George O’Brien, unable to make a living as an 

attorney, manufactured cypress shingles before 

he was able to return to the practice of law. 

Two prophetic incidents occurred during the 

Reconstruction period. One was an item appearing 

in Flake’s Daily Galveston Bulletin, July 11, 1866. 

Three reliable gentlemen visited our city this 

week, informing us of some facts concerning 

what they suppose to be the existence of 

petroleum in the section of country lying 

between the Angelina and Neches Rivers. [They] 

say that there is a wide belt of country running 

east and west through Texas that will one day 

yield an immense amount of oil. 

The other was a letter received by George 

O’Brien from a friend in Liberty, A. B. Trowell, 

instructing O’Brien to buy all the land in 

Jefferson County with “Sour Lake water or Sour 

Lake tar” on it. He continued: 

If you manage this thing judiciously…there is 

a larger sum of gold dollars in it for us than we 

have seen or heard of in our whole lives….The 

great excitement of the age is oil…. What is the 

use toiling and struggling with aching brains and 

weary hands for bread, when gold so temptingly 

invites you to reach out and clutch it? 

O’Brien declined his friend’s offer of a 

partnership in the fabulous venture, but 

perhaps the idea, as well as his own previous 

experiences at Camp Spindle Top, spurred his 

involvement in the search for oil on the hill 

south of Beaumont a quarter of a century later. 


CHAPTER IV 

LUMBER 

TOWN 

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Beaumont followed its natural course of development 

in cattle, rice, and primarily lumber. The town’s lumber industry flourished, reaching its zenith just 

before the turn of the century in the enormous production of its great sawmills, and Beaumont grew 

from a frontier settlement into a gracious little city. 

The railroads did not recover immediately from the effects of the Civil War. Much of the Eastern 

Texas Railroad had been destroyed, its rails and ties ripped up in 1863 to be used in the construction 

of Fort Griffin. The Texas and New Orleans (locally known as the T&NO), although still in existence, 

was in a state of disrepair. In 1876, however, a new state constitution restored Texas’ right to issue 

land grants to railroads, and they began to rebuild. 

The T&NO was reopened in 1876, with a depot located at the corner of Pearl and Crockett 

Streets, and Beaumont’s business district began to build around it, moving away from the old site 

downriver. The railroad provided a vital trade link to the East as well as to Houston. New York 

bankers Herman and Augustus Kountze rebuilt the old Eastern Texas Railroad from Sabine Pass to 

Beaumont, eventually extending it northward. The first regular run of the Sabine and East Texas was 

made on February 2, 1881. 

The T&NO absorbed the Sabine and East Texas Railroad in 1882 and in turn became part of the 

great Southern Pacific intercontinental railway system. By 1890 the Southern Pacific Company had 

built a brick roundhouse and a new depot designed especially for the Beaumont climate; its 

enormous overhanging eaves kept passengers dry on rainy days. 

In 1896 lumberman John Henry Kirby built a small railroad called the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas 

City line, reaching from Beaumont to Kirbyville in East Texas, later absorbed by the Santa Fe system. 

A Kansas City promoter named Arthur Stillwell built a railway in 1897 called the Kansas City 

❖ 

When Spindletop brought in boomers, 

this Southern Pacific locomotive 

carried some of the human overflow 

to the famous Windsor Hotel at 

Sabine Pass. 


Chapter IV ✦ 35

❖ 

Right: John Henry Kirby began his 

career in the Beaumont area by 

building the Gulf, Beaumont, and 

Kansas City Railroad line in 1896. 

After the turn of the century, he 

bought heavily into the lumber 

business in Beaumont and rapidly 

expanded his interests throughout 

the region. 

COURTESY OF THE KIRBY FOREST 

PRODUCTS COMPANY. 

Below: Around the turn of the century, 

this steam log skidder, invented by 

millwright William A. Fletcher, 

operated in a Beaumont pine forest. 

PHOTO BY BUSINESS MEN’S STUDIO, COURTESY OF 


Southern, running through Beaumont to the 

Gulf. Stillwell laid out a four-thousand-acre 

townsite on the shores of Sabine Lake to serve 

as its terminus, and the town, Port Arthur, was 

named for him. 

Expansion of the railroads removed the only 

obstacle to the growth of Beaumont’s lumber 

industry. During the 1870s and 1880s lumber 

production increased dramatically, and several 

new mills were established in Beaumont. 

Long and Company, located between Brake’s 

Bayou and the Jasper Road (now Pine Street), 

had become a family concern under the 

leadership of James Long and his father, Davis 

Long. The partnership also included Davis 

Long’s sons-in-law, W. A. Fletcher, John W. 

Keith, brothers Joseph A. Carroll and Frank L. 

Carroll (with whom Long had originally bought 

the mill), and Frank Carroll’s son-in-law, Jehu 


❖ 

Left: This Baldwin locomotive 

expedited the movement of logs from 

forest to mills, spurring the huge 

growth of Beaumont sawmills. The 

wood-burning engine was designed in 

1866 by M. N. Forney. 



Below: Some lumber companies 

maintained not only the usual 

company store but a company school 

for the children of its employees. 

This school at Long and Company 

was one of the first of many private 

schools in Beaumont before the 

public school system evolved at the 

end of the century. 


Frank Keith, who, with his brother John L. 

Keith, was also John W. Keith’s nephew. From 

this intricately interwoven family alliance came 

a dynasty of lumber barons whose presence was 

strongly felt in Beaumont. J. Frank Keith, who 

married Frank Carroll’s daughter Alice in 1882, 

was to have a particularly brilliant financial 

career, as would George W. Carroll, Alice’s 

brother and Keith’s sometime business partner. 

Alice Carroll Keith would leave her own mark 

on Beaumont’s future, establishing a tradition of 

philanthropy that lasted until her death in 1956. 

In 1870 the partners in Long and Company 

dispersed their interests among their family. The 

parent company began operating its huge plant 

as a shingle mill, which “turn[ed] out shingles 

Chapter IV ✦ 37

❖ 

This high-wheeled cart was one of the 

devices used to transport logs to the 

railroad. The log was suspended by 

one end under the axle, while mules 

pulled the cart. 

COURTESY OF THE KIRBY FOREST 

PRODUCTS COMPANY. 

like snowflakes,” as many as 200,000 per day. 

Six years later, Joseph and Frank Carroll and J. 

Frank Keith built the Beaumont Lumber 

Company on the river just east of the foot of 

Main Street and opposite the courthouse. Still 

later, W. A. Fletcher bought the riverfront Eagle 

Mill on the north side of Hickory Street from 

George W. Smyth, Jr., and Elias Seale, renaming 

it the Texas Tram and Lumber Company. 

Fletcher claimed that it was one of 

the largest and most complete mills west 

of the Mississippi River. A contemporary 

newspaperman remarked upon seeing the Texas 

Tram Company that it “was almost concealed 

from view by the piles of lumber stacked on its 

yard and ready for the cars.” 

Otto Ruff’s mill, built in 1856 on Brake’s 

Bayou just south of Long and Company, was 

purchased by Harry W. Potter and Mark Wiess, 

who named it the Reliance Lumber Company. 

Wiess, later joined by his brothers Valentine and 

William, tore down the old mill in 1877 and 

built a new one complete with every imaginable 

innovation, including automatic slab carriers, 

cylinder or shotgun feeds, and a steam dry kiln. 

The mill was sold again in 1902 to lumber 

magnate John Henry Kirby. In the year 1880 

Beaumont mills exported 26 million feet of 

rough lumber, 15 million feet of dressed lumber, 

and nearly 37.5 million shingles. 

In fact, Beaumont boasted a broad economic 

base, aided by the railroads. Cotton was exported 

from Beaumont, increasingly by rail as cotton 

growers found that it was faster and cheaper, and 

the town’s early business of raising cattle still 

constituted an important part of local economy. 

Longtime cattleman William McFaddin, with his 

son William Perry Herring McFaddin, Valentine 

Wiess, and Dr. Obadiah Kyle, formed an 

organization in 1888 called the Beaumont 

Pasture Company, a ranching concern located 

south of Beaumont and consisting of sixty 

thousand acres of enclosed pasture land stocked 

with cattle. The Beaumont Pasture Company, in 

an attempt to improve its livestock, crossed the 

native cattle with Herefords, which were good 

beef cattle, and with a Brahma bull (reputedly 

bought by the McFaddins from a circus), which 


was a hardy strain. The venture was successful, 

and soon the hybrid cattle were being shipped 

everywhere. At one point, several New York 

restaurants advertised “McFaddin steaks.” 

By the time of his death in 1897, William 

McFaddin had built a ranching empire. His son 

Perry McFaddin followed in his footsteps, 

doubling his family’s holdings and diversifying his 

interest to include rice farming, rice milling, meat 

packing, fur trapping, and commercial real estate. 

The new rice industry also flourished during 

the last part of the nineteenth century. In 1892, 

Louisianan Joseph Eloi Broussard bought a onethird 

interest in Price, Nash, and Company, a 

working gristmill, and converted it into the 

Beaumont Rice Mill, the first commercial rice 

mill in Texas. (Broussard was also a pioneer in 

the irrigation of rice.) 

Beaumont still depended heavily upon its 

original resource: the Neches River. Logs were 

rafted down the river to the mills at Beaumont 

and Sabine Pass, and the Beaumont Lumberman 

faithfully reported the arrival of the timber at 

high water: 

Ironically, the river steamers enjoyed a brief 

heyday just before they disappeared forever 

from the rivers of Texas. Their captains— 

William E. Rogers, E. I. Kellie of Jasper, W. A. 

Fletcher, William and Napoleon Wiess, Cave 

Johnson, and Andrew F. Smyth of Bevilport, 

among others—absolute masters of their 

floating realms, were glamorous figures who 

brought the latest trinkets from Galveston, New 

Orleans, or New York and the latest news from 

the outside world. 

❖ 

Above: A packet sailboat hauls bags of 

rice from Beaumont to Galveston. 

Rice, originally brought by the 

Acadian French from Louisiana, 

became one of Beaumont’s most 

prosperous industries in the last 

decades of the nineteenth century. 


Below: Captain Andrew F. Smyth. the 

owner of the Laura. 


The Neches River has risen. This is the highest 

rise at this season for several years. Pine still 

continues to come down in large lots. Over 

5,000 logs were taken by the mills the first week 

of the rise and that is not half of the number this 

rise will bring down. 

Chapter IV ✦ 39

❖ 

Right: Acting for a group of investors, 

Captain Andrew F. Smyth bought the 

Laura for $11,000 in Evansville, 

Indiana, in 1871. She was the finest 

boat on the Neches River, with a 

capacity of six hundred bales of 

cotton, along with other freight. 

Cabins and a saloon were luxury 

items available to her passengers. 


Below: The mud sled enabled grocer 

C. B. Chenault to make deliveries in 

spite of Beaumont’s typically muddy 

streets. The house in the background 

belonged to Valentine Wiess, and 

the building to the right was a 

power station. 

COURTESY OF THE FIRST UNITED 

METHODIST CHURCH. 

One of the last but perhaps the finest of the 

steamboats to travel the Neches was the 

sternwheeler Laura. Bought by Captain Andrew F. 

Smyth in 1871 in Evansville, Indiana, for 

$11,000, the Laura was the most elegant sight on 

the river. Painted a sparkling white, she was 115 

feet long with a 32-foot beam and two levels of 

decks. The upper deck contained ten passenger 

cabins and a well-appointed saloon, equipped 

with a mahogany sideboard, a square grand 

piano, sofas, pictures, and mirrors. Even after 

Smyth’s death in 1879, the Laura plied the Neches 

under a new captain until the 1890s, when she 

sank near Beaumont. For many years her 

smokestack protruded above the muddy waters of 

the Neches, mute testimony to a vanished era. 

As railroads preempted riverboat trade, 

Southeast Texans’ thoughts turned again to the 

idea of a seaport at Beaumont. In 1876 the 

federal government granted a large sum of 

money to dig a channel five feet deep and 50 

feet wide through the bars at the mouths of 

Sabine Lake and the Neches River. The project, 

begun in 1878, garnered vigorous local support. 

In the 1870s, Beaumont still retained many 

vestiges of the frontier. Unpaved streets were 

beds of dust in dry weather and seas of mud 

during the torrential Southeast Texas rains. 

Citizens frequently made use of ingenious mud 

sleds, pulled by oxen, mules, or horses. 

Although mill owners J. M. Long and F. L. 

Carroll boasted white-painted houses of finished 

lumber, most Beaumonters’ homes were still of 

log construction. Yards were filled with kitchen 


gardens and livestock rather than lawns and 

shrubs. The paper complained of a flea epidemic 

in town “bad enough to make a statue lively.” 

A rapidly growing Beaumont also periodically 

found itself the host of a disruptive transient 

element. The town was the natural spot for 

journey’s-end recreation for recently paid 

lumbermen, railroad workers, and riverboat 

men, who sometimes used firearms to punctuate 

their revels. In the words of one old settler, “In 

those days, if you heard what sounded like shots 

from a gun, that’s what it was.” 

As a result of its thriving commerce, 

however, the face and character of Beaumont 

began to change. In 1876 Pearl Street was 

cleared and plowed, giving the town another 

main thoroughfare. In 1879 the town acquired 

one of its landmarks: the Crosby House, named 

for J. T. Crosby, the president of the T&NO 

Railroad, and located opposite the depot. It 

boasted a dining room, a ladies’ parlor, five 

bedrooms on the first floor, and 12 on the 

second. The year 1888 saw the construction of a 

new three-story Crosby House, a building with 

a broad gallery, which in the evenings became 

the gathering place for the men of the town. 

After the Civil War, George W. O’Brien had 

founded a small paper in Beaumont, the Neches 

Valley News. In 1880, O’Brien sold the press to 

John W. Leonard, a young newspaperman from 

Melbourne, Australia, who had come to 

Beaumont to practice law. On Sunday, November 

7, 1880, Leonard, with the assistance of his 

brother-in-law, Thomas A. Lamb, an Englishman 

from India, brought out the first issue of the 

Beaumont Enterprise, named for Leonard’s 

previous employer, the Arizona Daily Enterprise. 

In 1881 the Texas legislature passed an 

act stating that a town with over one thousand 

inhabitants could be incorporated if it so 

desired. John Leonard, through the Enterprise, 

urged incorporation for Beaumont, and local 

citizens voted 115 to 107 for incorporation on 

July 12, 1881. 

In 1870 the first fine arts organization, a 

Shakespearean theatrical group, had been formed 

by Leonard, and the town began to provide 

facilities for a growing number of cultural events. 

Early theaters were the Blanchette Hall, located 

on the second floor of the Blanchette Store on 

Main Street, and the Bluestein Hall, built in 1881 

at the corner of Tevis and Forsythe. In 1883, just 

behind the Crosby House, Colonel A. F. Goodhue 

built the Crosby Opera House, a large frame 

building that became the new entertainment 

center for the community. In 1889, Colonel 

❖ 

Above: The barbershop stood next to 

the Nash boarding house on Pearl 

Street. Ed Ogden is the tallest of the 

men near the center of the picture. 

S. W. McCarty is leaning against the 

middle pole, and blacksmith J. D. 

Goodin stands at the far right. 


Below: This picture, taken around 

1885, shows the Crosby Opera House 

sandwiched between the Crosby 

House (right) and the J. B. Goodhue 

cottage. The opera house was 

Beaumont’s amusement center, 

featuring professional guest artists as 

well as local amateurs. 

COURTESY OF RICHARD GRAF. 

Chapter IV ✦ 41

❖ 

Above: Judge Hal Greer’s cottage is 

pictured in the 1890s. On January 18, 

1895, Mrs. Greer met with several 

women to discuss the formation of a 

women’s reading club. Her plan led to 

the establishment of the Woman’s 

Club of Beaumont. 


Below: Charter members of the 

Woman’s Club of Beaumont were 

Hanna Lamb (left) and her daughter 

Mary (right), who participated in the 

planning with Mrs. Hal Greer. The 

Lamb family were pioneers in the 

stationery and office supply business 

in Beaumont. 


Goodhue also erected the Goodhue Opera 

House, a two-story brick structure located next to 

the Crosby Opera House. This facility lay on an 

established circuit that brought shows to theaters 

between New Orleans and San Antonio, at times 

featuring such stellar performers as Lionel 

Barrymore. The Woman’s Club, organized in 

1895, imported renowned musicians and artists 

to appear in Beaumont. 

Because fire was an ever-present threat, the 

Beaumont Fire Company Number One was 

organized in 1881, with a Grand Firemen’s Ball 

being held as a benefit on October 18 at the new 

Bluestein Hall. The gala affair was too much of a 

success; the following item later appeared in the 

Enterprise: “The members of the fire company 

were too much stove up by the ball on Tuesday 

night to attend the meeting on Wednesday. 

Meeting on Saturday, at 8 p.m. sharp.” 

In 1879, Jefferson County held a local option 

election on alcohol. The “wets” so decisively 

defeated the “drys” that no more local option 

elections were held until well after the turn of 

the century. The Beaumont Temperance Council 

decided to offer citizens a genteel alternative to 

the saloons, organizing a reading club in 

November of 1880, then building a hall on the 

corner of Bowie and Pearl Streets. Temperance 

Hall, as it was known, became a social and 

cultural center, holding the town’s first library. 

During the early 1870s local education was still 

provided by private schools, supervised by county 

trustees. In 1879 a group of citizens organized the 

Beaumont Academy Company, subscribing $600 

for a new building on Park Street and selling 

shares at $5 each. George W. O’Brien was elected 

president of the board. In 1883 the Beaumont 

School District was organized, and the first graded 

school system began in 1884. 

In 1870 the first formal school for African- 

American children was held in a building near 

the courthouse. Later the school was moved to 


the upper floor of the home of the Reverend 

Woodson Pipkin, an African-American minister 

who was formerly slave and bodyguard to white 

Methodist minister John Fletcher Pipkin. 

Charles Pole Charlton, another former slave 

who had become a successful businessman, 

organized a school for black children in 1874 

with Woodson Pipkin. Charlton and Pipkin also 

helped organize a second school in the Live Oak 

Baptist Church about 1878. After the Beaumont 

School District was organized, all African- 

American children attended the Beaumont 

Colored School in the north end of town, under 

the tutelage of T. T. Pollard. 

By 1880 religious denominations had 

appeared. Since the days of the Alligator Circuit, 

a Methodist church building had been 

constructed in 1877 on South Street, which 

served both Baptists and Methodists and, after 

1881, Presbyterians as well. 

The Catholic Church first celebrated Mass in 

private homes. In 1879 Father Vitalus Quinon 

had built St. Louis Catholic Church, a frame 

structure located on the corner of Bowie and 

❖ 

Above: Members of Beaumont’s 

volunteer fire department, formed in 

1881, paid seventy-five cents each for 

the privilege of serving. This pumper 

was operated by hand after being 

drawn to the scene of the fire by 

mules, Kate and Roddy. Seated are 

(from left to right) Tom Galgish, 

George W. Carroll, and Ed Wilson; 

standing are Reuben Weber, W. A. 

Ivers, George Millard, Savinee 

Blanchette, W. J. Owens, and A. B. 

Doucette; on the truck are Ed Ogden, 

Joe Reeves, Lee Wilbarger, Val Boyer, 

Van Petty, and Hank Solinsky. 

COURTESY OF THE BEAUMONT FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

Left: A group of young people on a 

picnic excursion to Sabine Lake. Front 

row (from left to right): Vallie 

Fletcher, Carrie Bacon, and Henry 

Langham; Middle row: Will Keith, 

Ethel Leary, Kate and Marion 

Fletcher; Earl Wilson; and Jim Keith 

standing at the top in the center. 

COURTESY, OF THE BEAUMONT HERITAGE SOCIETY. 

Chapter IV ✦ 43

❖ 

Top, left: T. T. Pollard attended 

Tuskegee Institute, then began his long 

career as a Beaumont educator in the 

late 1880s. Charlton-Pollard High 

School, opened in 1925, honored two 

pioneers in local black education. 


Top, right: Charles Pole Charlton, 

an ex-slave from Tyler County, 

shared organizing the first black 

schools in Beaumont with Woodson 

Pipkin. Classes were held in various 

buildings, including the Live Oak 

Baptist Church. 


Below: The St. Louis Catholic Church 

was originally built at Orleans and 

Bowie in 1879 under the leadership of 

Father Vitalus Quinon. The church 

was moved to Jefferson Street between 

Forsythe and Wall in 1894; the 

convent was completed by 1900. 


Orleans. In 1894 a small group of Sisters of 

Charity of the Incarnate Word established Hotel 

Dieu, a three-story frame hospital with space for 

24 patients, on the banks of the Neches a few 

hundred yards downriver from town. In 1903 

the cornerstone was laid for a new church, 

which was completed in 1907 and dedicated to 

St. Anthony of Padua. 

The earliest Jewish services were conducted by 

lay leaders, either in private homes or in the 

Bluestein Hall or the Crosby Opera House. In 

1878 the first practicing member of the Jewish 

faith, Morris J. Loeb, brought his family to 

Beaumont to open a cigar store. In 1889, Hyman 

Asher Perlstein came to Beaumont with $11.90 in 

his pocket, going to work for a blacksmith for 50 

cents a day and eventually buying out his 

employer. After profiting from the Spindletop 

boom, he built Beaumont’s first skyscraper in 

1907, which at that time was the tallest building 

between Houston and New Orleans. Fellow 

merchant Leon R. Levy served on the board of the 

First National Bank for a time during the 1890s. 

That decade saw many new Jewish arrivals: 

Jake J. Nathan, Jake Sharfstein, Louis Mayer, 

Bernard Deutser, Joe and Leon Rosenthal, all 

merchandisers; E. Szafir, a stationer, and others. 

Nathan became one of the town’s leading 

citizens, donating generously to every worthy 

cause, including practically every church in 

town, regardless of denomination. 

The ethnic makeup of Beaumont, for so long 

predominantly Anglo, Acadian, and African 

American, was being diversified by other new 

groups. After 1879 many natives of Sicily, 

including the Liberto, Rinando, Fertitta, and 

Serafino families, compelled to leave their 

homeland because of unfavorable economic 

conditions, made their way to Beaumont. The 

majority were farmers, although many worked for 

the sawmills, saving what they could to open small 

stores. In April 1905 Sam Maida, Frank Liberto, 


❖ 

Left: A bare seven years after Hotel 

Dieu hospital was established in this 

wooden frame building in 1894 by the 

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate 

Word, the 1901 Spindletop oil boom 

forced its rapid expansion. 


Joseph Galiano, and Nick Lamont formed the 

committee which founded St. Joseph’s Catholic 

Church, a national diocese established directly by 

the Vatican. The early immigrants were soon 

joined by others, the Daleo, Lovoi, Brocato, Coco, 

Luparello, Serio, and Busceme families, to form a 

sizable Sicilian community in Beaumont. Other 

families came from other parts of Italy, including 

the Mazzus, who immigrated from Calabria. 

As a result of the potato famine in Ireland, 

Beaumont gained another productive group, some 

of whose countrymen, such as the O’Briens, had 

been gracing Southeast Texas for several 

generations. Irish widow Margaret McDade 

Cunningham brought her daughters, Eleanor and 

Johanna, to Beaumont in 1905. Eleanor married 

David Redmond Barry, who had come to Beaumont 

after the Spindletop boom, and Johanna married 

John Henry Phelan, an Irish grocery salesman who 

was to make his fortune in the second Spindletop 

boom. He and his descendants would figure 

prominently in the subsequent history of the town. 

The first natives of Greece to come to 

Beaumont were John and Aphrodite Carabin, 

who arrived in Beaumont in 1906. Brothers John 

and Harry Yianitsas moved to Beaumont shortly 

afterward, followed in 1910 by Pete Cokinos, the 

progenitor of an outstanding Beaumont family, 

one of whose members, Jimmie P. Cokinos, 

served as mayor of Beaumont from 1956 to 1960. 

The first Dutch settler to arrive was Gatze Jans 

Rienstra, who came to Southeast Texas in July 

1897, where he farmed and worked as a 

blacksmith. He praised the area to his kin in 

Holland, and other Dutch families followed him. 

They settled southeast of Beaumont, naming their 

settlement “Nederland” after their mother 

country. By 1898 approximately one hundred 

Dutch immigrants had moved to Nederland, 

including the Doornbos, Koelemay, Ballast, 

Bruinsma, Terwey, Westerterp, Van der Weg and 

Gerbans families. 

The old settlement of Sabine Pass, severely 

damaged by the hurricane of 1886, was soon 

Bottom, left: Until his death in 1948, 

Hyman Asher Perlstein was one of 

Beaumont’s leaders in business and 

community services. The year before 

he died, he received the Exchange 

Club’s Golden Deeds Award for 

outstanding service to the community. 


Below: Homer Chambers was one of 

several young men who became 

members of the Beaumont Light 

Guard when the Spanish-American 

War erupted. The unit drilled locally 

prior to May 1, 1898, after which it 

was mustered into service at Camp 

Mabry in Austin, with Chenault 

O’Brien as captain. The war ended 

before the unit saw combat. 

COURTESY OF RUTH AND FLORENCE CHAMBERS. 

Chapter IV ✦ 45

❖ 

Above: One of Beaumont’s early 

Greek immigrants, George Gielis, 

opened the O. K. Bakery at 810 

College Street. 


Bottom, left: Robert W. Sanders, one 

of Beaumont’s finest craftsmen, built 

this home at 479 Pine Street just 

before the turn of the century. The 

house, restored by Barbara and Alan 

McNeill, features intricate woodwork 

inside and out. 


Bottom, right: The Robert Sanders 

house features this self-supporting 

circular mahogany staircase. 


outstripped by Arthur Stillwell’s new town of Port 

Arthur, which was growing rapidly, particularly 

after its ship channel was dug to the Gulf in 

1899. Joseph Grigsby’s colony of Grigsby’s Bluff 

became Port Neches soon after the turn of the 

century. Orange, which was first called Green’s 

Bluff, then Madison when it became the county 

seat of the new Orange County (formed from the 

Eastern half of Jefferson County in 1852), was 

renamed Orange in 1858. 

Beaumont at the turn of the century bore little 

resemblance to the frontier settlement of the 

1850s. Now giant sawmills hugged the banks of 

the Neches, saws whining, stacks belching smoke, 

and masses of newly cut lumber being readied for 

shipment by rail or water to all points on the map. 

Wealthy citizens were building gracious homes on 

Sabine Pass Avenue, Pearl Street, Liberty Avenue, 

and particularly on Calder Avenue. Prosperity had 

brought modern amenities such as a telephone 

switchboard, an electric light system, ready-made 

clothes, and other refinements. In the words of a 

turn-of-the-century resident, “Beaumont was 

taking on town ways.” 

In the face of progress, some things would pass 

away. Nancy Tevis Hutchinson, so much a part of 

Beaumont’s history, died in Beaumont in 1876 at 

80. And in 1884, old John Jay French, declaring 

that the country was getting too fast for him, 

packed his wife and a few of his personal 

belongings into a wagon and moved to Taylor 

County in West Texas, over 450 miles away. There 

Sally Munson French died in 1885, and he in 1889. 

Although the past was disappearing, the future 

hung heavy with promise. Throughout the last 

decades of the nineteenth century, small but 

insistent voices had continued to whisper of oil. 

Experimental drilling at Sour Lake in 1867 had 

produced a brief jet of oil and gas; a visiting 

doctor, Benjamin Taylor Kavanaugh, spoke in 

1887 of a fine vein of oil under the sour springs at 

Beaumont. Soon these voices would no longer be 

denied. To those ready to listen, the land would 

give its richest gift. Then Beaumonters would face 

their greatest challenge: to utilize it well. 


CHAPTER V 

SPINDLETOP 

The year 1900 saw Beaumont’s business leaders carefully planning the city’s anticipated future as 

a major Texas lumber and railroad center. But two unexpected events lay just around the corner, the 

second of which would change the future, not only of the town, but the nation and even the world. 

The first was the great hurricane of September 8, 1900, which took over six thousand lives and 

nearly destroyed the city of Galveston. When the storm hit, Olga and Alice Keith, daughters of 

Beaumont lumber magnate J. Frank Keith and his wife, Alice Carroll Keith, were staying with 

relatives at Patton (now Crystal) Beach on nearby Bolivar Peninsula. They took refuge in a sturdily 

built house in the company of Patton Hotel Manager Mrs. A.A. Irwin and hotel employee Tom Smith, 

known as Tom the Tramp. In Mrs. Irwin’s words, “We saw the house go piece by piece until only the 

dining room was left…” Holding Alice in her arms, Mrs. Irwin took Olga by the hand and headed 

for a second house that was still standing. The wind and water immediately tore Olga away, and a 

huge wave knocked Alice unconscious. 

At that point Tom the Tramp emerged from the house and, retrieving Olga from the roiling water 

and returning her to Mrs. Irwin, revived Alice by rolling her back and forth over his shoulder. All 

struggled back to the first house and waited until the storm was over, the girls on a table to keep 

them above the water. 

❖ 

Fires at Spindletop were common. At 

one time the closely set derricks in the 

Hogg-Swayne unit were completely 

destroyed by fire. So great was the 

zeal to find oil that the field was 

restored in ten days. 


Chapter V ✦ 47

❖ 

Above: In one of its first publications, 

the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce 

featured Carlos Valenzuela’s tailoring 

business on Liberty Street. 


Below: One of the decisive events of 

the twentieth century was the coming 

of the automobile. Mr. and Mrs. John 

C. Ward ride in this electric Waverly, 

the first car ever in Beaumont and 

one of the very few in Texas in 1900. 



The Keiths, who had read of their daughters’ 

supposed drowning in a New York newspaper, 

were so grateful to find them safe that they 

offered a home to Mrs. Irwin and gave Tom a 

house at their sawmill in nearby Voth. At his 

death in 1909, they had him buried in their 

family plot at Magnolia Cemetery. His tombstone 

reads: “Tom the Tramp: He alone is great, who by 

an act heroic, renders a real service.” 

Beaumont immediately sent a boatload of ice 

and water to Galveston and began a relief fund 

for survivors. But less than two weeks after the 

storm, a Beaumont Journal editorial asked: “Will 

Galveston rebuild?” Even a rebuilt city remained 

in constant danger from the vagaries of the 

weather. Beaumont, safely inland, could become 

the principal port for the Texas Gulf Coast by 

extending the Port Arthur ship channel 

northward to the city docks. As the Journal editor 

reasoned, “This is not suggested with the view of 

taking advantage of the awful misfortune which 

has overtaken Galveston, but it is presented 

merely as a business proposition….” 

Talk of a deepwater port made Beaumonters 

feel even more strongly that the town was on the 

brink of spectacular growth—just how 

spectacular, they had no idea. A second major 

event loomed on the horizon, foreshadowed 

centuries before when the Native Americans and 

the Spanish explorers had caulked their boats 

with asphaltum from the beaches below 

Beaumont. Just south of town, men were drilling 

for oil on the low hill called Sour Spring Mound. 

A young Beaumont businessman named 

Pattillo Higgins had actually begun searching for 

oil in the early 1890s. Formerly a wild youth, in 

September 1881 he and another man had set off 

a bomb outside an African American church and 

shot out some of its windows. In the ensuing 

showdown, Higgins fatally wounded City 

Marshal W. E. Patterson and received a gunshot 

wound to his own left wrist that necessitated 

amputation of his left arm to the elbow. He was 

acquitted of murder, but for a time remained 

unchastened, keeping to his wild ways. Two years 

later, however, he underwent a conversion at a 

First Baptist Church revival, and immediately 

embraced his newfound religion with as much 

fervor as he had his previous misadventures. 

In 1889, Higgins made a trip to the oil fields in 

Indiana and Ohio in search of methods to improve 

his brick factory, where he observed the workings 

of the oil industry firsthand. Back home, he often 

took his children’s Sunday School class out to Sour 

Spring Mound and entertained them by pushing a 

bamboo pole into the ground to release flammable 

gas, then igniting it. Recognizing the geological 

signs as the same ones he had seen in the East, he 

concluded that there was petroleum under the hill. 

He recruited three other investors: George W. 

Carroll (his former employer at the Beaumont 

Lumber Company and a member of his church), 


George W. O’Brien and J. D. Lanier (both of whom 

owned land in the tract that Higgins wished to 

lease). The four formed the Gladys City Oil, Gas, 

and Manufacturing Company (named after a 

little girl in Higgins’ Sunday School class) on 

August 10, 1892. 

From the beginning, Higgins’ dogged 

enthusiasm conflicted with his partners’ 

cautious approach. The company drilled three 

wells, then abandoned them (over Higgins’ 

objections) before they reached oil sand because 

the primitive, flimsy equipment was inadequate 

to penetrate the hill’s treacherous quicksands. 

By 1898, Higgins, deeply in debt, sold his 

company stock back to Carroll, retaining only the 

thirty-three acres of land he owned on the hill. 

Carroll and O’Brien (Lanier had also sold out to 

Carroll) still believed in the presence of oil, but 

were reluctant to incur more expense to find it. 

In 1899, Higgins was contacted by Captain 

Anthony F. Lucas, an Austrian-born mining 

engineer who had already done extensive salt 

mining along the Gulf Coast and who had 

discovered that salt domes also contained 

sulphur, oil, or gas. Lucas arrived in Beaumont in 

June 1899 and instantly identified Sour Spring 

Mound as a salt dome. He leased 663 acres on the 

hill from the Gladys City Company and began 

drilling. The well struck oil, but only a small 

amount was brought in before the lightweight 

pipe collapsed from gas pressure. Lucas, like 

Higgins, was by now out of money, but, unlike 

Higgins, he had no intention of giving up. 

Taking a bottle of the oil with him, Lucas went 

to Pittsburgh oil prospectors John H. Galey and 

James M. Guffey, who agreed to finance the well, 

in turn arranging their own financing with 

Pittsburgh’s Mellon interests. Lucas returned to 

Beaumont and leased approximately fifteen 

thousand acres on and around the hill for the 

company of Guffey, Galey, and Lucas, retaining for 

himself only a small percentage of the anticipated 

profit. To underscore his faith in the project he 

❖ 

Top, left: Even before Spindletop, 

Pattillo Higgins analyzed the 

Beaumont economy, projecting its 

future in lumber and agriculture. 

COURTESY OF THE SPINDLETOP MUSEUM. 

Top, right: George Douglas (standing) 

and T. L. Anderson made up the first 

graduating class of Pollard High 

School in 1901. The school was 

named for one of Beaumont’s pioneer 

black educators, T. T. Pollard. 


Below: The first football team at 

Charlton-Pollard High School 

practices a play. 


Chapter V ✦ 49

❖ 

Above: The family of F. L. Carroll, 

nineteenth-century Beaumont 

lumberman and capitalist, posed for 

this photograph in 1904. Standing are 

(from left to right) sons George, 

Monroe, Will, and F. E. Carroll. 

Seated are daughters Minnie E. King 

(left) and Alice L. Keith (right). 

Carroll and his wife Sarah are seated 

in the center. George W. Carroll 

would be instrumental in drilling the 

discovery well of the 1901 Spindletop 

oil field. 

COURTESY OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH AND 

MRS. ED. E. CARROLL. 

Right: Anthony Lucas, a professional 

mining engineer born in Austria, 

shared Pattillo Higgins’ vision of 

striking oil at Spindletop. He brought 

in the discovery well, the Lucas 

Gusher, at approximately 10:30 a.m. 

on January 10, 1901. 

COURTESY OF THE TEXAS ENERGY MUSEUM. 

refused to take a salary for overseeing drilling of 

the well, but by order of his new partners, he left 

Higgins out of the deal altogether. 

Guffey and Galey engaged an experienced 

drilling team from the Corsicana, Texas, oil 

field: the Hamill brothers. In October 1900, Al 

and Curt Hamill arrived at the well site, built a 

wooden derrick from a pattern drawn upon the 

ground, and began drilling. The equipment was 

only a little better than that used by previous 

crews; the difference lay in the inventive and 

resourceful men who operated it. 

The drill made slow progress through 

successive layers of quicksand, clay, marble, 

sandstone, limestone, and finally solid caprock. 

On the cold, clearing morning of January 10, as 

the exhausted Hamills were installing a new bit, 

mud suddenly bubbled, gushed, then shot out 

of the drilling hole, pushing the four-inch pipe 

completely out of the well and scattering it 

around the derrick before ceasing as suddenly as 

it had begun. The Hamills were just beginning 

to resume breathing when mud and gas again 

erupted from the hole, followed by a geyser of 

blackish-green oil. This time it didn’t stop. 

By most accounts, Lucas was in town that 

day. His wife, Carrie, located him at Louis 

Mayer’s Dry Goods Store. (Another account 

holds that he was at the French Market and 

borrowed a horse from owner Jim Blain, because 

his own was being shod.) He rushed with all 

speed back to the well site, where he beheld in 

amazement a towering plume of oil that shot 

over a hundred feet above the derrick, then 

dissipated in the stiff north wind to shower 

down upon the surrounding countryside. 

News of the phenomenon went out by 

telephone and telegraph, and by evening the 

world knew. By the next day the town was filled 

with sightseers. The well spouted uncontrolled 

for nine days before the Hamill brothers were 

able to cap it. It was soon christened the Lucas 

Gusher by a workman building a levee to 

contain the rapidly spreading oil. 


Other drilling efforts began, and by April, 

six gushers had come in on Sour Spring 

Mound. The field became known as 

Spindletop, after the nearby landmark cypress 

tree, and the mound as Spindletop Hill. 

Spindletop’s production far outstripped the 

total yield of the rest of the world, justifying 

world industry’s change of fuel from coal to oil. 

Oilmen, speculators, and promoters of every 

stamp jammed the daily trains coming into 

Beaumont, hoping to make their fortunes. 

Beaumont’s population jumped from its original 

9,000 to over 50,000. 

Every hotel in Beaumont was soon overflowing; 

even chairs in lobbies were rented for months in 

advance. Men slept wherever they could—on the 

sleeper train to Houston, in livery stables, in the 

streets. The city auditorium was opened as a place 

of refuge, and townspeople rented rooms in their 

homes. The Christian Church ladies sold coffee 

and sandwiches. When an epidemic of dysentery, 

known as the “Beaumonts,” struck, the Women’s 

Christian Temperance Union increased the supply 

of free boiled water they gave out on the streets. 

Other, less altruistic, citizens profited by selling 

boiled water at a dollar a jug. 

❖ 

“I set up my tripod about 250 feet 

from the well, on the side against the 

wind. I made the picture with an 

instantaneous exposure of onehundredth 

of a second on a rapid 

speed dryplate.” Port Arthur 

photographer Frank Trost took this 

picture, the most famous photo of the 

world’s most famous oil well, the 

Lucas Gusher, brought in on January 

10, 1901. 


Chapter V ✦ 51

❖ 

Nothing so momentous as the Lucas 

Gusher could escape the maw of 

popular culture. Local composers 

printed music and lyrics celebrating 

the “Lucas Geyser.” 


The Crosby Hotel gallery was divided into 

small stalls used by stock companies as offices. 

George Parker Stoker, a young physician who 

arrived in Beaumont in the spring of 1901 to 

make his fortune, described the scene: 

Men and women, gesticulating wildly, ran 

from one stall to another. Stacks of green-backs 

stood out in vivid contrast against the blue of the 

maps…. I stood and watched with amazement as 

hundreds of thousands of dollars were 

exchanged for future oil wells in the Great 

Spindle Top Oil Field…. 

Within a year of the Lucas Gusher’s advent, 

more than five hundred oil and land corporations 

were operating in Beaumont, the majority of 

them disreputable. Excursion companies brought 

prospective buyers out to see “gushers,” 

capped wells temporarily reopened by stock 

company executives. 

Beaumonters made efforts to restore order in 

their town. They organized the Beaumont Oil 

Exchange and Board of Trade, which recognized 

only legitimate companies. The newspaper made 

editorial appeals for law and order and 

suggestions for putting the “floating population” 

to work on street improvement. Churches 

sponsored missions in the oil field, and ministers 

preached against vice in the saloons and gambling 

houses “with all their glitter and glare.” The 

Salvation Army set up its first permanent 

headquarters in town in February 1901. 

However chaotic or uncomfortable life in 

Beaumont might have been, life in the oil field 

was much worse. George Stoker, unable to find 

lodgings in town, traveled via horse-drawn hack 

from Beaumont out to Spindletop. The trees 

along the road gave way to salt grass and saloons, 

then derricks as the doctor arrived at the oil field. 

Renting a room at a drab, dirty hotel, Stoker 

went to see the resident physician, a middle-aged 

alcoholic who unexpectedly donated his practice to 

Stoker in order to leave on a drinking spree. Stoker 

was immediately plunged into the boomtown 

turmoil: noise, filth, misery, vice—and excitement. 

Stoker’s attitude toward the Spindletop field 

was one of “mingled revolt and fascination.” In 

the end, fascination (and money) prevailed, and 

he stayed, working day and night, treating oil 

field workers injured from working or brawling, 

attending prostitutes who attempted (or 

succeeded at) suicide, and assisting at 

innumerable childbirths. Stoker felt it was a grim 

world that the babies entered: 

Sometimes the woman did not even have a 

shack to live in; many times it was a tent with a 

dirt floor in which she brought her young into 

the world. So many of the men drank and 

gambled, that their wives and babies were often 

without enough to eat and wear…. 

At one such delivery, Stoker’s efforts were 

accompanied by the eloquent curses of the 

mother-to-be, directed at her husband and the 

doctor. When the baby finally arrived, the mother 

slept, and the doctor, a sporting man, rolled dice 

with the father, a terrified, drunken one, to see 


❖ 

Left: Drilling was a dirty, demanding, 

and often dangerous occupation. 

Boomers in 1901 worked amid pipes, 

steam, and mud at Spindletop. 



Below: Gushers spawned refineries 

and tank farms. These two men with 

their mules and primitive equipment 

clear ground to build a tank farm 

at Magnolia Petroleum Company 

in 1909. 



who had to wash and dress the infant. Stoker 

rolled high, just as the new mother awakened: 

were beyond my comprehension as she told us 

where to go and what to do when we got there. 

She was looking in wild-eyed fury at both of us; 

then she burst out into a volley of the most torrid 

curses I had ever heard. The names she called us 

Stoker bade the little family a hasty good night. 

Late in 1901 a huge fire almost leveled the 

Spindletop field, and Stoker found that he missed 

Chapter V ✦ 53

❖ 

Above: A postcard from the first 

decade of the twentieth century shows 

this view of downtown Beaumont. 


Below: Mr. And Mrs. Frank Keith 

built Árbol Grande, one of 

Beaumont’s showplaces, on Calder 

Avenue in 1902. Here, young ladies 

from the YWCA were invited to swim 

in the pool. 

COURTESY OF JANE CLARK OWENS. 

the excitement. He pursued further adventure in 

the new boomtowns of Saratoga and Batson. 

While the oil-soaked chaos at Spindletop 

attracted worldwide attention, less publicized 

transactions there would have a lasting effect 

on the future of the oil industry. During the 

first year of the boom, three major oil companies 

were formed in Beaumont: Texaco, Gulf, and 

Humble. A fourth, Sun Oil Company, received the 

push it needed to grow from a small company to 

a major one. 

Standard Oil, the existing industry giant, had 

declined to back either Higgins or Lucas because 

the area was not yet proved. After the field came 

in, Standard refused for fear of antitrust action by 

the Texas government. Caution probably cost the 


company its dominance. In 1903, however, the 

year that Spindletop ceased to produce gushers 

and became a pumper field, Standard Oil 

interests built the Security Refinery in Beaumont. 

The market for petroleum products was growing 

rapidly, and the need for a place to store and 

refine crude oil had become critical. In 1907 

Security ran afoul of Texas antitrust laws and 

went into receivership, and in 1911 the refinery 

became the Magnolia Refinery. It soon became 

the city’s largest employer, and because it 

processed crude oil from other fields, it made the 

demise of the original Spindletop field less 

traumatic for the local economy. 

Neither of the principals in the drama of 

Spindletop was involved in these historic 

developments. Pattillo Higgins, resentful that he 

had been excluded from the final Lucas-Guffey- 

Galey deal, sued both George W. Carroll and 

Anthony Lucas for what he believed to be his 

share of the profit. Higgins received a favorable 

judgment in an out-of-court settlement, but he 

never forgave Lucas, nor did he forgive 

Beaumonters for their lack of support. He soon 

moved on to find other oil fields. Lucas, unable 

to adjust to his loss of privacy and to the general 

disorder of post-gusher Beaumont, left 

Southeast Texas late in 1901 for Washington. 

Neither man amassed the great personal 

fortunes from their discovery that others did; 

however, their dedication and knowledge 

allowed both to realize greater profits in oil later 

in their lives. 

As the first frenzied year of the oil boom 

drew to a close, Beaumont’s permanent 

population stabilized near twenty thousand. 

Most of the speculators, false stock promoters, 

and other shady entrepreneurs had by then 

gathered up their fortunes—or cut their 

losses—and left town; remaining newcomers 

were employed in legitimate occupations, many 

of them oil-related. The chaos had brought 

benefits; by July 1901 total bank deposits were 

$3 million, up from $661,818 at the end of 

1900. In 1902, $3 million worth of construction 

was begun, and the city began a program of 

improvements, such as natural gas, an artesian 

water supply, and a new jail and fire station. 

One outgrowth of the oil boom was a 

gradually strengthened prohibition movement. 

Liquor became a real problem for Beaumonters 

as the number of saloons in town burgeoned 

from 25 in 1900 to 81 by 1903. Many 

establishments achieved a certain dominance as 

social centers. In October 1902 temperance 

leaders invited one of their national zealots, 

❖ 

St. Anthony’s Cathedral at Wall and 

Jefferson was dedicated on January 

27, 1907. It is considered one of the 

most beautiful Roman Catholic 

Church structures in the entire south. 

COURTESY OF ST. ANTHONY’S CATHEDRAL. 

Chapter V ✦ 55

❖ 

Top, left: This early twentieth-century 

scene of the Port of Beaumont shows 

logs squared in local mills for 

shipment to Europe. To the right are 

the courthouse and the jail. 


Top, right: The brawling boom period 

left many Beaumonters aghast at the 

violence associated with hard 

drinking. One of the town’s most 

distinguished citizens, George W. 

Carroll, ran on the national ticket of 

the Prohibition Party in 1904. 

COURTESY OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH AND 

MRS. ED. E. CARROLL. 

Below: The yards of the Beaumont 

Ship Building and Dry Dock 

Company are shown in 1908. 


Carry Nation, to Beaumont, where she addressed 

a very small audience. Later she visited the 

Gowlen Saloon, where the bartender hastily 

moved his breakables to safety because of her 

penchant for smashing bar equipment. 

Prohibitionists gained unexpected support the 

next year, however, when in May 1903 Constable 

Will Reddick was shot by J. M. (Doc) Harris, coowner 

of the Metropolitan Saloon on Bowie Street, 

while Reddick was attempting to close it down one 

Sunday. Harris’ first and second murder trials ended 

in mistrials and he returned to his business, but by 

then many citizens saw the incident as an issue of 

law and order. Following a mass meeting at the Kyle 

Opera House, where attorney Hal W. Greer declared 

that “New blood, new life, new enterprise, new 

investments are not coming to a community that 

allows its laws to be openly and systematically 

defied,” the Citizens Law and Order League was 

formed to watch over the saloon industry. 

The year 1904 brought to national 

prominence a man who was already a legend in 

Beaumont: George W. Carroll, as famous for his 

religious ideals, charitable endeavors, and 

prohibitionist sentiment as he was for his 

wealth in lumber and oil. He had greatly 

increased his fortune through his interest in the 

Spindletop field, but reportedly so deplored the 

resulting vice that he wished it had never 

happened. A story has it that one evening in 

1903 he entered the Ogden Saloon in disguise, 

climbed on a table at the height of the gaming, 

and announced that everyone was under arrest. 

After a shocked silence, the saloon cleared 

completely. Afterward saloon owners were 

more careful about whom they admitted into 

their establishments. 


In 1902 Carroll had run for governor of 

Texas on the Prohibition ticket, and in 1904 the 

national Prohibition Party nominated him for 

vice president of the United States. The party 

made a poor showing both nationally and 

locally; Beaumonters respected Carroll but did 

not wish to live in a dry community. 

In December 1905 the temperance issue 

became heated once again when a drunken man 

attacked the small daughter of a local constable. 

When the attacker received only a fifty-year prison 

term, the bitter father drank himself into a frenzy, 

then besieged the jail with the intention of killing 

the guilty man, but was himself killed by police. 

This tragedy resulted in stricter saloon laws, 

more stringently enforced. It became not only 

more difficult but less prestigious to run a 

saloon in the area, and between 1907 and 1916 

the number of liquor licenses issued in Jefferson 

County dropped from 100 to 42. 

Beaumont never became a center for the 

prohibition movement, however. In 1916, in the 

first local option election held since 1879, the 

wets again won. Only when the Constitutional 

amendment declaring prohibition had been 

passed did Jefferson County vote liquor out, and 

even then, in a last defiant gesture, the voters at 

the city hall ballot box voted to remain wet by a 

two-to-one margin. 

Beaumont’s dream of a deepwater port, 

which the Galveston hurricane had brought 

within the realm of possibility, came true in 

1908. With the help of Samuel Bronson Cooper, 

a Beaumonter in Congress, a canal with a depth 

of nine feet was dug in the Neches from 

Beaumont to the Port Arthur ship channel. The 

next phase was spearheaded by W. P. Hobby, 

then publisher of the Enterprise and later 

governor of Texas. In 1916 the channel was 

further deepened to twenty-five feet, a turning 

basin was scooped out in the bend of the river, 

and dock facilities were built on the waterfront. 

The Port of Beaumont was at last a reality. 

In April 1917, Beaumonters turned their 

attention to Europe, joining with the rest of the 

nation to fight the Great War against the “beastly 

Hun.” The day war was declared, five hundred 

men jammed the city hall, formed the First Texas 

Regiment of Municipal Reserves, and vowed to 

do anything they were asked, from serving home 

guard duty to raising food. District Judge E. A. 

McDowell declared, “We are called upon to crush 

the Prussian autocracy and absolutism and 

damned be the American who is not ready to go.” 

For the first time in its history, Beaumont was 

designated a United States military post. 

Members of the Texas Infantry, assigned to 

❖ 

Above: Rice farmers in 1910 utilized 

mules to pull the binder while a 

gasoline engine powered the cutting, 

elevating, and tying mechanisms. 

COURTESY OF THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY 

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND EXTENSION 

CENTER. 

Below: The identifiable members of 

this group of first- and second-graders 

in 1911 are Gilbert Adams (first row, 

second from left), Hawthorne 

Broussard (first row, fourth from left), 

Nita Sanders (third row, sixth from 

left), Odette Robichau (back row, far 

left), and Cleo Tatum (back row, sixth 

from left). 

COURTESY OF THE BEAUMONT HERITAGE 

SOCIETY AND NITA MCKNIGHT. 

Chapter V ✦ 57

❖ 

Above: The Melton Bowie family 

operated this grocery early in the 

century. It was one of the largest 

black-owned businesses in town 

during a time of limited opportunity 

for black entrepreneurs. 

COURTESY OF THE TYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY 

AND EZEKIEL DEARON. 

Below: Army and Navy units marched 

down Pearl Street in 1918 as 

World War I was about to end. 

Beaumonters had proudly 

oversubscribed their $1.9 million 

quota for Liberty Loans by $300,000. 



guard refining and shipbuilding facilities, 

camped in town between the courthouse and 

the Pearl Street wharf. For a time the downtown 

area rang with the sounds of taps and reveille. 

Local newspapers declared: “America is not 

bluffing….This country means business,” jeering, 

“The Kaiser is promising the German people he will 

be good after the war. But he is starting too late. 

There won’t be any Kaiser after the war.” The city 

band played popular war songs at Keith Park: I’d 

Like to See the Kaiser with a Lily in His Hand, There’s 

A Long, Long Trail A-Winding, Over There, and 

others. Schoolchildren substituted military-style 

drill for physical education, and everyone planted 

war gardens and rolled bandages for the Red Cross. 

As the months passed, Beaumont made its 

ultimate contribution to the war effort—the 

lives of its young men. Families with sons in the 

service posted in their front windows a white 

flag bordered in red, on which appeared a blue 

star for each family member in the service. If the 

young man died, his blue star was replaced with 

a gold one. A number of local families cherished 

flags displaying at least one gold star. 

When the war ended in November 1918, 

Beaumonters celebrated not only the armistice but 

also the November 3 end of a quarantine from a 

double epidemic of influenza and smallpox that 

affected 20,000 and killed 75. All public places— 

movies, churches, schools, and meetinghouses— 

had been closed since October 8. 

News of the armistice reached town 

November 11 at 2:45 a.m. (Beaumont time). By 

prearrangement all the work whistles in town 

sounded simultaneously, and Mayor E. J. 

Diffenbacher declared a holiday. The newspaper 

headlines read, “Beaumont Goes Wild with Joy as 

Peace Comes.” Pearl Street was jammed by 9:00 

a.m. as cars full of cheering people drove through 

crowds staging impromptu parades and street 

dances. The Enterprise enthusiastically reported: 

…women just out of boudoirs and hair 

uncombed and men whom Pearl Stret [sic] had 

never seen except in careful attire stood by 

collarless and coatless and laughed and cried 

and cheered and embraced and kissed. 

When all was again quiet, Beaumonters totaled 

their contributions to the war effort and found 

that they had bought $5.7 million in liberty bonds 

and almost one million dollars in thrift stamps, 

had donated $207,000 to the Red Cross as well as 

producing bandages and articles of clothing, and 

had raised and sent a considerable amount of 

foodstuffs. On a more somber note, about four 

thousand soldiers went to war from the Beaumont 

area, but several hundred never returned. 

In May 1917 the Enterprise referred to the 

duration of the war as the “most prosperous era in 

the history of the city,” citing as examples the 

flourishing shipyards, refineries operating beyond 

capacity, the expanding lumber business, and 

even the rice industry, which had enjoyed some 

recovery from a slack period beginning in 1909. 

Now the war was over, the economy was strong, 

the population had increased from the influx of 

new shipyard employees, and the resulting housing 

shortage promised further benefits to the building 

and lumber industries. It was time to look ahead. 


CHAPTER VI 

COMING OF AGE 

Through the lumber boom of the late 1800s and then the Spindletop oil boom, Beaumont had 

experienced continual, sometimes spectacular, growth, and this prosperity continued through the 1920s. 

The decade began inauspiciously, however, with a threatened epidemic of bubonic plague, 

brought in by one of the ships docked at the Port of Beaumont. Beaumonters immediately cleaned 

up rat-infested areas, hauling more than 500 tons of trash to the dump in one day. The city hired a 

professional rat catcher from New Orleans, paying him a handsome salary and a bounty of ten cents 

per rat. Citizens also collected bounties for the rodents, and 17,482 rats were trapped in a two-month 

period. Serum was imported for those few actually stricken with the disease, and fatalities were held 

to a minimum. 

After this unwelcome interruption, the city resumed its postwar economic growth, improving 

railway connections and deepening the port channel to 30 feet in 1922. Area industries included 

lumber, iron, steel, sulphur, and brickmaking, but petroleum dominated the economy. Even though 

the old Spindletop field was virtually drained by the 1920s, Magnolia Refinery, Beaumont’s largest 

employer during that decade, processed oil from surrounding fields in Texas and Louisiana, while 

many local businesses served the oil industry. 

On November 13, 1925, the Spindletop oil field was reborn when an oil well was brought in on 

the flanks of the original salt dome. As in 1901, two visionary men had discovered oil where many 

thought none existed. 

Drilling promoter Marrs McLean was convinced that there was still oil under Spindletop, not on 

its summit, but on its flanks. However, the first wells he drilled to test his theory were dry holes, and 

he lost his backers. He was about to finance more drilling himself when fellow oilman Frank Yount 

offered his services. 

❖ 

This unidentified young lady poses in 

front of gingerbread Victorian homes 

and automobiles of the 1920s. These 

homes on Elizabeth Street belonged to 

Mr. and Mrs. George Cheesman and 

Mr. and Mrs. George W. Smyth. The 

Smyth home on the right was used 

as a hospital and then a hotel before 

its demolition. 

COURTESY OF RUTH AND FLORENCE CHAMBERS. 

Chapter VI ✦ 59

❖ 

Above: Temple Emanuel, with its 

copper dome and stained glass, was 

built in 1923. The congregation was 

first formed under Rabbi Aaron Levy 

and held services on the second floor 

of the Central Fire Station until 1900. 

The first synagogue stood where First 

Baptist Church now stands. Rabbi 

Samuel Rosinger, arriving in 1910, 

served the congregation for more than 

fifty years. 

COURTESY OF WESLEY NORTON. 

As it happened, Yount also believed that oil 

lay under the sides of the old hill. Beneath his 

exceptionally quiet manner lay a brilliance and 

dynamism that not only benefited his associates 

but would have a deep and lasting effect on the 

entire community. 

Yount had dropped out of school at the age of 

nine when his father died, but he developed a 

rare capacity for self-education, much as Pattillo 

Higgins had. In a very short time he could 

become an expert on any subject simply by 

immersing himself in it, for example, his working 

knowledge of rare violins, acquired when he 

purchased one for his daughter Mildred. 

Yount’s expertise extended to finding oil. In 

1915 he formed the Yount-Lee Oil Company, 

consisting of himself, Harry Phelan, brothers 

William E. Lee and Thomas P. Lee, E. F. 

Woodward, and Talbot Rothwell, Tom Lee’s sonin-law. 

By 1922 the company had drilled 

successful wells on the flanks of Gulf Coast salt 

domes and was valued at $2 million. 

Yount and McLean came to an agreement and 

began drilling at Spindletop. The first well was 

a dry hole, but the second, the McFaddin No. 2, 

struck oil. In contrast to the first Spindletop 

discovery, this well was controlled from the 

beginning. Also missing were the dirt, the vice, 

the frantic search for a market for the oil, the 

frenzied land speculation, and the general 

pandemonium. Since 1901 the oil industry had 

become big business. 

The new field flowed over fifty-nine million 

barrels of oil in its first five years of production, 

bringing new wealth to the city. Total costs of 

building operations jumped from around $1.64 

million in 1925 to $5.25 million in 1927. 

Beaumont’s skyline, already graced by Hotel 

Beaumont and the San Jacinto Building, grew 

with construction of the Young Men’s Christian 

Right: A new forest of derricks, now 

made largely of steel, arose at 

Spindletop after 1925. Compared to 

the boom of 1901, the second 

Spindletop oil discovery came at a 

time of greater demand for petroleum 

products and greater discipline in the 

business. While this second boom was 

quieter, it produced extensive economic 

growth in downtown Beaumont. 




Association Building, St. Therese Hospital, and 

the La Salle and Edson Hotels. Residents began 

building expensive homes in the west end of 

town in spite of low ground and poor 

accessibility, because they were blocked to the 

east by the river and to the north and south by 

low-income housing and industry. 

Beaumonters also began culturally and 

economically to enrich the quality of their lives, 

passing major bond issues for widespread 

municipal improvements as well as construction 

of a municipal auditorium and airport. All three 

public school districts, Beaumont, French, and 

South Park, constructed new schools in the 

twenties, as did the Catholic diocese. In 1923 

the South Park district opened a junior college 

on the top floor of the new South Park High 

School building. South Park Junior College 

grew by leaps and bounds, enrolling more than 

100 students its first semester and graduating 

65 in 1927. 

In 1923, Captain W. C. Tyrrell donated the 

old First Baptist Church Building to the city for 

use as a public library; it opened in 1926. Lena 

Milam, supervisor of music in Beaumont 

schools from 1919 to 1963, co-founded the 

Music Study Club in 1921 and the Beaumont 

Music Commission in 1923. (The Music 

Commission continued to flourish even during 

the hard times of the 1930s. Then-president 

Nancy Strong initiated the Artists Series, 

bringing in the likes of Jascha Heifetz, Risë 

Stevens, Vladimir Horowitz, Mario Lanza, and 

the Trapp Family Singers.) Creation of the Little 

Theater (now Beaumont Community Players) in 

1925 and an amateur symphony orchestra in 

1926 also reflected Beaumonters’ heightened 

interest in culture and entertainment. The Kyle 

Theater continued to book outstanding stage 

performers such as John Philip Sousa, Lillian 

Russell, and Lionel Barrymore, but assisted in its 

own decline by showing its first talking movie 

on February 11, 1926. On October 1, 1924, the 

Magnolia Refinery radio station, KFDM, 

broadcast its first program from the refinery 

cafeteria; in 1929 it increased its broadcasting 

power and moved to larger quarters. 

One dark interlude occurred in this golden 

decade: the ascendance of the Ku Klux Klan, a 

national organization that ostensibly espoused 

traditional values but actually used vigilante 

tactics to enforce its beliefs of nativism, white 

supremacy, anti-Catholicism, and prohibition. By 

1924 the group boasted over 3 million members 

in the South and Midwest. The Beaumont Klan, 

organized in 1921, the following May tarred and 

feathered a local physician suspected of abortion, 

whereupon the victim left town. A rash of 

tarrings and featherings, lashings, and even pistol 

whippings followed, directed principally against 

suspected bootleggers, abortionists, and other 

violators of the Klan’s moral code. 

After several months of violence, the Klan 

began to balance its punishments with 

charitable acts, presumably to improve its 

image. Typical was a $75 donation to the 

Children’s Welfare Committee, accompanied by 

a letter reading, in part: 

❖ 

Above: In the 1930s, Pearl Street 

was one of the busiest thoroughfares 



Below: “Castle on the Neches,” as 

residents called their county jail, was 

formidable enough to discourage 

lawbreakers of the 1920s, especially if 

they considered the public hangings 

held in its yard. The building was 

razed to make way for the new 

courthouse, completed in 1932, which 

included a jail in its upper floors. 

PHOTO BY BUSINESS MEN'S STUDIO. COURTESY OF 


Chapter VI ✦ 61

❖ 

Above: The Young Men’s Christian 

Association Building was built in 

1927, with substantial financial 

support from lumber and oil man 

George W. Carroll. In the last decade 

of the twentieth century, it would be 

restored for adaptive reuse as housing 

for seniors. 


Right: Beaumont’s 1928 city hall and 

auditorium was transformed in the 

1980s into the Julie Rogers Theater 

for the Performing Arts, honoring 

Beaumont philanthropist Julie Rogers. 

COURTESY OF BEAUMONT MAIN STREET. 

Its membership is composed of men of all 

walks of life, with warm hearts and pure 

principles, and an eagle eye upon the conduct of 

every man and woman in our fair city, and woe 

will come to the man who steps aside from the 

path of right, be Thou our witness, Almighty God. 

Opposition to the Klan quickly organized, 

including publisher Jim Mapes and Editor Alfred 

Jones of the Enterprise, members of the Rotary 

Club, Judge Stephen M. King, local attorney 

W. E. Gordon, and Mayor B. A. Steinhagen. The 

mayor, declaring the Klan to be “as bad as 

Bolshevism,” unsuccessfully investigated city 

offices for suspected Klan sympathizers. District 

Judge E. A. McDowell addressed a 1921 grand 

jury (which ultimately returned no indictments): 

“I don’t want to kill anybody. But if ever one of 

those fellows (and I know a bunch of them) acts 

suspiciously around me, I’m going to kill him….” 

In 1922 a citizens’ committee circulated a 

petition to remove Jefferson County Sheriff Tom 

Garner, a suspected Klansman, from office, 

charging him with violation of his oath of office 

by participation in a society that operated 

outside the law. During his trial the Klan 


❖ 

Electric streetcars operated in 

Beaumont from 1902 until 1937. 

Even such a useful service could be 

the butt of a Beaumont Journal joke: 

“One of the beauties of living on the 

Magnolia car line is that when you 

miss your car you don’t have to wait 

an hour or so for another. You just 

walk to the next corner and overtake 

the one you've missed.” 


recruited 801 new members, and 10,000 

spectators attended a rally for him at Magnolia 

Park. Garner was removed from office but was 

reinstated by a higher court and easily won his 

next election. In 1922 the so-called “Klan ticket” 

won all offices in the county except one. 

Between 1922 and 1924 the Klan grew 

virtually unchecked. The group’s first public 

parade in Beaumont drew an estimated fifty 

thousand onlookers. Judge McDowell died and 

was replaced by a pro-Klan judge, and the Klan 

again swept local elections in 1924. 

Klan control was complete but short-lived. 

Opposition had solidified the movement; left to 

itself, it died from within. In 1925 the national 

organization was weakened by a scandal 

involving one of its leaders, and as with many 

fads and crazes of the twenties, people simply 

seemed to lose interest. By the end of the 

decade, the Ku Klux Klan in Beaumont was a 

small fraternal organization, nothing more. 

The local Klan had rarely targeted 

African Americans, possibly because the black 

community kept a low profile during this era. 

Chapter VI ✦ 63

❖ 

Right: The power of the Ku Klux Klan 

was near its peak in 1922 when this 

parade drew the largest crowd ever 

assembled in Beaumont for such an 

event. The national founder of the 

Klan later spoke to an estimated 

thirty thousand at Fair Park. A 

number of prominent Beaumonters 

provided support and even leadership 

as the Klan vigilantes made 

themselves guardians of “morality, 

Americanism, and racial purity.” 


Below: Police Chief Carl Kennedy 

poses with one of the moonshiners’ 

stills confiscated during Prohibition. 

The boiler of this distinctive still was 

fired by sophisticated gas burners. 



Blacks represented the largest minority in town— 

about twenty-five percent of the local population— 

and the most disenfranchised. The only areas of 

black progress acceptable to whites were in 

education and standards of living. Although rigid 

segregation was tempered with paternalism, the 

position of blacks in Beaumont remained basically 

unchanged from the late 1800s to the 1950s. 

Beaumont African Americans had of necessity 

created their own economic and social structure, 

establishing restaurants, groceries, recreational 

facilities, and labor and fraternal organizations, 

living in segregated residential sections scattered 

throughout the city, and sending their children to 

segregated schools. Although the majority of local 

blacks were employed as laborers or domestic 

employees, the 1929 city directory listed a 

number of African-American educators, nine 

doctors, five dentists, and one lawyer. 

In 1918 black community leaders Dr. E. S. 

Cravens and Dr. C. B. Charlton had founded a 

local chapter of the National Association for the 

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The 

group had remained fairly quiet because the 

NAACP magazine, The Crisis, had mistakenly 

located the lynching of an African American at 

Beaumont instead of Tyler, and some white 

citizens were angry at the error. In 1920, 

Charlton said, “We have a few good white 

people here who are against lynchings…our 

branch has never been stopped or asked to 

suspend business.” In 1924, doubtless 

coinciding with the dominance of the Ku Klux 

Klan, the chapter was disbanded and did not 

form again until 1930. 

One reason for the popularity of the Klan was 

that it had seemed to promise a return to the old 

days. Many saw the widespread social change of 

the 1920s as a sign of moral decay, with 


newspapers, movies, and radio as supportive 

agents. Even Prohibition, which outlawed the 

manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in the 

United States and which should have reassured 

moralists in Beaumont, brought its own problems. 

Drunkenness became the most common cause of 

arrest, along with moonshining, bootlegging, and 

smuggling. In May 1923, 18 stills and 100 gallons 

of whiskey were collected; at one point in 1924, 

agents were holding $25,000 worth of liquor at 

bootleg prices. The beleaguered U.S. marshal in 

the area declared in 1925 that he believed ninety 

percent of local families had made home brew 

that summer. 

In addition to the increase in drinking, the 

divorce rate was climbing, and the new social 

order seemed to threaten the family unit and 

parental authority. The Enterprise editor lamented: 

“A modern father trying to lay down the law to a 

flapper daughter or to a slick-haired son with a 

penchant for fast roadsters and a hip flask complex 

is one of the saddest sights on earth.” 

The flapper, symbol of the 1920s as the Gibson 

Girl had represented an earlier era, did indeed jolt 

old-fashioned sensibilities. Alice Flasdyck, writing 

for the Enterprise as Betty Browne, profiled in her 

personal diary a girl, Elizabeth, whom she 

considered to be the quintessential flapper. 

Flasdyck described the seventeen-year-old’s 

outlook on relations with the opposite sex: 

“I figure it this way,” she says, abandoning 

“The Lady of the Camellias” for a moment. 

“There’s no harm in letting the boys kiss you if 

you really like ‘em a little bit…. Men aren’t any 

too perfect. I don’t see why girls should be.” 

Elizabeth maintained an unabashed interest 

in the sensational and the racy: 

She thinks Fatty Arbuckle in the present 

murder case against him should be found 

guilty….She’s dying to read “The Sheik”….She 

has recited all her risqué jokes for me, and 

brought out the latest copy of the Wampus Cat, 

dirty little rag published at Leesville, Louisiana. 

Flasdyck, while shocked at much of 

Elizabeth’s behavior, liked her and reluctantly 

admired her self-confidence, her savoir faire, 

and, beneath the gorgeous red curls, her 

intelligent, inquiring mind. Many others felt this 

ambivalence as the new attitudes of the Roaring 

Twenties continued to intrude on a conservative 

and traditional way of life. 

For most of the 1920s, the furor over 

declining morals had no effect on local 

prosperity, or on Beaumonters’ hopes for a 

bright economic future. But when the stock 

market came tumbling down in late 1929, it 

eventually brought with it the rest of the 

❖ 

The first black band in Beaumont, 

pictured here around 1930, was 

founded and directed by a Mr. Turner. 

At the left rear with trombone is 

Chaney Ratcliff; at far right, Alex 

Molett. Playing the snare drum is 

Shellie Molett, and far left, kneeling 

with trumpet, is Lewis Molett. A 

number of the men were employees of 

Magnolia Petroleum Company. 


Chapter VI ✦ 65

economy, plunging the entire nation into the 

Great Depression of the 1930s. 

The Beaumont area did not actually feel the 

worst effects of the Depression until well into 1931. 

The city’s growth in the twenties, led by the thriving 

petrochemical industry, had given the local 

economy a temporary momentum; the 1931 city 

directory announced that “[t]he Depression that 

existed throughout 1930 found Beaumont suffering 

less from unemployment than any city of its class in 

the Southwest, if not in the entire country.” 

At last, however, even local prosperity was 

halted. The low point for Beaumont came in 

1933, the year that Frank Yount died suddenly. 

Yount, who had at least once loaned money to 

help the city meet its payroll, had generally done 

so much for Beaumont and its citizens that they 

had come to depend on his leadership and his 

company’s prosperity. At his death the mayor 

declared a half day of mourning. In 1935 the 

Yount-Lee Oil Company was sold to Stanolind 

Oil for $41.6 million; after that, the city 

succumbed to the worst effects of the Depression. 

In 1929, Beaumonters had inaugurated an 

extensive municipal improvement program to be 

completed in the 1930s. As the city was unable to 

find purchasers for the bonds, however, the 

program inevitably slowed. The operating budget of 

the city was also jeopardized, as financially strapped 

citizens defaulted on ad valorem taxes. Officials 

began drastically to cut back all expenditures, 

reducing salaries and dismissing employees, cutting 

funds to the library and the schools, and eventually 

turning off all streetlights for several months. 

They also hired attorney Charles Heidrick to collect 

delinquent taxes, but were still forced to issue a 

series of “deficiency warrants,” redeemable as the 

city received tax funds. 

Both Beaumont and Jefferson County received 

extensive aid from various government relief 

programs such as the Reconstruction Finance 

Corporation, the Public Works Administration, 

the Works Progress Administration, and the 

Civilian Conservation Corps, to complete various 

municipal projects and provide employment. 

County officials received money and goods to 

distribute to the needy. The CCC camp in 

Beaumont undertook and nearly completed the 

mammoth task of building shelters and 

recreational facilities and improving roads and 

drainage at Tyrrell Park, a large area donated 

earlier to the city by Captain W. C. Tyrrell. 

Even for Beaumonters who were not destitute, 

sheer scarcity of cash made life a struggle for 

several years. Some citizens, lacking funds to pay 

their taxes, lost their land. Others were able to 

keep their property but were forced to give up the 

electricity, the telephone service, or even the 

natural gas they had so proudly installed during 

the previous decade. Men who had considered 

themselves more than adequately protected against 

financial crises scrambled to provide their families 

with bare necessities. Only the very wealthiest 

Beaumonters survived the Depression unscathed. 

Area farmers were used to dealing with cash 

shortages, for agriculture had been in a slump even 

during the prosperous twenties. Many farmers 

planting cash crops, such as rice, had returned to 

❖ 

The Carl Markley Motor 

Company, Inc., located at Calder and 

Willow, was ready to sell Fords in 

spite of the Depression. One 

advantage to dealers was that by that 

time there were fewer auto 

manufacturers in Beaumont than the 

forty listed in 1920. By 1934 

automobile manufacturing was 

already settling toward the Big 

Three—Ford, General Motors, 

and Chrysler. 




subsistence farming—planting gardens to provide 

food for themselves, then selling any surplus for 

needed cash. The idea had proved to be so 

productive that the downtown Nancy Tevis 

Market, once closed as a poor investment, was 

reopened in 1929 for farmers’ use. 

Even in better times, many Beaumonters had 

maintained backyard gardens and kept chickens 

and other livestock. During the Depression 

these agricultural sidelines took on a new 

importance, not only to provide food, but to 

furnish a type of currency in a barter system that 

developed in the absence of cash. 

One very bright moment in the bleak 1930s 

came from Beaumonter Mildred “Babe” 

Didrikson. One of seven children of Norwegian 

immigrants, Babe as a young girl had lived with 

her family in a much-added-onto house on 

Doucette Street in the south end of town. Ole 

Didrikson, her father, worked as a furniture 

refinisher, shipping out on tankers when his 

business was slack; Babe’s mother took in 

washing, while all of the children held odd jobs. 

In spite of their hardships, the Didriksons 

were a close, loving family of fiercely competitive 

natural athletes, of whom Babe was the most 

competitive and the most athletic. As she said, 

“Before I was even into my teens, I knew exactly 

what I wanted to be when I grew up. My goal 

was to be the greatest athlete that ever lived.” 

She got the nickname “Babe,” derived from her 

talent for hitting home runs, from the children 

with whom she played sandlot baseball. Later, 

inspired by the 1928 Olympics, she learned to 

hurdle the seven hedges dividing the yards on her 

street, persuading one obliging neighbor to trim 

his hedge to the same height as the rest. Though at 

the time only slightly over five feet tall, she became 

high scorer on the Beaumont High School girls’ 

basketball team when she was allowed to play. 

Actually, Babe wanted to be the best at 

everything she did, whether in sports, school, 

❖ 

Above: The Tyrrell Library 

bookmobile, shown here in 1929, was 

the first such service in Texas and one 

of the first in the nation. Pearle Burr 

and library director Lucy Fuller Gross 

are standing at right. 


Below: The golf course was the site of 

only one of many triumphs for 

Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias. 

She is considered one of the premier 

sports figures of the twentieth century. 

The daughter of Norwegian 

immigrants, she was raised on 

Doucette Street in south Beaumont. 


Chapter VI ✦ 67

❖ 

Right: The Beaumont Exporters of the 

Texas League brought local residents 

into the thick of the national sports 

craze in the 1920s. They became a 

Detroit Tigers farm team in 1930 

with such well-known stars as Hank 

Greenberg, Rudy York, Carl Hubbell, 

and “Schoolboy” Rowe, and won the 

Texas League championship in 1938. 

COURTESY OF BUSINESS MEN’S STUDIO. 

Below: The O’Brien Oak shaded the 

hundred feet or more between the 

O’Brien house and the Port of 

Beaumont to the left. This oak, 

grown from a sapling brought from 

Village Creek in 1849, marked the 

beginning of a path along the 

riverbank known as Lover’s Lane. 

Tradition has it that court was 

sometimes held under its branches. 


or work. At her job at a gunnysack factory, she 

sewed sacks together so quickly that her 

employer (who originally thought her too small 

to work) allowed her to leave whenever she 

wanted to play ball, realizing she could easily 

catch up later. In high school she won a prize at 

the South Texas State Fair with a blue silk dress 

made in her sewing class, explaining, “…I 

decided that mine was going to be the most 

complicated of them all.” 

But her first love was athletics. In 1930, 

wearing the blue dress, she traveled by train to 

Dallas to play basketball for the Employers 

Casualty Insurance Company team. Each year 

she played for them, the team advanced to the 

national finals. At the 1932 Olympics, she won 

the javelin throw and the eighty-meter hurdle, 

losing the high jump only because the judges 

ruled she had used improper form; even so, she 

broke world records in all three events. 

Babe then took up golf with her usual 

determination: “I’d hit balls until my hands were 

bloody and sore. I’d have tape all over my hands, 

and blood all over the tape.” She won her first 

important golf tournament in 1935, and for the 

next eighteen years, during which time she met 

and married wrestler-promoter George Zaharias, 

she set numerous golf records. Chosen six times 

as the Woman Athlete of the Year, in 1950 she 

was named “Woman Athlete of the Half Century.” 

In 1953, at the age of thirty-nine, Babe 

underwent radical surgery for cancer. A year later 

she won the National Women’s Open in Salem, 

Massachusetts. Her cancer returned, however, 

and she died September 27, 1956. A legend long 

before her death, Babe left a legacy of athletic 

prowess, optimism, and indomitable courage 

under adverse circumstances. On November 27, 

1976, a grateful and admiring Beaumont 

dedicated a museum and park to her memory. 

By 1939 Beaumont was on the way to 

economic and social recovery. During this year, 

however, the world situation, long deteriorating, 

collapsed completely. As hostilities began in 

Europe, the attention of Beaumonters became 

riveted overseas. The bitter realization came 

slowly to them, as to the rest of the world, that 

the Great War had not been, after all, “the war 

to end all wars.” World War II had begun. 


CHAPTER VII 

WAR AND ITS WAKE 

News that Japanese forces had attacked Pearl Harbor reached Beaumont around noon on Sunday, 

December 7, 1941. Like other Americans, Beaumonters still carried vivid memories of the hardships 

of the Great War just over twenty years before, and their patriotism, though strong, was tempered 

with grim knowledge of the struggle that lay ahead. 

Beaumont oversubscribed the first war bond by $178,000 within five hours, a national record that 

entitled the city to have a bomber named after it. But the city’s greatest contribution was in industrial 

output—oil refining, manufacturing of war materiel, shipbuilding. The local labor force greatly 

increased, augmented by workers from surrounding areas. Pennsylvania Shipyards, the same firm 

that, as Beaumont Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, had built wooden-hulled ships in World 

War I, began constructing cargo vessels and naval auxiliary ships and increased its workforce from a 

few hundred to 8,500. 

Between 1940 and the middle of 1943, the population of Beaumont jumped from 59,000 to an 

estimated 80,000, creating a housing shortage that even hastily constructed wartime housing such as 

Multimax Village failed to alleviate. Whites and blacks, most strangers to one another, were working 

in close proximity in greater numbers than ever before, resulting in heightened racial tension. 

In the summer of 1943 Beaumont shared the fate of other cities in the nation when racial violence 

exploded in its streets. On June 4 a deranged black man beat and raped a young white woman and 

❖ 

Some Beaumonters who did not serve 

in the regular armed forces during 

World War II joined the Civil Air 

Patrol, an auxiliary of the United 

States Air Force, to guard the coastal 

waters. These men belonged to Base 

Ten. Fourth row (top, from left to 

right): J. K. West, Bruce Votaw, and 

Jack Shell; Third row: Del Gallier, Joe 

Marshall, John Walker, and William 

Jackson; Second row: Joe Klein, James 

Marshall, and George Haddaway. 

First row: Charles DiDio. 


Chapter VII ✦ 69

was mortally wounded by police officers. 

Approximately fifty white men, most from the 

Pennsylvania Shipyards, gathered at the “Negro 

ward” at Hotel Dieu Hospital and demanded 

that the dying man be surrendered to them. 

Police Chief Ross Dickey refused, and the lynch 

mob dispersed, but tensions still ran high. 

On June 15 a woman living on Eleventh 

Street told police that a black man had raped 

her. The story circulated among the employees 

at Pennsylvania Shipyards, and that night some 

two thousand white employees walked off the 

job and headed toward town. Others joined 

them, swelling their numbers to approximately 

four thousand. First at the police station, then at 

the courthouse, they demanded that the rapist 

be given to them for hanging. No suspect was 

being held at either place, however, and the 

mob left, breaking up into small groups. They 

headed for the African-American neighborhoods 

in the downtown area and the north of town, 

burning, looting, and destroying black-owned 

businesses, homes, and automobiles that lay in 

their paths and assaulting black citizens 

wherever they found them. 

The entire city police force, the sheriff’s 

department, and four companies of the 

Eighteenth Battalion of the Texas State Guard, 

made up of Beaumonters, were mobilized to 

patrol the black neighborhoods. They arrested a 

number of people, filling the city and county 

jails and eventually the Harvest Club building at 

the South Texas State Fairgrounds, but were 

unable to stop the mobs. 

Although by dawn the next day the riot had 

burned itself out, within a few hours 2,000 

Texas State Guardsmen, Department of Public 

Safety officers, and Texas Rangers arrived in 

time to squelch a new uprising of about 200 

white shipyard workers. Acting Governor A. M. 

Aiken declared martial law in the city, closing 

all recreational and public facilities and 

canceling “Juneteenth” celebrations (June 19, 

the African-American holiday commemorating 

the emancipation of slaves in Texas). 

On June 20 martial law was lifted, and 

Beaumonters assessed the riot damage. 

Reportedly, three men, two black and one white, 

had died; hundreds of people, mostly blacks, 

had been injured (among them fifty-two black 

draftees waiting at the bus station); and a great 

deal of property belonging to black citizens had 

been destroyed. Many had also left town. The 

white woman who had reported the rape that 

triggered the riot was examined by a physician, 

but no evidence of assault was ever found. 

Neither was her attacker. Authorities suspected, 

but could never substantiate, the possibility of 

deliberate sabotage of shipyard production by a 

foreign power. Of the several thousand rioters, 

only 206 were arrested and brought to the 

military court, and only 29 of those received 

❖ 

A race riot on June 15, 1943, required 

the presence of Texas state 

guardsmen, shown patrolling the 

streets to prevent further rioting. 

COURTESY OF THE BEAUMONT ENTERPRISE. 


penalties (mostly light fines). Within a few days 

production had resumed at Pennsylvania 

Shipyards, but with a much smaller African- 

American workforce. Area industry remained 

undisturbed for the remainder of the war. 

In addition to bond rallies and industrial 

output, Beaumont contributed numerous 

men—and women—to the war effort. Company 

C, 143rd Infantry, Thirty-Sixth Infantry Division 

of the Texas National Guard, was entirely 

composed of men from the Beaumont area. 

They participated in the Africa campaign and in 

the invasions of Italy and Southern France with 

a “tragically high” casualty rate, according to the 

Beaumont Journal. 

At war’s end in 1945, the Beaumont Chamber 

of Commerce organized a Postwar Planning 

Committee to minimize the impact of returning 

soldiers and decreased industrial output on the 

economy. Bethlehem Steel Corporation bought 

out Pennsylvania Shipyards, and Beaumont 

added several new employers: Goodrich and 

Firestone synthetic rubber plants, Southern 

States Steel, Sears, Roebuck and Company, and 

Baptist Hospital. In addition, a dam was begun 

on the upper Neches River, providing flood 

control, irrigation, and a valuable recreation 

area for Southeast Texas. 

The years following the war saw an 

expansion of education. South Park Junior 

College had become Lamar Junior College 

(named after Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar) in 

1932, and in 1940 the South Park, Beaumont, 

and French (at that time a separate entity) 

districts had united to form Lamar Union Junior 

College District. In 1941, Lamar became an 

independent state-supported school, and in 

1951, a four-year technical college. 

The year 1951 also marked the fiftieth 

anniversary of the first Spindletop oil discovery. 

In 1941, Beaumont had hosted the Texas Mid- 

Continent Oil and Gas Association convention, 

and at that time a pink granite memorial was 

unveiled to mark the location of the Lucas 

Gusher, pinpointed by Scott Myers, who had 

grown up at Spindletop. For the next ten years, 

❖ 

Above: The West Harshaw is at dock 

at the Port of Beaumont. The 

Beaumont skyline is in the left 

background, with the Jefferson County 

Courthouse on the right. The O’Brien 

Oak is just to the left of the ship. 


Below: Pipefitters Local No. 195 held 

its annual picnic at the Southeast 

Texas State Fairgrounds in 1947. The 

Pipefitters’ Union is only one of many 

unions in the Golden Triangle. 



Chapter VII ✦ 71

❖ 

Above: Pattillo Higgins (second from 

left) and Al Hamill (third from left) 

returned in 1951 to celebrate the 

golden anniversary of the Lucas 

Gusher. Scott Myers (left) and Marion 

E. Brock (third from right) were 

charter members of the Lucas Gusher 

Monument Association. 



Below: ExxonMobil, formerly 

Magnolia, is Beaumont’s oldest and 

largest refinery. 


Spindletop Fiftieth Anniversary, Inc., an 

organization chartered by the State of Texas, 

planned an elaborate celebration. 

The celebration began in January 1951. 

Pattillo Higgins, Al Hamill, and Anthony 

FitzGerald Lucas (son of the captain, who had 

died many years before) were the principal 

guests of honor. Beaumont once again became a 

boomtown, complete with citizens in 1901 

attire and a replica of the gusher near the 

Southern Pacific Depot. 

Preliminary events included “Spindletop 

Review,” presented on January 5 and 6 by 

Beaumonter Eloise Milam’s nationally famous 

Melody Maids, and a broadcast of the 

Spindletop story on the DuPont radio show, 

Cavalcade of America, broadcast from Beaumont 

on January 9. The celebration culminated in a 

gala parade on January 10. Al Hamill, then 

seventy-five, clambered up the replica of the 

derrick, and eighty-nine-year-old Pattillo 

Higgins prophesied that the Gulf Coast still held 

enormous untapped oil reserves. Beaumont 

briefly regained the national spotlight as 

townspeople and outsiders alike honored it as 

the birthplace of the modern oil industry. 

The petrochemical industry in the area 

would continue to be important in the 1950s. 

Old Spindletop Hill yielded another of its riches 

as Texas Gulf Sulphur built a $12-million plant 

near the old field. (The extraction process 

would cause the land to sink and the old salt 

dome to disappear.) DuPont constructed an 

organic chemical plant on the Sabine-Neches 

Ship Channel. And in a “Chemical Empire” 

issue, the Beaumont Enterprise featured not only 

local oil refineries and chemical plants, but the 

East Texas Pulp and Paper Company that had 

opened at nearby Evadale. 

The postwar era brought new organizations 

and leisure activities for Beaumonters, including 


the first Neches River Festival in 1949, a spring 

social event designed to promote the city to 

other communities. Although it was principally 

a by-invitation-only affair, some festivities, such 

as the parade and the boat races, included the 

general public. In 1955 the Better Business 

Bureau and United Appeals were formed to help 

improve the quality of life in town. 

Area mass communication proliferated after 

the war. In 1947 KFDM (later KLVI), the area’s 

first radio station, and KRIC (eventually KAYC), 

begun in the early 1930s, were joined by KTRM 

and KPBX (later KJET, the area’s first black 

station). KFDM television, Channel 6, a CBS 

affiliate, began transmitting in 1956, followed a 

few years later by KPAC Channel 4 (NBC, now 

KBTV) in Port Arthur and Channel 12 (ABC, 

KBMT) in Beaumont. 

The Little Theater (now the Beaumont 

Community Players) and the Beaumont Music 

Commission, groups founded in the 1920s; were 

now joined by a semiprofessional Beaumont 

Symphony Orchestra, formed in 1953, and ten 

years later, by the Beaumont Civic Opera. 

In 1957 the city administration annexed 40.1 

square miles of land, acquiring Rosedale, Voth, 

and Amelia, unincorporated communities to the 

north and west of town. The population increased 

from 104,416 to 122,800 and made Beaumont’s 

northern boundary Pine Island Bayou. The 

expansion created the opportunity in Beaumont 

for two economic innovations, suburban 

shopping centers, in 1957: Beaumont Village in 

the north section of town and Gateway Shopping 

❖ 

Above: Beaumont society matron 

Nancy Strong served as president of 

the Beaumont Music Commission for 

thirty-one years, until her death in 

1964. In 1934 she initiated an Artists 

Series, personally engaging a 

phenomenal succession of artists. She 

is shown in this photograph with 

Jascha Heifetz. 


Left: Dr. Lena Milam co-founded the 

Beaumont Music Commission (with 

fellow musician Gladys Harned 

Quilliam) and served as Music 

Supervisor in the Beaumont public 

schools from 1919-1953, gaining 

national prominence in music 

education. With Nancy Strong, she 

also founded Music Week. 


Chapter VII ✦ 73

❖ 

Above: Mr. and Mrs. Everette James 

entertain their famous trumpetplaying 

son, Harry. The elder James 

was bandleader for the Christie 

Brothers Circus, and Harry began 

playing in his father’s band when he 

was eight years old. His parents 

settled in Beaumont, and he himself 

became a world-famous trumpet 

virtuoso, playing with such legends as 

Benny Goodman. 


City in the west end. These facilities proved to be 

a mixed blessing; while they distributed goods to 

outlying areas, they, as well as the freeway 

completed in 1955 that circumvented downtown, 

contributed to the eventual deterioration of the 

city’s central business district. 

In 1954, in the wake of the landmark 

Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of 

Education of Topeka, which held that the doctrine 

of “separate but equal” facilities was 

unconstitutional, Beaumont was faced with the 

necessity of drastically altering the rigid 

segregation that had governed the town’s social 

structure since Reconstruction. 

It fell to the local chapter of the National 

Association for the Advancement of Colored 

People to test the decision in a Beaumont court. 

After the NAACP’s reorganization in 1930, it had 

gradually grown through its ties with the 

Barnwell Community Center, a religious and 

social gathering place for blacks, and the Negro 

Goodwill Council, a group that brought attention 

to inequities in the local school districts. 

In spite of relatively small membership and 

avowedly peaceful intentions, the NAACP was 

still regarded by most white Beaumonters in the 

1950s as a dangerously radical group. In an 

attempt to overcome this image, several African 

Americans launched a campaign to promote 

better race relations while still advocating racial 

equality. Foremost among these leaders was 

Dr. Ed D. Sprott, Jr. 

Ed Sprott, long active in affairs of the black 

community, was the son of Ed and Myrtle 

Sprott, who had reared their five sons and four 

daughters in a home on Roberts Avenue. Each 

child, with the help of the parents, worked his 

or her way through school (all had to go away, 

since blacks were unable to attend Lamar), the 

older ones aiding the younger ones. All nine 

received college degrees, with three eventually 

earning M.D.’s, one a Ph.D., and one a M.A. 

Right: The converted Navy tug Port 

of Beaumont, loaded with supplies 

for the 1946 Finn Ronne expedition to 

Antarctica, heads down the Neches. 

The expedition left from Beaumont 

and ended in 1948. It collected 

valuable data relative to weather, 

geological and terrestrial observations, 

tidal readings, seismograph recordings 

and aerial mapping. 

COURTESY OF JOHN ROBY, PORT OF BEAUMONT. 


Sprott hoped to achieve gradual desegregation 

without legal action, but reluctantly concluded 

that integration would require it. Editor Robert W. 

Akers quoted Sprott in the Beaumont Enterprise: 

It is my profound belief that there is as much 

latent good in Beaumont as there is anywhere in 

the world. The contemporary problem for men 

of good will is to see that this latent good is 

harnessed for constructive, creative, democratic 

social change. If this is done, the demagogues 

who would seek to exploit the primitive passions 

of the people will be left lonely and afraid. 

On June 23, 1955, six members of the local 

NAACP—Booker Fayson, Joe Griffin, William 

Narcisse, Thomas Parker, Johnnie Ware, and Earl 

White—brought suit to desegregate Central and 

Tyrrell Parks in Beaumont. They were represented 

by Beaumont lawyers Theodore Johns and Elmo 

Willard III and by U. Simpson Tate, a NAACP 

lawyer from Dallas. On September 7, 1955, Judge 

Lamar Cecil of the Fifth Circuit Court stated that 

all blacks had “free and unrestricted use and 

enjoyment of Central and Tyrrell Parks….” 

Johns and Willard subsequently filed suit in 

U.S. District Court March 14, 1956, to 

desegregate Lamar College, because two African 

Americans, Versie Jackson and James Anthony 

Cormier, had been refused admission on the 

grounds that the state legislature had designated 

Lamar a white school. Judge Cecil ruled that 

Lamar would integrate the following fall. 

That year, twenty-six blacks registered for the 

fall session at Lamar. On October 2, the first day 

of class, white picketers appeared at campus 

entrances and for the next three days harassed 

faculty and students, both black and white. 

Complaints reached Lamar President F. L. 

McDonald, who complained to Beaumont 

Mayor Jimmie Cokinos. Cokinos ordered the 

picketers to leave. 

Within the boundaries of the campus, classes 

had been held from the first day, and integration at 

Lamar proceeded peacefully, if perhaps too slowly 

for some. The athletic program was integrated in 

spring 1962 with the signing of Anthony Guillory 

by football coach J. B. Higgins (even though many 

segregated colleges struck Lamar from their 

football schedules), and by fall 1963 all facilities, 

including dormitories, dining halls, and the 

student union, were officially open to blacks. 

In May 1960 a group of African-American 

Lamar students, who were also members of the 

local youth NAACP chapter, held sit-ins in the 

dining areas of stores in the downtown area and 

Gateway. The lunchrooms immediately closed. 

The sit-ins brought attention to segregation in 

public facilities; as one of the participants 

stated, “We are trying to arouse the South to 

know just how we feel about the places with 

which we deal.” 

❖ 

The E. D. Sprott family, pictured in 

1951, represents a remarkable 

commitment to education and 

professional achievement. The elder 

Sprott supported the education of his 

sons and daughters from his earnings 

as a postal worker. Standing (from 

left to right): Curtis B. Sprott, M.D.; 

Oliver W. Sprott, B.A.; Lorraine 

Whittier, B.A.; Myrtle Deplanter, B.A.; 

Waurine Anthony, B.A.; Maxie Sprott, 

M.D.; and James T. Sprott, Ph.D.; 

Seated: Mildred White, M.A.; Edward 

Daniel Sprott; Myrtle Mills Sprott; 

and E. D. Sprott Jr., M.D. 

COURTESY OF MYRTLE DEPLANTER. 

Chapter VII ✦ 75

❖ 

Above: Lamar University, under a 

1956 court order, was among the first 

southern colleges to be integrated. 

Picketers at the entrance to the 

campus harassed black students for 

several days before city officials 

responded to requests for law 

enforcement from President F. L. 

McDonald and the student body. 

COURTESY OF THE BEAUMONT ENTERPRISE. 

Right: Charles Charlton, Usan 

Hebert, Luther Shotwell, and Mary 

Ann Blanchette participated in the 

founding of the Live Oak Missionary 

Baptist Church in 1868. The 

congregation worshipped in this 

building on Neches Street until 1966. 

COURTESY OF LEWIS W. JOHNSON. 

In 1962, NAACP attorneys Johns and Willard 

filed suit to integrate the Beaumont Independent 

School District (which by then included French 

District schools). The district’s first plan, to 

integrate one grade per year, beginning in 

September 1963 with the first grade, until all 

grades were integrated, was overturned. In 

December 1964 the Beaumont District integrated 

all twelve grades simultaneously, giving students 

“freedom of choice” to attend any school within 

the district. South Park first established freedom 

of choice in 1965, but this proved unsatisfactory, 

as did the Beaumont plan. Both districts were 

soon ordered by the Federal Court to further alter 

their plans to achieve racial balance. 

In early 1961, Jefferson County received an 

unpleasant visit from the General Investigating 

Committee of the Texas House of Representatives, 

chaired by Representative Tom James of Dallas. 

Fearing the takeover of local crime by national 

organizations, the committee was in the process of 

exposing and eradicating pockets of vice all over 

the state. 

Beaumont had been an “open city” for years, 

with illegal elements allowed to operate within a 

designated area. By the 1930s the “red light” 

district (enclosed by Crockett, Jefferson, Bonham, 

and Trinity Streets) was a well-established hotbed 

of drinking, gambling, and prostitution. 

During World War II the city had closed most of 

these illicit establishments to pacify administrators 

at nearby army bases. After the war’s end in 1945, 

hotels and bars reopened, many outside the “Deep” 

Crockett Street area. A new generation grew up 

accustomed to punchboards in public eating 

places, bookies who worked high school campuses, 

clubs that sold liquor to minors, and brothels, 

operating as openly as ordinary hotels. 

Texas Department of Public Safety officers 

and Texas Rangers gathered evidence and 

conducted raids all over Jefferson County. The 

five-man investigating committee (called locally 

the “James Committee”) then convened a hearing 

January 4, 1961, in the Federal Building in 

Beaumont, to bring their findings to public view. 

During the three days of the hearings, which 

were televised live over Channel 6 to an 

understandably enormous local audience, more 

illegal activity was exposed than many 

Beaumonters had believed existed, or wished to 

acknowledge. Allen Wegemer, a former Beaumont 

Journal reporter who in 1955 had written a series 

of articles on vice in Jefferson County, testified 

that he had seen widespread crime, and that local 

law enforcement officials treated him with 

indifference or hostility. An assistant district 

attorney even warned him of possible danger to 

himself if he persisted in his investigations. 

Witnesses who actually testified (rather than 

invoking the Fifth Amendment when questioned) 

provided all that the committee needed to hear 

about bookmaking, gaming, slot machines, liquor 

sales to minors, teenage prostitution, and plain 

brown envelopes of money left on desks and 


on back seats of cars. After the hearing 

the committee published its scathing final 

report: “Committee personnel found flourishing 

in Jefferson County the oldest, largest, and 

best-organized vice operation in Texas… 

[o]perating openly, brazenly, and with immunity 

from law enforcement….” 

The committee graphically described a city 

given over to criminal elements, noting that 

Beaumont and Jefferson County fit the profile: 

Apathy. Bribery. Corruption. These are the 

ABC’s of lawlessness. Decay is the next stage in 

the alphabetical progression…the town begins 

to decay…. Tax rates increase. Young people 

leave the city. Unemployment becomes chronic. 

Vacancies appear in buildings. Traffic jams 

occur. The town begins a slow death. 

Beaumonters were at last roused or shamed into 

ending what had been an undesirable and 

dangerous symbiosis of crime and local law. Within 

a few days, the chief of police had been replaced 

with the assistant chief; there was a rash of firings 

and resignations among the remaining members of 

the police department as well as in city and county 

offices. A group of citizens organized the United 

Citizens for Law Enforcement, a watchdog group. 

The grand jury session for the first quarter of 1961, 

with Samuel Landrum as foreman, returned 

innumerable charges against individuals for 

gambling, liquor violations, and prostitution. 

Eventually removal suits were filed on the Jefferson 

County sheriff and the district attorney. 

The work of the James Committee brought to 

public attention a well-known but rarely seen 

Beaumonter: Rita Ainsworth, popularly known 

as “Miss Rita,” the proprietress of the Dixie 

Hotel on Crockett Street. Born in Oregon of 

well-to-do parents, Miss Rita had toured with 

various vaudeville shows and at one time had 

danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. 

During the Great Depression and an unhappy 

first marriage she became a prostitute. She came to 

Beaumont and found employment in the Crockett 

Street area at one of the “cribs” owned by Charles 

Ainsworth. She later married Ainsworth’s son 

Nathaniel, and the two obtained the Shamrock 

Hotel on Bowie Street, which they kept until 1946, 

when Nathaniel died. Rita then bought the Dixie 

Hotel, and within a short time it became the finest 

bordello in the area, elegant, smoothly run, and 

featuring extremely attractive girls. Rita also 

accumulated quite a bit of real estate in town. 

This successful madam had a strong 

philanthropic bent seen by very few, donating 

enormous sums of money to local churches and 

Little League baseball teams. She put a priest 

through seminary and allowed several homeless 

old men to live on the third floor of the Dixie 

Hotel for a nominal fee of $7 a month, where 

they were fed, protected, and cared for by Rita 

and her servants. 

Determined that her daughter’s life would be 

easier than her own had been, Rita sent her to a 

strict Catholic girls’ school in another town. The 

daughter was in her mid-teens before she became 

aware of the true function of the Dixie Hotel. 

Rita learned self-reliance early, yet was capable 

of deep sentiment. In an old copy of Rudyard 

Kipling’s The Seven Seas found in her library after 

her death, a verse from Tennyson’s Lady of the Lake 

is inscribed in her handwriting: 

Such love may be madness, 

Was love ever sane? 

Such love must be sorrow, 

For all love is pain. 

The James Committee investigation ended the 

days of the Dixie Hotel. A permanent injunction 

was brought against Miss Rita, and the Internal 

Revenue Service ordered her to pay $100,000 in 

taxes on undeclared income. She was forced to 

divest herself of all real-estate holdings except the 

hotel and her comfortable north-end home. 

In 1976, in failing health and in need of 

money, she sold the Dixie Hotel building to Gulf 

States Utilities Company, who then donated it to 

the Beaumont Heritage Society. Rita Ainsworth 

died in Houston in 1978 in the care of her 

daughter, her whereabouts known to practically 

no one but her name still familiar to Beaumonters 

who remembered the heyday of the Dixie Hotel. 

At some point in the 1960s, it became 

apparent to many that Beaumont was no longer 

keeping economic pace with the rest of the 

country. Since 1960, postwar growth had slowed 

to an almost imperceptible crawl, and a 

community apathy had set in that threatened to 

sabotage all efforts at recovery. Various factors 

had contributed to the stagnation, among them 

❖ 

The late Rita Ainsworth was 

Beaumont’s leading madam and a 

prosperous businesswoman and 

philanthropist until after the vice 

probe in 1961. She has been 

described as having extraordinary 

grace and dignity. 


Chapter VII ✦ 77

❖ 

The Dixie Hotel, Rita Ainsworth’s 

place of business. This block of 

buildings dates from the early 1900s. 

COURTESY OF MARY LOU AINSWORTH AND THE 


disillusionment and distrust resulting from the 

1961 vice probes and internal dissension in 

subsequent city administrations. 

To make matters worse, the job market hit a 

slump. In the early 1960s the petrochemical 

industry began to automate many of its processes 

and to decrease its workforce. In 1970, Sun Oil 

Company moved from Beaumont, vacating the 

nine floors it had occupied in the downtown 

Petroleum Building. 

An ever-increasing number of empty 

buildings gave the downtown area a deserted 

air. Young high school and college graduates 

consistently left the area for jobs in Houston and 

other cities. The James Committee’s description 

of the eventual fate of a vice-ridden city seemed 

more and more to fit Beaumont. The 1970 

census brought home the unpleasant truth: 

Beaumont had declined in population. 

An aggressive group of Beaumont business 

and professional men realized that quick action 

was necessary. They chose as their primary 

vehicle the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, 

which since its formation in 1903 had filled an 

essentially ceremonial role, but under its new 

leadership would play a vital part in the city’s 

development. Elected as Chamber president in 

1970, Mark Steinhagen, with other Chamber 

directors, announced a new emphasis on 

economic growth, stating emphatically that 

“superfluous activities, ceremonial functions, 

and other nonproductive activities of the staff 

must be discontinued and the Chamber must 

establish a new image by achieving its goals.” 

The Chamber formed an Economic 

Development Committee, with Elvis Mason, a 

graduate of Lamar and a rising young Beaumont 

banker, as its chairman. Results were soon 

evident; the business sector responded with the 

Economic Development Foundation, Leadership 

Beaumont (to encourage and develop present and 

future leadership), and the Central City 

Development Corporation, a company formed to 

revive the flagging downtown area. 

When Southwestern Bell Telephone 

Company announced plans to build a $9-million 

regional office, members of the CCDC, at the 

instigation of Mason and a young Beaumont 

lawyer named Robert Keith, contributed 

$175,000 in additional land costs from their 

own pockets to persuade Bell to build in the 

downtown business district, thus achieving a 

turnaround in the business and professional 

exodus from the downtown area. Beaumonters 

responded to these efforts with unprecedented 

cooperation between city government and the 

private sector. As the town slowly began to move 

forward once again, its new leaders prepared for 

the l970s, a decade they hoped would bring an 

era of growth. 


CHAPTER VIII 

COMMEMORATIONS AND PROGNOSTICATIONS 

The 1970s brought to Beaumonters a resurgence of civic pride, and with it improvements in the 

economy and the general quality of life. For the first time in almost fifty years, citizens approved 

municipal bonds in 1971 and 1974 for a new library, police station, civic center, municipal office 

building, riverfront park, and covered arena at the South Texas State Fairgrounds, as well as 

improvements to the port, water-sewer system, and streets. 

The Beaumont Chamber of Commerce launched an extensive advertising campaign to attract new 

business to Beaumont, creating a Convention Bureau and a Visitor Information Center (both later 

added to the city administration). Efforts were rewarded when a nationwide recession in 1975 had 

little effect on the area. In 1976, Beaumont hosted 74 conventions, and new or expanded businesses 

in the city were providing between 400 and 500 additional jobs. In 1978, Beaumont was named by 

Money magazine as the town with the most potential for future growth in the entire country. 

Another giant stride for Beaumont’s economy was the construction of an enclosed shopping center 

to serve all of Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. Parkdale Mall, completed in 1973 in 

❖ 

The Rogers brothers (from left to 

right): Sol, Ben (seated), Vic, and 

Nate, arrived in Beaumont in the 

middle of the Depression. Their 

business, the Texas State Optical 

Company, eventually expanded to 109 

outlets. In 1955 the brothers formed 

Rogers Brothers Investments and 

became prime movers in Beaumont 

business, community development, 

and charitable endeavors. 

COURTESY OF BEN ROGERS. 

Chapter VIII ✦ 79

❖ 

Left: John Ellis Gray, football coach 

for South Park Junior College and 

twice president of Lamar University, 

personifies the school more than any 

single individual in its history. 

COURTESY OF LAMAR UNIVERSITY. 

Right: Lamar University, established 

as South Park Junior College in 

1923, continues to offer quality 

education to students of Southeast 

Texas, the nation, and the world. The 

sculpture of Mirabeau B. Lamar is by 

David Cargill. 


northwest Beaumont, was the inspiration of 

local businessman Ben Rogers. 

Rogers and his brothers, Sol, Vic, and Nate, 

came from Chicago to Beaumont in the 1930s and 

founded Texas State Optical Company (which 

became one of the largest optical concerns in the 

country). When they began to diversify their 

interests, one of their first major projects was the 

construction of Gateway Shopping City. Parkdale 

Mall, which opened sixteen years later, was over 

twice the size of Gateway. 

Ben Rogers’ philanthropies increased 

proportionately to his success. Countless 

individuals and organizations were the grateful 

recipients of his generosity. Largely through his 

direction, the Babe Zaharias Memorial Museum 

was completed in 1976. Rogers and his wife Julie 

made innumerable contributions to both public 

and private causes, including Lamar University 

and cancer centers in both Beaumont and 

Houston. They originated numerous benevolent 

projects, among them the “I Have A Dream” 

program, ensuring at-risk students a college 

education, and the “Gift of Life,” providing free 

screening for prostate and breast cancer. With 

Ben’s death in 1994 and Julie’s in 1996, the torch 

passed to their daughter Regina Rogers. The 

accomplishments of Ben Rogers and his family, 

whether for private profit or for the public weal, 

have always ended by benefiting Beaumont. 

One of the area’s knottiest economic 

problems—high construction costs attributable 

to frequent strikes and walkouts—led to creation 

of the Planning Economic Progress committee in 

1979. Maurice Meyers, who served as mayor 

from 1978-1982 and again from 1986-1990, 

called together local labor and management 

leaders to create PEP, which worked to prevent 

strikes through negotiation and communication. 

In the following two years, PEP helped to mediate 

over 200 disputes, of which about 85 percent 

were settled before they became walkouts. 

In 1986 the city suffered the loss of a $20- 

million investment when an uninsured firm 

collapsed. Under the leadership of Mayor 

William E. Neild, Beaumont weathered this 

crisis and could even point to some positive 

achievements: the expansion of City Council 

from five to seven places (thus increasing voter 

representation) and the new Martin Luther King 

Parkway, which provided a north-south 

thoroughfare through the city. 

Academic and physical growth at Lamar 

College had earned it university status in 1971. 

The following year, an icon of Lamar and 

Southeast Texas became president: John Ellis Gray. 


Associated with Lamar since its creation in 

1923, first as a student, then as a teacher and 

coach, John Gray had first served as president 

from 1942 to 1952, then had spent the next 

twenty years as an executive officer of First 

Security National Bank in Beaumont. He returned 

to Lamar as president from 1972 to 1976, when 

he retired to further serve the University in 

advisory roles. 

More than any other individual in the history 

of the college, Gray left his indelible mark on 

every facet of the institution. Upon his death in 

2002, Lamar University President James M. 

Simmons stated in his eulogy to Gray that he 

“epitomized Lamar University.” Two buildings on 

the Lamar campus bear his name: the Mary and 

John Gray Library and the John Gray Center. 

During the late ’80s and early ’90s, progress 

in academics and campus activities continued at 

Lamar. A lecture series, funded by and named 

for Beaumonter and United States District Judge 

Joe J. Fisher, presented former President Gerald 

R. Ford as its first speaker in 1987. After 

declining attendance at football games caused 

the cancellation of Lamar’s football program, the 

School of Fine and Applied Arts created 

Lamarissimo! in 1990 to provide the university’s 

band and other departments of music and dance 

with an opportunity to perform for the 

community at large. 

In 1983, Lamar had become a university 

system with four campuses: Lamar University 

Beaumont, LU Port Arthur, LU Orange, and the 

Lamar Institute of Technology. But fiscal woes 

and political controversy led to a critical state 

management control audit in 1993 and 

separation of the satellite campuses from the 

main Beaumont campus. In 1995 all four 

campuses became separate components of the 

Texas State University System. Although Lamar’s 

image had suffered and faculty-student morale 

was at a low ebb, it was time to rebuild. 

Lamar had commemorated its fiftieth 

anniversary in 1973 with a special medallion 

designed by sculptor Herring Coe. In 1998 the 

university celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary 

by rededicating Lamar’s original campus at South 

Park Middle School, issuing a special 

commemorative publication, and reinstating the 

alumnus magazine, Cardinal Cadence. 

Under the leadership of President James M. 

Simmons, who took office in 1999 with the 

motto, “building strength through community,” 

Lamar began an extensive campaign of physical 

and academic improvements. Recognizing the 

importance of small and minority businesses to 

a strong, diverse economy, the administration 

created the Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies 

at Lamar University. Campus morale— 

and community pride in the school—soared. 

❖ 

James M. Simmons, current president 

of Lamar University, has instituted a 

new era of pride at Lamar. He is one 

of the few university presidents in the 

nation who still actively perform 

musically on a regular basis. 


Chapter VIII ✦ 81

❖ 

Carroll Thomas became 

superintendent of the Beaumont 

Independent School District in 1996. 

Thomas was the first African- 

American superintendent of schools in 

the district’s history. 

COURTESY OF THE BEAUMONT INDEPENDENT 

SCHOOL DISTRICT. 

In 2002, Simmons described the “new spirit” at 

Lamar: “Inside the classroom and all across 

campus, this university is shaping the future 

with a bold new direction…. Our campus 

stands as a symbol of this spirit….” 

During the 1970s, the United States Justice 

Department brought suits against both the 

Beaumont and South Park Independent School 

Districts to achieve more rapid and complete 

desegregation. United States District Judge Joe J. 

Fisher ordered a redrawing of boundaries in 

each district, and BISD merged predominantly 

black Charlton-Pollard High School with 

predominantly white Beaumont High School to 

create Beaumont Charlton-Pollard High School. 

In 1981 the Justice Department assigned 

Federal Judge Robert M. Parker to further 

desegregate the South Park Independent School 

District. In a reprise of his role in earlier 

desegregation suits, attorney Elmo R. Willard III 

represented black patrons. Asserting that the 

children of Beaumont should be allowed to 

attend school together because racial prejudice 

is learned, not instinctive, Willard quoted a 

song from the musical South Pacific: “…before 

they are six, or seven, or eight, they’ve got to be 

carefully taught.” He concluded, “We can learn 

to practice tolerance from them.” 

Parker’s decision included the merging of 

Hebert and Forest Park High Schools into a new 

entity, West Brook High School, and districtwide 

reassignment of faculty and staff. Parents 

of all students drew ping-pong balls from a 

revolving drum to determine what schools their 

children would attend. The novelty of, and 

controversy over, the “ping-pong” plan drew 

national media attention to SPISD. Actual 

implementation went relatively smoothly, 

however, thanks to a special School Visitation 

Day that allowed parents to ride their children’s 

buses to the schools and meet their teachers. 

In 1983 the Beaumont and South Park 

School Districts merged to become the 

Beaumont Independent School District. In the 

next election, voters chose four African- 

American board members, including the first 

black female, Zenobia Bush, and the first black 

board president, postal official Murry J. Frank. 

They joined the ranks of W. H. Taft and George 

Hudspeth, the first African-American trustees 

elected in the Beaumont and South Park 

Districts, respectively. 

Consolidation of secondary schools 

continued throughout the 1980s and into the 

1990s. South Park and French High Schools 

closed and became middle schools, their 

students channeled into West Brook and the 

new Central High School (formerly Beaumont 

Charlton-Pollard). A new magnet high school 

for fine arts and technology opened for the 

1996-1997 school year, named for legendary 

Hebert High School coach Clifton Ozen. 

Bitter controversy on the BISD board in the 

1990s caused Texas School Business to name it “one 

of the most dysfunctional in the state,” and the state 

commissioner of education placed the district under 

a Texas Education Association monitor. But the 

hiring of Dr. Carroll A. Thomas, the first black 

superintendent of BISD, brought a “Covenant” for 

student assignment that provided for neighborhood 

elementary schools as well as safeguards to 

prevent a resurrection of old racial barriers. 


The TEA monitor was removed and BISD became a 

“District of Choice.” 

In 1999, Thomas was named “Superintendent 

of the Year” at the TASA/TASB convention, and in 

2000 the Beaumont Independent School District 

Board was chosen “Outstanding School Board in 

the State of Texas.” In the words of Tanner T. 

Hunt, attorney for BISD, “The dream that Elmo 

Willard…and many others had envisioned in 

1981 in Judge Robert M. Parker’s packed 

courtroom had been realized twenty years later.” 

In their newfound community consciousness, 

Beaumonters were able to point with pride to an 

important export: talent. This area has been 

exceptionally productive of sports figures. In 

1973 the National Football League named 

Beaumont the “Pro Football Capital of the World.” 

The title reflected the area’s athletic traditions, 

dating from the all-black “Soul Bowl” of preintegration 

days, which pitted Clifton Ozen’s 

Hebert Panthers against Willie Ray Smith’s 

Charlton-Pollard Bulldogs. The yearly sellout 

game inspired a generation of youngsters to play 

football. Hebert sent Anthony Guillory (Lamar’s 

first black athlete), brothers Miller and Mel Farr, 

and Jerry Levias to the professional ranks, while 

two Charlton-Pollard alumni, Coach Smith’s sons 

Bubba and Tody, played professional football. 

Other area schools earned places in the 

spotlight as well. From French High came Louis 

Kelcher and Gus Hollomon. O. A. “Bum” 

Phillips, born in Orange, twenty-five miles east 

of Beaumont, played football at Lamar Junior 

College and coached at area high schools before 

becoming head coach of the Houston Oilers and 

the New Orleans Saints. In its first year of 

existence, 1982-1983, West Brook High School, 

under the coaching skills of Alex Durley, won 

the state championship in football; French High 

won the state co-championship in 1984-1985. 

In recent years, Ozen High School won the 

2001 state championship in boys’ basketball, 

while Central High School boasted nationally 

ranked track and field stars and West Brook 

swept state in girls’ powerlifting. 

At least two former Golden Gloves 

champions from the area became well-known 

professional boxers. Paul Jorgensen from Port 

Arthur was a contender in the 1950s for the 

World Lightweight Championship, while 

Olympic boxer James “Bubba” Busceme aspired 

to the lightweight title in the 1980s. 

Marty Fleckman of Port Arthur and Bert 

Weaver and Bruce Lietzke of Beaumont all went 

on to become professional golfers after 

developing their skills on local courses. 

Professional female golfers from Beaumont, in 

addition to Babe Zaharias, included Susie 

McAllister, Dawn Coe-Jones, and Lamar alumna 

Clifford Ann Creed. 

For several years Beaumont hosted minor 

league professional baseball teams, the Golden 

Gators in the 1980s and the Bullfrogs in the 

1990s, who played their games in Lamar 

University’s Vincent-Beck Stadium. In other 

sports, Beaumont has become a center for 

❖ 

Legendary coaches Clifton Ozen (left) 

of Hebert, and Willie Ray Smith 

(right) of Charlton-Pollard put their 

teams to the test in Beaumont’s 

annual “Soul Bowl.” 


Chapter VIII ✦ 83

❖ 

Beaumonter Keith Carter enjoys an 

international reputation as 

photographer, artist, and teacher. 

PHOTO BY CATHY SPENCE. 

competition; the American Fastpitch Association 

brings its national championship for ages 

eighteen and under to Beaumont, utilizing the 

area’s twenty-four softball fields, while youth 

soccer tournaments are frequently held in the 

complex of soccer fields in the west end of town. 

Lamar University has shared in the sports 

accolades. Under Coach Billy Tubbs, the 

basketball team advanced to the “Sweet 16” of 

the NCAA playoffs in 1980. In 1981 Mike 

Oliver set an all-time scoring record for the 

Southland Conference, while his teammate B. B. 

Davis led in all-time rebounds. Longtime 

baseball Coach Jim Gilligan led his team to the 

NCAA regionals numerous times, the most 

recent in 2002, while the Lamar golf team made 

the NCAA playoffs in both 2001 and 2002. 

Beaumont has been particularly well 

represented in music, and its talent reflects the 

diverse musical roots of Southeast Texas. 

Beaumonter Harry James was a famous trumpet 

player and bandleader in the “big band” era of the 

1940s, while in the 1950s “Big Bopper” J. P. 

Richardson scored with Chantilly Lace. During 

the “hard rock” years of the 1960s, Beaumont 

brothers Johnny and Edgar Winter gained 

national renown with their instrumental and 

compositional skills. Port Arthur native Janis 

Joplin became a cult figure whose popularity 

transcended her death in 1970. Beaumont has 

produced regional stars as well—French High 

alumni Scott McGill, an exceptional electric 

guitarist, and bandleader Charles Helpinstill 

(better known as Ezra Charles). 

In country music, Beaumonter Aubrey 

“Moon” Mullican and Nederland’s Tex Ritter 

recorded hits in the 1940s and 1950s. The 

1960s brought fame to George Jones, from 

nearby Vidor, whom Parade magazine named as 

one of the top ten Country and Western singers 

of all time. In the 1980s and 1990s, Southeast 

Texas produced a new crop, among them Mark 

Chestnut, Tracy Byrd, and Clay Walker. 

Both the Beaumont Music Commission 

performers and Beaumont Civic Opera 

productions have led to increased local interest in 

opera. Stellar area singers such as Jeannette Hall- 

Wood, Jeanine Thames, Cecelia Chaisson, Katie 

Lang, and James Broussard have taken their 

talents around the world. Other area classical 

musicians include violinist Jo Ann Cruthirds, 

cellist Harold Cruthirds, bassist Sidney King, 

tuba player Toby Hanks, and horn player Jay 

Wadenpfuhl, a member of the Boston Symphony. 

Other Southeast Texans who have made their 

mark in show business include ballet dancer 

Robert LaFosse and actors G. W. Bailey, Evelyn 

Keyes, and L. Q. Jones (who also wrote the 

screenplay for and directed the critically acclaimed 

1975 movie, A Boy and His Dog). Graphic artist and 

Lamar alumnus Kelly Asbury worked on 

numerous animated films before co-directing the 

animated feature Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. 

In the field of visual arts, sculptor Herring Coe 

crafted the statue of Dick Dowling at the Sabine Pass 

battleground, as well as other monuments 

throughout the nation. David Cargill sculpted the 

images of Mirabeau B. Lamar on the Lamar 

University campus and the Rogers brothers at the Art 

Museum of Southeast Texas. Bucky Milam, son of 

Melody Maids mentor Eloise Milam and grandson of 

Beaumont music educator Dr. Lena Milam, has 

achieved prominence in New York, not only as a 

painter but as a jazz trumpet player. Keith Carter, 

Beaumont’s “poet of the ordinary,” has become an 

internationally renowned photographer/artist/ 

teacher. Other artists of note from the Beaumont area 

include Morris Graves, Jerry Newman, Lynn Sweat, 

John Alexander, Gloria Graham, Paul Manes, and 

Marvin Hayes. 

In the last several decades, culture in 

Beaumont has come into its own. In addition 

to the Beaumont Symphony, renamed the 


Symphony of Southeast Texas in 1992 to reflect 

its expanded scope, and the Beaumont Music 

Commission, which has brought world-class 

entertainment to Beaumont, many new cultural 

groups have appeared. Aficionados can enjoy 

visual art at the Beaumont Art League, the 

Beaumont Art Studio, and the Beaumont Art 

Museum, which built a new home downtown 

and changed its name to the Art Museum of 

Southeast Texas. A Beaumont chapter of Young 

Audiences, Inc., established in 1973 through the 

Junior League of Beaumont and later becoming 

an independent entity, has fostered cooperation 

between the community and the university. 

Culture, entertainment, and other aspects of 

the quality of life in Beaumont have benefited 

from local philanthropists. Carol Tyrrell Kyle 

often underwrote concerts and performances, 

while Mamie McFaddin Ward provided funding 

for numerous religious, educational, medical, 

and historical causes. Other benefactors have 

included Ward’s niece, Rosine McFaddin Wilson; 

Sallye Keith; Betty and Sheldon Greenberg; Kate 

and Herbert Dishman; Mary and Ray Moore; and 

Dorothy and C. W. Conn. Their generosity has 

benefited such diverse groups as the Symphony 

of Southeast Texas, the Young Women’s Christian 

Association, the Beaumont Community Theater, 

the Melody Maids, Lamar University, Boys’ 

Haven, and the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. 

During the last quarter of the twentieth century, 

new buildings appeared on Beaumont’s skyline— 

❖ 

Above: Tuscany Park, developed by 

Brent Coon’s Brentwood Development 

Company, is among the most graceful 

of the new Dowlen Road constructions 

in west Beaumont. Architects on 

the project were Brand+Allen, Inc., 

and Richard Guseman served as 

project manager. 

COURTESY OF PETE CHURTON, 

THE BEAUMONT ENTERPRISE. 

Below: The old and the new are 

juxtaposed in this photograph of (from 

left to right) the old Edison Hotel and 

Edison Plaza, both now a part of 

Entergy, and the Goodhue Building. 


Chapter VIII ✦ 85

❖ 

Above: The Beaux-Arts Colonial home 

of Ida and W. P. H. McFaddin opened 

as a historic house museum in 1986. 

COURTESY OF THE MCFADDIN-WARD HOUSE. 

Below: The vintage Stedman Fruit 

Company Building was restored by 

attorney Walter Umphrey for 

adaptive reuse as an office building. 

COURTESY OF MAIN STREET BEAUMONT. 

the Petroleum Building, the Civic Center, the City 

Hall, the Southwestern Bell Telephone Building, 

and Entergy Gulf States’ Edison Plaza. In 

the suburbs, substantial residential and 

commercial growth continued to the west, as it 

had since mid-century, particularly—and 

spectacularly—around Parkdale Mall and along 

major arteries such as Phelan Boulevard and 

Dowlen Road. 

At the same time, Beaumonters began to 

realize the value of preserving their town’s 

unique heritage. An appropriate testimony to 


this conjunction of past and future is a plaque 

in front of the Southwestern Bell Telephone 

Building that marks the probable site of pioneer 

Noah Tevis’ well, the cypress planking of which 

was uncovered when workers were excavating 

for the foundation of the building in 1973. 

And in 1996, the Beaumont Enterprise 

resurrected its old evening publication, the 

Beaumont Journal, as a weekly, featuring a 

column called “History Journal.” 

The Beaumont Heritage Society, formed in 

1967 to preserve buildings of historic 

significance, took as its first project the John Jay 

French home, which it restored to its 1845 

appearance. Opened in 1970, the John Jay 

French Museum has since expanded to a 

complex with restoration of the nearby David 

French house and the addition of other 

buildings. In 1986 the McFaddin-Ward House 

Museum opened, a legacy from Mamie 

McFaddin Ward, who left her family’s early 

❖ 

Above: This column exemplifies the 

beauty of the Art Deco Hotel 

Beaumont, restored in 2000 as a 

facility for assisted living. 


Left: The Spindletop-era Gilbert 

Building, listed on the National 

Register of Historic places, is slated 

for adaptive reuse as an office 

building for nonprofit organizations. 


Chapter VIII ✦ 87

❖ 

Above: The new Crockett Street 

Entertainment District, developed in a 

downtown block of buildings dating 

from the 1900s, blazons a lively 

welcome to area residents for dining, 

refreshment, and listening to live 

music. Crockett Street is making 

nights in downtown Beaumont come 

alive again. 

COURTESY OF THE CROCKETT STREET 

ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT. 

Opposite: The replica of the Lucas 

Gusher derrick stands with the fiftyeight-foot 

pink Texas granite obelisk 

originally erected on Spindletop Hill 

on the site of the Gusher. It was moved 

to the Gladys City site in 1978. 

PHOTO BY WILL FRANCE. 

twentieth-century home for the education and 

enjoyment of future generations. 

Heightened preservation awareness has 

resulted in a new wealth of private restoration 

projects in Beaumont’s business district. The Art 

Deco Kyle Building was restored as office space. 

The old Stedman Fruit Company Building, 

restored by attorney Walter Umphrey, included 

the Provost-Umphrey law firm and a restaurant, 

while attorney Wayne Reaud put the American 

Express Building, which once lay along the 

Southern Pacific Railroad, to adaptive reuse as 

the law offices of Reaud, Morgan & Quinn. 

Several buildings offered loft living, such as the 

old Nathan Building, bought and lived in by 

local realtor Benn Bundy. By 2002, Beaumont 

Main Street, a BUILD project started in 1992 for 

the purpose of revitalizing the downtown sector, 

had obtained $50 million in investment money 

for new or restoration work. 

Perhaps the most ambitious and exciting 

revitalization project in recent years has been 

the Crockett Street Entertainment Complex, 

which, thanks to investors Walter Umphrey, Joe 

Penland, and Tom Flanagan, opened in 2002. 

Five historic buildings from the early 1900s, 

including the Dixie Hotel, were converted into 

ten separate dining and entertainment 

establishments, with an outdoor space in front 

for special events. 

Many homeowners, attracted to the solid 

construction and gracious design of homes in 

Beaumont’s older neighborhoods, have 

purchased and carefully restored them. One 

area, the Oaks Historic District, applied for and 

was granted an official designation that provides 

tax breaks and restrictions to homeowners. 

Restoration and preservation have extended 

to public and municipal buildings as well. The 

old City Hall became the Julie Rogers Theatre for 

the Performing Arts. Two fine Art Deco 

buildings, the Jefferson County Courthouse and 

the Post Office, underwent remodeling but kept 

most of their architectural features intact. The 

old Romanesque Tyrrell Public Library, 

Beaumont’s main library from 1926 until 1974, 

became the Tyrrell Historical Library, its 

“adaptive reuse” modifications completed in 

1990. After an intense fundraising campaign by 

the Jefferson Theater Preservation Society and 


Chapter VIII ✦ 89

❖ 

The Spindletop/Gladys City 

Boomtown Museum was dedicated on 

January 10, 1976, on the seventy-fifth 

anniversary of the Lucas Gusher. The 

Lucas Gusher Monument Association 

and the City of Beaumont 

Bicentennial Commission deeded 

the property to the State of Texas 

and Lamar University for continued 

care and development as an 

educational resource. 

PHOTO BY WILL FRANCE. 

other interested entities, the historic old 

Jefferson Theater underwent complete 

restoration to restore it to its glory days, 

reopening in 2003. 

One of the strongest indications of 

preservation consciousness, as well as 

community cooperation, was the proliferation of 

neighborhood associations in the 1980s and 

1990s. Even after the problems that led to their 

creation had been resolved, most remained 

together, providing security, communication, and 

a social function for residents. To the oldest 

neighborhood associations, such as Old Town, 

South Park, and Charlton-Pollard, have been 

added others, including The Avenues, Cable, 

Acorn, Meadows, Covac, College Street Corridor, 

Tyrrell Park, Rockwell, MLK, South Twenty-Third 

Street, Pear Orchard, and Laurel-Liberty groups. 

So many formed that Mayor David Moore created 

the Beaumont One Initiative during his tenure in 

order to be able to meet with all associations. 

Beaumonters have never forgotten the 

importance of the petroleum industry to this 

area. In honor of Spindletop’s seventy-fifth 

anniversary in 1976, a group of citizens raised 

funds to build a replica of Gladys City near the 

site of the original boomtown. A coalition of 

interests that included the city, Lamar 

University, private business, and individuals 

combined the collections of Western oilman 

H. E. “Eddie” Chiles with the collections of the 

old Spindletop Museum to create the Texas 

Energy Museum, which opened in 1990. 

For Spindletop’s hundredth anniversary, 

then-Governor George W. Bush created the 

Spindletop 2001 Commission to properly 

commemorate the event. Community projects 

sanctioned by the Commission included a 

cookbook, a film symposium, a published 

history of the Spindletop discovery, and an oral 

history project. A replica of the Lucas Gusher 

was constructed at the Spindletop/Gladys City 

Museum, and on January 10, 2001, thousands 

gathered at the museum grounds to hear 

addresses by former President George Bush and 

Texas oilman, geologist, author, and Beaumont 

son Michel Halbouty. Exactly at 10:38 a.m., the 

time the original gusher had blown in, the 

replica spouted—not oil this time, but water— 

to the accompaniment of a song by one of 


❖ 

Above: Spindletop Centennial 

Celebration Chairperson Evelyn M. 

Lord and former President of the 

United States George Bush confer 

onstage at ceremonies on the “Big 

Day.” The event was witnessed by 

thousands as Bush spoke and a replica 

of the Lucas Gusher spouted a 

thundering spray of water in a 

reenactment of the century-old event. 

COURTESY OF PETE CHURTON, 


Below: The Texas Energy Museum. 


Beaumont’s premier Country and Western stars, 

Tracy Byrd. 

In recent years, petroleum’s domination of 

the local economy has lessened, and Beaumont 

has diversified accordingly. Just south of town 

lies a prison complex comprising county, state, 

and federal prisons. With entry of the 

CHRISTUS Spohn and Hermann Memorial 

Health Systems, the city has also become a 

regional medical center. The Crockett Street 

Entertainment Center downtown and the 

Southeast Texas Entertainment Complex 

provide both visitors and residents with a 

wealth of recreational opportunities. According 

to 2002 Beaumont Chamber of Commerce 

President Jim Rich, “Beaumont is more a retail 

hub, a medical hub, a governmental hub, and 

an entertainment hub than ever.” 

The city and its citizens still face challenges. 

Administrators must maintain westward 

expansion, yet continue to nurture the 

downtown district. Local companies must strike 

a balance between technology, which downsizes 

the workforce, and level of employment. Other 

challenges include environmental concerns, 

such as air pollution and drainage. The city 

Water Utilities Department has already created 

an innovative water purification system with 

Chapter VIII ✦ 91

❖ 

The Port of Beaumont lies at the foot of 

Main Street, where the earliest 

wharves stood in the 1830s to receive 

sailing packets from Galveston, Sabine, 

and New Orleans. The twin-hulled 

military transport ships Cape Vincent 

and Cape Victory are docked at the 

port. The 1932 Art Deco Jefferson 

County Courthouse is in the 

foreground. Buildings in the 

background include (from left to right) 

the Petroleum Building, the San Jacinto 

Building, and the Goodhue Building. In 

the right foreground are the Beaumont 

City Hall and Civic Center. 

COURTESY OF JOHN ROBY, PORT OF BEAUMONT. 

Cattail Marsh, a nine-hundred-acre wetland 

built for the “final polishing phase” of 

wastewater treatment. The marsh has become 

an in-town wildlife refuge, and the efficient, 

cost-effective process has attracted the attention 

of environmentalists around the state. 

Entry into the new millennium, for 

Beaumont and the nation, has not been smooth. 

Just as the advent of the twentieth century has 

been forever marked by the Galveston 

hurricane, the twenty-first century will be so 

marked by the September 11 terrorist attack on 

the United States. Beaumonters, despite their 

broad differences, have been united in their grief 

and in their determination to overcome this 

tragedy. In the finest spirit of public service, 

they have opened their hearts and their 

pocketbooks to assist victims in New York and 

Washington, even while they maintained and 

even expanded the accustomed level of support 

to agencies in Beaumont. 

Though drastic changes have come to this 

corner of Texas since Henry Millard first stood 

on Noah Tevis’ bluff and planned to build a 

town, some things will never pass away. 

Beaumont is still possessed of its premier 

resources of water and land—the Neches River 

and the Gulf of Mexico, the Big Thicket, piney 

woods, and prairies. But in the final analysis, it 

is up to its citizens to redeem the promise of 

these natural gifts by putting them to their 

highest use. 

In many areas, in fact, the town and its 

citizens seemed to have acquired the energy and 

the will to solve problems. In the words of 

Maurice Meyers, who served as mayor of 

Beaumont from 1978 to 1982 and again from 

1986 to 1990, Beaumonters “have honestly 


come to grips with limitations that were holding 

us back.” David Moore, serving in the 1990s as 

Beaumont’s first African-American mayor, cited 

the lack of racial tension in the city and stated 

his belief that “the greatest responsibility of any 

person is that of concerned citizen.” He believes 

that Beaumonters have created a united 

community that is, in his words, “focused and 

moving forward.” 

Evelyn Lord, mayor of Beaumont from 1990 

to 1994, moved away in 1994 but returned in 

time to serve as chairman of the Spindletop 

2001 Commission. She was re-elected mayor 

of the city in 2002. Her response to those 

who asked why she came back to Beaumont 

was, “the people. The people here are the 

friendliest in the world.” Her words echoed 

those of Henry Green, who had written 150 

years before of Beaumonters’ “remarkable 

politeness, civility, and attention to strangers.” 

When all is said and done, Beaumont’s people 

remain its most important resource and its most 

valuable asset. 

❖ 

Top, left and right: The historic 

Jefferson Theater, hailed as a “milliondollar 

tabernacle of showdom,” 

opened in 1927. It boasted a Spanish 

motif, a Versailles chandelier, and a 

$30,000 Robert Morton theater 

organ. It is being restored to its 

former glory. 


Left: The Tharp family cheers for Old 

Glory as the color guard passes 

during the July 4, 2002, celebration in 

downtown Beaumont. 

COURTESY OF JENNIFER REYNOLDS, 


Chapter VIII ✦ 93

❖ 

Citywide festivities are held every 

Fourth of July in the city’s Riverfront 

Park, culminating in a concert by the 

Symphony of Southeast Texas and a 

fireworks display. 

COURTESY OF JENNIFER REYNOLDS, 



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❖ 



SHARING THE HERITAGE 

SPECIAL 

THANKS TO 

historic profiles of businesses, 

organizations, and families that have 

contributed to the development and 

economic base of Beaumont 

Chisum Resource 

Management 

Kinsel Motors 

QUALITY OF LIFE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 

THE MARKETPLACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 

Quality Concrete 

INDUSTRY & MANUFACTURING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 

South Trust Bank 

Sharing the Heritage ✦ 99

❖ 



QUALITY OF LIFE 

healthcare providers, churches, 

educational institutions, and families that 

contribute to the quality of life in Beaumont 

Lamar University...........................................................................................................102 

Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital .................................................................................104 

Beaumont Independent School District ...............................................................................106 

Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council ....................................................................................108 

Lamar Institute of Technology..........................................................................................110 

Three Rivers Council, Boy Scouts of America ......................................................................112 

Catholic Diocese of Beaumont ..........................................................................................114 

Athletes for Christ .........................................................................................................116 

Blood & Plasma Research, Inc..........................................................................................117 

The Blanchette-Hebert Family..........................................................................................118 

First United Methodist Church .........................................................................................119 

St. Anne Catholic School .................................................................................................120 

Benign Essential Blepharospasm Research Foundation, Inc. ...................................................121 

St. Anthony Cathedral School ..........................................................................................122 

CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital .....................................................................................123 

Sharing the Heritage - Quality of Life ✦ 101

LAMAR 

UNIVERSITY 

❖ 

Above: Today, newly constructed 

residence halls welcome students to 

their home away from home. 

Below: Solid instruction prepares 

students at Lamar University for 

success in their chosen fields 

upon graduation. 

Almost eighty years ago, Lamar University— 

then South Park Junior College—was created by 

the South Park Independent School District. 

Although junior colleges were then an 

educational experiment, voters approved a 

school bond issue to construct a three-story 

school capable of housing twice the number of 

students expected to enroll in high school. 

In the fall of 1923, the college began operating 

on the third floor of the new high school, with 

125 students enrolled for the first semester. 

The first junior college approved by the Texas 

State Department of Education during its first 

year of operation, South Park received full 

accreditation from the Texas Association of 

Colleges in 1925. Its rapid growth and quick 

evolution from a district to a regional college 

was recognized in 1932 by its new name, Lamar 

College, honoring Mirabeau B. Lamar, father of 

public education in Texas. Further separation 

from the South Park High School came in 1932- 

33, when Lamar’s team name was changed from 

the “Brahmas” to the “Cardinals,” concurrent 

teaching assignments at the two institutions 

were eliminated, and a building program 

created almost entirely separate college facilities. 

Continued growth necessitated a wider 

financial base, achieved in 1940 when Beaumont, 

South Park and French School District voters 

approved the new Lamar Union Junior College 

District, named the district’s trustees, and 

approved a tax-supported bond issue to build 

and maintain an entirely new college facility on a 

fifty-eight-acre tract on the Port Arthur Highway. 

After the war’s end, a deluge of students 

followed a drop in enrollment during World War 

II. Serious efforts toward Lamar’s four-year status 

were successful in 1949, with legislative creation 

of Lamar State College of Technology. All Lamar 

College lands, buildings, and equipment were 

transferred to the new entity, and $1 million was 

appropriated for new construction. Emphasis 

would be on engineering, technology and science, 

but the regents could establish other programs. 

In the next decade and a half, Lamar became 

a comprehensive regional college offering 

baccalaureate degrees in most traditional 

disciplines; enrollment reached 10,000; the 58- 

acre campus was more than doubled; and 25 

new academic buildings were added to the five 

that had existed in 1952. 

Lamar’s first extension center opened in a 

former Orange elementary school in 1967, with 

337 students taking primarily first-year general 

education courses taught by 4 full-time and 14 

part-time instructors. This facility, which was 

expanded in 1971 to include two full years of 

course work, burned that year, but the community 

raised $250,000 to purchase and renovate another 

building, where classes began that fall. 

Lamar’s first doctoral degree program, the 

doctor of engineering, was authorized in 1970, 


and in 1971 the school’s name became Lamar 

University. The Doctorate of Education in Deaf 

Education was established in 1993. 

The Texas Legislature created the Lamar 

University System in 1983, entitling the university 

to an additional $2.4 million in state funds 

annually. In addition to Lamar University in 

Beaumont, the System’s components were LU- 

Port Arthur, LU-Orange, the College of Technical 

Arts and the John Gray Institute, with a combined 

enrollment exceeding fifteen thousand. 

Subsequent additions to the System have 

included the Montagne Center, LU Gulf Coast 

Hazardous Substance Research Center, the 

Texas Hazardous Waste Research Center, 

Minority Scholars Institute, and Institute of 

Technology. LU-Orange and LU-Port Arthur 

received separate accreditation in 1988 and 

1989, and were allowed to grant their own twoyear 

degrees in 1991. 

Lamar University officially became a member of 

The Texas State University System in 1995, with 

the campuses in Orange and Port Arthur and the 

Institute of Technology as separate components. 

Through the leadership of its current president, 

James M. Simmons, Lamar University continues its 

tradition of academic excellence and commitment 

to its students. This tradition has been the catalyst 

for the current growth in its enrollment, 

construction of new, state-of-the-art residence halls, 

increases in private giving and scholarship 

availability and development of academic programs 

that respond to students’ changing needs. 

As a comprehensive university granting 

bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, Lamar 

University continues to enhance its education, 

service and research missions. Lamar’s growth 

has realized an economic impact that exceeds 

$191 million annually, but even more influential 

is the impact realized by Lamar graduates, who 

are more than sixty thousand strong. 

❖ 

Above: Alumni consistently rank 

faculty accessibility—a result of a low 

student-to-faculty ratio—as a 

particular strength at LU. 

Below: Lamar University offers 

a doctorate in engineering and 

deaf education. 


MEMORIAL 

HERMANN 

BAPTIST 

HOSPITAL 

The provision of quality healthcare in a 

Christian environment is the cornerstone of 

Memorial Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital’s 

existence. As a member of the Baptist General 

Convention of Texas, the Christian emphasis is 

exemplified through the interrelationships of the 

organization’s management, its fifteen hundred 

employees and the presence and participation of 

the Chaplaincy in the healing process. 

Genesis of this not-for-profit hospital came in 

February 1945, when L. E. Stagg, Sr., a 

Beaumont businessman and Baptist lay leader, 

led the effort to build a $1,365,000 “City of 

Healing” to address the serious hospital bed 

shortage in the area. Ground was broken 19 

months later, and the first patient was admitted 

on October 15, 1949. During its first year of 

operation, the hospital admitted 3,287 patients. 

In 1952, when the hospital had 230 

employees, a typical day’s activities consisted of 

40 x-ray exams, 8 operations, 2 births, 12 

emergencies, 15 patients admitted, 468 meals 

served and 1,550 pounds of laundry. 

The Alice Keith Nurses Home and 

Educational Building was founded in 1954. The 

first and only nursing program in Southeast 

Texas, graduated 366 nurses between 1957 

and 1974. 

The period from 1958 through the 1960s 

brought a number of facility improvements. Two 

five-story hospital wings, the area’s first 

psychiatric wing, a cobalt radiological center, a 

coronary care unit (one of just 50 in the nation), 

a $1.4 million neurological center, a $2 million 

computer system (first in the nation) and 

Baptist’s new Women’s and Children’s Hospital 

were added. 

Another $7.6 million hospital expansion 

added operating rooms designed and equipped 

for open-heart surgery. The first such surgery 

was performed there in August 1977. During 

the 1970s and 1980s the hospital added new 

equipment including an ultrasonic 

scanner–30th in the world–and digital x-ray. 

New facilities included the CareUnit to treat 

alcohol and other drug addictions, Pediatric 

Special Care Unit, Convenient Care Center, 

Children’s Diabetes Management Center, and 

Center for Chronic Pain and Stress. The hospital 

also began constructing a cancer center. 


Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in the 

1990s, Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital 

continued to move forward with the addition 

of other new facilities. These included the 

Rehab Unit & Cardiac Catheterization Lab and 

the Skilled Nursing Facility. In addition, the 

Baptist Healthcare System in Southeast Texas 

acquired the Beaumont Medical & Surgical 

Hospital, Home Health Services were added, 

and the Julie and Ben Rogers Cancer Institute 

were affiliated with M. D. Anderson’s Radiation 

Technology program. 

The twenty-first century has brought 

continued growth and improvements, including 

the start of construction for the new Memorial 

Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital, which will 

include approximately 160,000 square feet to 

the hospital’s east campus, increase the number 

of intensive care rooms from 15 to 26, and add 

56 new telemetry rooms. A new Emergency 

Department with twenty-two additional 

treatment rooms will increase the number of 

patients who can be served from the current 

34,000 to 90,000 per year. 

Also included in the new facility are eight more 

surgery suites, two endoscopic rooms, two 

catheterization suites, a new cardiac diagnostic lab, 

imaging department, outpatient holding area, 

hospital cafeteria, chapel, pharmacy, and gift shop, 

as well as other patient and support services. 

Another fifty-two thousand square feet of the 

former Beaumont Medical & Surgical Hospital 

will be renovated to provide four additional 

gastrointestinal labs, a new laboratory, 

rehabilitation area, pulmonary functions lab, and 

day surgery holding area 

As part of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare 

System, the hospital is affiliated with one of the 

largest community-based, not-for-profit 

healthcare networks in the United States. With 

its leading-edge research capabilities and 

technology, the capabilities of this system 

complement the efforts of physicians to provide 

superior patient care. 

As part of its commitment to the Beaumont 

area, Memorial Hermann offers a variety of 

classes and activities. These range from courses 

designed to help patients cope with various 

health problems to childbirth preparation, and 

from infant CPR and safety to a driving safety 

course for mature adults. 

It is all a part of the Hospital’s continuing 

effort to provide the highest quality healthcare. 


❖ 

BEAUMONT INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 

Above: Blanchette Elementary School 

Principal Doris Gill, president of the 

Texas Elementary Principals and 

Supervisors Association, represents the 

many BISD employees involved in 

statewide professional development 

organizations. TEPSA sponsors an 

annual student council workshop, and 

Blanchette representatives (from left to 

right) Jasmine Atwood, Chad 

Williams, Desmond Brown, Tori 

Jones, and Richaria Morrow attended. 

Below: As a West Brook High School 

senior, Matthew Fehrenbacher posted 

a perfect score on the Scholastic 

Aptitude Test; just one example of the 

outstanding academic achievements of 

BISD students. 

The City of Beaumont takes pride in its public 

school system. Students, teachers, programs and 

schools are regularly singled out and commended 

for their excellence. This success story is directly 

attributed to the community’s demand for quality 

education and to the sound decision making and 

planning of the Beaumont Independent School 

District Board of Trustees, superintendent and staff. 

Visionary leadership has made BISD a 

nationally acclaimed model for academic 

success. The National Association of School 

Boards features the District’s strategies and 

procedures in the publication Team Leadership 

for Student Achievement. In 2001 the Texas 

Association of School Administrators named the 

Trustees “Outstanding Board of the Year,” the 

highest honor a board can achieve in the state. In 

1999 the Texas School Board Association chose 

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carrol A. Thomas 

as its “Superintendent of the Year.” Both he and 

the Board received national recognition that 

same year for successfully fulfilling the District’s 

goals, which include management of diversity 

among students in schools, providing a safe, 

orderly, and disciplined school climate in stateof-the-art 

schools and commitment to close any 

achievement gap between majority and minority 

learners. All students who apply themselves will 

graduate from BISD schools with a solid 

academic foundation, analytical abilities, useful 

skills and a good work ethic. 

The citywide Beaumont Independent School 

District, which encompasses 153 square miles in 

Jefferson County, was established in 1983 through 

the merger of the former Beaumont School District 

(founded in 1883) with the South Park Public 

Schools (founded in 1891). The city’s population 

represents the independent spirit of Texas 

pioneers, Spindletop wildcatters and seafaring 

merchants. Over the years, these persons have 

expressed differing views on the best educational 

delivery system to Beaumont’s children. Today’s 

Board of Trustees dedicates itself to transcending 

any personal agendas and puts the education of all 

children first and foremost in its thinking. 

More than 20,000 students, representing a 

diverse population, attend classes at the District’s 

34 campuses. Scores on the state-mandated 

achievement tests continue to improve, and most 

schools are rated either Recognized or Exemplary 

by the Texas Education Agency. In 2001, BISD 

earned a Recognized rating from TEA. The U.S. 

Department of Education has designated several 

campuses as Blue Ribbon Schools during the 

District’s history. Almost one hundred students 

qualify annually to participate in the Duke 

University Talent Identification Program. 

Graduates represent the District at the most 

prestigious colleges and universities, as well as the 

national military academies. BISD students are 

always represented when listing state and national 

honors in fine arts, academics, career/technology 

and athletic competitions. Ozen High School won 

the state championship in boys’ basketball in 

2001, and Central High School had students who 

ranked nationally in track and field events. West 

Brook recently swept UIL 5A state rankings in 

girls’ power lifting, and earned a district 

championship in girls’ basketball. 

The District’s educational programs are 

designed to reach every student in Beaumont 

beginning with early childhood and continuing 

through the regular and advanced curriculum 

from second grade to graduation. Academic 

offerings also include career and technology 

options, summer enhancement classes, young 

adult night school and adult/community 

education. High school students can earn 

college credit concurrently with classroom work 

via distance learning courses offered by Lamar 

University. Through effective utilization of a 

prestigious National Science Foundation grant 


for systemic change, BISD is setting student 

achievement precedents in math, science and 

technology education in Texas and the nation. 

The first year of participation in the 

internationally acclaimed Jason Project involved 

forty-five hundred elementary and middle 

school students interacting with scientists 

throughout the world. BISD offers unique 

learning opportunities at its own planetarium 

and outdoor education center. 

The District enjoys a supportive relationship 

with the business community through an 

extensive volunteer and school partnership 

program which represents a significant 

contribution in money, talent and time. The 

Beaumont Educational Foundation, Inc. awards 

grants to teachers and students for innovative 

classroom projects each year. 

Parents and patrons have confidence in their 

school system and have input into decision 

making through the public comment portion of 

the monthly school board meetings. Parentteacher 

conference nights, PTA meetings and 

annual, campus-based special events encourage 

parental involvement and community 

participation in the school. With a neighborhood 

school policy, and a liberal transfer option, BISD 

is known as a “District of Choice.” 

Beaumont is a vibrant and dynamic suburban 

community on the move. With a population of 

almost 120,000, it is the center of commerce in an 

area with more than 350,000 residents and home 

to a port that links the city with the world by the 

Gulf of Mexico. BISD is one of Jefferson County’s 

largest employers with more than twenty-five 

hundred staff members. As one can see, the 

successful school system is an integral part of the 

economic success and stability of the region. 

As the superintendent and board of trustees 

have expressed “the District has come from the 

edge of a precipice to a mountaintop where the 

view of the future is breathtaking.” 

❖ 

Above: D’Ann Douglas, teacher at 

Curtis Elementary School, received 

the 2001 Presidential Award for 

Excellence in Mathematics and 

Science Teachers, the nation’s highest 

award for math/science teaching 

administered by the National Science 

Foundation. With Douglas are some 

of her fourth grade students (from left 

to right): Bryant Johnson, Sarah 

Sanders, Lauren Harrington, Derek 

Simon, Katie Canant, Patrick Knauth, 

and Ruby Walters. 

Left: The BISD Board of Trustees 

received the prestigious “Outstanding 

Board of the Year Award for 2001 in 

Texas” from the Texas Association of 

School Administrators. They achieved 

this honor by exhibiting visionary 

leadership and working together to 

benefit all of the public school children 

in Beaumont. Front row (from left to 

right): Martha Hicks, president; 

Howard Trahan, Jr.; and Christine 

Gavrelos. Back row: Superintendent 

Dr. Carrol A. Thomas; Vice President 

Woodrow Reece, Reverend Ollis 

Whitaker, Secretary Terry Williams, 

and Dr. William Nantz. 


GIRL SCOUTS OF 

SAN JACINTO 

COUNCIL 

❖ 

Above: San Jacinto Girl Scouts gather 

after a troop meeting. 

Below: Girl Scouts prepare to sing and 

celebrate at the Council’s eightieth 

Birthday Sing-a-long at the San 

Jacinto Monument in La Porte, Texas. 

Nearly ten thousand Girl Scouts, 

troop leaders, and families attended 

the event. 

Girl Scouts in Chambers, Hardin, Jefferson, 

and Orange Counties joined the San Jacinto 

Council in the early 1960s. Edna Wilson, Mrs. 

Jay Saunders, and Mrs. Eldon Ellis were among 

the first organizers of the Girl Scouts in the 

Beaumont area. Troops 703, 738, and 1285 

were the first troops organized during this time. 

The number of girls in troops rose from 14 to 

200 within the first year. 

The largest Girl Scout Council in Texas and the 

second largest in the United States, the San Jacinto 

Council celebrated its eightieth birthday in 2002. 

The Council serves over 55,000 Girl Scouts in 21 

Southeast Texas counties, employs 110 full-time 

staff persons, and benefits from the dedicated 

service of 14,000 adult volunteers. Its annual 

operating budget is $12 million. 

These statistics are nothing short of 

astounding when they are compared with the 

beginnings of the Girl Scout movement in Texas. 

In the early 1920s, three lone Girl Scout troops 

met independently of one another in Houston. 

In 1921, after operating independently for some 

time, each of the troop leaders went to Corinne 

Fonde, the executive secretary of the Recreation 

Department for the City of Houston for 

help. Fonde recruited Frances Mann Law, chair 

of the city’s Playgrounds Committee, to head 

the effort. 

Thirty-five of the San Jacinto Council’s first 

Girl Scouts gathered for the inaugural meeting 

of the group held in the Houston City Hall in 

November 1921. A charter was issued in April 

1922 to establish Houston Girl Scouts. 

In August 1922 the local Boy Scouts 

generously offered the use of their camp, Camp 

Harris Masterson on the San Jacinto River, and 

the first Girl Scout camp was held. The Girl 

Scouts worked to clean the grounds, as well 

as pitching tents and getting everything in tiptop 

shape. 


In the 1920s, the Girl Scout leader training 

institute was conducted at Rice University. The 

Council’s first Golden Eaglet Award (the 

ancestor of today’s Gold Award) then Girl 

Scout’s highest, was earned by Florence Jackson. 

During this time, the Council also formed its 

first Mexican-American Girl Scout troop, which 

was approved by vote of existing troop members 

(this troop was featured in The American Girl 

magazine for public service). The Council 

rented its first headquarters and construction 

began on the first Girl Scout Little House, 

with assistance from the City of Houston and 

the local Elks Club. Lillian Horlock was selected 

as one of twenty-four U.S. Girl Scouts to attend 

a six-week International Encampment in 

Geneva, Switzerland. 

The 1930s saw the formation of the first 

Girl Scout troop for girls with disabilities 

in the Cactus Region (Texas, Oklahoma, 

New Mexico and Arizona). The decade also 

saw the organization of a lone troop of 

African-American girls, under sponsorship of a 

Beaumont church. 

In the 1940s, the Girl Scouts employed 

Rosa Isaacs as its first African-American staff 

member. Isaacs was the first African-American 

representative to the Administrative Committee. 

Construction of a new lodge at Camp 

Robinwood began in the 1950s, and afamily 

camp was held there. 

In the 1970s the East Texas Area Council 

was dissolved, and thirteen of its member 

counties were merged into the San Jacinto 

Council. The Council added its first bilingual 

member to its core staff. The Council’s Cookie 

Sale netted $1 million for the first time. The 

Council introduced African-American and 

Mexican-American Heritage Patch programs, 

and a troop of sixteen wheelchair-bound girls 

was formed. 

In the 1980s, Daisy Girl Scout troops of 

kindergarten-age girls were organized. The “Say 

No to Drugs” patch was established. The San 

Jacinto Council was named largest council by Girl 

Scouts of the USA, and the first Girl Scout Family 

Day was held at Astroworld. 

In the 1990s, the Council started presenting 

“Future Girl Scout” bibs to female newborns in 

area hospitals on the Girl Scouts’ Birthday. The 

Big House at Camp Casa Mare was given its 

“farewell.” The Council organized a think-tank 

on pluralism. The first Gold Award scholarships 

were awarded by the Emerald Circle, the 

Council’s giving society. The Council’s official 

website was designed as a Gold Award project. 

The Guiness Book of World Records recognized the 

“World’s Largest Friendship Circle,” which was 

formed at the Council’s Family Day at Six Flags 

Astroworld. The Council collected four 

thousand books and donated them to Ben 

Taub Hospital. 

The San Jacinto Council operates eight 

beautiful camp properties, each with a unique 

outdoor setting. These include Camps Aranna 

(Baytown), Camwood (Hockley/Tomball); Casa 

Mare (Galveston Bay), Robinwood (Willis); 

Whispering Pines (East Texas); Silver Springs, 

Agnes Arnold and Misty Meadows (Treelake 

Complex, Conroe). 

Headquarters for the Council is located 

at 3110 Southwest Freeway in Houston, 

The Council’s Beaumont office is located in 

the United Way Building, 700 North Street, 

Suite 176. To register your daughter or 

sign up as a troop leader, visit us online 

at www.gssjc.org. 

❖ 

Left: Sharing the gift of the Girl 

Scout Promise. 

Below: An active Girl Scout at camp. 


LAMAR 

INSTITUTE OF 

TECHNOLOGY 

❖ 

Above: The Cecil Beeson Building on 

the left and the Technology Center on 

the right are the nerve centers for 

Lamar Institute of Technology. The 

state-supported technical college has 

provided technical training for 

business and industry for more than 

seventy-five years. 

The top executives at American Valve and 

Hydrant Manufacturing Company and Air 

Comfort, Inc. are among the generations of 

Southeast Texans who have graduated from 

Lamar Institute of Technology (LIT) with 

“degrees that work.” 

“LIT got me my first job at American Valve,” 

said President Dalton Babineaux, “and I 

guarantee that employees with degrees from the 

Institute have an edge in the workplace.” 

Babineaux and his brother, Danny, both 

provide jobs for new generations of graduates. 

“We hire Institute of Technology graduates 

because we know that students trained by the 

Institute will be assets to our companies,” said 

Danny Babineaux, president of Air Comfort. 

The brothers’ alma mater traces its roots to 

1923, when a Beaumont, Texas school district 

created the South Park Junior College. 

A decade later, the institution was renamed 

in honor of Mirabeau B. Lamar, second 

president of the Republic of Texas and the 

“Father of Education” in Texas. 

In 1951 Lamar College was the first junior 

college in Texas to become a four-year, statesupported 

college. 

From the beginning, vocational subjects were 

among the first courses offered by Lamar and 

played an important role in its development. A 

Division of Vocations was established in 1946 

and became the Lamar School of Vocations in 

1955. In 1970 the name was changed to the 

School of Technical Arts, and in 1972 it became 

the College of Technical Arts. During 1971 the 

College began awarding Associate of Applied 

Science degrees in certain two-year programs. 

In 1990 all two-year programs at Lamar 

University were combined into Lamar University 

Institute of Technology under the guidance of 

Dr. Kenneth Shipper, the Institute’s vice president 

for instruction. 

By 1995 the Institute of Technology had 

become a member of The Texas State University 

System with Dr. Robert D. Krienke as its 

founding president. 

On December 4, 2000, Southern Association 

of Colleges and Schools granted separate 

accreditation to Lamar Institute of Technology. 

Today, the Institute is one of the fastest 

growing technical colleges in the country. 

Over the past six years alone, LIT has nearly 

doubled its enrollment to more than twenty-five 

hundred students. 


The number of students graduating from 

Lamar Institute of Technology has more than 

doubled, and LIT consistently places more than 

ninety-five percent of its graduates in careers 

that are challenging, financially rewarding and 

in demand. 

“We are successful at attracting students and 

getting our graduates jobs,” said Dr. Krienke, 

“because the Institute examines the needs of 

industry and then offers students the training 

they need to successfully qualify for the jobs 

that are in demand.” 

That’s another reason growth is just as 

dramatic at the Institute’s Workforce Training 

Department, which develops customized, onsite 

or off-site training to serve business and 

industry. In 2001, Workforce Training assisted 

more than 30 companies, and 3,470 individuals 

completed instruction through the department. 

To meet the demands of a skyrocketing 

enrollment, Lamar Institute of Technology is 

expanding its campus with the purchase of lots 

off University Drive. It is also spending $5.2 

million to renovate a facility that will house all 

Allied Health programs. 

LIT has recently invested another $5 million 

in new and improved training facilities and stateof-the-art 

instructional equipment, including 

construction of a two-story Ethylene Glycol 

Distillation Plant that provides hands-on training 

in Process Operating Technology. 

The Institute’s Process Operating program is 

the largest in the nation. The Texas Higher 

Education Coordinating Board ranks its cuttingedge 

technology exemplary. 

LIT’s Correctional Officer Academy ranks 

number 1 in Texas in students graduating and 

graduates placed on jobs. 

The Institute of Technology also offers the 

only hands-on training college in Utility Line 

Technology in a five-state area. 

This training pays off even before graduation. 

LIT students consistently win most of the firstplace 

medals in statewide VICA (Vocational 

Industrial Clubs of America) Skills USA 

competitions. 

At the Institute, students can take advantage 

of more than fifty programs of study. Those who 

enroll in one of LIT’s technical, business, health, 

government service or industrial education 

programs can complete their studies in two 

years or less, and graduates often earn higher 

starting salaries than those who have attended 

four-year colleges. 

To help students get degrees, every year 

Lamar Institute of Technology offers more than 

$250,000 in scholarships. 

There are more than 18 endowed funds 

available to provide scholarships. One of the 

more recent endowments came from Conn 

Appliances’ employees and Conn’s Chairman 

and CEO Thomas J. Frank, Sr. 

Frank, a vocational school graduate, heads 

one of the largest regional appliance and 

consumer electronics retailers in America. 

“The technical and vocational degrees 

available through Lamar Institute of Technology, 

compliment our continuing need for qualified 

technicians and mid-management associates,” 

said Frank. “This endowment is an example of 

Conn’s belief in the Institute’s motto: ‘Get a 

degree that works.’” 

❖ 

Above: Students get practical handson 

training in one of two labs in the 

Process Operating Program. Industry 

helps frame the curriculum of LIT 

courses and financially supports much 

of its equipment and project costs. 


❖ 

THREE RIVERS 

COUNCIL, 

BOY SCOUTS OF 

Above: (From left to right) David W. 

Hearn, Jr., Scout Executive Jack 

Crawford, Glen Cummings, president 

of the Scout Old-timer’s Association, 

Chief Scout Roy Williams, and 

Congressman Nick Lampson post at 

the Scout Exhibit in the Clifton 

Steamboat Museum Complex during 

the chief scout’s first visit to Southeast 

Texas on November 10, 2001. 

Below: (From left to right) 

Congressman Nick Lampson, Joe 

Domino, Chief Scout Roy Williams, 

Cub Scout Brandon Johnson of Silsbee 

at the Brinkley Bass Dedication at the 

Dishman Scout Service Center. 

Brandon represented area scouts at 

the White House on June 19, 2002. 

Opposite, top: Some of the attendees 

at the Camporee and Junior training 

course for patrol leaders and 

scoutmasters in April 1949 at 

Camp Urland. 

AMERICA 

Opposite, bottom: Greg Thompson, 

Tyler and Taylor Thompson of Troop 

85, Houston Astros Relief Pitcher Billy 

Wagner, who was featured on the 

2002 Boy Scouts Baseball card. 

Scouting has a long and 

distinguished history in 

Southeast Texas. The earliest 

recorded scouting activity was in 

Beaumont with the organization 

of Beaumont Troop 1 on 

September 16, 1911. The 

meeting took place in the 

Holland Photographic Studio. 

Tom Holland was the first 

Scoutmaster and the meetings 

thereafter were held in the 

basement of the First Methodist 

Church. Early Troop 1 activities 

included the first wearing of the scout uniform at 

the Southeast Texas State Fair in October 1911, a 

hike to Spindletop Springs in January 1912, and a 

hike from Beaumont to Rollover Pass in the 

summer of 1912. Fifty-five scouts participated 

and ten actually walked the entire 140 miles. 

In 1918 the Rotary Club in Port Arthur 

organized the Port Arthur Council with Harold A. 

Taylor as the first scout executive. The Beaumont 

Rotary Club organized the Beaumont Council in 

1919 with Howard O. Hunter as the scout 

executive. Two years later, Orange County became 

a new council with J. P. Mestrezat as scout 

executive. In 1921 the name of the Orange 

Council changed to Sabine Area Council. In 1928 

the Sabine Area Council and Port Arthur Councils 

merged keeping the Sabine Area Council name 

with the Council office in Port Arthur. 

Scouting was very prominent in the 1920’s with 

Beaumont Scouts attending Camp Mitigwa (maker 

of men) near the mouth of Beech Creek and Village 

Creed in Hardin County. During this period 

summer camp was named for a local boy who was 

lost in World War. Camp Mitigwa was eventually 

phased out and replaced by Camp Urland in 

Woodville in 1948. Camp Bill Stark became the 

Council Camp for the Sabine Area Council. 

In 1929 a group from the area went to the 

World Jamboree at Arrow Park in Birkenhead, 

England. Scoutmaster H. P. Jirou led the group. 

Mementos from this trip and a full account of 

their adventures are contained in the Tyrell 

Historical Library. One of the scouts in the 

Jamboree Contingent was a boy named Brinkley 

Bass. He was a 1938 Annapolis graduate and a 

pilot. On August 20, 1944, Harry Brinkley Bass 

was shot down and killed by anti-aircraft fire 

over France. In 1945 another scout from 

Beaumont named Arthur Owen, was a part of 

the Ronne Expedition to the Antarctic in 1948 

aboard the Port of Beaumont. Having a Navy 

destroyer built in Orange, Texas, named for him 

honored Bass. The Beaumont 

Council expanded over the 

years to include a large area of 

surrounding counties and the 

name was changed to Trinity 

Neches Council in 1941. 

On March 1, 1970, the 

Sabine Area Council and the 

Trinity Neches Councils 

merged and Johnny Atkins was 

hired to lead the newly formed 

Three Rivers Council with 

offices in Beaumont. 

A major landmark for the 

Three Rivers Council was the 

wonderful donation of land, 


THREE RIVERS 

COUNCIL PRESIDENTS 

building, and furnishings for the new Scout 

Office, The Dishman Center, by Herb and Kate 

Dishman in 1976. 

The Three Rivers Council continues to serve 

thousands of boys in Southeast Texas and boasts 

an impressive alumnus. These alumni are now 

community, business and military leaders. 

Admiral Corwin Mindenhall, Dean Will Smith of 

the state House of Representatives, Joseph 

Domino, CEO of Entergy Texas, Judge Larry Gist, 

Greg Thompson, a noted attorney, and Don Lyle, 

vice president and director of Fortune 500 

corporations, are examples of some of our alumni. 

The Annual Eagle Scout Recognition dinner 

was held in February 2002. The 76 young men 

who obtained this prestigious rank during 2001 

were each awarded the James E. West Award by 

Don Lyle. Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie 

addressed the crowd. 

In March 2001 Camp Bill Stark was sold to 

focus resources on the council’s main camping 

facility, Camp Urland in Woodville, Texas. 

Aggressive plans are underway 

in developing the 750-acre 

facility. By the end of 2001 we 

had already added tents and 

hot showers in all campsites. 

This same year the Brinkley 

Bass Memorial was dedicated at 

the Dishman Scout Service 

Center. The council hosted a 

Norman Rockwell art exhibit at 

the twenty-four-thousand-foot 

Clifton Steam Boat Museum 

Complex. The museum, which 

opened in 1995, features a 

significant Scout Exhibit. The Scout Old-Timers 

Association maintains the exhibit. The museum, 

founded by David W. Hearn, Jr., focuses on 

history featuring “Heroes…past, present and 

future” and pays homage to our military and 

civilian heroes. The museum is a significant 

contribution to Southeast Texas. 

On June 19, 2002, Cub Scout Brandon 

Johnson represented the Three Rivers Council 

in presenting contributions to the White House 

for the Afghan Youth Relief Fund in response to 

President Bush’s call to action. 

During 2001 Scout supporter, Don Lyle, 

established four full scholarships for Eagle 

Scouts who wish to study Engineering at 

Lamar University. 

Three Rivers Council continues to strive to 

instill the traditional values of Scouting to all it 

serves. The idea of character building, 

citizenship and leadership skills are the same 

today as they were when scouting was 

established in 1910. 

H. R. Sontag 

1970-1972 

George T. LeBlanc 

1973-1976 

Joe Barrios, Jr. 

1977-1978 

Richard E. Doornbos 

1979 

Charlie B. Draper 

1980-1981 

Samuel S. Lord, Jr. 

1982-1983 

Captain Joe Wicks 

1984 

Sherman Perry 

1985 

Jerry V. Pennington 

1986-1987 

Howard G. Nichols, Jr. 

1988-1989 

Bill Clark 

1990-1991 

Michael T. Wolf 

1992-1993 

Judge Michael Bradford 

1994 

Floyd F. McSpadden, Jr. 

1995 

Steve Hale 

1996 

Henry Strait 

1997 

Greg Thompson 

1998 

Martin Broussard 

1999 

Dr. Russ Keasler 

2000 

Joe Domino 

2001-2002 

Hamil Cupero 

2003 


❖ 

Above: St. Anthony Cathedral in 1977. 

Below: The Most Reverend Vincent M. 

Harris was installed as the first bishop 

of Beaumont on September 26, 1966. 

CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF BEAUMONT 

The Catholic movement in Beaumont began 

in the mid-1500s, with the arrival of priests with 

the Spanish who came to settle Texas. Father 

John M. Odin, C.M., came to Texas in 1840 to 

help Father John Timon, C.M., reestablish the 

Church of Texas. He was the first Bishop of the 

Galveston Diocese during this era, when Texas 

had only ten parishes—none of which were in 

the southeast section of the area. From other 

parts of Texas, priests traveled from one outlying 

mission to another, arriving first by horseback or 

buggy, and later, after construction of the railway 

line, coming by train to minister to Catholics in 

what is now Beaumont and other settlements in 

Southeast Texas. 

The area was then a part of the Diocese of 

Galveston. This huge diocese, established in 

1847, covered an area roughly bounded on the 

north, east, and south by the outline of Texas, 

with no western boundary delineated. Bishop 

Odin, the first bishop of Galveston, sent a 

resident priest, Father Louis Chambodut, to 

serve in Nacogdoches. Priests there were 

charged with caring for Catholics throughout 

North and East Texas, from Nacogdoches to the 

Red River. 

In 1853 Father P. F. Parisot, O.M.I., spent 

eight days preparing 25 children for their first 

Communion in Liberty. At that time he did not 

find a single Catholic in Beaumont and only one 

each in Orange and Jasper. 

A typed history from an unknown source 

states that the first baptism in Beaumont occurred 

June 6, 1875, when Father P. O. Levy baptized 

Coralee Hebert, daughter of J. M. and Emily 

Broussard Hebert. The first marriage was of 

Bryant Allen Platt to Felicia Migues on April 22, 

1822, the same month in which ten parishioners 

received their first Communion. 

A twenty-seven-member class, including 

Louis Bordages and Mary Broussard received 

Confirmation by Bishop N. A. Gallagher of 

Galveston in 1888, while Father Joseph Granger 

was the priest in Beaumont. Roots of the current 

St. Anthony Cathedral reach back to St. Louis 

Church built in 1880. A wood frame structure 

accommodating about three hundred people and 

topped by a fifty-five-foot steeple was built at the 

corner of Bowie and Orleans. When the Lucas 

Gusher spewed its black gold at Spindletop in 

1901, it brought overnight growth that impacted 

Beaumont’s Catholic Church, along with every 

other facet of the community. 

A $50,000 brick church was built in 1903 to 

house the congregation. When the Diocese of 

Beaumont was formed in 1966, with Father 

Vincent Harris named as bishop, this church 

was designated as the cathedral, and was 

dedicated to St. Anthony. At that time the 

diocese included an area from Chambers 

County northward to Cherokee County, 

covering 11,790 square miles. Due primarily to 

the heavy influx of Cajuns from Southern 

Louisiana, the heaviest concentration of 

Catholics was in Jefferson and Orange Counties. 

The current Diocese of Beaumont takes in nine 

counties in Southeast Texas. 

The five bishops who have led the Beaumont 

Diocese are Most Reverend Vincent M. Harris 

(1966-1971), Most Reverend Warren L. 

Boudreaux (1971-1977), Most Reverend Bernard 

J. Ganter (1977-1993), Most Reverend Joseph A. 

Galante (1994-2000), and Most Reverend Curtis 

J. Guillory, S.V.D. (2000-present). 

Catholic missions and churches, as well as 

schools, hospitals and other facilities have been 

built in the Diocese during the past thirty-six 

years. The culturally diversified Diocese of 

Beaumont now has fifty-three churches 


❖ 

Top, left The Most Reverend 

Warren L. Boudreaux became the 

second bishop of Beaumont on 

August 25, 1971. 

Top, right: The Most Reverend 

Bernard J. Ganter became the 

third bishop of Beaumont on 

December 13, 1977. 

Bottom, left: The Most Reverend 

Joseph A. Galante became the fourth 

bishop of Beaumont on May 9, 1994. 

Bottom, right: The Most Reverend 

Curtis J. Guillory, S.V.D., became 

the fifth bishop of Beaumont on 

July 28, 2000. 

representative of many ethnicities, including the 

first Vietnamese parish in the United States. 

All Catholic schools in Beaumont are fully 

accredited by the Texas Education Association. 

The Diocese has a history of healthcare dating 

back to establishment of the Hotel Dieu 

Hospital in 1897, and an active program of 

social services that ranges from child care to a 

place to feed the hungry. 

In addition to the growth of parishes, 

missions, schools and health facilities, the 

ministries of the Diocese of Beaumont continue 

to grow and change and help people to become 

better stewards of their lives. Current programs, 

offices and staff support the parishes, missions 

and schools and minister to those in need. 

Other ministries include education and 

formation, liturgy and worship, parish 

social ministry, retreat, youth and campus, 

vocations, counseling, immigration services and 

parenting assistance. 

As the community and the number of the 

faithful continue to grow in the twenty-first 

century, the Catholic Diocese of Beaumont 

continues its historic ministry to the people of 

Southeast Texas. 


ATHLETES FOR 

CHRIST 

❖ 

Kenny and Tammie Vaughan and 

their daughter, Faith. 

Athletes for Christ, which manufactures 

Shields of Strength, has sold or given away 

more than twenty-five thousand of these 

small, inspirational tags in the Beaumont 

area, alone. Shields of Strength, designed 

to help the world know Jesus as Lord and 

Savior, are inscribed on one side with the 

prayer of salvation, and on the other with a 

scripture from God’s Word. 

The Beaumont-based Athletes for Christ 

organization uses prayer, research and 

scriptures in its efforts to lead the lost to 

salvation and to strengthen and encourage 

those experiencing personal trials. 

Founded in 1999 by John Kennedy 

(Kenny) Vaughan, Athletes for Christ has 

grown tremendously. Shields of Strength 

are presently sold in 2,000 stores 

throughout the country and are worn by 

more than 10,000 United States and 

Northern Alliance soldiers. 

In 1999 Shields of Strength spread from one 

Beaumont store to approximately 100 stores 

throughout Texas, and the next year expanded 

to an additional 400 stores nationwide. 

Ministers of children from Columbine High 

School requested two thousand Shields of 

Strength for distribution to children and family 

members of that community. Shields of Strength 

spread to an additional fifteen hundred stores 

throughout the United States in 2001. TBN 

television requested thousands of Shields of 

Strength for rescue personnel and victims of the 

World Trade Center attacks. Ultimately, Athletes 

for Christ donated more than seven thousand of 

them to victims, fire personnel, New York 

Police, National Guard, and other 

personnel involved in rescue efforts. 

Since the deployment of U.S. soldiers in 

Afghanistan, thousands of these Christian 

dog tags have been sent to troops. Many 

military chaplains have requested that they 

be included in deployment packages, and 

the organization is striving to see 

fulfillment of that request. 

“The organization will also continue to 

follow through with every opportunity to 

fulfill its goal of leading the lost to 

salvation,” Vaughan says. He expressed the 

hope that Shields of Strength can play a 

role in that mission. 

As a community service, Athletes for 

Christ has donated thousands of the tags 

at events in the Beaumont area, including 

Taste of the Triangle, Center for Missing 

and Exploited Children, movie openings, 

Hot Hearts, outdoor and sporting events, 

critical stress management, and others. 


BLOOD & 

PLASMA 

RESEARCH, INC. 

With the help of its donors, Blood and 

Plasma Research, Inc., at 85 North Twenty-third 

Street in Beaumont has been working to save the 

lives of babies since l967. A family owned and 

operated business, Blood and Plasma Research 

collects plasma from donors who have rare 

red cell antibodies needed for the manufacture 

of the vaccine which prevents Rh Disease of 

the Newborn. 

The facility’s mission is to serve mankind by 

providing leadership in its field, through 

devotion to its donors and dedication to 

providing safe, quality products to patients and 

the medical community. 

Donors come to Blood and Plasma Research 

from throughout the United States, and 

its customer base includes international 

pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the 

Rh Immune Globulin as well as blood typing 

and laboratory control reagents. Blood and 

Plasma Research currently employs seven 

persons in addition to the owners. 

Founded in October 1967 as a pioneer in its 

field, the facility is one of only about fifteen in 

the United States that specialize in blood rarities. 

Kristi Lovelady, executive director of the center, 

says that the Beaumont facility, which began with 

only one or two donors, now has a donor base of 

about fifty persons. Because only those people 

with rare antibodies are eligible for the program, 

the same donors are collected repeatedly and 

each is collected two times per week. 

Ray St. Peter, who is now retired, founded 

the business and is its owner. He was also the 

founder of the Beaumont Blood Center, now 

known as Lifeshare Blood Center. He served as 

its chief executive officer for thirty years, until 

its merger with Lifeshare in 1987. 

St. Peter has a long history of community 

involvement in the Beaumont area, having 

served as president of the Red Cross, Young 

Men’s Business League, and Lions Club. He has 

served as a member of numerous other local 

boards and committees and held offices in many 

professional organizations. 

Blood and Plasma Research, Inc. contributes an 

average of $100,000 per year to the community 

through donor fees. In addition to some of the 

groups listed above, Blood and Plasma Research 

supports many other charities in the Beaumont 

area each year. Like its owner, Blood and Plasma 

Research believes that helping people is an 

opportunity and a responsibility. 

❖ 

Above: Representatives from Blood & 

Plasma Research, Inc., at the Business 

Showcase 1998 (from left to right): 

Kristi Lovelady, Denise Whitman, and 

Theresa Walker. 

Below: (From left to right) 

Jeannine St. Peter; Ray St. Peter; 

Louise Guernsey, a member of the 

donor program for twenty-five years; 

and Kristi Lovelady. 


THE 

BLANCHETTE & 

HEBERT FAMILY 

❖ 

Top, left: Usan Hebert, 1842-1932. 

Top, right: Ozan Blanchette, 

1846-1934. 

Below: LaVert B. Mollett. 

Ozan Blanchette and Usan Hebert, brothers 

born on a Louisiana plantation in 1842 and 1846, 

learned farming, carpentry and animal husbandry 

there. After moving with the plantation owners to 

Texas’ Double Bayou area, Usan married Lou (last 

name unknown) and Ozan married Mary Ann 

Tevis. Settling in the far south section of 

Beaumont, each man acquired twenty-seven-anda-half 

acres, worked in the rice fields and sold 

vegetables from his garden to support his family. 

Ozan and Mary Ann had eighteen children, 

including Usan, Babe, Falonia, Mary Ann, Will, 

Ozan Jr., Lou Ann, Serelda Blanchette Goodman, 

Hattie Blanchette Bennett, David (Deck), Clarence 

(Clin), Oray, Admonia Blanchette Eugene, Atlas, 

and Octavia, and three who were not recorded. 

The names of only nine of Usan and Lou’s eleven 

children have been found. They included two boys, 

Edward and Augustus; and seven girls, called the 

“Seven Sisters”—Sarah Hebert Westbrook, Nora 

Marie Hebert, Seawillow Hebert Powell, Lena 

(Lela) Hebert Cozier, Emma Hebert Collins, Annie 

Hebert Gipson, and Florence Hebert Coleman. 

The first Black landowners and homeowners 

in South Beaumont, Ozan and Usan each built a 

two-story house, however a fire in the late 1930s 

destroyed Ozan’s house but Usan’s still stands at 

the corner of Usan and Hebert Streets. His 

youngest daughter lived there until her death in 

1996 at age 108. 

The many streets named for Usan’s family 

include Lou, Marie, Nora, Lela and Sarah. The 

two families were instrumental in founding the 

Live Oak Baptist Church. 

After the 1901 oil boom, Beaumont’s broadbased 

economy attracted Black families to the 

Pear Orchard, creating the need for a school. The 

brothers donated one acre of land each to the 

South Park Independent School District, and the 

two-room Hebert School was built. In 1922 a 

two-story red brick building was constructed. 

After Hebert moved to a new location in 1954, the 

old school’s name was changed to Blanchette. In 

1995 the Hebert High School Alumni Association 

built a replica of the old Hebert structure on the 

Blanchette Elementary School campus. 

The brothers passed away in 1933 and 1934, 

respectively. They and many family members are 

buried in the Blanchette-Hebert Cemetery on 

Hegele Street. 

Ozan left a family legacy of educators, including 

one daughter and 12 grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, 

most of them teachers in Beaumont. 

Several years ago a newspaper story described 

Ozan and Usan as “Trailblazers” who pioneered 

during tough times—a true compliment to two 

noble citizens who fulfilled their dream. 

Because of their contributions to Beaumont, in 

establishing homes, church and school, LaVert B. 

Mollett has contributed this record as a memorial to 

them. A graduate and former teacher at Hebert 

School, she is the granddaughter of Ozan and Mary 

Ann Blanchette, the daughter of Atlas and Annie 

Blanchette, and the wife of Shelley Mollett, Jr. 


Methodist Missionary Samuel A. Williams 

conducted the first religious service in 

Beaumont in 1839, followed in the next year by 

another Methodist minister, Henry Stephenson, 

organizer of the first Protestant church in Texas. 

The first Methodist church in Beaumont was 

established circa 1840. Early congregations met 

under brush arbors, in homes, and in a frame 

building that also served as a schoolhouse, 

temporary courthouse, Masonic Hall and 

Confederate hospital. There, itinerant riders of 

the “Alligator Circuit,” as the ministry called this 

river and bayou region, preached sermons. 

John Fletcher Pipkin, a lay preacher, began 

holding regular worship services in Beaumont 

in 1852. Between visits of the circuit riders, 

he performed marriage and funeral services for 

all faiths. 

A hurricane in 1865 destroyed the 

schoolhouse-church building. Because of the 

financial situation following the Civil War, the 

building was not replaced until 1877, when 

Methodists and Baptists pooled their resources 

to erect a common church. Each of the 

denominations held services two Sundays 

each month, and on months with a fifth 

Sunday, the building was “open for any 

respectable denomination.” The Baptists 

relocated in 1885, selling their interest in 

the structure to the Methodists, who moved 

the little building down the street and 

constructed a steepled church in 1890. This was 

rebuilt in 1894 on a larger scale. 

Beaumont became an oil boomtown in 1901, 

and the population growth necessitated a larger 

church building. The Dome Church, completed 

in 1907, had a sanctuary seating two thousand 

people. This building served the congregation 

for sixty years until completion in 1968 of the 

present home, a gleaming white modified 

Gothic-style church whose spire topped by the 

cross rose 147 feet above the city. 

A church is much more than buildings, 

however, and through the years, First Methodist 

Church of Beaumont has ministered to its 

members and to the community. This ministry 

has been led by its organizations for women, 

men, and youth, as well as by the church staff 

and lay leadership. Its role has been particularly 

important in times of special need, from the 

Great Depression to hurricane devastation and 

from floods to wartime losses. 

As it has for over 150 years, the First United 

Methodist Church of Beaumont continues its 

ministry to its community, as well as to the 

nation and the world. 

FIRST UNITED 

METHODIST 

CHURCH 

❖ 

Left: The present location of the First 

Methodist Church was completed 

in 1968. 

Below: The First Methodist Church, 

c. 1950. 

COURTESY OF BM PHOTOGRAPHY. 


ST. ANNE 

CATHOLIC 

SCHOOL 

❖ 

Above: St. Anne School, Convent, and 

Church, c. 1950. 

Below: Kindergarten students line up 

for lunch. 

Bottom, left: Pre-K students don silly 

slippers as they study the letter “S.” 

A parochial school serving the Southeast 

Texas area, St. Anne Catholic School provides a 

quality Catholic education for Pre-K 4 through 

8th grades and develops responsible, Christian 

young adults with an emphasis on moral and 

religious values of faith, community and service. 

Bishop Christopher Byrne of Galveston 

established a new parish in the west end of 

Beaumont in 1936 with Father Elias Anthony 

Holub as its spiritual leader. Mr. and Mrs. J. H. 

Phelan Sr. donated money and land for a church 

and a school. 

Seven grades were housed in four classrooms 

in 1937, with eighth grade added in 1938. 

The original building also contained two 

restrooms, a small library and an office. In lieu of 

sidewalks, wooden planks spanned mud puddles 

when it rained. 

Beginning in the 1940s a small courtyard 

with arched walkways was the setting for the 

annual May procession, which ended with the 

crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s statue. 

A series of building additions between 1946 

and 1961 provided 16 more classrooms and 

auxiliary facilities. Portable buildings were 

brought in as growth continued in the 1980s, 

and a gymnasium was built. A two-story 

building replaced the portable buildings in 

2000-2001. 

Each grade level now has three classes. An 

after-school care program has operated since 

1984. The fine arts curriculum has expanded to 

include a varsity choir, Spanish, drama and band 

classes. Students participate in the National 

Geographic Bee, Houston Chronicle Spelling Bee, 

math contests, and music and drama festivals. 

The Wildcat sports teams compete in football, 

basketball, soccer, track, softball, and volleyball. 

Students are active in civic and charitable 

events, most recently raising funds for a walking 

track at adjacent Gilbert Park; participating in 

food drives to benefit local soup kitchens; 

serving lunch at Some Other Place; visiting 

nursing homes; and collecting monies for 

various charities such as St. Jude Children’s 

Hospital, Pennies for the Poor, Food for the 

Poor, Cancer Research, Christmas Empty 

Stocking Fund, and gifts for the Giving Tree. 

St. Anne now serves approximately 500 

families and 610 students and employs 39 

teachers, three administrators, a part-time 

counselor and five support staff. 


The Benign Essential Blepharospasm Research 

Foundation, Inc. (BEBRF) was founded in 1981 by 

Mattie Lou Koster, a long-time Beaumont, Texas, 

resident. Stricken with this rare neurological sightrobbing 

malady in her sixties, Mattie Lou spent 

several frustrating years searching for a diagnosis. 

Finally learning the name for her disorder, 

“blepharospasm,” meaning “spasms of the eyelids,” 

she established an organization to find other 

blepharospasm patients, educate and promote 

research about the disorder. 

Dr. Bill Scales, senior minister at Trinity 

Methodist Church, was appointed first vice 

president, Peachie Keith was the secretarytreasurer, 

and Mattie Lou was president of the 

three-member, newly formed Foundation. Terry 

Garth, attorney, and Rubin Blackman, CPA, 

assisted in writing the articles of incorporation 

and the bylaws. On July 23, 1981, BEBRF, Inc., 

received its charter. Several years later Meige 

syndrome, spasms of the lower face, and 

hemifacial spasm, spasms on one side of the 

face, were included. 

Starting with no money, but an iron will and 

awesome persuasive powers, Mattie Lou 

convinced many Beaumont friends and newly 

discovered patients and doctors across the United 

States to help her fund the fledgling Foundation. 

Volunteer service by the Trinity Methodist 

Church Friendship Class was a mainstay during 

the Foundation’s formative days. 

Twenty-one years later, the Foundation, still 

located in Beaumont, is thriving. It has funded 

over a million dollars worth of research grants in 

the quest to find the cause and cure for 

blepharospasm/Meige. BEBRF keeps up with 

thousands of patients and doctors all over the 

world, supplying free educational literature and 

support. Notable among former board 

members, now retired, is former Beaumont 

Mayor Maury Meyers, who was influential in 

helping the Foundation. 

The mission of BEBRF, established by Mattie 

Lou in 1981, continues to be the mission 

statement in the twenty-first century: “…to fund 

and promote medical research in the quest to 

find the cause and a cure for 

blepharospasm/Meige; to provide support, 

education and referrals to persons with these 

disorders, also hemifacial spasm; and to 

disseminate information and serve as an 

BENIGN ESSENTIAL BLEPHAROSPASM 

RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC. 

authoritative resource to the medical community 

and the general public.” 

Though it has worldwide vision and 

influence, BEBRF is still very much a Beaumont 

organization. Nine of the twelve current 

members of the board of directors, including the 

president, Mary Lou Koster Thompson, Mattie 

Lou’s daughter, are from Beaumont. 

❖ 

Mattie Lou Koster, founder of the 

Benign Essential Blepharospasm 

Research Foundation, Inc. 


ST. ANTHONY 

CATHEDRAL 

SCHOOL 

❖ 

Above: A group of St. Anthony 

Cathedral School students. 

Below: Students and parents attending 

Chapel services at St. Anthony 

Cathedral School. 

St. Anthony Cathedral School has been 

providing excellence in education to Beaumont 

families since 1895. The Dominican Sisters 

came to Beaumont by train and rode through 

town in a horse-drawn carriage. They 

established Our Lady of Perpetual Help Convent 

School that same year. This was the beginning of 

St. Anthony Cathedral School. 

The only elementary and middle school in 

downtown Beaumont, the Cathedral School 

celebrated its centennial birthday in 1995 and 

was awarded the prestigious National Blue 

Ribbon School designation in 1999. St. Anthony 

is the only parochial elementary/middle school 

in the Beaumont Diocese, and one of only three 

schools in the City of Beaumont, to be granted 

this national award by the United States 

Department of Education. 

St. Anthony was one of the first Catholic 

schools to be accredited by the Texas Education 

Agency in the 1920s. The school is now under 

the auspices of the Texas Catholic Conference 

Education Department (TCCED), and adheres 

to its rigid standards, which surpass those of the 

Texas Education Agency. All accreditation 

standards for teaching certification are met. 

Our program begins with pre-kindergarten 

(three-year-old program), which is housed in a 

two-year-old facility surrounded by a new and 

equally wonderful playground area. Our 

elementary and middle school continues with 

kindergarten through eighth grade. Because we 

are a small school, students experience many 

opportunities for leadership in both religious 

and academic settings. Weekly Mass and religion 

classes enhance our educational environment. 

To support our educational program we have a 

fully equipped science lab dedicated to hands-on 

laboratory experimentation—which is of 

tremendous benefit to our upper grades. Through 

examining the world around them, our students 

learn first-hand about the true applications of 

science. Our computer technology program is 

integrated into our classrooms with Internet 

access for research and instructional purposes. 

Our library is an outstanding addition to our 

curriculum and the students’ love of learning 

through reading. The nurturing environment of 

St. Anthony is further enriched by foreign 

language classes (French and Spanish), fine arts 

emphasizing music and art, plus curriculumbased 

field trips for all classes. 

We currently have over two hundred students 

enrolled in our school, with one section of each 

grade. The dedicated faculty and staff continually 

strive to maintain high standards in curriculum, 

textbooks, and physical facilities. 


CHRISTUS 

ST. ELIZABETH 

HOSPITAL 

In 1896 the Sisters of Charity of the 

Incarnate Word founded their Beaumont 

ministry. Hotel Dieu Hospital came first, then 

St. Therese Hospital and then St. Elizabeth, 

which opened in 1962. 

CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital has grown 

to become one of the largest employers in 

Southeast Texas, employing approximately 2700 

associates who receive $98 million in annual 

compensation and benefits. In the year 2000, 

CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth allocated $56 million 

in supplies and services for patient care, 

invested $17 million in hospital facilities and 

equipment and provided $24 million in care to 

those who could not afford to pay. 

The hospital Sisters, leadership team, board 

members, medical and dental staff, associates and 

volunteers are committed to providing 

comprehensive healthcare services to Southeast 

Texas and carrying on the Sisters’ original mission, 

“To extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ.” 

This commitment has helped make 

CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth the regional leader in 

cardiology, cancer treatment, neurology, 

pediatrics, general surgery, birthing, women’s 

services, trauma and emergency services, 

diagnostics and outpatient services. 

“The hospital team’s spirit of caring and 

compassion continues to create a healing 

environment filled with hope, dignity, and 

mutual respect,” says Ed Myers, CEO and 

president of CHRISTUS Health Southeast Texas. 

He states, “It’s the spirit that carries us forward, 

making us who we are today and into the future 

as we strive to meet the healthcare needs of 

Beaumont and Southeast Texas.” 

CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth has launched phase 

two of a $199-million, three-phase expansion 

plan scheduled for completion in 2004. Including 

a second multi-level parking garage, three-story 

Outpatient Treatment Center and a five-story 

medical office building, it will centralize the 

delivery of outpatient services and provide more 

comprehensive and convenient patient care. 

The third phase, now in the planning stage, 

proposes a new West Tower on the hospital’s 

main campus that will renew and enhance core 

services including emergency, surgical, critical 

care and certain inpatient units. 

CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital is part of 

CHRISTUS Health, one of the country’s largest 

Catholic health systems employing over 25,000 

people in more than 40 hospitals and other 

healthcare facilities located in Texas, Arkansas, 

Louisiana, Oklahoma, Utah, and Mexico. 

❖ 

Above: CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth 

Hospital, 2002. 

Below: Hotel Dieu Hospital, 1915. 


❖ 



THE MARKETPLACE 

Beaumont’s financial institutions and 

retail and commercial establishments 

provide the economic foundation of the city 

Conn’s ..........................................................................................................................126 

Beaumont Chamber of Commerce ......................................................................................130 

Golden Triangle Telephone Directory, Inc. ..........................................................................132 

Holiday Inn Midtown......................................................................................................134 

Broussard’s Mortuary .....................................................................................................136 

Lamar Advertising of Beaumont........................................................................................138 

Hibernia Bank ...............................................................................................................140 

Strong Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard, L.L.P. .............................................................................142 

Lamar Bank ..................................................................................................................144 

The Law Offices of Gilbert T. Adams, P.C. .........................................................................146 

Coldwell Banker Southern Homes .....................................................................................148 

Lovoi & Sons Pharmacies, Inc. .........................................................................................150 

Beaumont Convention & Visitor’s Bureau ...........................................................................152 

American Real Estate Corporation ....................................................................................153 

Howell Furniture Galleries, Inc........................................................................................154 

Kelley-Watkins Funeral Home ..........................................................................................155 

Connor Plumbing, Inc. ....................................................................................................156 

International Currency, L.L.C. .........................................................................................157 

Market Basket Food Stores ..............................................................................................158 

Zummo Meat Company, Inc..............................................................................................159 

Bank One .....................................................................................................................160 

Air Comfort, Inc............................................................................................................161 

Southeast Texas Classic Automotive, Inc. ...........................................................................162 

Fisherman’s Reef Shrimp Company....................................................................................163 

Texas Coffee Company ....................................................................................................164 

Moore Landrey, L.L.P. .....................................................................................................165 

Community Bank and Trust..............................................................................................166 

Sharing the Heritage - The Marketplace ✦ 125

CONN’S 

❖ 

Below: Conn’s first storefront 

opened in 1940 at 268 Pearl in 

downtown Beaumont. 

Conn’s theme of “The Customer is Number 

One” represents the company’s most important 

goal: to satisfy each and every customer. Conn’s 

history dates back to 1890, when Edward 

Eastham founded Eastham Plumbing and 

Heating Company in Beaumont. 

First National Bank of Beaumont took over 

Eastham Plumbing in 1931, and renamed it 

Plumbing and Heating, Inc. A freeze that same 

year burst pipes throughout the area. Like many 

other residents, Mr. Yount of the original 

Spindletop oil giants needed a plumber, but was 

unable to find one. Remembering that First 

National Bank of Beaumont had taken over a 

plumbing business, he called the bank to 

inquire whether the firm was still for sale. Upon 

learning that it was, he bought the company in 

order to have a plumber repair his pipes. 

In 1933, C. W. Conn, Sr., who was selling 

appliances for the local gas company at that 

time, was hired to run the plumbing company 

with an option to purchase it. He bought the 

business in 1934, changing its name to Conn 

Plumbing and Heating Company. 

In 1937, Conn’s began selling refrigerators, 

and soon added gas ranges to the inventory. By 

1940 Conn had purchased a storefront and 

moved the company to 268 Pearl Street in 

Beaumont. The company’s second store opened 

in 1959 on Eleventh Street. By 1966 the 

company had four stores in Beaumont and a 

total sales volume of $4 million. Lake Charles, 

Louisiana, was the site of Conn’s first out-ofstate 

store, opened in 1969, followed that same 

year by the opening of a second store in 

Louisiana. In 1975, Conn’s opened stores in 

Port Arthur, Orange, and Baytown, Texas, as 

well as one in Lafayette, Louisiana. A second 

location in Lafayette and new stores in New 

Iberia and Opelousas, Louisiana, soon followed. 

Dedicated to his customers and to the idea 

that consumers should receive value for the 

dollars they spent on the products he offered in 

his stores, Conn often directed his employees to 

seek out dissatisfied customers in order to find 

what the company could do to replace their 

disappointment with satisfaction. 

Early in the business’ history, he began the 

policy that every customer would receive an 

inquiry card after a sale. In 1965, C. W. Conn, Jr., 

and Tom Frank walked into C. W., Sr.’s office to 

proudly announce that the survey cards showed 

ninety-five percent customer satisfaction—95 out 

of every 100 customers were satisfied. The reaction 

by C. W., Sr., was not what they expected. He 

demanded furiously that they contact the five 

people who were not satisfied, and do whatever it 

took to make them happy with their experience. 

Conn’s one hundred percent customer satisfaction 

goal has been in place ever since. 

Conn’s mission is to be the dominant 

provider of appliance and home entertainment 

products in the markets in which it chooses to 

do business. To accomplish this mission, the 

company strives to ensure that it is a low-cost 

operator and the most profitable, efficient, 

value-added competitor in the industry. This 

strategy is designed to assure the company’s 

continued growth and financial strength while 

providing outstanding support functions of 

service, installation and financing that achieve 

maximum customer satisfaction. 

After the death of C. W. Conn, Sr., in 1975, C. 

W. Conn, Jr., became chairman of the board. The 

company’s growth continued into the 

next three decades, with the first Houston 

store opened in 1983 and sixteen others to 

follow in subsequent years. In 1993 Conn’s 

experienced its first $100 million sales 


volume year and opened its first store in San 

Antonio, Texas. 

Thomas Frank, Sr. became chairman of the 

board of Conn’s in 1994. Under his leadership, 

the company established itself as a major player 

in the retail sales industry, with the total sales 

volume growing to more than $200 million in 

1997. In July 1998 the company reorganized 

and brought in a new financial partner, The 

Stephens Group, Inc. of Little Rock, Arkansas, a 

majority stockholder that provided Conn’s with 

added financial capabilities for future growth. 

The company’s market reach was broadened in 

1999, when the first Conn’s store was opened in 

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and again in 2001 and 

2002 when Conn’s opened its first stores in Austin 

and Corpus Christi. The company now offers a 

full-range of products and services in eight 

markets in Texas and Louisiana. In addition to its 

four stores in the Beaumont area—located in the 

Gateway Shopping Center on Eleventh Street and 

4324 Dowlen Road; 180 Strickland Drive in 

Orange; and 3600 Highway 365 in Nederland, 

Conn’s has 38 other retail stores. These include 18 

in Houston, eight in San Antonio, 5 in Austin, one 

in Corpus Christi, one in Lake Charles, three in 

the Lafayette area, and two in Baton Rouge. 

Through these stores, Conn’s offers its customers 

a wide variety of high-quality appliances, 

televisions, electronics, computers, lawn and 

garden equipment, gasoline generators, mattress 

sets and headboards, and specialty furniture. 

Conn’s consists of the parent company 

and numerous subsidiaries and divisions that 

provide support in the areas of credit, delivery, 

service, insurance and other related services. 

The company’s business model differs 

from most retailers. For most, sales become 

the driving force. Conn’s business model 

dictates that a well-operated credit organization 

drives the need to operate a highly efficient 

distribution system. This in turn creates 

the need to operate an effective service 

group. Training is essential for all of these 

components to work at maximum efficiency. 

Each of these four essential ingredients must be 

in place and working properly to drive sales. 

❖ 

Above: Conn’s locates it store 

strategically throughout each 

market, such as the Dowlen Road 

location across from Beaumont’s 

Parkdale Mall. 

Below: Hundreds of Conn’s employees 

provide numerous support activities 

from the company’s corporate 

headquarters in Beaumont. 


❖ 

Above: Conn’s Gateway location 

on Eleventh Street features one of 

the company’s largest showrooms 

where one can find a wide selection 

of innovative appliances and 

consumer electronics. 

Below: Store interior formats 

change to create the most 

favorable shopping experience. 

The Gateway store features a new 

and experimental merchandising 

formats which, when proven 

successful, can then be rolled out 

to the other locations. 

Conn Credit Company is responsible for 

offering financing to Conn’s customers. 

Opportunity Finance assists Conn’s customers 

to establish financing capabilities for their 

purchases when these customers either have no 

previous credit history or have had problems 

with their credit in the past. 

Conn’s operates four regional warehouses 

and one cross-dock with over one-half million 

square feet in Houston, Beaumont, San Antonio, 

Lafayette, and Austin. Each day Conn’s home 

delivery organization successfully completes 

hundreds of installations to Conn’s customers 

throughout Texas and Louisiana. 

A Conn’s home delivery is unique. Unlike 

Conn’s, others simply pull up to the consumer’s 

home, unload the appliance or major consumer 

electronics product and leave the customer 

to install the product on his or her own. Not 

at Conn’s. 


The Conn’s home delivery team will unload, 

uncrate and wheel the purchase into the home. 

Then the team will pull out the old product, 

cleaning the floor as it is moved, place the new 

product, install it, check for proper service and 

provide complete operating instructions before 

leaving. The team even offers to haul away the 

old product at no additional charge. Each home 

delivery team makes ten or more of these calls 

every day. 

Conn’s service organization completes 

thousands of service calls each month, both inhome 

and in one of Conn’s four regional service 

centers. More than $1 million in parts are 

inventoried in these centers, thereby providing a 

greater level of assurance that problems are 

resolved in the shortest amount of time. More 

than 140 service vehicles are on the road sixdays-a-week 

in each market in which Conn’s 

operates retail locations. 

Training for new sales associates and support 

personnel is accomplished in Conn’s training 

facility in the company’s corporate headquarters 

in Beaumont. New sales associates participate in 

a four-week training program. Veteran sales 

people are required to continue their education 

at regularly scheduled sales meetings. 

With over $500 million in annual sales 

volume, Conn’s is one of the largest regional 

appliance and consumer electronics retailers in 

America today, with 42 retail stores in Texas and 

Louisiana. The company now includes more 

than 2,000 employees, having grown to this 

position by constantly focusing all of its 

resources on its customers and by establishing a 

corporate culture that thrives on creating 

customer satisfaction. 

Conn’s and its employees consistently 

participate in community-oriented initiatives 

and organizations in the markets in which the 

company operates its retail locations. With its 

headquarters in Beaumont, the company is 

particularly active in this regard in the Golden 

Triangle. Conn’s lends its financial support to the 

United Way of Southeast Texas, the Beaumont 

Chamber of Commerce, the Beaumont Art 

Museum, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the 

Mental Health Association of Southeast Texas, 

the Ben Rogers “I Have a Dream” program, the 

Partnership of Southeast Texas and others. 

Recently, employees of Conn’s collectively 

contributed more than $60,000 to establish an 

endowed scholarship fund at Lamar Institute of 

Technology in the name of their Chairman and 

CEO, Thomas J. Frank. On learning of this 

action, Frank immediately matched these 

employees’ recognition with a $60,000 

contribution, making the Thomas J. Frank 

endowed scholarship fund the largest single 

endowment contributed to Lamar Institute of 

Technology at that time. 

Though the company has changed 

dramatically over the years, the customer 

continues to be the focus of attention and the 

reason for the company’s continued success. As 

Conn’s positions itself for growth in the new 

millennium, the company’s basic values and 

culture continue to support the contention that 

to its owners and employees “the Customer is 

Number One.” 

❖ 

Operating from regional distribution 

centers in Texas and Louisiana, 

Conn’s fleet of home delivery vehicles 

and professional installation crews are 

on the road seven days a week. 


BEAUMONT 

CHAMBER OF 

COMMERCE 

❖ 

Above: Sam Park, the first Chairman 

of the Beaumont Chamber of 

Commerce (1903-1904). 

Below: The Kyle Opera House where 

the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce 

was located in the early 1900’s. 

The Beaumont Chamber of Commerce was 

founded on the evening of January 22, 1903 in 

the City Council chambers when one hundred 

sixty-five citizens met and agreed Beaumont had 

arrived at a pivotal point in her history. The 

“boom town” was soaring from about 3,300 

people in 1890 to 9,427 for the 1900 census. 

Business was also booming and the group of 

businessmen realized the time had come to 

establish a commercial organization, which 

became known as the Beaumont Chamber of 

Commerce. They elected eleven directors from 

their ranks including Colonel Sam Park, 

president of Industrial Lumber Company and the 

Beaumont Brick Works, who was voted to serve 

as the chairman. Two front rooms in the Iowa 

Building on Crockett Street were rented as the 

chamber offices at a cost for $35 per month as 

part of an initial budget of $10,000. 

According to newspaper accounts, the 

Chamber wasted no time in launching the first 

economic development campaign. Within days, 

the leaders met with the general western 

emigration agent of Southern Pacific Railroad 

who was extremely interested in developing the 

area. They launched an advertising campaign 

and began discussions on ways and means of 

bringing the International and Great Northern 

Railway into the city. By the end of the year, the 

membership included 190 members. 

As we celebrate the hundredth anniversary of 

the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, the 

Chamber remains the catalyst for economic 

development, legislative and public policy 

initiatives, leadership training and community 

development envisioned by the founding citizens 

in 1903. Leadership is the key ingredient to any 

community’s success. For the past thirty years, 

Leadership Beaumont, a leadership development 

and training program sponsored by the 

Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, has promoted 

new leadership for the future. Leadership 

Beaumont is one of the oldest community 

leadership programs in the State of Texas. CASA, 

Leadership Southeast Texas, Youth Leadership, 

and the Public Service Candidate School are 

additional programs, which were nurtured and 

developed through Leadership Beaumont. 

The growth of Beaumont is inexorably linked 

to the quality and success of our education 

institutions. The Chamber has facilitated 

progress with the Beaumont Independent 

School System, the Lamar Institute of 

Technology and Lamar University to provide 

world class opportunities and promote 

workforce development. The Jason Project is a 

prime example. Famed scientist and explorer, 

Dr. Robert Ballard, spoke at the Chamber’s 2000 

annual meeting. His talk about the importance 

of science led to the formation of the Jason 

Alliance of Southeast Texas. The Jason Project is 

an educational program that sparks the 

imagination of students and enhances the 

classroom experience through explorations with 

Dr. Ballard. It exposes students to leading 

scientists who work with them to examine the 

earth’s biological and geological development. 

The Jason Project became a reality based upon 

early meetings with local business leaders and 

entities that expressed an interest bringing the 

Jason Project to Beaumont. Live broadcasts of 

Ballard’s Alaska expedition from January 28 to 

February 8, 2001 aired at Lamar University was 

seen by 8,715 students and 457 teachers and 

the project will be expanded in the future. 

The health of Beaumont’s economy rests with 

the need to focus on the long-range issues, which 

will impact the business climate. An effort to 

shape and influence public policy is essential. 

Some leading examples include the development 

of the local plan to comply with federal air 

quality standards. The Chamber played a crucial 

role to encourage government and industry to the 

fund the United States Army Corps of Engineers 

feasibility study for navigational improvements 

on the Sabine-Neches Waterway and actively 


lobbied and promoted passage of the Jefferson 

County Navigation District in November 2001 

through voter education. 

The fight to protect water rights led by our 

legislative delegation was supported by the 

Beaumont Chamber of Commerce with live 

testimony, board resolutions and statewide 

coalition building. The Chamber was a catalyst in 

the formation of the Jefferson County Chambers of 

Commerce Legislative Response Team, which was 

announced to the public on June 6, 2000. The 

coalition provides a mechanism to represent the 

views of the Jefferson County business community 

on issues that impact our cities and to provide a 

stronger voice in Austin and Washington. 

The actions to market Beaumont for new 

business attraction lies with the Beaumont 

Chamber of Commerce based upon a service 

agreement with the City of Beaumont and a fund 

campaign to leverage the public dollars with private 

donations. The opening of the West Teleservices 

Corporation customer contact center in January 

2001 was the result of proposals and negotiations 

conducted by the Chamber to attract a major new 

employer to the city. The center further diversifies 

the economy while contributing an estimated 

$69.4 million dollars of taxable spending over a 10- 

year period. The Beaumont Chamber of Commerce 

working with Jefferson County helped establish the 

U.S. Postal Remote Encoding Facility in downtown 

Beaumont in 1996. As the technology for mail 

handling has improved, the original 55 encoding 

facilities nationwide have been reduced to 22. The 

Beaumont location has survived each round of 

closures and is now posed to expand by six 

hundred jobs based upon the regular visits to 

Washington and Dallas to meet with postal 

authorities and discuss the viability of the 

Beaumont site. 

The globalization of the economy and the 

growth of international trade is the single 

biggest factor that will influence the future of 

Beaumont. Support for the Port of Beaumont is 

critical to maintain and further develop our 

gateway to the world. The continued 

establishment of relationships to foster trade 

included an historic trip to Cuba in January 

2001 and trade missions to Mexico in recent 

years. We are also developing relationships with 

China, which could result in meaningful trade 

and local investment. 

Transportation issues formed the basis for the 

creation of the Beaumont Chamber of 

Commerce in 1903 and still dominate the 

agenda today. The importance of the Sabine- 

Neches Waterway to the local economy has been 

a regular theme over the years with efforts to 

dredge the river to greater depths to support 

commerce and ocean vessels. Recently, the need 

to develop reliable air service from the 

Southeast Texas Regional Airport has been in 

the news with the announcement by American 

Airlines to cease operations April 7, 2002. The 

Beaumont Chamber of Commerce is actively 

involved in the effort to develop a business plan 

and recruit jet service to the area. 

The Beaumont Chamber of Commerce is a 

beehive for business leaders, volunteers, 

professional staff to come together to make 

things happen. Activities include bi-monthly 

meetings with distinguished guest speakers, 

weekly informal gatherings, seminars, and the 

presentation of awards and recognition for 

outstanding businesses. Each year, the Chamber 

presents awards to the Small Business of the 

Year, the Athena Award for distinguished female 

entrepreneurs, and the Spindletop Award, 

which is presented to major corporate entities 

who have made outstanding contributions in 

the economy and quality of life of the area. The 

Chamber has always had a presence in the 

downtown area. This presence was enhanced in 

2001 with the purchase of a building at 1110 

Park Street that now houses the Chamber 

offices. There are twenty-four directors and 

forty-two advisory directors supported by nine 

full-time professional staff. The membership 

exceeds 1800 and the annual budget for 2003 

is $829,747. 

We are ready for business for the next century. 

❖ 

The current office located at 1110 

Park Street was purchased and 

dedicated on April 2, 2001. 


❖ 

GOLDEN 

TRIANGLE 

TELEPHONE 

DIRECTORY, 

INC. 

Above: The Golden Triangle Telephone 

Directory offices located on 

Eastex Freeway. 

Below: The cover of the eighteenth 

edition of the Golden Triangle 

Telephone Directory. 

The Golden Triangle Telephone Directory, 

Inc. continues each year to meet its mission 

of providing an accurate and complete area-wide 

telephone directory. Growth of the company and 

the area since 1984 have resulted in a directory 

with white (residential) listings, blue (business) 

listings, and yellow (classified) advertisements, 

as well as several other popular features 

including a Restaurant Menu and Coupon 

sections; and Community Pages with emergency 

information, listings for area libraries, museums, 

etc., and information about community 

attractions, carnivals, and upcoming events in 

the entire Golden Triangle area. 

Brian Spring of Spring Publications, a familyowned 

publishing company based in Amarillo, 

set up the first office, and hired representatives 

and the first sales team. Larry Spring later 

assumed management, and eventually became 

the owner. 

Two employees, Sue Shaffer and Joseph Lee, 

have been with the directory since the 

beginning. Shaffer began as a telemarketer, and 

then moved to outside sales. Lee participated in 

sales, assisted in management, and has been the 

company’s top sales representative for many 

years. Other long-time employees are Lauren 

Wullenwaber (15 years), Wendy Moore (14), 

Michelle Wilson (12); and Stephanie Cuniff, 

John Fortenberry, Denise Himel, Zoe Mayes, 

Donna Monroe, Brian Spring and Tasha Spring 

(all just under ten years). 

Gerri Spring, Tena English, Diana Marie and 

Glenda Okun, the company’s hard-working 

permanent office employees, also spend six to 

eight weeks annually working around-the-clock 

to produce the most accurate and up-to-date 

directory possible. 

The first directory, published in June 1985, 

included 418 residential/business pages and 

176 yellow (classified) pages, laid out in a fourcolumn 

format. The process required taking 

strips of film with the listing galleys and 

manually stripping the book together, piece-bypiece 

and ad-by-ad, to produce the classified 

section, which was yellow with black print. 

Each strip of type in each ad was hand-placed 

onto art boards and attached with a waxy 

substance to allow for straightening the art copy. 

The layout boards were photographed page-bypage. 

The negatives were then stripped together, 

after which photographic plates were burned. 

Blue-lines were proofread to ensure that nothing 

had fallen off the boards between Beaumont and 


the press. This process was used for several 

years, with many changes since then. 

The company sought suggestions from 

clients and the general public to see what they 

wanted in their local directory. In 1986 it was 

suggested that yellow pages be divided into 

individual cities under each heading for 

convenience in locating a particular type of 

business within the Triangle. It was also 

suggested that white pages be combined to 

allow users to find an individual more easily 

when the city of residence was not known. 

Talking Yellow Pages, providing a library of 

information about discounts offered by 

advertisers and helpful area information, were 

added in 1987. Local advertisers could also add 

red color to their advertisements. In 1990 the 

company won third place for the “Best Overall 

Directory” from the Directory Publishers 

Association, an organization covering the entire 

United States and Canada. This was a year of 

significant change for the Golden Triangle, with 

another color option added to the yellow pages 

and the beginning of “knock-out” ads. This 

meant an ad’s background could be white, rather 

than the traditional yellow. This was possible by 

printing the pages with yellow ink on white 

paper, as a background for the black ad 

messages. The most remarkable feature added to 

the book was the “Blue Pages,” an easy source of 

reference for finding a business without having 

to wade through all the residential listings. In 

1991 the directory won second place for 

“Theme” in a cover-design contest by the Yellow 

Pages Publishers Association. 

A process called Pizzazz allowed the 

introduction of color to the yellow pages in 

1995. Beginning in 1996, yellow page 

advertisements were sent digitally to the press. 

Listings were still hand-pasted until 1997, 

however, when the directory went completely 

digital. The publisher actually took the pages, 

put them on disks and the press produced the 

pages off the disks from the publisher. This 

resulted in full-color process and greater 

accuracy than ever before. Today’s book 

contains 702 yellow pages, 176 business (blue) 

pages, and 498 residential (white) pages, an 

indication of the growth of the Golden Triangle 

area and the directory in the past twenty years. 

Locally owned and operated, Golden Triangle 

Telephone Directory, Inc. currently operates 

with about twenty employees. The company 

participates in community activities throughout 

the area, including membership in the Better 

Business Bureau, and the chambers of 

commerce serving Beaumont, Bolivar Peninsula, 

Bridge City, Groves, Kountze, Nederland, 

Greater Orange, Greater Port Arthur, Port 

Neches, Vidor, and the Winnie area. 

❖ 

Golden Triangle Telephone Directory 

received the Beaumont Chamber 

Business Showcase Award for “Most 

Creative” in 2002. 


HOLIDAY INN 

MIDTOWN 

❖ 

Above: Holiday Inn-Midtown is 

located at 2095 North Eleventh Street 

in Beaumont, Texas. 

Below: In 1979 construction was 

started, adding more rooms with 

additional meeting and banquet space 

onto the hotel. These additions made 

Holiday Inn Midtown Beaumont’s first 

high-rise hotel. 

Beaumont’s Holiday Inn Eleventh Street— 

now known as Holiday Inn Midtown, opened in 

1957, one of the first full-service hotel chains 

providing thirty-four comfortable rooms to 

travelers. An annex was added later, containing 

52 sleeping rooms; two meeting rooms; the 

Chateau Briand, a fine dining restaurant; a 

coffee shop; and a nightclub, the Club Lafitte. 

To meet the need for more hotel rooms in 

1979, the present facility, Beaumont’s first highrise 

hotel, was constructed with additional 

meeting and banquet space. Opening in July 

1980, it contained 192 sleeping rooms, a 

new ballroom, an all-new Club Lafitte, and 

Piper’s Restaurant. 

The Holiday Inn Midtown has proven its 

quality with some prestigious awards. Among 

these are the Quality Excellence and America’s 

Cup awards, presented by Bass Hotels and 

Resorts, the parent company of Holiday Inn. 

The hotel has received the Quality Excellence 

Award on multiple occasions, recognizing its 

selection among the top 10 percent of hotels 

from among about 3,500 Holiday Inns. This 

recognition is based on guest satisfaction, 

customer relations and quality evaluation 

inspections. At least once each year, corporate 

inspectors arrive unannounced to evaluate the 

hotel’s quality and customer service. Customer 

comments are also used in evaluating hotels for 

this award. The America’s Cup Award is 

presented to the top company-managed hotel 

among the three hundred competing. It is based 

on advancement in quality excellence, employee 

satisfaction and operational profits for the 

previous year. 

Today’s Holiday Inn Midtown features 190 

guest rooms and suites, with remote-control 25- 

inch televisions, cable, coffeemakers, hairdryers, 

irons, full-sized ironing boards, dual-line 

phones, voice mail, data ports, work desks, 

ergonometric chairs, task lighting, individual 

climate controls, and electronic door locks. A 

recent, $3.5 million renovation has brought the 

facilities and amenities to a first-class level. The 

Eleventh Street Grill features one of the most 

popular breakfast buffets in the area with eggs 

and omelets cooked to order. Get Down Brown’s 

has been a popular nightspot for more than 25 

years and with the recent renovations, now 

features championship barbecue and home-style 

foods, live entertainment, sports theme events, 

and nightly dancing. 

The hotel’s banquet and meeting rooms can 

accommodate up to 200 people for dinners, 

weddings, seminars and other functions. A 

professional, on-site catering staff is available to 


help plan customer events. Other amenities 

include an exercise center, outdoor pool, 

sundeck, coin laundry, valet service, and 

complimentary van service. 

Holiday Inn Midtown is located in the heart 

of the Golden Triangle, just off Interstate 10. It is 

convenient to county and federal courthouses, 

Crockett Street, Jefferson County Entertainment 

Complex, fairgrounds, Civic Center, Museum 

District, Memorial Hermann Baptist and St. 

Elizabeth Hospitals, Dupont, Entergy, Goodyear, 

Lamar University, Mobil, the Montagne Center, 

North Star Steel, and Temple Inland. 

The awards and the approval by frequent 

guests also reflect the commitment to service 

and friendliness by every member of the hotel 

staff. The hotel is well known among local 

companies and organizations for its exceptional 

service, friendly staff, and food quality. 

Kemmons Wilson founded Holiday Inn when 

he packed his wife, three sons, and two 

daughters into the family car for a trip to 

Washington, D.C. He was very disappointed in 

the motels along the road, including extra 

charges for each child—making their room 

actually cost $16 per night. 

From the beginning, he was determined to 

build a family-friendly chain with a brand name 

that travelers could trust and didn’t charge extra 

for children staying with their parents. “I told 

my wife that I’d build four hundred of these 

things across the country before I was through,” 

he said, and when she laughed, “That kind of 

made me peeved, and I said, ‘I’m gonna do it!’” 

When they returned home to Memphis, 

Tennessee he hired a draftsman to draw up the 

plans. As the draftsman worked, he watched an 

old Bing Crosby movie, and sketched its name 

at the top of the plans. Wilson saw it, liked it, 

and Holiday Inn was born, with the first one 

opening in Memphis in August 1952. 

Now the best-known hotel name in the world, 

Holiday Inn celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 

2002 and includes more than 1,500 properties in 

70 countries. Holiday Inns continues to initiate 

many new hospitality innovations. It was the first 

hotel company to launch a computer reservations 

system via satellite, the first to start a frequent 

guest loyalty program, and the first to accept 

room bookings over the Internet. 

❖ 

Above: A guestroom at 

Holiday Inn Midtown. 

Below: Two meeting rooms are 

available for your conferences or 

get-togethers. Pre-function space 

is located outside of the Eleventh 

Street Grill. 


BROUSSARD’S 

MORTUARY 

❖ 

Above: Alex Broussard, founder of 

Broussard’s Mortuary. 

Below: The stables at A. Broussard 

Livery Stable. 

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, 

Alex Broussard, owner of A. Broussard Livery 

Stable, had an established business in Beaumont 

providing, among other services, the teams of 

horses and mules needed for the booming 

timber industry along the Neches River. He also 

provided the stock used for the horse-drawn 

streetcars in Beaumont, and in the late 1880’s, 

opened the first funeral parlor in Southeast 

Texas, beginning a four-generation tradition 

of caring and compassion. As was common, 

the undertaking services were a natural 

evolution from a livery establishment, since the 

business included the horses and carriages 

needed for funerals. 

That first wood-framed parlor was soon 

replaced by a large brick facility in downtown 

Beaumont, which still stands today. The family 

firm moved later to a large, stately home at the 

corner of Calder Avenue and Forest Street, and 

in 1958 moved to one of their present locations 

in a quiet neighborhood on McFaddin, in the 

Oaks Historical District of Beaumont. 

Alex Broussard’s son, Dale, succeeded him 

in the family profession in the 1920s, and 

in the 1950s, the founder’s grandson 

and namesake, Alex Broussard, and his brother, 

James Broussard, joined the firm. The family 

is now involved in its fourth generation, since 

Jim Broussard and Tom Broussard are with 

the company. 

Broussard’s is also distinguished by the 

convenience of its facilities. The family has truly 

come full circle, now serving all of Southeast 

Texas, just as Alex Broussard did over a hundred 

years ago. Two of the company’s facilities are in 


Beaumont, and additional locations are in 

Kountze, Nederland, and Winnie. 

Prestige in their field is evidenced by the firm’s 

membership-by-invitation in the Selected 

Independent Funeral Homes organization. This 

prestigious association consists of independent 

funeral directors from all over the world, selected 

for membership based upon their high standards 

of excellence. The organization honored 

Broussard’s in 2000 for over fifty years of service. 

Professional recognition for the Broussard 

family and staff has included three governor 

appointments and two presidencies of the Texas 

Funeral Service Commission; selection as board 

members and officers, including presidencies, of 

Selected Independent Funeral Homes, Texas 

Funeral Directors Association, and Southeast 

Texas Funeral Directors Association, including 

two “Funeral Director of the Year” accolades; and 

the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 

Regional Disaster Mortuary Team appreciation 

for outstanding performance immediately 

following the Oklahoma City bombing. 

In 1998, Broussard’s was presented the 

inaugural Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics 

by the Better Business Bureau of Southeast 

Texas. The firm was also selected as an 

Outstanding Texas Family Business by Baylor 

University, and continues to set a strong 

example of how a family can give back to a 

community through volunteerism and charity. 

The Broussard family is proud to be in its 

third century as an active part of the landscape 

in Southeast Texas, and looks forward to 

continuing their vocation and service to the 

families here for generations to come. 

Regardless of how the world has changed 

around them, the Broussard family has 

remained the active center of the firm, and the 

core values and mission statement that guides 

Broussard’s remain steadfast to their roots. 

“Broussard’s Mortuary is a family owned and 

operated funeral home dedicated to the highest 

standards of funeral service. Our professionals 

seek to lighten the burden of families during the 

most difficult time of their life through 

celebration and memorialization—not because 

someone has died, but because they have lived.” 

❖ 

Top, left: Dale Broussard. 

Above: Alex (left) and James (right) 

Broussard. 

Below: Tom (left) and Jim 

(right) Broussard. 


❖ 

Above: The Pensacola Opera House, 

where it all began. 

Below: The Lamar School of 

Advertising, c. 1950. 

LAMAR ADVERTISING OF BEAUMONT 

One of the largest and most experienced 

owners and operators of outdoor advertising 

structures in the United States, Lamar 

Advertising Company has over one hundred 

years of experience in helping advertisers 

successfully reach their target audiences. Since 

1902 four generations of leadership have 

combined innovation, high-quality products 

and strategic growth to become an 

acknowledged leader in the field. 

Lamar currently operates 152 outdoor 

advertising companies in 44 states and is the 

nation’s leader in the highway logo sign 

business, with operations in 21 of the 26 states 

that have privatized their logo programs, as well 

as in the province of Ontario, Canada. Logo 

signs, which are located near highway exits, 

deliver brand name information on available 

gas, food, lodging and camping services. Lamar 

currently operates more than 90,000 logo sign 

displays and over 130,000 billboards across the 

country. In addition, Lamar has 41 transit 

advertising franchises that reach driving 

audiences in 14 states through displays on bus 

shelters, benches and buses. 

The company began on March 2, 1902, when 

the Associated Bill Posters of the United States 

granted a charter to J. M. Coe of the Pensacola 

Amusement Company to create the Pensacola 

Advertising Company. This was a small poster 

company involved in promoting the coming 

attractions of a local opera house. In 1905 Charles 

W. Lamar, Sr., then president of the American 

National Bank of Pensacola, entered into a 

partnership with Coe. When they decided in 

1908 to dissolve their partnership and divide their 

assets, they flipped a coin to determine who 

would get the poster business and who the more 

lucrative business, the opera house. Coe won the 

flip and got the opera house, which was later 

destroyed by fire. Lamar took control of the poster 

company, now known as Lamar Advertising. 

By 1938 the advertising company operated in 

Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Jackson, Mississippi. 

After the death of Charles W. Lamar, Sr. in 1944, 

his two sons took over the business, with L. V. 

Lamar leading the Mississippi operations and 

Charles Lamar and his two sisters in charge of the 

Florida and Louisiana properties. By 1956 the 

company operated in Tallahassee, Florida, and 

South Louisiana. 

Following the death of Charles W. Lamar, Jr. 

in 1960, Kevin Reilly, Sr., and Albert Lamar 

assumed management, beginning a period of 

unprecedented growth. The annual net revenue 

at that time was approximately $730,000, and 

the company had three offices. In 1973 Lamar 

acquired and installed its own computer system 

to process accounting and management 

information. By 1983 it had merged all 33 

operating companies to consolidate ownership, 


and formed regions with regional managers. The 

first logo company, Nebraska, was bought in 

1988. By 1989 the company had expanded to 

35 individual offices and its income had 

increased by nine thousand percent, to reach 

$70 million. 

Major changes in the industry occurred 

during this period, including passage of the 

Highway Beautification Act in 1965, providing a 

great opportunity to acquire other companies. 

The oil crises of 1973 and 1979 briefly 

popularized public transportation and travel 

without gasoline on bicycle and foot. In 

addition, signage materials were drastically 

improved, evolving from wood to plastic and 

vinyl products. The company, currently 

headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana 

employs about 3,004 persons throughout the 

country. Today’s key leaders, Kevin Reilly, Jr., 

Sean Reilly, Charles Lamar III, and Robert 

Switzer, took over in 1989. 

After the acquisition of Holland Advertising 

in November 1988 and Port Arthur Poster 

Company in January of 1989, their combined 

operation became Lamar Advertising of 

Beaumont. The local office was then located in a 

leased “hallway” with a garage, in an area 

acquired a few years later by the City of 

Beaumont for highway right-of-way. Lamar then 

rented a small warehouse south of Beaumont 

during construction of its own building, which 

was completed in October 1995. 

Lamar Advertising of Beaumont has 

maintained an average of fourteen employees 

over the years, though sales in Beaumont have 

almost doubled—from $1.8 million in 1989 to 

$3.1 million in 2002. George Crawford is the 

current general manager, succeeding Bob Lee 

and Chris Crabtree in that post. 

Beaumont area travelers who notice a 

highway logo listing products and services 

available at a nearby exit, as well as those who 

see advertising on billboards, buses, benches 

and bus shelter displays half-a-continent away, 

may well be viewing work of Lamar Advertising 

Company, which has grown to become one of 

the country’s largest outdoor advertising firms. 

❖ 

Above: The key leaders of Lamar 

Advertising (from left to right): Kevin 

Reilly, Sr., Jerry Marchand, Kevin 

Reilly, Jr., and Sean Reilly. 

Below: Lamar Advertising’s offices 



HIBERNIA BANK 

❖ 

Above: Hibernia Bank Regional 

Chairman Dan Hallmark. 

COURTESY AND © CLEM T. WEBB, 2002. 

Below: Hibernia Bank’s Beaumont 

headquarters on Park Street. 


Opposite, top: The seventy-fiveyear-old 

vault door to Safe Deposit 

was moved from the Orleans 

Building to Hibernia Bank’s Park 

Street headquarters. 


Opposite, bottom: The inscription on 

the wall at the Park Street 

headquarters reflects the bank’s 

focus—the past, present, and future. 


With the Lucas Gusher blowing in near the 

little sawmill town on January 10, 1901, 

Beaumont knew it had a permanent claim on 

this southeast corner of Texas. In the days 

following, thousands of sightseers and 

speculators began streaming in to find their 

fortune. Soon nine civic-minded businessmen 

saw the need for sound banking judgment and a 

need for leadership and counsel. 

Four months later, Hibernia’s predecessor, 

American National Bank, opened its doors to the 

newcomers with their newly acquired wealth. The 

bank occupied a one-story building on Crockett 

Street. Benjamin Rush Norvell came to The 

American National Bank as president on January 

1, 1902, and remained in that position for over a 

quarter century. Under his leadership the new 

bank grew rapidly yet soundly and expanded its 

usefulness to the community as the city grew. With 

the expansion came the need for a larger facility 

and the bank moved to the twelve-story American 

National Bank Building on Orleans. Keeping ahead 

of anticipated needs in the financial field, the 

flourishing bank built its present facility on the 

corner of Park and Bowie in 1961. 

Under the leadership of several capable and 

dynamic executives and directors, the bank 

maintained consistent growth throughout the 

century despite economic downturns and wars. 

The bank strengthened its financial capabilities 

in the 1970s, aligning itself with Texas 

Commerce Bancshares and Chase Manhattan. In 

1993 the bank acquired another financial leader 

in the city—the First City Bank of Beaumont, 

also established over 100 years ago. Opportunity 

came once again in 1999 for the bank to become 

a part of the well-established Hibernia National 

Bank. Today Hibernia has nine Southeast Texas 

banking offices in Beaumont, Orange, Vidor, and 

Bridge City. It is a leader in providing financial 

services in Southeast Texas and is the largest 

bank locally for personal and corporate trust 

services. It has long been successfully involved 

with the multi-million dollar rice production 

financing in the area, serving third- and fourthgeneration 

families. 

Southeast Texas Regional Chairman Dan 

Hallmark, who has been with the bank 37 years 

and at its helm for the past 14 years, along with 

a strong local board of directors, provides 

extraordinary leadership for the bank’s two 

hundred employees. The bank continues to 

play an important role in the day-to-day 

life of this area. Bank officers serve on 

more than fifty different boards of civic and 

charitable organizations across Southeast Texas; 

and employees contribute many volunteer 

hours in local schools, churches, and other 

charitable projects. 

Hibernia returns hundreds of thousands of 

dollars annually to the community, continuing a 

tradition of corporate participation established 

in the earliest days of this financial institution. 

In addition, the Trust Department administers 


several charitable foundations that have given in 

excess of $700,000 annually to nonprofit 

organizations in our area in recent years. 

Realizing that the success of the bank is 

linked directly to the prosperity of the 

community it serves, the bank stepped forward 

several years ago to commit over $150 million 

to small businesses and low-to-moderate 

income individuals. This program provided for 

mortgage, home improvement, small business, 

and community development loans. 

The bank has also been instrumental in 

revitalization of older neighborhoods, providing 

construction and permanent financing for 

affordable mortgages. At the forefront of these 

projects was revitalization of the Charlton-Pollard 

neighborhood that was in danger of losing its 

elementary school because of declining population 

of the area. The bank took a leadership role in this 

project that began in 1995. The bank’s partnership 

with the City of Beaumont, community 

development corporations, and other financial 

institutions ultimately led to over one hundred 

new affordable homes for low-to-moderate 

income citizens. 

More recently, Hibernia provided the lead 

support in the restoration of one of Beaumont’s 

historic landmarks–the elegant and stately Hotel 

Beaumont that opened in 1922, now serving as 

a retirement home. The bank also took a 

leadership role in the restoration of another 

historic edifice–the grand old Jefferson Theatre 

built in the same era. 

As in the beginning, the bank continues its 

leadership position in Southeast Texas in 

financial services and community involvement. 

Caring and serving—Hibernia’s focus—will 

ensure the bank’s well-kept tradition into this 

new century. 


❖ 

STRONG PIPKIN BISSELL & LEDYARD, L.L.P. 

Ewell Strong. 

Strong Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard, approaching 

its seventieth anniversary, enjoys a diverse, 

statewide legal practice from offices in Beaumont 

and Houston in civil trial law, including personal 

injury, products liability, toxic tort, and 

commercial litigation in state and federal trial and 

appellate courts. 

Beeman Strong, who was previously 

appointed by Governor Hobby as judge of the 

Commission of Appeals, came to Beaumont in 

1925 as general counsel of the Yount-Lee Oil 

Company. In 1935, when Yount-Lee Oil was 

sold to Stanolind Oil, he decided to start a firm 

with his son, Ewell Strong, and his friend, A. D. 

Moore. Strong Moore and Strong was formed in 

1935 with offices in the San Jacinto Building. 

They remained until 1950 when the entire 

building was leased to Sun Oil, and they were 

forced to move. They returned to the San Jacinto 

Building in 1962, where the firm has now occupied 

offices for a total of more than fifty-five years. 

The firm has experienced numerous 

partnership and name changes in its long history. 

Louis Nelson became a partner in 1947, and the 

firm became Strong Moore Strong & Nelson. 

Charles Pipkin, a Baptist minister’s son who 

received the Silver Star for bravery in World War 

I, opened a law office in Beaumont in 1923, 

served for a time as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern 

District of Texas, and then returned to private 

practice. In 1954 he joined the firm, which 

became Strong Moore Pipkin Strong & Nelson. 

During that era, the firm’s clients included First 

National Bank, U.S. Steel, Stanolind Oil, Missouri 

Pacific and Travelers, among others. 

During the 1960s and 1970s, the three original 

partners passed away. All had been active in civic 

and community service and professional 

associations and had held many prestigious 

positions in the community. Before Charles Pipkin 

died in 1989, he became the first recipient in 

Jefferson County of the Blackstone Award, awarded 

for unsurpassed legal ability, integrity, and courage. 

Other partnership changes during that era 

included the addition of Ken Parker (1968), Pike 

Powers, Jr. (1970), John Bissell (1975), and David 

Ledyard (1979). Powers withdrew from the firm 

in 1979, and the firm became Strong Pipkin 

Nelson Parker & Bissell. 

Ken Parker, forty-seven, died unexpectedly 

after a brief illness in 1982. The firm, which 

then had 14 attorneys, added two new partners, 

Michael Baker and Daniel Ducote. 

Representative clients in the early 1980’s 

included Ohmstede Machine Works, Texas 

Metal Works, Goodyear, The Port of Beaumont, 

Union Carbide, and Johns-Manville. 

The firm continued to grow and by the early 

1990s had twenty lawyers. Mike Bridwell, John 

Bridger, and Mark Rayburn became partners in 

1991. Greg Dykeman became a partner in 1993, 

and Julie Richardson became a partner in 1996. 

In 1997, John Bissell moved to Houston to 

establish the firm’s presence there and the name 

was changed to Strong Pipkin Nelson Bissell & 

Ledyard. The Houston office grew quickly. John 

Bridger joined Bissell there in 1998, and Michael 

Hendryx, a longtime name partner in another 

Houston firm, joined Strong Pipkin as a partner 

in 2001. 


In 2002, Louis Nelson, a noted trial and 

business lawyer, withdrew after sixty years with 

the firm, and the name was changed to Strong 

Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard, L.L.P. 

Today, with 27 lawyers and 50 support staff, 

the firm occupies four floors of the San Jacinto 

Building in Beaumont and one floor at 

ChevronTexaco Heritage Plaza in Houston. 

Representative clients include ChevronTexaco, 

Chevron Phillips Chemical, Cooper Industries, 

ExxonMobil, Illinois Tool Works, Lincoln 

Electric, Lubrizol, National Service Industries, 

Occidental Chemical, Sherwin Williams, Union 

Carbide, and Viacom. 

The firm has a heritage of leadership in the 

community and the bar. Six partners have served 

as president of the Bar Association, and six 

members have been president of the Young 

Lawyers Association. Several of its members have 

served on the Board of the Texas Young Lawyers 

Association and two have served in the ABA 

Young Lawyers Division. Seven of its lawyers have 

been named Jefferson County’s “Outstanding 

Young Lawyer.” The Texas Board of Legal 

Specialization today certifies most of its partners 

in their practice areas. The firm’s members have 

also served as officers and directors of countless 

civic and charitable organizations. 

Strong Pipkin’s tradition of service to clients, 

the community and the legal profession over the 

last sixty-seven years remains its focus as it 

enters the new millennium. 

❖ 

Top, left: Louis V. Nelson. 

Top, right: Charles S. Pipkin. 

Below: The partners of Strong Pipkin 

Bissell & Ledyard. Sitting (from left to 

right): John G. Bissell, Julie A. 

Richardson, and David W. Ledyard. 

Standing (from left to right): Greg M. 

Dykeman, Michael Hendryx, John W. 

Bridger, Mark D. Rayburn, Daniel C. 

Ducote, Michael T. Bridwell, and 

Michael L. Baker. 


LAMAR BANK 

❖ 

Above: The Lamar Bank branch at 

555 North Dowlen Road, became the 

main/home office branch in 1992. 

Below: The original Lamar Bank 

branch 3200 Avenue A became the 

Avenue A Branch when a branch was 

opened on North Dowlen Road. 

Local banks have more than one purpose, 

aside from earning profit for investors; local 

banks exist to serve the financial needs of 

communities, including individuals, businesses 

and industry. As lifestyles, populations, 

technology, regulations, markets, and financial 

demands have changed so have the missions of 

banks. Today, independent, locally owned 

consumer and commercial banks are becoming 

rarities. Lamar Bank is a rarity. After four decades 

of operation, Lamar Bank continues to emphasize 

its original mission of providing service through 

relationships, personal service, and community 

growth support. 

The history of Lamar Bank reflects customer 

and staff loyalty, area expansion, technical 

progress and sound management. While the 

majority of other banks and financial 

institutions have either merged or faltered 

during its time, Lamar Bank has grown steadily, 

and now renders financial service in Southeast 

Texas from six locations. 

Lamar State Bank first opened its doors for 

business on August 8, 1959 at 3200 Avenue A in 

Beaumont. Several local businessmen 

recognized a need for a bank in South Beaumont 

and gained a charter to establish an additional 

bank in the city. When Lamar State Bank 

opened, its competition consisted of two large 

national banks and one smaller state bank. L. 

Paul Tullos, a former president of First National 

Bank of Beaumont, was named president of 

Lamar State Bank. As this book is published, 

there are nine banks operating within 

Beaumont’s city limits; six are owned out of 

state. Also, with liberalization of governmental 

restrictions, some twenty credit unions, with 

bank facilities within the community, compete 

with Lamar Bank and other financial institutions 

for consumer business. From its beginning, 

home-owned Lamar Bank, goes forward with 

continued success, market focus and response 

to every customer. 

The bank’s first board of directors were all 

civic leaders in Beaumont. They set the bank’s 

expectations for the future and commitment to 

one-to-one consumer service. The board 

included a former mayor of Beaumont, Elmo 

Beard; South Park Independent School District 

Superintendent Joe Vincent; Beaumont 

Postmaster F. S. Braden, assistant to the president 

of Lamar College G. A. Wimberly; William Jack 

Tinkle, president and owner of Jack’s Hardware, 

Inc.; insurance and real estate developer Peter W. 

Maida; and L. Paul Tullos. 

In 1962 Richard Cobb succeeded Tullos as 

president of Lamar State Bank. Lonnie Weir who 

became president and CEO in 1966 and board 

chairman in 1986 followed him. As president 

and board chairman, Weir operated the bank 

with hands’ on managing skill and profitability 

for thirty-three years. During his tenure, in 

1983, Lamar Bancshares was founded as a 

holding company and the bank’s name was 

changed from Lamar State Bank to Lamar Bank. 

Ron Reed was appointed president and 

subsequently CEO in 1999. Lonnie Weir still 

maintains the position of chairman of the board. 

Responding to changing demographics, 

Lamar Bank opened a second location and new 


facility in the west-end of Beaumont at 555 

North Dowlen Road in 1992. The Dowlen Road 

Branch was designated as the bank’s home and 

main office in 1996. Targeting the Hardin 

County market, a third location in Beaumont 

was opened in Parkdale Village on Eastex 

Freeway in 2000. A full service branch in 

Vidor was added in 2001 to serve Orange 

County customers. Also, with an emphasis on 

mortgage and construction loans, Lamar Bank 

opened service offices in College Station and 

Conroe, Texas. 

Lamar Bank is well known for its financial 

service to individuals, families and small 

businesses. With the turn of the century, the bank 

has marked the commercial and small industry 

banking market for increased Lamar Bank 

opportunities and growth. The bank’s concept of 

customer/bank personal relationships along with 

seasoned loan officers, rate incentives and 

heightened banking communication technology 

is broadening Lamar Bank’s market goals. 

With total assets exceeding $100 million and 

remarkable staff longevity, Lamar Bank is still 

the friendly bank on the corner. Customers can 

be sure it keeps up with progress, such as 

offering a wide scope of checking, saving and 

loan options, liberal banking hours, ATMs, and 

Internet banking. 

The directors are still civic leaders; they are: 

Lonnie C. Weir; Ron Reed, president and CEO; 

Joseph Tortorice, Jr., president, Jason’s Deli 

Corporation; J. Hoke Peacock II, Sr. partner, 

Orgain, Bell & Tucker; Gene A. VanMeter, 

president, Gold Crest Electric Company, Inc.; 

W. R. “Bob” Miller, past executive vice president, 

Exell, Inc.; Will Tinkle, past president Jack’s 

Hardware/Builders; John A. Raney, Jr., past senior 

vice president, Lamar Bank; Carlo Busceme, Jr., 

past president, Texas Coffee Company; and Carl 

Peter Johnsen, owner & president, Carl Johnsen 

Florists, Inc. 

❖ 

Above: In 1969, Lonnie Weir (center), 

president of Lamar State Bank, greets 

visitors to a customer open house. 

Below: Newly elected Lamar Bank 

President Richard Cobb welcomes 

Beaumont Mayor Jack Moore to 

celebrate an open house of Lamar 

Bank, c. 1962. 


THE LAW OFFICES OF GILBERT T. ADAMS, P.C. 

We are a third generation professional 

association of trial lawyers whose concerns 

and reputations are distinguished by excellence 

and compassion. We recognize that our 

clients usually come to us after they have been 

intentionally or negligently wronged. 

Sometimes the wrong is an unethical or 

fraudulent commercial activity by which an 

individual or corporation has taken unfair 

advantage of our client. Typically, the wrong 

is a serious or catastrophic personal injury 

or death with enormous personal and financial 

loss. We provide experience with an unwavering 

sense of right and wrong fortified with superior 

legal experience enabling us to bring justice 

against any company or person in the world. The 

Law Firm of Gilbert T. Adams, P.C. stands 

committed to just resolutions so that our clients 

receive the maximum result to which they are 

legally entitled. 

Our attorneys are sought-after speakers, 

authors, and teachers of trial advocacy and 

bar leaders. First and foremost, however, to 

each attorney’s professional life is the honorable 

and successful representation of those who have 

entrusted their rights to our care. 

The firm traces its roots to 1930, when 

Gilbert T. Adams returned to his hometown 

to establish his law practice in Beaumont. 

Adams was a trial lawyer and prominent 

legal figure throughout Texas for more 

than fifty years. He also was an international 

leader in securing and persevering human 

rights. He inspired and mentored many 

young lawyers, a number of whom joined 

him in the practice of law. Until his 

death in 1984 he was a state and national 

leader of the Bar by virtue of his trial 

and appellate advocacy, his vital leadership 

of the Jefferson County Bar Association, 

the Texas Bar, the Texas Trial Lawyers 

Association, the International Academy of Trial 

Lawyers, the Supreme Court Advisory 

Committee, and his work as a founder of the 

Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the 

world’s largest association of trial lawyers. 

Upon graduating and receiving his Juris 

Doctor degree and his law license in 1968, 

Gilbert T. Adams, Jr., returned to Beaumont to 

join his father’s thriving practice. Since that 

time Adams has litigated numerous personal 


injury and commercial tort cases with 

multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements, thus 

causing him to be recognized by his peers as 

president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, 

president of the Southeast Texas Trial Lawyers 

Association, member of the board of governors 

and executive committee of the Association of Trial 

Lawyers of America, member of the Supreme 

Court Advisory Committee, Advocate, American 

Board of Trial Advocates, and many other 

professional and community activities. 

Gilbert T. Adams III earned his bachelor of 

arts degree from Baylor University in 1992 and 

a Juris Doctor degree in 1994 from Baylor 

University School of Law. 

Upon receiving his law license, he returned 

to Beaumont to join the firm. He quickly 

distinguished himself in litigating numerous 

substantial personal injury cases with 

multimillion-dollar results, thus causing 

him to be recognized by his peers in the 

Million-Dollar Advocates Forum, vice president 

of the Southeast Texas Trial Lawyers 

Association, member of the board of directors 

of the Texas Trial Lawyer Associates and 

frequent lecturer of trial advocacy across 

the nation. 

Each personal injury and wrongful death 

case that our firm accepts involves extensive and 

detailed research. Our reputation for excellence 

and compassion is the result of dedicated 

accomplishments on behalf of our clients for 

more than seventy years. 

❖ 

Opposite: Gilbert T. Adams, Sr. 

Above: Gilbert T. Adams, Jr. 

Left: Gilbert T. Adams III. 


COLDWELL 

BANKER 

SOUTHERN 

HOMES 

❖ 

Sam and Ann Scoggin, current owners 

of Coldwell Banker Southern Homes. 

Tom C. Hare, a former musician and fireman, 

had worked for four years as a real estate agent 

when he and his wife, Kay, sat at their kitchen table 

and planned to open their own real estate company. 

In 1974, Tom C. Hare Company was 

established, with Tom, Kay and two agents working 

from Beaumont’s State Farm Building. In 1977 Tom 

became a Red Carpet franchise and continued 

adding quality agents. In 1978 he merged with Bob 

Burns, owner of Burns Real Estate & Management 

Company, becoming Hare & Burns Inc. They built 

offices at 290 Dowlen Road, the current location of 

Coldwell Banker Southern Homes. Later B. 

Osborne, an appraiser, moved his office to their 

new location and they formed three individual 

proprietorships: Tom Hare owned Hare, Burns & 

Osborne Real Estate (HBO)–Residential; Bob Burns 

owned HBO–Commercial, and B. Osborne owned 

HBO–Appraisal. 

In the early 1980s, despite interest rates 

soaring to sixteen percent, a market downturn 

and an energy crisis, HBO–Residential continued 

to grow, consistently earning “Top Producer” 

status from Red Carpet in the Beaumont area. 

HBO became a leader in the Beaumont real estate 

market during this period. Tom, who excelled in 

training and management, trained many agents 

who are still active today. Both Tom and Kay 


served terms as president of the Beaumont Board 

of Realtors, and Kay chaired every committee 

from Membership to Hospitality. Committed to 

community service, they were also involved in 

many charitable organizations and events, served 

in Rotary and Leadership Beaumont, as well as 

participating in the “Clean Community” project. 

The business continued to expand and evolve in 

the 1990s, and they opened an office on Merriman 

Street in Mid-County to serve the Nederland, Port 

Arthur, Port Neches and Groves communities. 

Then in 1992 business entrepreneur Sam Scoggin 

bought the residential real estate business from 

Tom Hare and changed the company name to HBO 

Southern Homes. Sam’s wife, Ann Scoggin, joined 

him in the business, received the Sales Person of 

the Year honors in 1998 and is the 2003 President- 

Elect of the Beaumont Board of Realtors. 

In 1996 Eddie Stockton joined his company, 

Stockton Real Estate, with Southern Homes, 

increasing the number of agents to over twenty. 

Stockton was licensed by the State of Texas in 1988 

to teach Real Estate Education courses, thereby 

enhancing the training Southern Homes agents 

received. Eddie had also served as president of the 

Beaumont Board of Realtors, was Salesman of the 

Year in 1984, and Realtor of the Year in 1990. He 

was also the first male to be president of a Women’s 

Council of Realtors chapter in Texas, and the 

second man in the nation to hold this position. 

During the 1990s Southern Homes became 

affiliated with the National Relocation Company 

Homequity. Through mergers and acquisitions, 

Homequity became PHH, and is currently 

Cendant Mobility, the largest relocation company 

in the country. Their corporate clients include 

many of the Beaumont area’s top employers. 

With the explosion of technology and 

computerization in the 1990s, Southern Homes 

began utilizing many innovative and 

groundbreaking techniques to market properties. 

These included a weekly television home show 

featuring their properties and the development of 

a web page, www.cbsouthernhomes.com. In 

2000 they began to use virtual tours on their web 

site to market their properties. 

The company converted to a Coldwell Banker 

franchise in 2000, elevating their local company 

to one of national status. Their rapid achievement 

of Coldwell Banker’s “Premiere Office” status in 

2000 and 2001 indicates that the office’s founding 

principle of hard work and quality service 

remains firmly in place. National advertising, 

award-winning websites, international office 

locations, and over 75,000 network agents 

combine to continue placement of Coldwell 

Banker Southern Homes at the top of the market. 

The Coldwell Banker Southern Homes family 

has grown to more than fifty sales associates to 

serve our communities. The agents also serve the 

community from the local soccer fields, Ballet 

and Symphony Boards, and CASA, as well as the 

March of Dimes national Walk-America 

fundraising event. First and foremost, our 

commitment is to serve the people of Beaumont 

with excellence and professionalism. 

❖ 

Left: Eddie Stockton. 

Right: Tom C. Hare. 


LOVOI & SONS 

PHARMACIES, 

INC. 

❖ 

Above: Jasper Lovoi, Sr., in the Lovoi 

Drug Store at 1000 Buford in 

Beaumont, 1932. 

Below: John Lovoi and Jasper Lovoi, Jr. 

After receiving his pharmacy degree from the 

University of Texas at Austin, Jasper Lovoi Sr., a 

native of Beaumont, worked for a year or so 

with a local pharmacy in his hometown. In 

1932 he decided to go in business for himself, 

and opened Lovoi Drug Store, a compounding 

pharmacy, at 1000 Buford. In addition to filling 

prescriptions and selling over-the-counter 

medications, the store also stocked a supply of 

dry goods, groceries and liquor, as well as 

offering delivery service. 

In 1934, Lovoi married Rosalie Romano, who 

was born in Orange, Texas. Rosalie worked with 

her husband in the store until their eldest child 

joined the pharmacy in 1959. The family lived 

upstairs, and “Doc” Lovoi was available twentyfour/seven. 

To obtain service at any hour, 

customers just had to ring the bell. 

The timing of Lovoi’s decision to start his own 

business could hardly have been worse in terms 

of the national economy. The United States was 

still in the throes of the Great Depression. To 

meet this challenge, Lovoi extended credit to 

those who needed it, accepted whatever payment 

others could afford, and even engaged in barter 

with customers who needed to pay for their 

medications and other purchases in that manner. 

The daily sales journal he kept from 1935-1941 

includes wonderful notes about the times and the 

pharmacy’s operation. 

The three “Lovoi Brothers” (or Lovoi Sons, 

depending on the context) followed in their 

father’s professional footsteps, all becoming 

pharmacists. In 1962 the family opened a 

second pharmacy, as well as acquiring another 

delivery vehicle. Sales clerks and bookkeepers 

were also added to the staff for the two 

pharmacies. In the 1970s, computers were 

added to the inventory. 

The Buford store was combined with the 

Fannin store in 1972, a move designed to allow 


Jasper Lovoi Sr. to reduce the number of hours 

he worked, though he remained a vital part of 

the pharmacies until his death in 1980. 

John Lovoi is president of Lovoi & Sons 

Pharmacy, an office he assumed after the death of 

his father, Jasper Lovoi, Sr. in 1980. The remaining 

two brothers, John and Jasper, Jr., still operate the 

pharmacy, along Jasper Lovoi III, who, in May 

2002, became the third generation to join the ranks 

of the family pharmacists, and who is an integral 

part of the compounding area of the pharmacy. 

The Lovoi family came to Beaumont in 1903, 

before the birth of Jasper Lovoi, Sr. With his 

personal commitment to the area, along with a 

record of over seventy years in a family-ownedand-operated 

business, Lovoi & Sons Pharmacies 

is a dedicated supporter of a number of nonprofit 

groups of Southeast Texas. Among the 

organizations it assists are Spindletop Soccer, 

CASA, local church groups and Catholic Charities. 

This family pharmacy, which continues today 

to be a place of “camaraderie,” is the setting for 

a host of wonderful memories, with each day 

bringing a new story. Lovoi & Sons Pharmacies 

prides itself on being a place where customers 

can be confident their needs are met, with the 

assurance that Jasper Lovoi, Sr.’s dedication to 

serving others is instilled in his family. 

The mission of the business continues to 

follow the tenets of Jasper, Sr. followed: “To offer 

the best personal medical service to the people 

of Beaumont,” with that mission now extending 

to include the entire Southeast Texas area. 

Located at 3480 Fannin in Beaumont, 

Lovoi & Sons Pharmacies is staffed by three 

pharmacists, two technicians, two sales persons, 

two delivery drivers and a bookkeeper. This 

business, which has become one of the largest 

“independent” pharmacies between Houston 

and New Orleans, takes great pride in both its 

history and its future of service. 

❖ 

Above: Jasper Lovoi, Jr., John Lovoi, 

and Jasper Lovoi III, 2002. 

Below: Jasper Lovoi, Jr., and 

John Lovoi. 


BEAUMONT 

CONVENTION & 

VISITORS 

BUREAU 

❖ 

Above: Crockett Street Dining and 

Entertainment District. 

Below: Gladys City Boomtown pays 

tribute to the gusher that started it all, 

Spindletop! Gladys City is a full-scale 

replica boomtown complete with 

authentic clapboard buildings, 

artifacts and a Spindletop gusher that 

blows water just like the original 

Lucas Gusher in 1901. 

With a mission of enticing visitors, the 

Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau was 

founded in April of 1971. Organized by the 

Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, the 

Convention and Visitors Bureau was financed by 

the City of Beaumont hotel occupancy tax, and 

began operations with a modest budget and 

a two-member staff—an executive director and 

a secretary. 

George Eaton was hired as the bureau’s first 

executive director, and Bill Kimbrough served as 

chairman of the board that served as its policymaking 

arm. Even in its earliest days, the bureau’s 

operations attracted visitors—and therefore 

revenue—to Beaumont. Tangible recognition of 

the value of these efforts came in 1979 with 

construction of the Beaumont Civic Center. The 

facility was designed to serve as a site for trade 

shows, concerts and conventions of all kinds and 

bring visitors to utilize Beaumont’s hotels and 

restaurants and shop in the city’s stores. 

In October of 1986, the Convention and 

Visitors Bureau became a department of the City 

of Beaumont, with Tim Hemphill hired in 

November of that year as the first director under 

city leadership. In the 1980s and early 1990s, 

the bureau adopted the slogan, “Museum 

Capital of Texas.” This was followed in the 

1990s by the slogan, “The Right Side of Texas.” 

As an official part of municipal government, the 

bureau operates in offices at Beaumont City 

Hall. A Visitor Center is located in the Babe 

Didrickson Zaharias Museum. 

The years have brought tremendous growth 

to the organization, which now operates with a 

staff of eight full-time and five part-time 

employees. Jef Russell III served as executive 

director from September of 1988 through April 

of 2000, to rank as the longest-serving executive 

in the organization’s history. Debbie Borel, the 

first woman to serve as executive, began work 

there in March of 1990 and was appointed 

director in July of 2000. The first year’s budget of 

$47,000 increased to $903,500 budgeted for 

fiscal year 2002. 

In addition to operating a website at 

www.beaumontcvb.com for the convenience of 

prospective visitors from throughout the world, 

the bureau can be reached by telephone at 

409-880-3749 or 800-392-4401, and by fax at 

409-880-3750. 


AMERICAN 

REAL ESTATE 

CORPORATION 

A comprehensive commercial and residential 

real estate company, American Real Estate 

Corporation has a history of over 52 years of 

outstanding service to Beaumont and Southeast 

Texas. Sixty full-time agents, operating from 

three offices located in Beaumont, Lumberton 

and Nederland, offer a full range of real estate 

and relocation services, including: 

• Residential sales and leasing: The Residential 

Department, with its large, meticulously 

selected and highly trained staff, provides 

outstanding service from the initial property 

price evaluation through marketing efforts to 

professional assistance at closing. Marketing 

techniques include sophisticated advertising, 

cooperation with co-brokers through 

membership in all area multiple listing 

services, and specialized knowledge of basic 

to technical financial packages. 

• Commercial sales and leasing: American Real 

Estate is expert at bringing together prospective 

tenants and owners, and at matching developers 

with sound investment opportunities. The 

company’s Commercial Sales and Leasing 

Department locates and places on the market 

land suitable for development into residential 

subdivisions, office buildings, apartment 

communities, shopping centers, warehouses, 

and industrial uses. This department also 

specializes in Farm and Ranch properties and 

development of raw land. 

• Property management: Under the direction 

of a Certified Property Manager, American 

Real Estate professionals offer the full 

spectrum of management services to owners 

and residents of highly successful apartment 

units, as well as numerous office buildings 

and single-family residences. 

• Corporate and Personal Relocation: Staffed by 

full-time relocation specialists, the Corporate 

Relocation Department of American Real 

Estate was specifically designed to organize, 

administer and assist in all details of a move 

in or out of our area. American Real Estate is 

an affiliate company of the International 

RELO Network Services, the premier referral 

network for independent brokers. 

• Mortgage Service: American Superior Mortgage 

has the largest selection of products: FHA, 

VA, Conventional, Stated Income, No Documentation, 

Interim, Sub-Prime, and a wide 

variety of adjustable rate mortgage products. 

American Superior offers a No-Appraisal option 

as well as No Ratio loan products. 

• American Real Estate is affiliated with the 

National and Texas Associations of Realtors 

and all boards of realtors and multiple listing 

services in Southeast Texas. The Company is 

also affiliated with The Realtors National 

Marketing Institute, The Real Estate Brokerage 

Managers Council, the Institute of Real Estate 

Management and the National, Texas and 

Southeast Texas apartment associations. 

Bill Christian, president; Yvonne Ritter, executive 

vice president; and Lou Huber, secretary/treasurer, 

lead American Real Estate. 

❖ 

Left: Bill Christian, president of 

American Real Estate Corporation. 

Right: Yvonne Ritter, executive 

vice president of American Real 

Estate Corporation. 


❖ 

HOWELL 

FURNITURE 

GALLERIES, 

INC. 

Above: Howell Furniture Galleries, 

Inc. founder Thurman Witt, 

1916-2002. 

Below: The Howell Furniture 

Galleries Beaumont store remains at 

its original location at 2070 Gulf 

Street in Beaumont. 

A retail furniture store that specializes in 

quality home furnishings and accessories at 

affordable prices, Howell Furniture Galleries, Inc. 

was founded in Beaumont in 1959. Originally 

located in an old Baptist church that is still part of 

the existing building, the business has maintained 

a steady double-digit growth every year for the 

past twenty years, and has now expanded into 

several other markets. 

Howell’s objective is to provide well-crafted 

merchandise from reputable name brand 

manufacturers whose products display a 

commitment to quality. At Howell’s Furniture 

Galleries focus is on staying abreast of new trends 

in home furnishings with regard to color, fabrics 

and style. Howell’s has earned a reputation for 

providing “high style” furniture at the most 

affordable prices available. 

Our mission statement includes a companywide 

commitment to customer satisfaction. 

Howell’s has been fortunate in maintaining a loyal 

customer base due to this philosophy. 

Our goal is to provide our employees with 

ongoing training and support to achieve both 

personal and professional growth. We will 

continue to grow as a vibrant profitable 

community partner for the betterment of our 

customers and our employees. 

Four of Witt’s descendants are part owners of 

the business. His daughter, Carol Brantley, also 

owns Broyhill Gallery; his son, Jeff Witt, works 

outside the company as sales representative for a 

major furniture manufacturer; grandson, Wade 

Witt, is general manager of the Lake Charles, 

Louisiana store; and granddaughter, Shawn 

Hanley, is advertising director for all stores. 

Tom Schwaab, who began working with the 

company in Baton Rouge in 1980, became the 

company president in 1984, when he moved to 

the Beaumont location. John James, who began 

with Howell’s in 1984 as a floor designer, moved 

to sales manager in 1988 and to general manager 

at Beaumont in 1999. 

Howell’s added galleries in San Antonio (1991), 

Lake Charles (1998) and Hammond, Louisiana, 

(2000), and now employs over 175 persons. The 

Beaumont site has 80 employees, over 60,000- 

square feet of retail space with an additional 

42,000-square feet of warehouse space at this time, 

with plans to add more galleries there. 

Howell’s contributes to numerous charities and 

community projects, including American Cancer 

Society, MDA, Children’s Miracle Network, SE 

Texas Food Bank, Garth House, Triangle Aids 

Network, local schools and others. Its biggest 

project, however, is its annual “Families in Need” 

furniture giveaway. Each Christmas season, the 

company delivers furniture to about 25-30 needy 

families. With local media cooperation, Howell’s 

solicits letters about needy families, with an outside 

panel of judges helping choose the recipients. 

The company’s owners and employees continue 

their mission of establishing long-term 

partnerships with every customer, through a 

professional, family environment, a level of service 

exceeding expectations, and a commitment of 

giving back to the communities that have made 

Howell’s so successful. 

For more information about Howell Furniture 

Galleries, please visit www.howellfurniture.com. 


KELLEY-WATKINS 

FUNERAL HOME 

With a history of more than one hundred years, 

the Kelley-Watkins Funeral Home continues as a 

family-owned and operated business. 

John F. Pipkin founded the business in 1901, 

under the name of Pipkin Funeral Home. When 

Ed Brulin purchased an interest in the business 

around 1910-1920, it was renamed Pipkin- 

Brulin Funeral Home. Another name was added 

later, to become Pipkin-Brulin & Myers Funeral 

Home, following Jack Myers’ purchase of an 

interest in the business, which was then located 

at 260 Broadway in Beaumont. 

J. D. Roberts, who had been manager of the 

old Broussard, Taylor and Davant Undertaking 

Company from 1918-1922, bought that business 

in 1922 and changed its name to Roberts 

Undertaking Company. He purchased the old 

William Fletcher home, a Beaumont landmark 

that had been moved from its original site to the 

corner of Pearl and North and converted to 

apartments. Roberts had this building remodeled 

and converted to use as the home of Roberts 

Undertaking Company. 

Charles S. Kelley, who was associated with J. E. 

Hixson & Sons Funeral Home in Lake Charles, 

Louisiana, was made a partner with the Hixsons 

in the purchase of Roberts Undertaking Company 

in June of 1949. Pipkin-Brulin & Myers Funeral 

Home was purchased by this new management 

the following year, and was operated from the 

Roberts location under the name of Roberts and 

Pipkin-Brulin Funeral Home. 

On February 16, 1957, a new facility—the 

largest in Southeast Texas, both then and now— 

was opened on Eleventh Street at Gladys. The 

name “Kelley-Hixson Funeral” Home replaced that 

of Roberts and Pipkin-Brulin for the next twentyeight 

years, even though Kelley had purchased the 

Hixsons’ part of the business in 1965. 

Doris and Charles Kelley retired in May of 

1991, after forty-two years in the business. 

Frank Watkins, who had begun his career in 

funeral service in 1967, and his wife, Dorendia, 

purchased the business, continuing the familyowned 

and operated tradition with the same 

ideals and ethics in effect there since 1901. 


CONNOR 

PLUMBING, INC. 

❖ 

Below: Connor Plumbing Store from 

1951 to 1971, when the building was 

demolished and the current store was 

built at the site. 

Bottom: A Connor Plumbing service 

truck from the late 1950s. 

In 1908, just seven years after the Spindletop 

gusher blew in, Emile Conrad Krimmel, Sr., 

founded Krimmel Plumbing. In the company’s 

earliest days, Krimmel rode from job to job on a 

bicycle with a toolbox on the back. The 

company’s mission, then as now, was to provide 

prompt solutions to plumbing problems at a 

price that was fair to both the customer and 

the company. 

Krimmel’s daughter, Maurine Krimmel 

Connor, whose son, Michael G. Connor, Sr., is 

now the owner and president, told her children 

several stories about the company’s early days, 

including a story reminiscent of the tale of the 

shoemaker who failed to provide shoes for his 

own children. 

“Back in the 1920s or so, my grandmother 

grew tired of asking my grandfather to fix a 

running toilet,” Connor says. “She hired a 

competitor to come to the house and fix it.” 

The story evokes a mental image of 

neighbors’ reaction to seeing a competitor’s 

truck in front of the house—and of the 

Krimmel’s chagrin at his feisty wife’s solution. 

Connor’s father, Jim, who had worked in the 

business prior to World War II, purchased it 

after the war. Company projects during 

that period included the plumbing for 

Shadowlawn and Hollywood Village, 

two of Beaumont’s first post-war public 

housing projects. The name of the 

business was changed in the 1950s to 

Jim Connor Plumbing. When Mike, Sr., 

took over after his father’s retirement, it 

became Connor Plumbing, Inc. 

From the 1950s through the 1980s, 

Connor installed plumbing in many 

major building projects, including 

Beaumont’s original Holiday and 

Ramada Inns, Austin and Odom Middle 

Schools, Lucas Elementary, Forest 

Park High, and Bishop Byrne High in 

Port Arthur. 

Now located at 1109 Liberty, Connor 

Plumbing’s earliest address was said 

to have been the Kyle Theater Building, 

followed by 921 Liberty and 983 

Liberty addresses. 

The company’s service manager, 

Michael Connor, Jr., joined the firm in 

1992, after receiving his business degree 

from Lamar University. He now oversees 

much of Connor Plumbing’s day-to-day 

operation. The company’s five plumbers, 

two helpers, and three-person office 

staff continue to offer prompt plumbing 

solutions at fair prices. They can be 

reached by phone at 409-838-6433, by 

fax at 409-838-4637, or by e-mail at 

connorinc@sbcglobal.net. 

Connor Plumbing is active in the 

community, assisting such charitable 

groups as Habitat for Humanity and 

Some Other Place. 


INTERNATIONAL 

CURRENCY, 

L.L.C. 

A direct marketer specializing in collectible 

rare coins and other similar products, 

International Currency, L.L.C. of Beaumont 

markets to a national audience. Through 

professional account executives, the company 

builds personal relationships with customers, 

and services accounts via telephone and mail. 

The company’s goal is to become the leading 

authority and premier dealer of the world’s 

finest coins, specializing in the highest grades. It 

offers one-on-one, long-term relationships with 

customers and guarantees the quality of both 

their coins and service. 

Rare coin collecting is enjoyed by millions of 

people worldwide. This hobby enhances 

understanding of the political, economic and 

social atmosphere of the time represented by each 

coin. The story behind the coin is often as 

fascinating as the object itself. Available for any 

budget, rare coins can be collected from certain 

eras, denominations, or by specific designs. Some 

collect only gold coins, others silver, and some 

platinum. The cost of the coins can be a few dollars 

or a few million. 

Jeff Knight and Kenny Vaughan, both longtime 

Beaumont residents, founded International 

Currency in August of 1993. Dan Varella, later 

added as a partner, left the firm in 2000 to work 

full-time in a Christian-based ministry. 

In its nine-year history, the company has 

grown from a two-man operation to twenty-two. 

Key employees include Brandon Bowman, sales 

manager; Gabe Vaughan, current “Salesman of 

the Year”; Jim Pomirko; Billy Sticker; Toby 

Adkins; Jeromy Jenkins; Ryan Hamilton; Jerrith 

Stoute; Chip McManus; Richard Morris; Chuck 

Restelle; Katie Arceneaux; Adrienne Holden; 

Jason McLemore; Dale Baird; Sheah Bodle; Rachel 

Sheppard; Melissa Johnson; Amber Thompson; 

and Jenny Arceneaux. “The Lord has blessed us 

with some very special people” says Knight. “I 

could fill this book with words of admiration 

and thanks for everyone in our company.” 

International Currency is a Christian company 

operated in accordance with God’s Word. 

Vaughan, Knight, and their families are active in 

their church, Fletcher Emanuel in Lumberton. 

The company helps support several charities, 

including Lions Club fundraisers, such as 

eyeglasses for underprivileged children and 

summer camp for diabetic children; Sertoma 

Club, Toys for Tots, MDA, the American Heart 

Association, Special Olympics, and others. 

❖ 

Above: Employees of International 

Currency in 2002. 

COURTESY OF BRENT CHRISTOPHER PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Below: Various gold coins. 


MARKET 

BASKET 

FOOD 

STORES 

❖ 

Right: Alletta, Bruce, Skylar 

Thompson and Caira Thompson 

Franz, 2002. 

Below: A photograph with Bruce 

and Alletta Thompson with children, 

Skylar Thompson and Caira 

Thompson Franz in 1962 taken in 

front of the original Market Basket 

store, Bruce’s in Groves, Texas. 

Signs were hand-painted by 

Alletta Thompson. 

In 1962 Bruce and Alletta Thompson opened 

what was to be the beginning of the Market 

Basket supermarket chain. With their life’s 

savings and borrowed money they could obtain, 

Bruce’s in Groves became their first store. Later 

that year, four other independent grocers, 

Johnnie Alford, Ed Hughes, Howard Hatfield 

and Roy Theriot joined Bruce Thompson to 

form Market Basket to keep advertising costs 

low and pool their purchasing power. Each 

retained his own store, and later Thompson and 

Hughes formed a corporation to grow and 

expand Market Basket, which they did together 

for twenty years. 

In 1983 the Thompsons purchased Hughes’ 

interest in their joint venture, continuing to build 

new stores and reinvesting in existing stores, 

adding modern equipment and technology. 

Today it is a corporation of 33 Market Basket 

and 4 Lucky Seven stores, located in Southeast 

Texas and Louisiana. There are nine stores in 

Beaumont. The corporation employs over 2,100 

associates, with 23 of the stores having bakeries 

and delis, 14 with floral departments and six 

with pharmacies. 

Bruce Thompson is chairman of the board and 

chief executive officer; Alletta is corporate 

secretary-treasurer; their son, Skylar Thompson, 

is president and chief operating officer; and 

daughter, Caira Franz, directs the company’s 

public relations and corporate communications. 

Over the years, the Thompsons have held a 

philanthropic place in the many communities in 

which they operate stores, continuously 

contributing time, energy and money to these 

communities. From the American Cancer 

Society to YMBL, the list of organizations, 

agencies and individuals grows each week, and 

people’s lives and cities have been helped in 

countless ways. 

Market Basket associates are brought up in a 

corporate culture that fosters team building and 

personal achievement. Hundreds of store 

associates continue to earn college degrees 

because of their part-time jobs and 

understanding schedules. Some stayed with the 

company and now manage stores, work in the 

corporate office, and lead new associates in the 

Market Basket tradition of community service. 

Exemplary citizens Bruce and Skylar are past 

recipients of the Boy Scout’s Good Citizenship 

Award, Texas Retail Grocer of the Year Award, 

and in 1999, Skylar was honored with the 

National Grocers Association’s Spirit of America 

Award. They have both served in years past as 

president of the Texas Food Industry Association. 


Frank J. Zummo organized Zummo Meat 

Packers in Beaumont in 1908, occupying part 

of the Tolivar Cold Storage building. After 

fire destroyed the building in 1919, the 

company moved to College and Trinity, and 

in 1924 opened a branch at Port Arthur’s 

city abattoir. 

The Zummo Packing Company plant 

was built in 1925 on Beaumont’s Port Arthur 

Road. In 1932 Zummo’s moved to the Beaumont 

city abattoir, which it bought in 1948. 

Remodeling and addition of a smokehouse, 

sausage room and sales room in 1952, followed 

in 1960 by complete remodeling and 

renovation, brought the facilities to its present 

size of approximately twenty-six thousand 

square feet of manufacturing and refrigerated 

warehouse space. 

The Great Depression, followed by World 

War II meat rationing, almost led to Zummo’s 

closing. Credit was hard to come by, but 

Zummo’s allowed customers to charge their 

meat and pay when they could. The company 

hung on, and grateful customers remembered, 

continuing to buy Zummo’s meat. 

The slaughtering operations closed in the 

early 1990s to concentrate on the smoked 

sausage business. The company began making 

Cajun-style Boudain in 1995. Noted for its 

unique seasoning and grind of the meat, as well 

as its consistency, Zummo’s sausage, has been 

modified to please the tastes of Gulf Coast 

residents. 

Now in its third generation of management, 

the company is led by the founder’s grandsons, 

Frank S. Zummo, president/plant manager; 

Greg J. Zummo, vice president/production 

supervisor; and Mark G. Zummo, secretarytreasurer/packaging-shipping 

supervisor. All 

three are grateful for the contributions of prior 

generations of employees and family members, 

and are committed to continue providing 

quality products and service in an attempt to 

repay these contributions. 

Much of Zummo’s success is due to its 60 

loyal, hard-working employees–many with 20 

years’ service–who consistently manufacture a 

full line of top quality smoked sausage and 

Cajun-style Boudain. Weekly production 

averages 80,000 pounds of 15 types of smoked 

sausage, with a maximum capacity of 120,000 

pounds; and 50,000 pounds of Boudain (pork, 

crawfish and shrimp) and rice dressing, with 

a maximum capacity of 60,000 pounds. 

Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas supermarkets 

are Zummo’s primary outlet for sales of $8 

million annually. 

The company’s goal is to become a nationally 

recognized brand name for smoked sausage 

and Boudain. 

ZUMMO MEAT 

COMPANY, INC. 

❖ 

Above: Cajun-style Boudain has been 

certified heart-healthy by the Heart 

Institute at St. Elizabeth Hospital. 

Below: Zummo’s Party Time Sausage 

has been modified to please the tastes 

of Gulf Coast residents. 


BANK ONE 

❖ 

Above: Employees from all Bank One 

branches participated in the Spring 

Clean-Up by painting the house in the 

background. 

Below: The celebration at Beaumont 

Country Club marking the purchase 

of Texas Bank of Beaumont by 

Southwest Bancshares. Present were 

(from left to right) Ben Rogers, 

chairman of Parkdale Bank; John C. 

Cater, chairman and CEO of 

Southwest Bancshares; and Jim 

Gunter, executive vice president of 

Texas Bank of Beaumont. 

With a mission of delivering exceptional 

results through exceptional people, Bank One, 

N.A. now operates six locations in the Golden 

Triangle. The original location in Beaumont was 

Texas Bank of Beaumont, at the corner of what 

is now Dowlen and Phelan. Mayor Ken Ritter 

cut the ribbon for the bank, which was officially 

chartered March 15, 1971. Original drawings of 

the bank show dirt roads where major 

thoroughfares now exist. Jack G. Folmer of 

Aviation Office of America, the original owner, 

sold the bank in the mid-1970s to Gerald C. 

Clark and Jim Austin. The building has 

undergone several transformations and once 

included a retail men’s store and a barbershop 

until growth necessitated the conversion of the 

retail space for use by the Texas Bank staff. 

Board members included a diverse group of 

businessmen, including Donald Gaus, a rice 

farmer; Tom Wallace, a funeral director; Howard 

Nichols, a developer/contractor; and Neil G. 

Breen, a restaurateur, and others. 

In 1981 the bank was sold to Southwest 

Bancshares, and like many other financial 

institutions during the 1980s, went through 

several name changes before being bought by 

Bank One in 1989. 

The purchase of the Parkdale Bank in 1994 

from the Rogers Brothers, with its locations— 

Parkdale Mall and the branch on Washington 

Street—brought Bank One’s locations in the 

Golden Triangle to six. Charles S. Ege III, who 

started with Texas Bank of Beaumont in 1981, 

now serves as president for all Bank One 

branches in Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange. 

The bank and its employees have participated 

in and support a wide variety of community 

organizations and projects, including the 

American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life; March 

of Dimes’ Walkathon; United Way; Bank One’s 

program, The Spirit of Christmas, benefiting 

Child Protective Services; and various food 

drives. The employees serve on numerous civic 

and charitable boards and associations. 

Bank One Corporation is the nation’s sixth 

largest bank holding company, with assets of $270 

billion. It currently serves 53 million credit card 

customers, 7.1 million consumer households, 

490,000 small businesses and 20,000 middle 

market companies, and manages $148 billion of 

clients’ investment assets. Bank One can be found 

on the Internet at www.bankone.com. 


AIR 

COMFORT, 

INC 

Air Comfort was founded as a sales and 

service facility for air conditioning and heating 

by Don Cornell and Harry Galewsky in 1954. 

Recognizing the potential of this field, the two 

founders had the foresight to quit their jobs and 

apply for the General Electric Air Conditioning 

franchise. 

The excellence of the company’s work on the 

Jefferson County Courthouse, its first big air 

conditioning job, established Air Comfort as a 

leader in the new and growing industry. Later, 

the Federal Courthouse contracted Air Comfort 

to air condition Judge Joe Fisher’s courtroom. 

Air Comfort also has the distinction of having 

installed the first air conditioning in the nowfamous 

Dixie Hotel. Galewsky recalls that the 

company’s charge for that job was paid in cash, 

which was delivered in a pillowcase. 

When residential equipment became 

available, Air Comfort installed central air 

conditioning in homes in Beaumont and 

surrounding communities. Housing its own sheet 

metal shop on site, the company could design, 

build and install air conditioning and heating for 

homes and businesses throughout the Tri-County 

area. In fact, some of its original installations 

from the 1960s are still operating today. 

Don Cornell and his family continued to 

serve the area in the 1960s, ’70s, and into the 

’80s. After Don’s death in the 1980s, the 

company lost some of its luster due to heavy 

competition and changes in the industry. 

Realizing the company’s potential, Danny 

Babineaux purchased Air Comfort in 1988. 

While continuing to service the local residential, 

commercial, and industrial markets, he 

diversified the company to service offshore and 

foreign markets, including major installations in 

South America, Africa and Europe. Air Comfort 

recently expanded its facilities through the 

purchase of Waynco, a sheet metal company, to 

offer customers the price advantage of 

manufacturing and installation of ductwork 

under one company. 

Air Comfort is now owned and operated by 

Danny Babineaux; Senior Vice President Curtis 

McGuirt; Vice Presidents Bret and Slate 

Babineaux; and Secretary/Treasurer Karen Arnold. 

Because of the vision of Don Cornell, Harry 

Galewsky, and Danny Babineaux, Air Comfort 

continues to experience growth and strength in 

an ever-changing marketplace. 


❖ 

SOUTHEAST 

TEXAS CLASSIC 

AUTOMOTIVE, 

INC. 

Above: Ken Ruddy, owner of 

Beaumont Motor Company, 1969. 

Below: Ken Ruddy and the 

ChevyLand management staff 

in 1969. 

In 1928, J. F. (Fuzzy) Roane and Harry 

Pollard purchased the Chevrolet franchise and 

opened Beaumont Motor Company on the corner 

of Gilbert and Orleans in downtown Beaumont. 

The partners sold and serviced Chevrolet cars and 

trucks. Eventually, I. D. Polk replaced Pollard in 

the partnership, and J. R. (Cappy) Rix joined 

Fuzzy Roane and I. D. Polk. In 1956 Joe E. Polk, 

Cappy Rix and Ken Ruddy purchased the interests 

of Fuzzy Roane and I. D. Polk. 

Major Kenneth E. Ruddy, an engineering 

graduate from West Point, who had served tours 

of duty in Japan, Korea, and Alaska, left the U.S. 

Army and moved to Beaumont, seeking a more 

stable environment for his growing family. 

Finding that he enjoyed the challenges of the 

automobile business, including team building 

and management development that emphasized 

the importance of customer satisfaction to 

ensure continued patronage, he eventually purchased 

his partners’ share of Beaumont Motor 

Company in 1969. 

In 1959 the company had relocated to a tenacre 

site at 1000 I-10 North and in 1969 began 

doing business as Chevyland. The Mercedes- 

Benz franchise, added in 1972, retained the 

Beaumont Motor Company name. 

In 1983, Ruddy conceived AIMG (Automotive 

Investment Management Group) to provide 

senior management equity and ownership 

opportunities in acquiring additional dealerships 

and franchises. 

By 1996 AIMG had grown to nine dealership 

locations representing thirty-four franchises. 

Utilizing AIMG, the company expanded 

exponentially, acquiring additional dealerships 

in Beaumont, Port Arthur, Silsbee, Austin, 

Mobile, Santa Fe, and finally Scottsdale, 

Arizona. AIMG built the Autoplex facility on 

Interstate 10 and eventually moved the 

Chevyland dealership to its current Eastex 

location and named it Classic Chevrolet. 

In 1999 the AIMG organization was divided 

into two groups. Ken Ruddy and his East Texas 

managers retained dealerships in Beaumont, 

Port Arthur, and Tyler, Texas. They continue to 

operate these dealerships today, which consist of 

Classic Chevrolet, Saturn of Southeast Texas, 

Classic Acura, Twin City Honda, Twin City 

Pontiac-Buick-GMC, Classic Mercedes Benz, 

Classic Toyota, and Classic Oldsmobile, the last 

three are located in Tyler, Texas. 

Today these dealerships employ over 

four hundred people who individually and 

collectively share in Ken Ruddy’s continued 

commitment to team building, career development 

and unprecedented customer satisfaction, 

values and business practices that produce 

competence, promote growth and ensure 

ongoing success in a most competitive industry. 


Everett Wayne Jones, founder of Fisherman’s 

Reef and other businesses in the Farmer Boy’s 

Catfish Kitchen International, Inc. cited hard 

work, good control systems, consistency in a 

quality product and good service as key elements 

to business success. 

In 1957, Jones, who worked as a baker for 

Wyatt’s Cafeterias in Dallas, was transferred to 

Beaumont as head baker. Tired of struggling to 

feed his family, he bought a trailer, borrowed 

money for equipment, and opened The Donut 

Den Bakery, to be operated by his wife, Glenda, 

and his mother. On opening day he had to 

borrow a sack of flour and shortening from Carl 

Tangradi of Shipley’s Donuts, and get a $30 salary 

advance from Wyatt’s to make change. Glenda 

went into labor with their third child on opening 

day. Jones told her to hold off having the baby 

until he got off work. 

Later reprimanded for spending too much 

time on his own business, Jones quit. He and 

Glenda worked a 16-hour/7-day schedule 

baking cookies, pastries, and birthday and 

wedding cakes. Adding burgers, sold five for $1, 

and other foods, the business netted $7,000 a 

month after two years. 

Jones expanded the building, added a 

steakhouse/cafeteria, and then opened two 

more burger restaurants. In 1961 he incorporated 

the business, changing the name in 1968 

to Farmer Boy’s Catfish Kitchen International, 

Inc. When national burger chains moved in, he 

opened a specialty restaurant 

featuring catfish, buying two 

thousand pounds of catfish and 

opening the remodeled South 

Eleventh Street restaurant with an 

immediately popular $2.95 “all-youcan-eat” 

platter of fried catfish and 

chicken. 

Jones earned the nickname 

“Catfish King” in 1976, when he 

negotiated exclusive rights to buy 

the four-hundred-thousand-pound 

annual catfish production of 

Brazil’s Amazon River. His chain 

grew to fifteen restaurants, and 

he added fried shrimp, first buying 

pre-breaded shrimp, and then 

purchasing nine shrimp boats in 

Florida. He built docks on seven 

acres of waterfront in Sabine Pass, and 

eventually increased the fleet to twenty. 

When they harvested more shrimp than he 

could handle, he opened a small plant on 

Fannett Road that now covers over 10,000 

square feet and processes over 5 million 

pounds annually. 

Fisherman’s Reef employs about 40 people 

year-round, and 150 more in peak shrimping 

season. The combined divisions generate $45 

million revenue annually, with products sold to 

restaurants and distributors throughout the 

country. Jones’ daughter, Vikki Jones, is 

presently COB/CEO. Several employees who 

began with Jones are still with the company, and 

his excellent floor plan and tried and true 

business methods are still in place. 

FISHERMAN’S 

REEF SHRIMP 

COMPANY 

❖ 

Above: Everett W. Jones, May 8, 

1930-November 10, 1998. 

Below: Fisherman’s Reef Shrimp 

Company’s headquarters at 5192 

Fannett Road. 


TEXAS 

COFFEE 

COMPANY 

❖ 

Above: Texas Coffee Company, 

c. 1926. 

Below: TexJoy and Seaport Coffee, 

c. 1939. 

COURTESY OF BUSINESS MEN’S STUDIO. 

With an $1,800 investment, a Ford Model-T 

truck, and a few pounds of coffee, Charles J. 

Fertitta created a business now operated by the 

third generation of his family. 

Fertitta had been in the grocery business for 

several years, selling green (unroasted) coffee to 

customers who roasted their own at home in an 

iron skillet. As the convenience of roasted coffee 

became popular, Fertitta began obtaining it from a 

cousin in San Antonio. Transportation difficulties 

and the importance of fresh-roasted coffee to the 

brewer’s taste and aroma led him to buy a secondhand 

roaster, a few bags of Brazilian coffee beans, 

and open the first Texas Coffee family’s coffee 

house in old storage shack behind his grocery. 

Another family connection, R. C. Maceo, 

began helping to roast and grind the coffee, and 

the convenience of the freshly ground coffee 

soon gained popularity among Fertitta’s grocery 

customers. Even so, it took three tries before 

Fertitta’s coffee business finally succeeded. His 

first partnership failed, and in 1924 Fertitta, 

Maceo and Joseph S. Serio formed a partnership. 

They moved to a larger, more modern facility in 

1926, with Maceo managing the plant. Serio and 

Fertitta sold the products via truck routes in Port 

Arthur and Beaumont and handled banking, 

bookkeeping and purchasing. 

When the Great Depression hit in 1929, the 

Texas Coffee Company had just expanded its 

manufacturing facility and its routes. The 

product line had also been increased to include 

the manufacture of hard candies and the sale of 

TexJoy labeled spices. World War II offered 

other business challenges, including allotments 

and rationing. When the younger men left to 

serve their country the “old men”—in their 

forties—returned to the trucks to keep the 

business alive. 

The company’s future now rests on the 

family’s third generation, Carlo J. Busceme III, 

president, Joseph F. Fertitta Jr., vice president/ 

secretary/treasurer, and Donald P. Fertitta, vice 

president/general manager, mentored by the 

wisdom and experience of their fathers Carlo 

Busceme, Jr. and Joseph “Pep” Fertitta and other 

predecessors. Success will depend on their 

desire to succeed, the integrity to persevere on 

the path of fairness, and the tenacity to hold 

onto their legacy. 


Moore Landrey, L.L.P. at 390 Park Street, 

Suite 500, Beaumont, is a registered limited 

liability law partnership that practices a broad 

range of civil law, including commercial law, 

construction law, business litigation, personal 

injury trial law, oil & gas law, bankruptcy law, 

consumer protection law, employment law, real 

estate law, family law, and probate law. 

Founded in 1968 by Ray M. Moore and Floyd 

A. Landrey, the firm initially operated as a 

diversified commercial law firm serving the legal 

needs of individuals, businesses, banks and 

other lending institutions in Southeast Texas. In 

1985 the partnership expanded its services to 

include personal injury trial law. The firm takes 

pride in providing legal services to its clients in a 

professional and cost-effective manner. All areas 

of practice are handled with a thorough attention 

to detail. All lawyers are active in professional 

and community organizations. They are: 

• Moore, who serves of counsel to the firm, 

received his law degree from The University 

of Texas, was admitted to the State Bar of 

Texas in 1955, is licensed to practice before 

the U.S. Supreme Court. 

• Landrey received his law degree from 

Baylor University. He practices in all 

areas of commercial, real estate, probate, 

bankruptcy, and domestic relations law, 

including business litigation. 

• Jon B. Burmeister is Board Certified by 

the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in 

civil trial, personal injury and appellate 

law. He heads the firm’s personal injury 

litigation department. 

• Kerwin B. Stone practices primarily in 

business litigation, construction litigation, real 

estate, employment law and commercial law. 

• Tommy L. Yeates practices primarily in 

personal injury, civil trial and consumer 

litigation. He is Board Certified in personal 

injury law and civil trial law. 

• Everett H. Sanderson practices primarily in 

personal injury trial law, consumer litigation 

and general litigation. He is Board Certified 

in personal injury law. 

• Ethan L. Shaw practices primarily in personal 

injury and commercial litigation. He is 

Board Certified in personal injury law and 

civil trial law. 

• John P. Cowart practices primarily in 

personal injury trial law. 

Except as otherwise noted, attorneys 

are not certified by the Texas Board of Legal 

Specialization. Board certifications are not 

available in all areas of specialization or practice. 

MOORE 

LANDREY, 

L.L.P. 


COMMUNITY 

BANK AND TRUST 

❖ 

Above: Vice President of Community 

Relations Nancy Neild, and Vice 

President Dale Willson enjoy visiting 

with second graders from Eugene 

Field Elementary, the bank’s School 

Business Partner. Community Bank 

and Trust’s 1960 America La France 

fire truck is a popular sight at local 

festivals and parades in the 

communities the bank serves 

throughout Southeast Texas. 

Below: Members of Community Bank 

and Trust’s senior management team 

include (seated) Walter Umphrey, 

senior chairman; (standing, right) 

William G. McNinch, chairman and 

chief executive officer; and (standing, 

left) J. Pat Parsons, president and 

chief operating officer. 

“Community” is more than part of the name 

for Community Bank and Trust. It is the 

common thread that is woven throughout the 

fiber of the bank—its people, products, and 

services—and the communities it serves. 

Founded on June 29, 1990, by a group of 

local investors, Community Bank combined 

Plaza National Bank in Beaumont with 

Kirbyville State Bank, Vidor State Bank, and 

First National Bank Woodville. Their vision to 

create a bank with local decision making and a 

vested interest in the future of this region laid 

the foundation for Community Bank and Trust, 

which today is the largest locally owned, 

independent bank serving Southeast Texas. 

Community Bank provides a broad line of 

consumer, commercial, and trust banking 

products and services, while offering its 

customers a friendly banking atmosphere that 

reflects the unique flavor of Southeast Texas. 

The bank’s mission remains unchanged: 

to provide the highest quality of banking 

products and services in each market in which 

it competes. 

The senior management team includes Walter 

Umphrey, senior chairman; William G. McNinch, 

chairman/chief executive officer; J. Pat Parsons, 

president/chief operating officer; George Simonton, 

executive vice president/chief financial officer; 

Lois Ann Stanton, executive vice president/director 

of Trust Services; and Ralph F. Muzzillo, executive 

vice president/director of Retail Services. The bank 

operates 28 branches in six counties extending 

from Port Arthur to San Augustine. 

Community’s consistently solid growth and 

record earnings have evolved from four banks 

with less than 50 employees and approximately 

$90 million in assets to 28 locations, more than 

500 employees, 300-plus shareholders, nearly 

$1 billion in assets, and more than 80,000 

consumer and business accounts. 

The bank’s “Power of Community” 

philosophy is a catalyst for enriching the lives 

of its customers and communities throughout 

Southeast Texas by reaching out through 

financial contributions and employees’ 

volunteer efforts to support nonprofit 

organizations, especially those focused on 

youth and education. 

Community Bank and Trust and its sister 

companies—Port Arthur Abstract, Southeast 

Texas Title Company, and Community 

Insurance—are committed to continuing to 

provide the highest quality, friendliest, and most 

competitive financial products and services 

throughout Southeast Texas. 


❖ 



❖ 



INDUSTRY & MANUFACTURING 

Beaumont’s financial institutions and 

retail and commercial establishments 

provide the economic foundation of the city 

ExxonMobil Beaumont Complex........................................................................................170 

DuPont-Beaumont Works .................................................................................................174 

Southern Avionics Company .............................................................................................176 

Entergy Texas ...............................................................................................................178 

North Star Steel Texas, Inc. ............................................................................................180 

Gulf Coast Electric Company, Inc. ....................................................................................182 

Maverick Communications, Inc.........................................................................................184 

Brock Enterprises, Inc. ...................................................................................................186 

Mason Construction, Ltd. ................................................................................................188 

Matrix Engineering, Ltd..................................................................................................190 

Allco, Inc. ....................................................................................................................192 

Port of Beaumont ...........................................................................................................194 

American Valve & Hydrant Company ................................................................................196 

Gold Crest Electric Company ...........................................................................................198 

Doguet’s Rice Milling Company ........................................................................................199 

Petrocon Engineering, Inc................................................................................................200 

H. B. Neild & Sons, Inc. .................................................................................................201 

Sharing the Heritage - Industry & Manufacturing ✦ 169

EXXONMOBIL 

BEAUMONT 

COMPLEX 

❖ 

Above: The “A Shift workers” at 

Security Refinery (later Magnolia) 

from 1903-1908. Shown are (from left 

to right) William L. McGillioray 

(standing) Charles H. Clark (lying, 

left) and J. H. Koster (lying, right). 

Fred Driehs (inset) was instrumental 

in the startup of the refinery in 1903, 

and its operations for many years. 

The “alien scare” immigrant backlash 

of 1917 caught Driehs, who was of 

Prussian descent, but Magnolia put 

up a $500,000 bond to keep him on 

the job. 


Below: With Magnolene Motor Oil 

and an umbrella, these passengers are 

ready for a leisurely drive in 

Beaumont, c. 1910. 


Since its beginnings in the chaotic 

excitement of the 1901 Spindletop oil boom, 

the history of ExxonMobil in Beaumont has 

paralleled that of the city and the worldwide 

petroleum industry itself. The oil discovery at 

Spindletop gave the world a vast supply of 

petroleum and heralded the age of liquid fuel. 

But no worldwide market, let alone storage, 

transportation or refining facilities, yet existed 

for so much oil. 

After the Lucas Gusher blew in on January 

10, 1901, the giant Standard Oil Company saw 

the critical need for a refinery to serve the new 

field. Standard Oil interests, wary of anti-trust 

complications in Texas, quietly recruited 

Colonel George A. Burt, a New York 

construction engineer, and sent him to 

Beaumont in November 1901 to build a refinery. 

Burt, a big, hearty man with a loud laugh, 

quickly won the confidence of town society. 

Meanwhile, he discreetly paid $45,000 for an 

89-acre tract centrally located to Beaumont, 

the Spindletop field, the Kansas City Southern 

Railroad, and the Neches River. Erecting an 

eight-foot fence around the site and swearing 

his Mexican, German, and Pennsylvania 

Dutch workers to secrecy, he began construction 

on January 10, 1902. The work proceeded 

in spite of 63 consecutive days of rain, 

seas of mud, and a smallpox epidemic. The 

German workmen arranged with one of the 

Mexican saloons to have their cold schooners 

of beer hoisted over the fence. One, Fred 

Driehs, a burly ex-Prussian with a booming 

voice and a Hohenzollern moustache, would 

be instrumental in the startup of the refinery 

and in its operation for many years. He 

was said to gauge the quality of the refined 

oil by its feel and smell. Fred and Dan 

Weller, a pair of tall, tobacco-chewing brothers 

from West Virginia, would be the first to 

superintend operations. 

It was an open secret that the refinery was 

built with Standard money. According to the Oil 

Investors’ Journal, “…there is no doubt…it’s a 

Standard Oil Baby and quite a good-sized 

kid….” Beaumonters knew of Standard’s 

involvement and were delighted with the boost 

to the economy. 

Abruptly, George Burt sold the refinery and 

left Beaumont in April of 1903. The buyer was 

the Security Oil Company, consisting of 

Standard Oil interests. On May 15, the Security 

Refinery, the third largest in the country, was put 

“on stream,” employing 250 men. The site 

included 50 shell stills, three steam stills, two 

boiler houses, two pump houses, earthen 

tankage for 10 million barrels of crude, a 

laboratory, a two-story office building, a stable, 

and employee living quarters. The refinery 

pumped products through pipelines to a 

loading dock at Sabine Pass, where it was then 

loaded onto ocean-going tankers. 

In those days, employees walked or rode 

bicycles to the refinery, and men on the night 

shift worked by oil lamps. Every Sunday was 

payday, and the men “whooped it up” in 

Beaumont, sometimes holding buggy races 

down Pearl Street. 


In 1909 the refinery hired its first 

female employee, Sudie Reynolds, to work 

for $80 a month as secretary to the plant 

manager, Oliver Cromwell Edwards (an austere 

man who wore striped pants and cutaway coat 

to work everyday.) 

That year the State of Texas forced Security 

Oil to relinquish control of the refinery because 

of its close connections with Standard, and a 

group of Texas investors, including Galveston’s 

John Sealy, Jr., bought the refinery. 

On April 24, 1911, John Sealy and Company 

reorganized as the Magnolia Petroleum 

Company. The name was suggested by one of 

the organizers, Henry Clay Folger, who 

admired the stately blossom-laden trees seen 

from the windows of the company’s Beaumont 

office. Magnolia grew along with Beaumont, 

benefiting from the 1908 construction of a 

deepwater port. The first ocean-going vessel to 

sail up the channel, the Vesta, docked at 

Magnolia’s new concrete wharves, and sailed for 

New York carrying thirty-seven thousand 

barrels of gasoline. 

During World War I, the refinery greatly 

increased its output. The 1917 “alien scare” 

caught worker Fred Driehs, but Magnolia put 

up a $500,000 bond to allow him to stay on his 

job. By 1920 Magnolia was Beaumont’s largest 

industry, employing more than 2,000 

and presenting the appearance of a small city. 

The refinery sponsored the Magnolia Band, 

directed by the resident dentist, Dr. Harry 

Cloud, and began a new in-house publication, 

Magpetco, in 1921. The plant’s own radio station 

premiered from the company cafeteria in 1924, 

starring Assistant Superintendent John Newton 

as “Magnolene Mike,” the master of ceremonies. 

The station’s call letters, KFDM, stood for “Kall 

For Dependable Magnolene,” the Magnolia 

brand of motor oil. 

A second oil find at Spindletop in 1925 

coincided with Magnolia becoming a wholly 

owned affiliate of New York-based Socony. 

❖ 

Left: Yard Engine #2 was bought in 

1913 by H. H. Ziller, the purchasing 

agent for Magnolia. Signs indicate 

which is “Petroleum Pete” and which 

is the mule. 


Below: Radio began in Beaumont 

when KFDM, owned and operated by 

Magnolia Petroleum Company, went 

on the air in October 1924. 

Broadcasts of Harry Cloud’s Magnolia 

Band originated from the refiner’s 

cafeteria. The band is shown standing 

in front of Beaumont High School. 



❖ 

Left: In the Barrel House at Magnolia 

Refinery in the 1950s, the lost art 

of rolling drums was performed 

to perfection. 


Right: Women drove trucks, operated 

cranes, and filled other vital positions 

vacated by Magnolia’s male refinery 

workers, drafted during World War II. 


By this time, employees were enjoying improved 

safety measures, a cafeteria, a community hall 

and various athletic programs including 

baseball, basketball and volleyball. Magnolia 

also expanded its Beaumont plant. Its products 

now included gasoline, kerosene, lubricating 

oils, and paraffin wax. 

Through careful management, Magnolia 

weathered the Great Depression and brought 

labor unions into full partnership. In 1931 

Socony merged with the Vacuum Oil Company 

of New York to form the Socony Vacuum 

Company (later Socony Mobil Oil Company) 

and the merger brought the famous Flying Red 

Horse trademark to Magnolia. By the mid- 

1930s, the Beaumont refinery was processing 

90,000 barrels of crude a day and employing 

2,250 men. 

In 1938, Magnolia would be the first to 

utilize the catalytic cracking process to 

manufacture higher-octane fuels, needed by 

aircraft for speed and power. Squatty brick and 

tin buildings gave way to the lean steel 

structures of the cracking units. In 1939 the first 

commercial cracking unit in the world went on 

stream at Magnolia. That year, European 

THE STORY OF A SPINDLETOP PIONEER, CHARLES BLAKE GODDARD 

As told by his son, W. R. “Bob” Goddard 

Charles Blake Goddard ran away from home at age fifteen. At sixteen years of age he was a tool pusher on an oil cable tool-drilling rig owned 

by his uncle in Ohio. He went to Spindletop at age twenty (early 1901) to drill a well. The owner ran out of cash when the well was halfway down. 

It was decided to divide the ownership of the well if the crew would continue to complete the well without pay. The well was a big well, and Charles 

became an independent. His brother-in-law, Sid Warrener, lived in Kentucky and had some money. He joined Charles as a partner. For ten years 

they drilled a lot of wells and January 21, 1911, decided to join other independents to form Humble Oil Company. 

Sid and Charles owned the majority of Humble. Then, a few years later, Sid sold his stock to Ross Sterling, the elected Humble president. This 

made Ross Sterling the largest interest holder at that time. In 1917, Humble Oil was reincorporated into “Humble Oil and Refining Company” in 

order to raise additional capital and expand into the refining business. Around 1919, Humble needed more capital for expansion and Standard Oil 

of New Jersey received fifty percent ownership of Humble by contributing additional capital. 

At one time Humble’s reserves were declining in Texas and they asked Charles to go to Oklahoma to develop new reserves. He found a lot of 

oil but unfortunately by about 1930 the price of oil was down to about ten cents a barrel. Humble sold its Oklahoma property to Carter Oil Company, 

which was owned one hundred percent by Standard Oil of New Jersey. Humble retrenched to Texas. At the same time, Oklahoma, Florida, and 

other states were foreclosing on vast amounts of property for nonpayment of taxes because the tax obligation exceeded the value of the land. The 

states forgave the taxes and sold the properties at auction to the high bidder, even if it was $1.00 an acre. Charles felt that it was an opportunity 

and stayed in Oklahoma as an independent again. At that time a person could not be on the Humble Board unless he was an active employee of 

the company. Therefore, Charles resigned as a director. 

A few years later, Standard of New Jersey merged all Humble stock into Standard New Jersey stock. At that time, Charles was the largest individual 

stockholder in Humble. Humble later became Exxon, which in 1999 merged with Mobil, bringing together two Spindletop oil giants to form 

ExxonMobil. 


countries were ordering petroleum products for 

the war effort. 

During World War II, Magnolia saw a 

tremendous increase in production, but its 

chief contribution lay in the speed, spirit, 

and skill its workforce employed in producing 

petroleum products for both the war and 

home fronts. To fill in for drafted male 

employees, the refinery hired over a hundred 

women to operate cranes, drive trucks, and 

perform other vital tasks. 

In 1950 Magnolia began manufacturing 

jet fuels for use in the Korean War, and in 

1959, it became the Mobil Oil Company. 

Postwar years saw new developments in 

techniques, processes, and products. 

In the 1960s and 1970s, Mobil expanded its 

Beaumont refining base to manufacture plastics 

and produce the world’s first synthetic 

automotive engine lubricant, Mobil 1. The 

company weathered the fuel crises of the 1980s 

to emerge in the 1990s as a leader in the 

petrochemical industry. On December 1, 1999, 

in a historic merger, Mobil Oil joined Exxon (an 

outgrowth of Humble, another century-old 

Spindletop company) to form ExxonMobil, the 

largest petroleum company in the world. 

Today, ExxonMobil’s Beaumont presence 

has expanded from George Burt’s original 

eighty-nine-acre tract to an integrated petrochemical 

complex for refining, lube blending, 

and chemical manufacture. ExxonMobil’s 

long-term success lies in its talented workforce 

and its ability to evolve with the 

changing times. 

As it has from its birth in the oil-soaked fields 

of Spindletop, ExxonMobil remains in the 

vanguard of the petrochemical industry and 

continues to play a vital economic and social 

role in the place of its century-old roots, the 

Southeast Texas community. 

❖ 

Above: These sleek towers are part of 

the manufacturing process for 

Mobil 1, the first synthetic automotive 

engine lubricant. ExxonMobil’s 

Beaumont chemical plant is shown in 

the background. 

COURTESY OF DWAIN COX. 

Below: The lights of ExxonMobil’s 

Beaumont Complex come to life under 

a Southeast Texas sunset. 

COURTESY OF DWAIN COX. 


DUPONT- 

BEAUMONT 

WORKS 

❖ 

Representatives from DuPont meet 

with Lamar University to present 

education grants. 

From humble, yet ambitious beginnings on 

the Brandywine River in Wilmington, Delaware, 

in July 1802, E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & 

Company (Inc.) is proudly celebrating its twohundredth 

anniversary. Started as a family 

business by Irenee du Pont—an unfailing desire 

for high quality, a sense of fairness, and concern 

for workers’ safety. From the original gunpowder 

manufacturing site, the DuPont Company has 

grown to become one of the world’s largest and 

best-known U.S. Fortune 500 companies with 

over 80,000 employees, 18,000 registered 

customers, and 130 operating facilities in over 

70 countries across the globe. 

DuPont operates six manufacturing plants in 

Texas where it has more investment than in any 

other state. In 1954 the Beaumont Works site, 

located between Nederland and Beaumont, 

began operations with eighty employees and 

now is the largest shipping port. Beaumont 

Works’ products are used to manufacture 

thousands of products used around the world. 

In addition to the 400 persons associated 

with Beaumont Works, employees and 

contractors of three tenant companies at the 

Beaumont Industrial Site increase the total 

workforce to approximately 1,000 men and 

women. They build homes, educate their 

children, attend various places of worship, shop, 

and participate in many service organizations 

that enhance the local communities. 

DuPont–Beaumont Works’ supports 

numerous programs aimed at improving the 

quality of life, including United Way, Lamar 

University and the BISD/Business Partnership, in 

which volunteers assist at Fehl Elementary 

School. A long standing member of the Beaumont 

Chamber of Commerce, DuPont also has an 

excellent and active Community Advisory Panel 

composed of a cross section of citizens 

representing communities, schools and 

government. Current employees and retirees 

serve on organizations for the young, the elderly, 

the underprivileged and the handicapped. 

We take pride in DuPont; we take pride in 

Southeast Texas! 

The Beaumont Works Mission is to safely and 

reliably operate our facilities, meet our customer 

needs while generating cash and earnings for 

DuPont renewal and growth, and sustaining 

“zero” injuries in health related and 

environmental incidents. Hard work by skilled, 

dedicated men and women is the key to our 

success. The high quality of DuPont personnel is 

reflected in their work and production. While 

individual job assignments are varied and 

diverse, they are carefully coordinated to assure 

safe, smooth plant operations. These jobs include 

process operators, mechanics, laboratory 

analysts, office support specialists, technical and 

business professionals, management and 

supervisory personnel. 

Employee training is aimed at keeping each 

employee on the cutting edge in job skills and 

helping them acquire proficiency in “people” 

skills. Long recognized as a leader in safety and 

health, DuPont strives to continually improve 

environmental protection. Intensive, continuous 


safety training is mandatory. Employees 

understand that personal safety of fellow 

workers and the community depends on 

how well they perform their jobs. We are 

proud of our highly trained Hazmat and 

Emergency Response teams that respond to 

community emergencies, both locally and across 

the U.S. 

The Safety Activities Team coordinates 

programs, events, incentives, and information to 

keep the site focused on safety. For many years, 

Beaumont Works has taken fire safety training to 

elementary students. Recently partnering with 

the Beaumont Fire Museum, volunteers have 

helped educate thousands of youngsters about 

escaping home fires. DuPont families receive 

information and training on topics ranging from 

CPR to boating safety, hurricane precautions, 

sunburns, heat stroke, electrical safety, stress 

management, defensive driving, seat belt 

safety, and others subjects that can affect their 

well-being. 

Throughout the forty-eight years of 

Beaumont Works’ existence, through economic 

highs and lows, through the barrage of changes 

and improvements, challenges and successes, 

our employees have worked together to achieve 

a close family-like atmosphere. We work 

together; laugh together and watch families 

grow together. A diverse workforce gains 

strength by pulling together, tackling tough 

issues, and rewarding individual efforts. That’s 

why the team at Beaumont Works continues to 

achieve success. From the beginning, 

conscientious, strong leadership has been 

essential for business growth and fulfillment. 

The distinguished plant managers for this site 

include: Cliff Bailey, John Weyrich, Don 

Andersen, Al Tollefsen, Bill Odle, Sam Lord, 

Dave Willette, Frank Riddick, Verlon Bradley 

and Roy Wells. Current Plant Manager Jim Ellis 

came to Beaumont in June 2000. 

DuPont–Beaumont Works looks toward the 

future with excitement and hope. September 11 

resulted in many security changes. Safeguarding 

our facility has been enhanced. Awareness has 

heightened. Habits have changed. Appreciation 

for our country and our freedoms; a newfound 

respect for our way of life; and a realization of 

the precious gift of family and friends—all have 

combined to make us more determined to be 

the best we can be…at home, at work and 

in the community. We go forth with care and 

hope; learning from the yesterdays; working for 

tomorrows. 

❖ 

Above: DuPont employees volunteer 

their time mentoring at Fehl School 


Below: DuPont holds family picnics 

for employees and retirees. 


SOUTHERN 

AVIONICS 

COMPANY 

❖ 

Above: John B. Goodhue, founder of 

Southern Avionics Company. 

Below: Southern Avionics Company’s 

original production building at the 

Beaumont Municipal Airport, c. 1966. 

Southern Avionics Company (SAC) of 

Beaumont is the leading manufacturer assisting 

aeronautical and maritime authorities in 

fulfilling their mission to provide safe and 

reliable navigational aids to the civil user 

community. Southern Avionics manufactures 

low frequency (190-1750 KHz) non-directional 

radio beacons and Differential GPS Reference 

Station (or DGPS) Transmitters operating in the 

300–535 KHz range. 

Founded in 1962, as FAA Approved Avionics 

Repair Station No. 4328, at the Beaumont 

Municipal Airport, the company’s original 

business involved the sales and servicing of 

aircraft radio and navigation instruments. 

Our transition to the manufacture of nondirectional 

radio beacons dates back to the 

suggestion of a satisfied customer, C. L. Tysdal, 

vice president of Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. At 

the time, PHI was the world’s largest nongovernment 

user of helicopters. 

Tysdal, who had come into the shop with a 

radio for repair, commented that he had taken 

his company’s radios to the biggest shops in 

Houston, “but it is here I get them fixed.” 

John B. Goodhue, founder of Southern 

Avionics, said that although this may have been 

an exaggeration, it was certainly nice to hear. 

And the company listened when Tysdal 

asked why they didn’t build some kind of 

navigational device that could be put on 

offshore drilling rigs to improve navigation and 

safety of his helicopters. 

The rest, as has often been said, is history. SAC 

designed and began building a low-frequency 

(non-directional) radio beacon—commonly 

called an “NDB”—that was able to endure the 

rugged environment of offshore platforms. 

An NDB is a navigational aid that provides a 

continuous, omni-directional, and radio signal 

used in conjunction with an onboard direction 

finder to provide heading information to the 

pilot. The pilot enters the frequency of the 

desired NDB and the direction finder points to 

the station. A Morse Code identifier is also 

transmitted to the pilot to ensure that he is 

heading to the correct location. 

The first of SAC’s beacons was placed at the 

Beaumont Municipal Airport. The second went 

to a semi-submersible drilling rig, Odeco’s 

“Ocean Driller,” in the Gulf of Mexico. Since 

that time, we have sold several thousand 

systems for offshore application. 

Low-frequency radio beacons are actually the 

oldest form of radio navigation. They have been 

in use since the 1930’s when air transportation 

was in its infancy. 

Since that time, technological changes have 

brought much more sophisticated navigational 

aids as ILS (Instrument Landing Systems), VOR 

(very-high-frequency omni-directional range 

systems) and DME (Distance Measuring 

Equipment) into use. The much higher price 

and operational complexity of these systems 

limit their use primarily to large airports and 

well-funded airspace systems. 

As a result, there is a continuing demand for 

NDB systems at smaller airports in the U.S., and 

at all airports throughout the rest of the world 

where we see NDB’s frequently used as the 

foundation of nationwide navigation plans for 

emerging nations. 

Foreign countries typically use much more 

powerful radio beacons than those in use at 

United States airports due to the long range 

requirements they have and because there is 

much less frequency congestion. 

Southern Avionics continues to meet the 

need of this burgeoning foreign market through 

design of more powerful beacons as well as 

systems to meet almost any unique application 

or operational environment in the world. For 

many years we have exported around 90 percent 

of products overseas. As a result, Southern 

Avionics equipment is currently in use in every 

country of the world. 


Southern Avionics will continue to be the 

market leader in our industry through 

development of the most highly advanced 

generation of digital NDBs available. This next 

generation has extensive remote monitoring and 

maintenance capabilities as well as comprehensive 

diagnostic features. Performance data is 

continuously available by modem, which will 

significantly reduce the need for many expensive 

service calls. Our new technology is also projected 

to replace, or greatly reduce, the FAA’s current 

requirement for repair personnel to be kept on call 

as they are now currently required for each site. 

In 1998, Southern Avionics was awarded a 

contract by the U.S. Coast Guard to design and 

produce one hundred Differential Reference 

Station (DGPS) transmitters. These one-thousandwatt 

transmitters are used with GPS receivers and 

integrity monitors to provide differential vital 

correction and integrity data to GPS users on land 

and sea. These systems are currently in use along 

the coasts, lakes, and major rivers of the U.S. We 

have also provided many systems overseas, as well 

as for use in the current Nationwide DGPS 

(NDGPS) project, which will provide full coverage 

of the U.S. upon completion. 

Growth of the business is reflected by the size 

of its facilities from our original 10-by-20-foot 

production building located at the Beaumont 

Municipal Airport in 1966 to the present fortyfive-thousand-square-foot 

facility at 5000 

Belmont Street in Beaumont. 

Southern Avionics and its thirty-eight 

employees participate in a wide variety of events 

designed to help the community and its residents. 

Among these are Beaumont Art Museum, 

Beaumont Art League, Buckner Benevolence 

Center, The Red Cross, Ride for Kids, March of 

Dimes, City of Beaumont Recreational Activities, 

Legacy of Life Tissue Foundation, American 

Cancer Society, United Way of Beaumont, Boy’s 

Haven, The H.O.W. Treatment Center, Family 

Services of Southeast Texas, and many others. 

❖ 

Below: This forty-five-thousandsquare-foot 

facility is located at 5000 

Belmont Street in Beaumont. 


ENTERGY TEXAS 

❖ 

Above: Edison Plaza Building, 

headquarters for Entergy Texas. 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF IMAGE SPECIALISTS. 

When the Beaumont Ice, Light and 

Refrigerating Company started serving parts of 

the city in 1888, horse-drawn wagons were the 

chief mode of transportation and electricity was 

the new technology that promised an end to gas 

lights, wood stoves and ice boxes in the home. 

Well over a century later, Entergy Corporation 

continues the tradition of supplying electricity 

and contributing to the growth and quality of life 

in Beaumont and Southeast Texas. Entergy began 

serving Texas customers when it merged with 

Gulf States Utilities in 1993 and is proud to be a 

part of the rich, colorful history of the city where 

the Spindletop Gusher started the Texas oil boom 

in 1901. 

Like its predecessor, Entergy is committed to 

the communities it serves. Edison Plaza in 

downtown Beaumont houses the headquarters of 

Entergy Texas, the distribution organization which 

maintains the poles and wires that bring electricity 

to 349,000 customers in 24 Texas counties. 

Many things have changed since the days of 

Beaumont Ice, Light and Refrigerating 

Company. Perhaps one of the most significant 

changes occurred on January 1, 2002, with the 

birth of electricity deregulation in Texas. 

Although deregulation was delayed for Entergy 

Texas’ service territory, some day customers here 

will also have the power to choose their electric 

provider. But no matter whom customers 

choose to buy their electricity from, the same 

hardworking crews they rely on to keep the 

lights on today will still be here, keeping the 

lights on. Under deregulation, customers will 

have an array of electricity providers to choose 

from, but Entergy Texas will still be responsible 

for maintaining the poles and wires that deliver 

electricity to all customers. 

Entergy Texas is committed to providing 

customers with a safe, reliable supply of 

electricity. Since 1998 Entergy Texas has added 

more than 100 new employees in field operations; 

invested millions to improve service and reduced 

the frequency of outages lasting longer than five 

minutes by almost fifty percent. 

Entergy Corporation’s impact on Texas 

includes a payroll of over $100 million for its 

nearly 2,400 employees. Economic development 

is very important if the region is to prosper and 

meet the challenges of the future. In the year 

2000 alone, Entergy Texas invested about $1.5 

million in economic development projects, 

creating an estimated 2,278 new jobs. The 

company’s Team City program helps local leaders 

attract and retain businesses and jobs. 

Entergy Texas employees do much more than 

help provide reliable electric service. They are 

good neighbors and good citizens who are 


actively involved in making their cities and 

towns great places to live and work. Community 

Connectors is an employee/retiree volunteer 

program throughout the company’s four-state 

service area. In the year 2000, more than 700 

employees and retirees devoted more than 

20,000 hours of service to improve their 

communities. That adds up to the equivalent of 

more than $200,000 of volunteer hours. 

Community service organizations offer an 

important link to helping those in need. The 

company provides financial support to 

organizations that address education and 

literacy, environmental improvement and 

development, arts and culture and health and 

social services. 

Entergy Texas’ local impact reaches into other 

vital areas of the economy as well. In the year 

2000 the company paid more than $59 million 

in state and local taxes, providing a major 

source of revenue for many municipalities. 

Entergy is a major global energy company 

with power production, distribution operations 

and related diversified services. The company 

owns, manages or invests in power plants 

generating more than thirty thousand watts of 

electricity in the U.S. and other countries. Our 

domestic utility companies deliver electricity to 

about 2.6 million customers in portions of 

Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and right here 

in the Lone Star State. 


NORTH STAR 

STEEL TEXAS, 

INC. 

❖ 

Above: “Wire Rod” is the primary 

product made at North Star Steel. It 

is available in sizes ranging from 

7/32-inch to 11/16-inch, and is used 

to make products such as tire cord 

and welding wire. This is a view of 

the wire coil staging area and the 

rolling mill. 

PHOTO BY BEN BREAZEALE 

Below: North Star Steel ships wire by 

truck, rail, and by barge. 


North Star Steel Texas, Inc. is one of 

eight steel-producing facilities in the North 

Star Steel group, a subsidiary of Cargill, 

Inc. of Edina, Minnesota. With a mission 

of providing and accepting products and 

services that meet requirements the first time, 

every time, the company is dedicated to 

total quality management to meet or exceed 

customers’ requirements. 

North Star Steel Texas now employs 375 

people in three production components: a melt 

shop that uses one electric arc furnace with a 

metallurgy station; two four-strand, continuous 

casters; and a high-speed two-strand rolling 

mill. The facility’s annual capacity is 905,000 

tons per year. 

Through its subsidiary, North Star Recycling, 

located adjacent to its facility, the Beaumont 

plant helps improve the environment. It utilizes 

scrapped cars, discarded refrigerators, water 

heaters, construction debris, etc. and converts 

them to usable scrap. In recycling such 

materials, North Star uses one-seventh the 

energy and causes far less pollution than 

manufacturing steel from scratch. Before 

being shredded into fist-size pieces, a car 

is stripped of reusable parts, tires, gas tanks, 

freon and lead. A magnetic separator removes 

the shredded steel scrap, and other metals are 

collected for further recycling. 

The company uses high-quality scrap, along 

with other alloys, and then melts it to achieve the 

desired chemistry for the customer. The liquid 

steel is cast into a semi-finished product called 

billets, which are 5.125-inch square 

approximately 50 feet long. These billets are 

reheated to approximately two thousand degrees 

Fahrenheit, rolled to the diameter specified by 

the customer, then coiled, resembling a giant 

“Slinky” weighing up to 4,200 pounds, and 

shipped to the customer via truck, rail or barge. 

North Star Texas produces wire rod from 

7/32-inch to 11/16-inch diameter, which is 

used to make nails, fencing of all sizes and 

types, bed springs, tire cord and many other 

products. Coiled rebar is produced for 

construction applications. 

Founded as Georgetown Texas Steel and 

designed by Korf Engineering GmbH of 


Düsseldorf, Germany, the plant went on-line 

October 24, 1976. Working with the Beaumont 

Economic Development group, Korf chose 

Beaumont as its second U.S. steel mill site 

because of the area’s rapid growth, large pool of 

skilled craftspeople, and transportation 

facilities. The company’s property borders 420 

feet of Neches River frontage, providing 

waterway access to the Gulf of Mexico forty 

miles away, and to the inland waterway system 

with a direct route to the Mississippi River for 

markets as far away as Chicago. Two main rail 

lines adjoin the property, and I-10 is less than 

one mile from the main gate. 

With an experienced key management staff, 

Georgetown Texas Steel hired over 400 

inexperienced employees to produce highquality 

wire rod, training them at Lamar 

University and in their selected departments. 

Almost immediately after start-up, the 

company was faced with mounting lowcost 

foreign competition and soaring energy 

prices. Seeking better management of its 

resources, it spent millions of dollars for 

plant improvements, such as a ladle 

furnace, degasser, and a state-of-the-art 

packaging system for coil making. One furnace 

now achieves almost the same melt shop 

tonnage as two could produce in the past, 

and uses about one-third of the workforce 

originally required. 

North Star Steel purchased the plant in 

August 1983. 

The Beaumont facility has garnered many 

honors. In October 1999 it became the first steel 

mill in the country to receive membership in the 

U.S. Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration’s Voluntary Protection Program. It 

was the country’s first wire rod mini-mill to be 

ISO 9000 certified. Its laboratories are accredited 

with the American Association for Laboratory 

Accreditation. In 1999 the plant received the 

Vincent Gaeremynck Award from Bekaert of 

Belgium, the world’s largest purchaser of wire and 

steel cord, for progress in quality. Closetmaid, a 

shelving and organizer unit company, named 

North Star a “Certified Supplier” in 2001. 

One of the largest mini-mills in the nation, 

the North Star Steel group supplies quality steel 

products to customers in over thirty countries, 

worldwide. 

Dedicated employees in Beaumont are 

actively involved in community endeavors from 

United Way to Community Theater to YMCA. 

One employee has co-chaired the American 

Cancer Society Relay for Life several years. Due 

to her efforts, North Star Steel Texas was the top 

funding team three years straight. 

❖ 

Above: Russell Cantue opens North 

Star Steel’s 120-ton electric arc 

furnace using an oxygen lance. 

PHOTO BY BEN BREAZEALE. 

Below: The two-strand bar mill 

converts billets into wire-rod. The 

steel entering these two laying heads 

is traveling 140 miles-per-hour at 

about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. 



GULF COAST 

ELECTRIC 

COMPANY, INC. 

❖ 

This photo, taken in the 1960s, shows 

the owners and staff of Gulf Coast 

Electric, including Lee Picard, Sr. (far 

left in white shirt), Lee Picard, Jr. (far 

right in hardhat), and Carl Leggett 

(second from right). 

For more than fifty years, Gulf Coast 

Electric Company, Inc. has provided electrical 

service for industrial, commercial, and 

residential customers. Today’s work includes 

data and fiber wiring, underground high-voltage 

distribution, stadium and site lighting. The 

company accepts projects within a 150-mile 

radius of Beaumont. 

The scope of contracts is markedly different 

today from Gulf Coast Electric Company’s 

beginnings in May 1951 when Lee Picard, Sr. 

began its operation. Picard had begun work as 

an electrician for Thompson Electric in 

Beaumont, where he continued until he was 

employed by the Beaumont Police Department. 

He remained there until he was drafted during 

World War II to serve as a Cee Bee. Returning 

both to Beaumont and to a job in the electrical 

industry, Picard began to consider going into 

electrical contracting. 

In 1950-51 he had installed the first “seeingeye” 

automatic entrance doors in the Henke & 

Pillot Super Markets in Beaumont. Since this 

technology was new, the equipment had some 

operating problems, and the store managers 

always asked that the electrical contractor for 

whom Picard worked send Picard to make the 

repairs. The doors were at the only entrance for 

these stores’ customers, so it was essential that 

repairs be made promptly. 

When Picard mentioned to the store 

managers that he was considering going into the 

electrical repair/maintenance business for 

himself, they assured him that they would 

contact him for all their maintenance work. 

He was unaware that a Masters Electrical 

License was required by the city for doing 

electrical maintenance. Once he had obtained 

the necessary license and furnished the bonding 

required by the city, Picard decided to perform 

other types of electrical services, as well as 

maintenance and repairs. 

He opened Gulf Coast Electric Company in 

the garage of his home at 430 Adams Street. 

After a few months he rented a building at the 

corner of Port Arthur Road. Picard’s wife, Rose, 

and his son, Lee, Jr., were involved in the 

business from its early days. Other key 

individuals in the first few years were Dub 

McNield, Carl Leggett, Glean Holst, and 

John Becker. 

During that period the company’s major 

projects were undertaken for Henke and Pillot, 

Weingarten’s, and Continental Can Company. 

Other major projects through the years have 

included the Southwestern Bell Telephone 

building, 222 Main and 555 Main in Beaumont; 

Parkdale Mall, Lutcher Museum, Lutcher 

Theater, new underground high-voltage system 

feeding the entire Lamar University campus, 

new county jail Substance Abuse, TYC, and 

Hotel Beaumont restoration. 

Now located at 2005 Pecos Street in 

Beaumont, Gulf Coast Electric has grown to 

employ between 30 and 60 persons, depending 

upon its contracts at the time. The company 

owns all of its equipment and buildings, 

and maintains from $6-10 million of work on 

its books. 

Grace T. Picard is president of the company, 

Sidney L. Picard is vice president, and Monty W. 

Picard serves as secretary/treasurer. 

Both the management and employees of Gulf 

Coast Electric are involved with a wide variety 


of community and charitable activities. These 

include local churches, the Salvation Army, 

Beaumont Police Department, Beaumont Lions 

Club, Lamar University, and mission work in 

Parras, Mexico. 

The company’s plans for the future are very 

much in keeping with its past operations: 

• To continue updated training as the industry 

continues to change, using the most modern 

technology, 

• To provide its customers with as many 

choices as available to meet the high-tech 

needs of the twenty-first century, 

• To train its employees so they can provide 

the professional services needed for the 

future. 

These plans correlate closely with the 

company’s Mission Statement: To provide the 

most current electrical service for our customers 

at a competitive price with professionally 

trained employees; to conduct business 

honestly and with integrity, being accountable 

to those we serve. 

The mission statement ends with a quote 

from II Corinthians 8:21: “Providing honorable 

things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but in 

the sight of men.” 

❖ 

Above: Lee Picard, Sr., c. 1970s. 

Below: The Picard family and Gulf 

Coast Electric Company, Inc. 

employees celebrate the company’s 

fiftieth anniversary in May 2001. 


MAVERICK COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 

A commitment to excellence is the key to 

success for Maverick Communications Inc., 

which installs and terminates fiber optic cables, 

data cable, coax cables, surveillance video 

cameras, phone systems, PBX, wireless, control 

access phone cabling, overhead and underground 

cables, and phone cable. 

Maverick strives daily to fulfill its mission of 

providing customers with quality products 

installed by certified employees and finding new 

and innovative products to benefit their 

customers. The company is also committed to 

educating its employees about the products they 

install. Certification of Maverick employees by 

the manufacturer of the products we install is 

another way the company ensures the highest 

quality work on every job. 

Founded in 1987 by Benny G. Blackmon and 

Brad Keneson, Maverick began with some notes 

written on a napkin at McDonald’s in Orange, 

Texas, as the two men ate lunch. Both Blackmon 

and Keneson were employed by a company 

involved in downsizing and they felt that one, or 

both, of them might be laid off. 

“I said I had been thinking about starting my 

own business, and Brad said he had been 

thinking about the same thing. We decided if one 

of us was laid off, the other would join him and 

we’d be partners. We wrote down our ideas, and 

even came up with our slogan,” Blackmon says. 

On December 31, 1986, Keneson was laid 

off, and on January 2, 1987, “He talked a lady 

employed at DuPont plant in Orange, Texas, 

into hiring us as contractors.” In April Blackmon 

resigned and the partnership began. One after 

another, new customers hired Maverick on the 

basis of recommendations from others who had 

used their services. The company did no 

advertising during its early years, and even now 

limits its advertising primarily to telephone 

directory listings. 

The partnership structure changed to a “C” 

Corporation in the late 1980s and to a 

corporation in the mid-1990s. Brad left the 

company for other ventures. 

Their first office was a mini-storage unit, where 

they had a desk and stocked supplies for their 

telephone installation, cabling and repair business. 

Then they added data cabling. Maverick was the 

first to install data over twisted wire, the first to 

begin installing fiber optic cable, and the first to 

install video over twisted wire in Southeast Texas. 

With two sites, 720 Chamberlin Drive in 

Beaumont and 2500 Maplewood Drive in Sulphur, 

Louisiana, Maverick currently has 20 employees 

and annual sales of $2.5 million. Its customer base 

includes doctors, lawyers, hospitals, schools, small 

businesses, chemical plants and oil refineries. This 

diversity has enabled Maverick to set new records 

year after year. 

The commitment to excellence has earned 

Maverick a reputation as one of the top 

communication companies in Southeast Texas 

and Southwest Louisiana. With over 100 years 

of combined experience in telecommunications, 

it can meet almost every communication need, 

whether for telephones, computers, indoor and 

outdoor copper cable, fiber optics, cameras, or 

many other services. 

Brett Blackmon, the company’s vice president, 

says Maverick strives to stay on top of evolving 

technology, continuously sending its technicians to 

training classes. A member of BICSI, the company 

staffs a registered communications distribution 

designer, certified Northern Telcom, Key and PBX 

installers, NEC, Lucent, and numerous other 

telecommunications certifications. 

Maverick has teamed up with some of 

the principal manufacturers in the communications 

market. 

“All of these manufacturers have proven track 

records with quality products, services and 

warranties,” Brett Blackmon says. “Maverick will 


provide, upon request, a copy of current jobs and 

status, along with a list of references. Our strict 

drug policy and random drug testing, emphasis on 

safety, and the use of high-quality products ensure 

that customers receive the best services available. 

All Maverick-installed equipment comes with a 

one- to five-year warranty, and certain provisions 

provide a twenty-year warranty.” 

“We’re not out to rip anyone off,” Ben 

Blackmon says. “If something doesn’t work, 

we’ll fix it or they don’t have to pay us.” 

As he completed a questionnaire a few 

months ago, he paused at the request to list 

a customer Maverick had lost in the past 

few years. 

“I couldn’t think of one,” he says. “Our 

customers have stayed with us.” 

A committed supporter of the communities it 

serves, Maverick provides consultant work 

without charge to public entities and makes 

charitable donations to many nonprofit 

organizations’ fund drives. 


BROCK 

ENTERPRISES, 

INC. 

In the late 1940s, Beaumont was in the midst of 

a population and industrial expansion that quickly 

surpassed the town’s facilities. But as shortages of 

services became critical, opportunities became 

available for prosperity. 

Cecil Anderson of Beaumont began a small, 

simple enterprise called Service Painting 

Company in 1947. His first job was painting a 

logo on a tank and he could not possibly have 

imagined that his minuscule project would grow 

fifty years later into an internationally 

recognized company with nearly three thousand 

employees. The company’s foundation was 

solidly built on integrity, with supporting 

principles and values, which became the 

corporate philosophy that still exists today. 

Anderson’s nephew, Jerry Brock, got involved 

in the business at a young age, learning from the 

bottom up. Service Painting Company of 

Beaumont was incorporated in 1956. Its solid, 

yet modest growth rode the wave of the Golden 

Triangle’s industrial escalation. 

In 1970, Jerry Brock became president of 

Service Painting Company. He integrated new 

growth plans while retaining the philosophy of 

quality and integrity. His vision was to benefit 

heavy industrial clients by providing a single 

source contractor for all their painting 

requirements. The 1970s brought realization of 

Beaumont’s new civic center, a riverfront park 

and many other community accomplishments. 

Paralleling Beaumont’s growth, Brock began 

realizing his vision by expanding beyond the 

Golden Triangle area into Houston, establishing 

two innovative pipe-coating companies. 

When a deep recession hit the oil industry in 

the 1980s, tens of thousands of jobs were lost in 

the chemical, petroleum, shipbuilding and oil 

drilling industries, leading many companies to 

close their doors. Brock worked harder, became 

more aggressive and formed a holding company, 

Brock Enterprises, Inc. In 1982-83 several 

painting companies were formed in strategic 

areas to open other markets and allow for 

growth. These painting companies worked 

primarily in refineries and pulp and paper mills. 

At a time when other companies worried 

about surviving, Brock Enterprises implemented 

growth plans, forming a mechanical contracting 

company as well as an environmental company. 

An offshore painting company was created to 

capitalize on the growth in the offshore industry. 

Brock was now successfully providing its 

services on land and sea, but the goal of being a 

full-service specialty maintenance contractor 

was not yet realized. After the oil industry’s 

downturn, major companies started to refocus 

the way they conducted their business. Terms 

such as rightsizing, downsizing, and reengineering 

came into being. Seeing an 

opportunity to help the companies realize 


greater profits and reduce maintenance costs, 

Brock started, in 1979, an innovative way to 

paint an entire plant by manageable sections, 

thus controlling corrosion on a regular basis. 

Few companies saw the need for such a program 

until the 1990’s, when they became aware that a 

maintenance painting program in the harsh gulf 

environment was much less expensive than 

replacing steel. 

As Beaumont’s economy became more 

diversified and recession proof, Brock also 

branched out, offering customers a “one-stop 

shopping” alternative for their specialty 

maintenance services. 

In the mid-nineties its peers recognized 

Brock and industrial affiliates, such as 

Associated Builders and Contractors and 

National Petroleum Refiners Association, as the 

industry leader in this field. Despite Brock’s 

substantial growth from 1996 to date, the 

Company’s foundation remains based on quality 

and integrity. “Our goal is to make money; but 

satisfying the customer is our first priority,” says 

Jerry Brock. 

His two sons, Brad and Todd, now have 

leadership roles in the business. For over fifty 

years, Brock has remained in the same family 

and headquartered in Beaumont. But now, 

geographically, Brock reaches to the East and 

West Coasts. Brock’s philosophy of giving 

customers more than they ask for, rubs off on 

the employees, who get actively involved in the 

community. From raising money for food 

pantries to painting houses for the elderly, the 

Brock Group of Companies and its employees 

prefer to serve, not be served. 

Calling Beaumont the home of its parent 

company and being a part of Beaumont since 

the painting company’s modest inception has 

been a source of great pride for Brock 

Enterprises, Inc. They are equally proud of their 

employees, who are all “stars” in making Brock 

Enterprises, Inc. one of the premier employers 

in Texas and across the United States. 


MASON 

CONSTRUCTION, 

LTD. 

❖ 

(From left to right) W. K. Mason, C. 

E. (Charlie) Mason, and W. K. (Lee) 

Mason, Jr. with the number two 

dragline unit at the Mason 

Construction offices at 2870 

Washington Boulevard in Beaumont. 

Every story has a beginning. For Mason 

Construction, it was November 6, 1939. On that 

day, W. K. Mason won a bid with the U.S. Corps 

of Engineers to build a containment levee and 

dredge out part of the Houston Ship Channel at 

Galveston. Before bidding the work, W. K. had 

arranged to buy a Loraine Dragline from 

Browning-Ferris Machinery. Unfortunately, the 

$6,500 price did not include the cost of the 

bucket required to make a dragline work and he 

was out of money. Fortunately, Browning-Ferris 

decided to loan him one. Thus began W. K. 

Mason Dragline Contractor. 

The business soon moved to its own building 

and yard at 2870 Washington Boulevard near 

4th Street, in what was then the outskirts of 

Beaumont. The business would remain at that 

location until 1971. 

Soon after the close of World War II, W. K. 

Mason, Jr. (Kee) and C. E. Mason (Charlie) joined 

their father in the business. Kee took over the 

financial side in 1946, while Charlie oversaw 

field operations after completing college in 1950. 

During the 1940’s and 1950’s, the new 

company’s work centered around the local rice 

industry, as well as “draining the swamps.” The 

growing rice farms needed a dependable 

irrigation network, while the development of 

Beaumont’s west end required more dry land. 

W. K. Mason Dragline Contractor provided both. 

When W. K. retired in 1956, Charlie and Kee 

continued operations as W. K. Mason and Sons, 

working primarily for the drainage districts and 

for Sun Oil, headquartered in Beaumont at that 

time. In 1967 Kee left the construction business 

and Charlie continued on his own as Chas. 

Mason Excavating Contractor. 

Sun Oil moved out in 1968 and most of the 

drainage network had been completed. Charlie 

adjusted by focusing on equipment rentals, but 

with local construction in a prolonged slump, 

times were desperate for the family business. 

Luckily, Charlie was not alone. For several years, 

his wife Irene had been making and saving 

money by teaching swimming lessons and 

giving children’s parties as “Lumpy the Clown.” 

Truth be known, the magic clown and 

swimming lessons kept the construction 

business afloat during those hard years. 

The new decade brought better fortune. In 

late 1970 Charlie and Irene incorporated the 

company as Mason Equipment, Inc., and in 

1971, with the help of a SBA loan, the company 

built a new office at 6285 Walden Road near 

Interstate 10. At about the same time, Charles 

Mason, Jr. (Chuck) and Brad Mason both joined 

the business while still attending Lamar. With 

their addition, plus Charlie’s seasoned 

leadership, the construction skills of Rick Hogge 

and Ben Jones (two exceptional equipment 

operators), and the later hiring of George “Red” 

Williams as field superintendent, the company 

was now in a position to grow. 

By moving beyond bare and operated 

equipment rental to bidding “hard dollar” 

projects in site work, road construction, and 


asphalt paving the company began to prosper. 

Starting with a $60,000 road-crossing project 

for Mobil Oil Refinery in 1972, the company 

grew from less than $200,000 in sales in 1970 

to over $5 million annually in 1979. To reflect 

this broadened scope, the company was 

renamed Mason Construction, Inc. in 1978. 

In spite of the growth, the decade of the ‘70’s 

was nearly fatal to the family business. During 

that time, Southeast Texas labor relations were 

notorious. The cash-strapped company struggled 

to survive a series of refinery and construction 

strikes lasting for one, three and seven months 

during the decade. During the seven-month 

strike, the company was only rescued from 

closure by Charlie’s last-minute receipt of an 

unexpected inheritance. Hard work and 

perseverance may be the keys to success, but 

never underestimate the importance of luck! 

With the dawn of the ’80s, Mason 

Construction began a period of spectacular 

growth. Returning to work after a three-month 

strike, the company found itself the winning 

bidder of almost $7 million in projects–more 

than its entire annual volume. The huge 

workload proved to be both a curse and a 

blessing. A $5 million project for Mobil 

Chemical resulted in a half-million dollar loss, 

but luckily was offset by extraordinary profits 

on a much smaller job for Fluor at Arco 

Polymers. The huge loss forced the Masons to 

reassess the industry’s normal approach to work. 

Recognizing that “throwing resources at a job” 

had been a root cause of the loss, Brad and 

Chuck resolved to develop a leaner, more 

controlled organization. And just in time. 

1983 brought the “Oil Bust.” Industrial 

construction plummeted and many successful 

contractors failed. Mason Construction, on the 

other hand, had its best year ever. The new lean 

structure, forged out of a past failure, proved the 

key to success. As other contractors floundered, 

casting off key employees, Mason was 

expanding by hiring future leaders like Gilbert 

Andrus, David Matkin and Benny Adkins. 

The period since 1985 has been eventful yet 

is easily summarized: safe worksites; welltrained, 

long-term employees; high productivity, 

and continuous improvement. Which has led 

to: more clients; increased volume; increased 

profits; and remarkable success! 

Mason Construction is now one of the area’s 

most respected contractors. With more than 125 

permanent employees, Mason works in most of 

the industrial plants of Southeast Texas. A 

dominant force in concrete construction and 

excavation, it has also made a name in structural 

steel erection and railroad construction. 

In recent years the company has received 

special recognition on both a local and national 

level. In 1997 Mason Construction received the 

“Business Roundtable Construction Industry 

Excellence” (CISE) Award, recognizing the best 

safety program of any industrial contractor 

working 100,000 to 250,000 man-hours a year 

(approximately 100 to 150 workers). In 1998 

the American Society of Concrete Contractors 

recognized Mason Construction nationally for 

“Best Safety Achievement Award for General 

Contractor.” Additionally, from 1997 to 2002 

the Golden Triangle Business Roundtable has 

repeatedly recognized the company in its annual 

safety awards program. In 1999 the Better 

Business Bureau of Southeast Texas awarded 

Mason Construction the Second annual 

“Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics—Large 

Company.” This award was especially meaningful; 

recognizing the emphasis the Mason family 

has placed on ethical business practices over 

many decades. 

Mason Construction has enjoyed a long and 

prosperous history in Beaumont and Southeast 

Texas, but the story is still unfolding. A fourth 

generation of Masons has joined the company, 

and new leaders continue to rise from the ranks 

of existing employees. New pages are still to 

be written. 

❖ 

(From left to right) Brad Mason, 

Mary Bess Townsend, Chuck Mason, 

and Betty Mason accept the Better 

Business Bureau Torch Award from 

Michael Clayton, president of the 

Better Business Bureau of Southeast 

Texas (far right), on May 17, 1999. 


❖ 

Above: The Matrix Engineering 

Corporate Offices in Beaumont. 

Below: A gasoline hydrotreater unit 

used to produce cleaner fuels. 

COURTESY OF THE CRICCHIO STUDIO, 

PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS. 

MATRIX ENGINEERING, LTD. 

Founded in 1973 by two engineers, 

Maurice B. Fournet, Jr., and Ronald Blanton, 

Matrix Engineering provides turnkey 

engineering-procure-construct (EPC) services for 

Petroleum Refining Process Units from process 

conception through start-up of the facilities. The 

founders envisioned a Beaumont engineering 

firm that could provide engineering services to 

local oil refineries that were then primarily 

utilizing large engineering firms from Houston. 

Fournet served as president and Blanton as 

vice president of the newly established company, 

which was then called Matrix Engineers and 

Designers. They opened the operations in rented 

offices in the Petroleum Building in downtown 

Beaumont. Growth of the business led to 

expansion in 1975, including a partnership offer 

to two more engineers, making Matrix a four-man 

partnership until 1978, when the business was 

incorporated as Matrix Engineering, Inc. With a 

need for additional space, they rented offices in 

the former Channel 12 television building on 

Calder Street. The following year Matrix acquired 

property on Cardinal Drive, where the company’s 

first office building was constructed. This 

complex has since been expanded, and is the 

main office location for Matrix at this time. 

In 1980 after the company had achieved a 

reputation as a viable and growing engineering 

services company, management decided to 

expand to provide full-service design and 

construct services. They formed Matrix 

Construction, a wholly owned subsidiary, and 

the company began soliciting general 

construction contracts with local refineries. By 

the late 1980’s this subsidiary had established 

itself as a very capable construction company, 

and had its own pipe fabrication shop. Matrix 

began offering its services on a turnkey design 

and construct basis, and has continued to 

develop this concept, which is a key element in 

the company’s future growth. 

In 1999 Matrix Engineering was acquired by 

Howe-Baker International of Tyler, which in 

turn was acquired by Chicago Bridge and Iron 

(CB&I), making Matrix part of the CB&I 

organization, which has revenues in excess of $1 

billion annually. Matrix Engineering, Ltd. and 

its wholly owned subsidiary, A&B Builders, 

Ltd., are located in Beaumont. The company 

also has a pipe fabrication and modular 

assembly shop in Liberty, Texas. 

The Matrix Group remains committed to 

providing services that encompass the highest 

levels of quality, integrity and trust, 

accomplished through management and 

employee commitment, teamwork, training and 

active customer and supplier participation at all 

levels of group operations. Its engineering 

personnel have expertise in the civil, structural, 

mechanical, piping, process, electrical, and 

instrumentation engineering disciplines. 

The company’s procurement group can 

secure process equipment and construction 

materials in an expeditious and cost effective 


manner while ensuring “on-schedule delivery” 

of the equipment. 

To complement its engineering and 

procurement services, Matrix’s wholly owned 

subsidiary, A&B Builders, Ltd., provides 

complete general construction services for the 

refining industry. The services include 

installation of concrete foundations, erection of 

structural steel, setting of process equipment, 

installation of pressure piping systems, electrical 

power and lighting, process control systems, 

insulation and painting systems. A&B also 

provides pressure piping system fabrication by 

its fabrication shops in Beaumont and Liberty. 

The construction group also provides 

maintenance services and short-duration 

turnarounds for oil refining process units. Over 

one thousand people are employed in Matrix’s 

engineering and construction group. 

Matrix specializes in relocating process units 

from one refinery to another, and has relocated 

units requiring over fifty-thousand piece marks 

to identify all the components. The company 

also engages in the modular design and 

fabrication of process units. This design concept 

provides for constructing a greater portion of 

the process unit in a shop environment, thus 

providing for better schedule control since the 

weather is not a factor. 

Although the company’s primary customers 

are oil refineries and petrochemical plants along 

the Gulf Coast of Texas, Louisiana, and 

Mississippi, Matrix has completed design and 

construction work in over ten states in this 

country, as well as completing work that has 

been shipped to Europe, the Middle East, South 

America, and Indonesia. 

With annual revenues in excess of $80 

million, the company currently plans to grow to 

revenues of $100 million annually within the 

next three years. 

❖ 

Above: Lifting a fractionation tower as 

part of a refinery expansion. 

Below: Removing a crude oil 

distillation tower for shipment to 

South Korea. The tower weighed 

765 tons. 


ALLCO, INC. 

With a seventeen-year record of successful 

operation, Allco, Inc., is a diversified 

construction company offering design build, 

construction management, and general 

contractor services. The company’s services 

cover a wide variety of construction projects, 

including commercial, water and wastewater 

plant, utility, highway, bridge and civil 

construction. Constant expansion and sustained 

growth recorded every year throughout 

its history have led to Allco’s current status 

as a company with over $50 million in 

sales annually. 

Much of the company’s success derives from 

the daily efforts of both management and 

employees to fulfill Allco’s formal mission: “To 

deliver the best quality product, in the best time 

available, at an economical cost.” 

With an experienced staff that includes eight 

management, 22 supervisory, eight office 

management, four equipment maintenance 

personnel, a safety director and 275 skilled 

craftsmen, Allco, Inc. operates from two offices, 

its headquarters at 6720 College Street in 

Beaumont, and a branch office at 2118 Bingle 

Road in Houston. 

Allco, Inc. is the largest, most diversified 

general contractor in the eastern third of Texas, 

as reported by a publication of McGraw-Hill, 

and was ranked by F.W. Dodge Texas 

Construction as the 70th top contractor in Texas 

during 2001. Allco’s customers in the private 

and public sectors extend at times throughout 

most of the state. 

The company’s construction projects are an 

easily visible part of Southeast Texas, including 

most of the new schools in the area, the largest 

amount of detention facilities, several churches, 

parking garages and retail spaces. Allco, Inc. has 

placed a vast amount of the utilities services that 

provide for the growth and expansion of the 

area as a whole. Its roads and bridges provide 

links to areas throughout Southeast Texas, and 

the company has constructed facilities to 

provide safe drinking water and wastewater for 

the area’s residents. Over the last decade, Allco, 

Inc has built the majority of locally constructed 

large projects. 

Allco, Inc. President Eugene Allen, who was 

reared and educated in Beaumont, began his 

construction career in 1947 with Herman 

Weber, Inc. of Beaumont. His management and 

administrative skills were recognized in 1954 

when he was named Project Superintendent and 

then Chief Estimator and General 

Superintendent with Chris Smith Construction 

Company of Beaumont. He rejoined Herman 

Weber, Inc., maintaining the position of 

Divisional Manager and was also member of the 

Board of Directors, when Bella Company of 

Beaumont noticed his skills. 

He had complete managerial responsibility for 

all building construction projects, and later 

assumed responsibility of total overall operations 

of that company. Allen’s vast experience and 

superb reputation allowed him to successfully 

form Allco, Inc. in 1985, and he remains an 

integral part of all of the company’s projects. As 

they have always been, quality and customer 

satisfaction remain his top priorities. His 

reputation with architects, owners, subcontractors, 

and even competitive companies, is impeccable. 


Allco Executive Vice President Thomas W. 

Harrison was also reared and educated in 

Beaumont. He began working in the banking 

community as he started college, and in 1973 

attained the position of vice president and 

cashier of Texas Bank of Beaumont while still 

attending college. Managing the day-to-day 

operations of this financial institution 

developed his leadership skills, and prepared 

the way for his success in the construction 

industry. Harrison left the banking field to join 

Bella Company of Beaumont in 1977 as Chief 

Financial Business Manager, and remained in 

that capacity until forming Allco, Inc. in 1985. 

His knowledge of business finances and the 

inner workings of construction activities 

allowed him to gain an outstanding reputation 

with the construction and business community. 

Allco, Inc.’s plans for the future call for 

the company to expand its construction 

management and design build services and 

maintain its delivery of quality services to 

its clients. 

An active supporter of community and 

charitable organizations and projects 

throughout the area, Allco, Inc. participates in 

the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, 

Beaumont Independent School District Special 

Education Advisory Board, Community Organ 

Transplant Support Group, Richard L. Shorkey 

Education and Rehabilitation Center of 

Southeast Texas, various religious organizations, 

area youth benefit programs, Boys Haven, Girls 

Haven, the American Cancer Society’s Relay 

for Life Beaumont and Mid-County, and 

other endeavors. 


PORT OF 

BEAUMONT 

The Port of Beaumont, which dates back to 

the 1840s, is a result of concerted efforts of 

forward-thinking citizens, rather than a simple 

accident of nature. At that time, when a large, 

oceangoing schooner made its way up the 

Neches to Beaumont, a sounding in the center 

of the river showed the water’s depth at over 60 

feet. Yet this was of no value to most river 

captains because of the sand bars at Sabine Pass 

and the mouth of the Neches, as well as 

uncharted snags, oxbow bends and silts. 

In 1843 a letter to the President of the Republic 

of Texas urged improvements that would make 

Beaumont a prime cotton shipping port. Between 

1852 and 1875, after Texas’ annexation by the 

United States, the federal government 

commissioned three studies that led in 1876 to 

allocation of $20,000 to create a 12-foot deep, 150- 

foot wide channel across the sandbar at Sabine 

Pass. Digging of the privately financed Port Arthur 

Canal, 25 feet deep and with a bottom width of 

100-feet began in 1897, costing $1 million. In 

1906 this canal was donated to the federal 

government in exchange for its maintenance. 

Soon afterward, Beaumont leaders obtained 

a $240,000 federal appropriation to extend 

the canal, with work completed in 1908. 

Additional efforts for a wider and deeper 

channel were undertaken. Beaumont interests 

agreed to issue bonds for one-half of the cost, 

with the government to fund the remainder. 

This led in 1909 to creation of the Beaumont 

Navigation District and approval of $498,000 in 

navigation bonds, the first such election held for 

port purposes. 

The Beaumont City Council created a wharf 

and dock commission to oversee development 

of facilities. By 1913 the city had built about 

700 feet of timber wharves from the west side of 

Pearl Street eastward, and the next year 

purchased 30 acres of river-front property, the 

Kirby Peninsula, funded with bonds. Local 

interests objected to the twenty-nine-acre island 

left in the turning basin by the Neches River 

cutoff dredging, but federal authorities refused 

to allow its removal. This is now the site of 

Harbor Island Marine Terminal, considered one 

of the finest general cargo wharves in the Gulf 

of Mexico. 

The first ocean-going ship calling at the Port 

of Beaumont was the steamer Nicaragua. 

Tonnage handled at the port more than doubled 

in the first year after the ship channel’s 

completion, and was over six times that figure 

by 1918, leading to yet another call for further 

enlargement of the channel. In 1922 Congress 

allocated $2.1 million to enlarge the channel to 

a 30-foot depth and a 125-foot width, then 

considered “on an equal footing with the 

greatest inland waterways of the world.” 

But increasing traffic brought calls for still 

further improvements, with other projects 

undertaken between 1947 and 1950 and again 

in 1972. The latter work dredged the entire 


❖ 

Opposite, top: The arrival of an oceangoing 

ship drew a big crowd that 

included traders, vendors, and curious 

citizens. This undated photo shows the 

merchant ship Nicaragua arriving in 

the fledgling Port of Beaumont. 

Opposite, bottom: Cotton was once 

king on the Port of Beaumont 

wharves, as evidenced by this photo 

commemorating the one-hundred 

thousandth bale of cotton shipped in 

1958-59. The cotton compress located 

on port property accounted for 

thousands of tons of cargo and scores 

of jobs before it was closed in the 

early 1960s. 

Sabine-Neches Canal and Neches River to its 

present 40-foot depth and minimum width of 

400 feet. 

In 1949, the Texas Legislature created the 

Port of Beaumont Navigation District of 

Jefferson County, which has the authority to 

assess a maintenance and operations tax and to 

issue bonds for wharf and dock improvements. 

A six-member commission governs the port and 

appoints the executive director, who is 

responsible for overall port management. 

Improvements over the past half-century 

have been impressive. Today’s Port of Beaumont 

boasts of more than 200 acres of modern marine 

facilities, including over a mile of wharves, nine 

general cargo berths, a 3.5-million-bushel grain 

elevator, over a half-million square feet of transit 

sheds, 40 acres of paved outdoor storage and 

specialized facilities for handling bulk materials. 

The Port also owns about 240 acres of 

unimproved property on the east bank of the 

river, in Orange County. 

Private development has continued in 

tandem with public support of bonds to fund 

these improvements, providing cargo growth 

that has sparked economic development, 

commerce and jobs for Southeast Texas. One 

key to the Port of Beaumont’s success is 

flexibility and ability to respond to changes in 

the international marketplace. 

Shelby Wiggins, Beaumont’s first port 

director, served from 1927-1929. His successors 

have included J. Russell Wait, J. Scott 

Hammond, F.C. “Ted” Dezendorf, O.L. 

Caywood, D.H. “Doss” Berry, James H. Hartzog, 

John H. Groh, James W. Martin, Bill G. Masters, 

Donald R. Allee, and David C. Fisher. 

Left: The Port’s grain elevator and 

general cargo complex located on the 

Caswell tract near completion in this 

photo taken in 1963. The island in the 

upper left was later annexed to the 

mainland and became the Port’s 

Harbor Island Marine Terminal. 

Below: This undated photos shows a 

“full house” at the port, with a ship in 

every berth. The corner of Harbor 

Island can be seen in the lower left. 


AMERICAN 

VALVE & 

HYDRANT 

COMPANY 

The name hasn’t always been American Valve 

& Hydrant, even though the business has 

operated at that location since 1951, when local 

businessman Bob Mabry purchased a small tract 

of land at 3350 Hollywood to build a foundry. At 

the time, the foundry made castings that primarily 

served the local petrochemical and construction 

industries. In the late 1950s, Mabry Foundry 

began producing valve castings for Darling Valve 

Company of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Darling 

Valve purchased Mabry Foundry in 1967, and in 

1969, American Cast Iron Pipe (ACIPCO), 

purchased Darling’s complete waterworks line, 

including the Beaumont foundry and a machine 

shop on Fourth Street. 

ACIPCO, the largest iron pipe casting 

company in the world under one roof, sought to 

expand its business from pipe alone to include 

valves and fire hydrants, and the purchase of 

Darling Valve was the answer. The business 

operated under the name of American-Darling 

Valve & Manufacturing Company until 1979, 

when it assumed its present name—American 

Valve & Hydrant Manufacturing Company. 

Some of the company’s products still bear the 

name of “Darling.” 

During that decade, adjacent land was 

purchased for expansion and the plant was 

modernized. Warehouses and a new machine 

shop were added at the original site. More 

machinery, including new emission control 

equipment, was purchased, resulting in an 

increase of the foundry’s capacity. 

The company grew rapidly, necessitating 

additional space. The accounting and personnel 

offices were moved to the location at Fourth 

Street, where the accounting office and data 

processing offices remained until 1986. In 1985 

property directly across the street from the main 

plant was purchased. An office building there now 

houses executive, accounting, purchasing and 

engineering personnel. Also in 1985, AVH bought 

Smith Brothers, a machine shop on Fannett Road 

that had been doing contract work for them for 

several years. Employees and machines were 

eventually moved to the Hollywood location, and 

the Smith Brothers property was sold. 

In 2000 the company purchased 2.85 acres 

on the west side of the plant, extending to 11th 

Street. Buildings were demolished, concrete was 

poured, and shelves were added to house the 

new fittings product line. The company bought 

another two acres across the street from the 

plant on the east side of the parking lot in 2001, 

bringing AVH’s Hollywood Street property to 

about thirty-four acres. 

Van Richey, current president of ACIPCO and 

Dalton Babineaux, president of AVH, consider 

the 190 American Valve & Hydrant employees 

to be the company’s greatest asset. Employees 

receive continual training to enhance their 

productivity in operating state-of-the-art 

equipment that is updated regularly. With an 

average age of 45, these employees have logged 

an average service of 18 years at AVH. Each 


carries a laminated card as a reminder of the 

company’s quality statement and its vision: “To 

ensure the future of the Company and the 

employees through customer and shareholder 

satisfaction by producing quality products, 

providing quality service, and operating the 

organization safely, efficiently, and profitably 

through continuous improvement.” 

In 1997, AVH became IS09001-registered, a 

lengthy process that is necessary to remaining 

competitive in the global marketplace. The 

certification is an ongoing process maintained by 

monthly audits conducted within the company 

with semi-annual audits by a UL Auditor. This 

includes a component to make employees aware 

of ways in which to continually improve the 

manufacturing process. The quality policy was 

recently revised to include the continuous 

improvement process, and now states that 

“American Valve & Hydrant will deliver its 

products on time, defect-free, and at a 

competitive price by continuously improving 

our processes, products, and service.” 

AVH offers customers 2-inch to 48-inch 

resilient seated valves, tapping sleeves, resilient 

seated swing check valves and fittings, along 

with a complete line of both industrial and 

municipal hydrants, etc. 

The greatest asset at AVH is not buildings, 

equipment or property but people who are 

dedicated and committed to serving customers 

globally with a quality, cost-effective product. 

A culture of honesty and integrity that was 

established in 1905 by the corporation’s 

founder, John Eagan, has carried forth to the 

Beaumont operation. He founded the parent 

company on the premise that a company could 

be managed by practicing the principles of the 

Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would 

have them do unto you.” 

AVH employees are committed not only to 

serving the customer, but also to serving each 

other and the community in time of need. They 

are dedicated to supplying quality products to 

the water works industry, while making 

Beaumont and the surrounding area a great 

place to live through involvement in such 

activities as March of Dimes, United Way, 

School Partnering and Junior Achievement. 


GOLD CREST 

ELECTRIC 

COMPANY, INC 

“We Try Harder” is more than a slogan for Gold 

Crest Electric Company. It’s a pledge to its 

customers that Gold Crest will always provide the 

best service possible, and a promise to its 

employees that the atmosphere of their workplace 

will remain one in which they can enjoy working. 

Organized in Beaumont in May of 1969, 

Gold Crest has served the needs of its customers 

continuously for well over three decades. From 

its base at 1655 South Twenty-third Street in 

Beaumont, the company operates an electrical 

contracting service in the general region of 

Southeast Texas, and more particularly the 

Golden Triangle. 

The owners, L. Elray Wilson, Wallace A. 

Domingue and Gene A. VanMeter, operate the 

company in an informal relationship as 

partners. They attribute their success in part to 

a close relationship and similar early-life 

experiences. As youngsters, all three of them 

were deeply rooted in heritage and traditions as 

graduates of South Park High School during the 

1940s. In addition, all three have served in the 

military. All prepared themselves for careers as 

electricians, having graduated from schools and 

the prescribed on-the-job training. All three 

have served past employers as wiremen and 

later in supervisory positions. All have served in 

classrooms, teaching, training and certifying 

young apprentices to become good craftsmen in 

the electrical trade. Later, as employers, each 

has worked in various capacities in difficult dual 

positions involving organized labor and 

business management. 

In addition to the owners’ philosophy and 

experience, Gold Crest’s customers benefit 

from service by an office and warehouse staff 

of approximately 25 well-trained, long-tenured 

employees and some 100-130 craftsmen who 

make up the company’s workforce on jobs in the 

field. Approximately 60 vehicles provide needed 

transportation. State-of-the-art technology, from 

communications equipment to computers, is 

utilized throughout the plant. 

Gold Crest’s entire team works hard to 

provide customers with all types of electrical 

contracting needs, including residential, 

commercial, industrial, pole-line construction, 

instrumentation, maintenance, communication 

systems and general repair services. 

Owners and key personnel work together 

within the framework of a long-range plan to 

ensure the ongoing stability and dependability 

of Gold Crest for decades to come. 


DOGUET’S 

RICE MILLING 

COMPANY 

Doguet’s Rice Milling Company is over twenty 

years old, but the story goes back four 

generations. Arthur Ardoin, great-grandfather of 

the mill’s present owners, Debbie Robbins and 

Mike Doguet, was a Louisiana rice grower. Their 

father, Darby Doguet, worked in a rice warehouse, 

owned a seed business, and eventually managed a 

mill. He bought a rice dryer in Beaumont in 1979 

and by 1981 had expanded by adding a mill. 

Today the business includes the drying, 

storage, and milling of rough rice, marketing rice 

for other farmers, and like their great-grandfather, 

they grow rice, including the family brands of 

Doguet’s, Budget, Jasmine, Golden Eagle and Red 

Wing Rice, as well as other food products. 

Doguet’s Rice Farms utilize the most modern 

equipment and procedures, such as laser leveling 

to maximize yields and minimize water 

requirements, and Integrated Pest Management 

to reduce insect control measures for all the rice 

in its brand-name products. Both procedures are 

in keeping with the company’s pro-active 

environmental goal of producing the highest 

quality product possible without adversely 

affecting the environment. 

The company’s fine products include: 

• Enriched Long Grain, the most popular brand, 

with grains that cook separately, light and fluffy. 

• Enriched Medium Grain, moist, tender rice 

that tends to cling together and make a 

terrific bed for other great food. 

• Organic, farmed organically and processed, 

packaged, transported and stored to retain 

maximum nutrition without artificial 

preservatives, coloring, or other additives. 

• Brown, which retains bran layers and has a 

nutty flavor and added nutrition. 

• Jasmine, an aromatic, long-grain rice that 

cooks to become soft and moist, with a roasted 

popcorn taste. 

• Parboiled, processed with steam pressure to 

produce break-resistant grains that cook 

separate and fluffy. 

• Additional family products, including 

Doguet’s Roux and Gift Boxes. 

The family also operates three other businesses. 

Doguet’s Grass Farm grows and harvests St. 

Augustine and Centipede grass, and is the 

exclusive grower and distributor of Baby Bermuda 

and JaMur Zoysia for East Texas and Louisiana. 

Doguet’s Crawfish Farm raises, harvests, purges 

and prepares 250,000-300,000 pounds of live 

crawfish and cleaned crawfish tails annually. 

Doguet’s Diamond D Ranch raises top bloodline, 

registered and commercial Brangus cattle. 


❖ 

Above: An automated pipeline 

control system designed by 

Petrocon Systems, Inc. 

Below: A ribbon-cutting ceremony with 

Beaumont Mayor Moury Meyers. 

PETROCON ENGINEERING, INC. 

In 1901, Beaumont gave birth to several of 

the world’s largest oil companies as Spindletop 

gushed its black gold across the coastal plains of 

Gladys City. Oilmen and entrepreneurs rushed 

to Beaumont in droves to capitalize on this oncein-a-lifetime 

event. That entrepreneurial spirit 

has endured as Beaumont continues to produce 

nationally recognized world-class companies. 

One such organization, Petrocon Engineering, 

Inc. began in May 1977 when co-founders 

Michael L. Burrow and Ronald L. Blanton started 

Petrocon Inc., Engineers & Designers. 

From the beginning, Ron and Mike championed 

the concepts of “Quality,” “Integrity” and 

“Entrepreneurial Spirit.” Applying those core 

values, Petrocon immediately recruited seven 

additional owner/managers and, over the next 

three years, acquired two local engineering firms. 

In just five years, Petrocon became the largest 

engineering firm in the Golden Triangle area. 

Responding to a trend by its customers toward 

design/build, Petrocon merged with a major 

constructor in 1982, adding turnkey engineering, 

procurement and construction projects. In 1988 

Burrow and eleven key managers established 

Petrocon Engineering, Inc., which then acquired 

the assets and name of Petrocon, Inc. Shortly 

thereafter, a new trend developed to reduce the 

number of suppliers and to choose large, 

geographically diverse engineering companies, 

which possessed the capability to service multiple 

plant sites and often to assume the role of sole 

engineering provider. Petrocon responded to its 

clients’ needs by making sixteen acquisitions, 

facilitating a twenty-two percent annualized 

revenue growth from $4.5 million in 1988 to 

approximately $100 million and added five new 

domestic offices and one major international office. 

Recently, Petrocon merged with IDS 

Engineering Houston. Petrocon and IDS now 

provide comprehensive engineering services 

beginning at the wellhead and ending in 

petrochemical and chemical production plants. 

Even before the merger, the Engineering News 

Record ranked Petrocon sixth for the design of 

refineries, fourth in electronics assembly, 

fifteenth in industrial process and 

petrochemical, sixteenth in Petroleum, tenth in 

pipelines, and 123rd in the “Top 500 Design 

Firms in the United States.” 

Twenty-five years from its founding, Petrocon 

has grown into an award-winning, multidisciplined 

engineering procurement, 

construction management firm, which is 

internationally recognized for its world-class 

specialty in automation and DCS integration 

services. Even though the company has 

expanded far beyond the boundaries of 

Beaumont, it has steadfastly maintained its 

dedication to this locale and to its original three 

principles. With over 500 people here, Petrocon 

is still the largest firm in the Golden Triangle, 

and one of Beaumont’s largest employers. 


In 1932, H. B. Neild moved his family to 

Southeast Texas from Liverpool England and 

used his master construction skills to begin 

H. B. Neild, General Contractor. As the 

company grew, his two sons, John Neild, Sr., 

and William E. Neild, worked for the company 

under his supervision. When they were 

named partners, the company was renamed 

H. B. Neild & Sons. 

Through hard work and determination, the 

company prospered and, in 1963, was 

incorporated in the State of Texas and renamed 

H. B. Neild & Sons, Inc. John Neild, Jr., became 

active in the company’s management in 1972 

and Thomas Neild was added to the firm in 

1974. When John Neild, Sr., retired in 1992, 

John Jr. became president and Thomas Neild 

vice president, ushering the firm into its 

third generation. 

One of the oldest general contracting firms 

in the Golden Triangle, H. B. Neild & Sons, 

Inc. takes pride in its tradition, while also 

utilizing the latest technology to advance and 

simplify communications throughout the 

construction process. The company is a product 

of the hard work, effort and commitment by 

generations of employees and their families, 

who share the Neild family’s belief that every 

project must be of the highest quality 

and efficiency, and view every building 

constructed as a small portion of their heritage. 

The company’s success is based 

primarily on the experience and level 

of commitment of its personnel, many 

of whom are second and third 

generation employees. 

With offices located in Beaumont, 

the firm services all of the Golden 

Triangle and surrounding areas, and 

strongly supports the local community. 

One of the company’s greatest honors 

was contributing to the preservation of 

the area’s rich heritage through 

construction of Gladys City, and the 

rehabilitation of the Tyrell Historical 

Library, St. Anthony’s Cathedral, and 

Jefferson Theater. 

H. B. Neild & Sons, Inc. also 

supports the Shriner’s Burn Hospital in 

Galveston, a project particularly dear 

to the founder. Neild family members 

also serve the community through their 

affiliation with professional, political, religious 

and charitable organizations. 

Cherishing its reputation as a contracting 

firm with experience in every major area of 

building construction, H. B. Neild & Sons, Inc. 

is noted for its long record of trustworthiness, 

capability, effort, personalized relationships 

with clients and subcontractors, honesty, 

flexibility, and high level of service. 

H. B. NEILD & SONS, INC. 

❖ 

Above: John Neild, Jr., John Neild, Sr., 

and Thomas B. Neild. 

Below: The Tyrrell Historical Library 

in downtown Beaumont. 


A 

Adams, Gilbert, 57 

African Methodist Episopal Church, 30 

Agustín Morfi, Juan, 5 

Aiken, A. M., 70 

Ainsworth, Charles, 77 

Ainsworth, Nathaniel, 77 

Ainsworth, Rita, 77-78 

Akers, Robert W., 75 

Alexander, James R., 29 

Alexander, John, 84 

Amelia, 73 

American Express Building, 88 

American Fastpitch Association, 84 

Anderson, T. L., 49 

Angelina River, 22, 34 

Anthony, Waurine Sprott, 75 

Árbol Grande, 54 

Arbuckle, Fatty, 65 

Arizona Daily Enterprise, 41 

Art Museum of Southeast Texas, 84-85 

Asbury, Kelly, 84 

Ashworth, Aaron, 16 

Ashworth, Abner, 16 

Ashworth, Jesse, 16 

Ashworth, William, 16, 23 

Atascosito, 9 

Atascosito Trail, 9, 21 

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad 

Company, 35 

Attakapas, The, 5-7, 9-10 

Aury, Luis Michel, 10 

Austin, 45 

Austin, Stephen Fuller, 15, 20, 22 

B 

Babe Zaharias Memorial Museum, 80 

Bacon, Carrie, 43 

Bailey, G. W., 84 

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, 77 

Ballew’s Ferry, 21 

Barataria Bay, 10 

Barnwell Community Center, 74 

Barry, David Redmond, 45 

Barry, Eleanor Cunningham, 45 

Barrymore, Lionel, 42, 61 

Batson, 54 

Battle of Bayou Fordoche, 32 

Battle of Calcasieu Pass, 32 

Battle of New Orleans, 12 

Battle of Sabine Pass, 31 

Battle of San Jacinto, 19 

Beaumont Academy Company, 42 

Beaumont Art League, 85 

Beaumont Art Museum, 85 

Beaumont Art Studio, 85 

Beaumont Banner, 25, 29 

Beaumont Bullfrogs, 83 

Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, 48, 71, 

78-79, 91 

Beaumont Charlton-Pollard High School, 82 

Beaumont Civic Opera, 73, 84 

Beaumont Colored School, 43 

Beaumont Community Players, 61, 73 

Beaumont Community Theater, 85 

Beaumont Enterprise, 41-42, 57-58, 62, 65, 

INDEX 

72, 75, 87 

Beaumont Exporters, 68 

Beaumont Fire Company Number One, 42 

Beaumont Golden Gators, 83 

Beaumont Heritage Society, 77, 87 

Beaumont High School, 67, 82 

Beaumont Hotel, 25 

Beaumont Independent School District, 76, 

82-83 

Beaumont Journal, 48, 63, 71, 76, 87 

Beaumont Light Guard, 45 

Beaumont Lumber Company, 29, 38, 48 

Beaumont Lumberman, 39 

Beaumont Main Street, 88 

Beaumont Male and Female Academy, 27 

Beaumont Music Commission, 61, 73, 84-85 

Beaumont News-Beacon, 31 

Beaumont Oil Exchange and Board of Trade, 

52 

Beaumont One Initiative, 90 

Beaumont Pasture Company, 38 

Beaumont Rice Mill, 39 

Beaumont School District, 42-43, 61, 71, 82 

Beaumont Shipbuilding and Dry Dock 

Company, 56, 69 

Beaumont Symphony Orchestra, 73, 84 

Beaumont Temperance Council, 42 

Beaumont Village, 73 

Beaumont, Mary Dewburleigh Barlace 

Warren, 17 

Bethlehem Steel Corporation, 71 

Bevilport, 27, 39 

Big Thicket, 5-6, 9, 92 

Blain, Jim, 50 

Blanchette Hall, 41 

Blanchette, Alexis, 26 

Blanchette, Mary Ann, 76 

Blanchette, Savinee, 26, 43 

Bluestein Hall, 41-42, 44 

Bolivar, 12, 27 

Bolivar Peninsula, 13, 47 

Bordages, Ira, 26 

Bowie, James, 12 

Bowie, John, 12 

Bowie, Melton, 58 

Bowie, Rezin, 12 

Boyer, Val, 43 

Boys’ Haven, 85 

Brake, J. J., 19 

Brake’s Bayou, 29, 36, 38 

Brand+Allen, Inc., 85 

Brazos River, 8, 15 

Brentwood Development Company, 85 

Brock, Marion E., 72 

Broussard, Emile, 26 

Broussard, Hawthorne, 57 

Broussard, James, 84 

Broussard, Joseph Eloi, 39 

Broussard, Sevan, 26 

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 74 

Browne, Betty, 65 

Bryan, George, 22, 27, 30 

Bucareli, 9 

Bunch, Jack, 27 

Bundy, Benn, 88 

Burr, Pearle, 67 

Busceme, James “Bubba” Busceme, 83 

Bush, George H. W., 90-91 

Bush, George W., 90 

Bush, Zenobia, 82 

Byrd, Tracy, 84, 91 

C 

Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nuñez, 6-7 

Calder, Alexander, 21, 23, 26 

Calder, Luanza, 23 

Camino Real, 8 

Camp Mabry, 45 

Camp Spindle Top, 30, 34 

Campeche, 12, 13 

Carabin, Aphrodite, 45 

Carabin, John, 45 

Cardinal Cadence, 81 

Cape Victory, 92 

Cape Vincent, 92 

Cargill, David, 80, 84 

Carl Markley Motor Company, Inc., 66 

Carroll, F. E., 50 

Carroll, Francis Lafayette “Frank”, 

28-29, 36-37, 40, 50 

Carroll, George W., 28, 37, 43, 48-50, 55-57, 

62 

Carroll, Joseph A., 28, 36 

Carroll, Monroe, 50 

Carroll, Sarah, 50 

Carroll, Will, 50 

Carter, Keith, 84 

Cattail Marsh, 92 

Cavalcade of America, 72 

Cecil, Lamar, 75 

Central City Development Corporation, 78 

Central High School, 82, 83 

Central Park, 75 

Chaison, Jefferson, 29 

Chaison, Jonas B., 26-27 

Chaison, McGuire, 23, 27 

Chaisson, Cecelia, 84 

Chambers, Homer, 45 

Charles, Ezra, 84 

Charlton, C. B., 64 

Charlton, Charles Pole, 30, 43-44, 76 

Charlton-Pollard High School, 44, 49, 82-83 

Cheesman, George, 59 

Chenault, C. B., 40 

Chestnut, Mark, 84 

Children’s Welfare Committee, 61 

Chiles, H. E. “Eddie”, 90 

Christie Brothers Circus, 74 

CHRISTUS Spohn Health System, 91 

Citizens Law and Order League, 56 

City of Beaumont Bicentennial Commission, 90 

Civil War, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33-35, 41 

Civilian Conservation Corps, 66 

Clark, I. F., 21 

Clark, Loving G., 29 

Coe, Herring, 81, 84 

Coe-Jones, Dawn, 83 

Cokinos, Jimmie P., 45, 75 

Cokinos, Pete, 45 

Collier’s Ferry, 8, 21 

Commercial, 16 

Company C, 143rd Infantry, Thirty-Sixth 

Infantry Division, Texas National Guard, 71 


Company E, Likens’ Battalion, Texas 

Volunteers, 30 

Company F, Fifth Texas Regiment, 29, 30 

Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, 

33 

Conn, C. W., 85 

Conn, Dorothy, 85 

Consultation at San Felipe, 17 

Coon, Brent, 85 

Cooper, Samuel Bronson, 57 

Cormier, James Anthony, 75 

Corsicana, 50 

Cós, Martín Perfecto de, 17 

Cow Bayou, 17, 21 

Cravens, E. S., 64 

Creed, Clifford Ann, 83 

Crisis, The, 64 

Crockett Street Entertainment Complex, 88, 91 

Crosby Hotel, 52 

Crosby House, 41 

Crosby Opera House, 41-42, 44 

Crosby, J. T., 41 

Cruthirds, Harold, 84 

Cruthirds, Jo Ann, 84 

Cunningham, Margaret McDade, 45 

D 

Daily Galveston Bulletin, 34 

Dallas, 68, 75, 76 

Davis, B. B., 84 

de Batz, A., 7 

de Narváez, Pánfilo, 6 

de Soto, Hernando, 7 

de Zavala, Lorenzo, 16 

Deplanter, Myrtle Sprott, 75 

Dickey, Ross, 70 

DiDio, Charles, 69 

Didrikson, Mildred "Babe", 67, 68 

Didrikson, Ole, 67 

Diffenbacher, E. J., 58 

Dishman, Herbert, 85 

Dishman, Kate, 85 

Dixie Hotel, 77-78, 88 

Doctor Massie, 28 

Doucette, Albert, 43 

Douglas, George, 49 

Dowling, Annie Odlum, 33 

Dowling, Richard W., 31, 33, 84 

Duetser, Bernard, 44 

DuPont Chemical Company, 72 

Durley, Alex, 83 

E 

East Texas Pulp and Paper Company, 72 

Eastern Texas Railroad Company, 28, 35 

Edison Plaza, 85-86 

Edison Hotel, 61, 85 

Eighteenth Battalion, Texas State Guard, 70 

El Orcoquisac, 9 

Employers Casualty Insurance Company, 68 

Entergy Gulf States, 85-86 

Evadale, 72 

Everett, Stephen H., 22 

ExxonMobil, 72 

Fair Park, 64 

Farr, Mel, 83 

Farr, Miller, 83 

Fayson, Booker, 75 

F 

First Baptist Church, 48, 60 

First Baptist Church Building, 61 

First National Bank, 44 

First Regiment, Texas Infantry, 17 

First Security National Bank, 81 

First Texas Regiment, Municipal Reserves, 57 

Fisher, Joe J., 81, 82 

Flanagan, Tom, 88 

Flasdyck, Alice, 65 

Fleckman, Marty, 83 

Fletcher, Kate, 43 

Fletcher, Marion, 43 

Fletcher, Vallie, 43 

Fletcher, William A., 28-29, 31, 34, 36, 38-39 

Flores Creek, 24 

Florilda, 28 

Ford, Gerald R., 81 

Forest Park High School, 82 

Fort Griffin, 31, 33, 35 

Forney, M. N., 37 

Frank, Murry J., 82 

French High School, 82, 83, 84 

French Market, 50 

French School District, 61, 71, 76 

French Town, 26 

French, David, 87 

French, John Jay, 15, 24, 26, 46, 87 

French, Sally Munson, 24, 46 

G 

Galey, John H., 49 

Galgish, Tom, 43 

Galiano, Joseph, 45 

Gallier, Del, 69 

Galveston, 7, 22, 24, 26-27, 30-31, 39, 47- 

48, 57, 92 

Galveston and Sabine Bay Stage, 27 

Galveston Harbor, 33 

Galveston Island, 10, 12-13 

Galveston Weekly News, 25 

Garner, David, 23 

Garner, Tom, 62, 63 

Gateway Shopping City, 73-75, 80 

Gielis, George, 46 

Gilbert Building, 87 

Gilbert, John N., 33 

Gilbert, Nathan, 33 

Gilligan, Jim, 84 

Gladys City, 88, 90 

Gladys City Oil, Gas, and Manufacturing 

Company, 31, 49 

Goliad, 9, 14 

Goodhue Building, 85, 92 

Goodhue Opera House, 42 

Goodhue, A. F., 41-42 

Goodhue, J. B., 41 

Goodin, J. D., 41 

Goodman, Benny, 74 

Gordon, W. E., 62 

Gowlen Saloon, 56 

Graham, Gloria, 84 

Grande Terre, 10 

Graves, Morris, 84 

Gray, John Ellis, 80-81 

Great Depression, 66, 67, 77 

Green, Henry, 25, 27, 93 

Green’s Bluff, 46 

Greenberg, Betty, 85 

Greenberg, Hank, 68 

Greenberg, Sheldon, 85 

Greer, Hal W., 42, 56 

Griffin, Joe, 75 

Grigsby, Joseph, 6, 16, 21, 23, 46 

Grigsby’s Bluff, 19, 21, 46 

Gross, Lucy Fuller, 67 

Guffey, Galey, and Lucas, 49 

Guffey, James M., 49 

Guidry, Lefroy, 26 

Guillory, Anthony, 75, 83 

Gulf Oil Company, 54 

Gulf States Utilities Company, 77 

Gulf, Beaumont, and Kansas City Railroad 

Company, 35-36 

Guseman, Richard, 85 

H 

Haddaway, George, 69 

Halbouty, Michel, 90 

Hall-Wood, Jeannette, 84 

Haltom, M. G., 27 

Haltom, Nora Lee Pipkin, 34 

Hamill, Al, 50, 72 

Hamill, Curt, 50 

Hanks, Toby, 84 

Harper, Benjamin F., 19 

Harris, J. M. (Doc), 56 

Harrisburg, 19 

Harvest Club, 70 

Hayes, Marvin, 84 

Hebert High School, 82-83 

Hebert, Joseph, 26, 29 

Hebert, Usan, 76 

Heidrick, Charles, 66 

Heifetz, Jascha, 61, 73 

Helpinstill, Charles, 84 

Hermann Memorial health System, 91 

Higgins, J. B., 75 

Higgins, Pattillo, 48-50, 54-55, 60, 72 

Hillebrandt, Christian Espar, 15, 23 

Hobby, W. P., 57 

Hollomon, Gus, 83 

Hood’s Brigade, 27, 29-31 

Horowitz, Vladimir, 61 

Hotel Beaumont, 60, 87 

Hotel Dieu, 44-45, 70 

Houston, 28, 31, 35, 44, 51, 

77-78, 80 

Houston Oilers, 83 

Houston, Sam, 17-21 

Hubbell, Carl, 68 

Hudspeth, George, 82 

Huling, Thomas B., 16-17, 20 

Humble Oil Company, 54 

Hunt, Tanner T., 83 

Hutchinson, Nancy Nixon Tevis, 15, 21-22, 

26, 46 

Ingalls, Jim, 26 

Ingalls, Jack, 27 

Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, 81 

Irwin, A. A., 47 

Ivers, W. A., 43 

Jackson, Andrew, 12 

Jackson, Versie, 75 

Jackson, William, 69 

James Committee, 76-78 

James, Everette, 74 

James, Harry, 74, 84 

I 

J 

Index ✦ 203

James, Tom, 76 

Jasper, 27, 39 

Jefferson, 21 

Jefferson County, 17, 21-23, 26, 30, 34, 42, 

46, 57, 62, 66, 76-77, 88 

Jefferson County Board of Commissioners, 

25, 27 

Jefferson Theater, 90, 93 

Jefferson Theater Preservation Society, 88 

Jirou, John, 26 

John Gray Center, 81 

John Jay French Museum, 87 

Johnson, B. J., 26 

Johnson, Cave, 25-26, 32, 39 

Johns, Theodore, 75, 76 

Jones, Alfred, 62 

Jones, Anson, 22 

Jones, George, 84 

Jones, L. Q., 84 

Joplin, Janis, 84 

Jorgensen, Paul, 83 

Josiah H. Bell, 28, 31 

Julie Rogers Theatre for the Performing Arts, 

62, 88 

Junior League of Beaumont, 85 

Junker, Isaiah, 23, 25 

K 

Kansas City Southern Railroad Company, 35- 

36 

Karankawa, The, 7, 8 

Kavanaugh, Benjamin Taylor, 46 

KAYC, 73 

KBMT Channel 12, 73 

KBTV, 73 

Keith Park, 58 

Keith, Alice, 47 

Keith, Alice L. Carroll, 37, 47, 50 

Keith, Jehu Frank, 36-38, 47, 54 

Keith, Jim, 43 

Keith, John L., 37 

Keith, John W., 28, 36-37 

Keith, Olga, 47 

Keith, Robert, 78 

Keith, Sallye, 85 

Keith, Will, 43 

Kelcher, Louis, 83 

Kellie, E. I., 39 

Kennedy, Carl, 64 

Keyes, Evelyn, 84 

KFDM Channel 6, 61, 73, 76 

King, Minnie Carroll, 50 

King, Sidney, 84 

King, Stephen M., 62 

Kirby, John Henry, 35-36, 38 

Kirbyville, 35 

KJET, 73 

Klein, Joe, 69 

KLVI, 73 

Kountze, Augustus, 35 

Kountze, Herman, 35 

KPAC Channel 4, 73 

KPBX, 73 

KRIC, 73 

KTRM, 73 

Ku Klux Klan, 61-64 

Kyle Building, 88 

Kyle Opera House, 56 

Kyle Theater, 61 

Kyle, Carol Tyrrell, 85 

Kyle, Obadiah, 38 

L 

La Bahía (Goliad), 14 

La Salle Hotel, 61 

la Salle, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de, 7, 8 

Lafflin, John, 13 

Lafitte, Alexander, 10 

Lafitte, Jean, 10, 12-13 

Lafitte, Pierre, 10, 13 

LaFosse, Robert, 84 

Lamar College, 75, 80 

Lamar Institute of Technology, 81 

Lamar Junior College, 71, 83 

Lamar Union Junior College District, 71 

Lamar University, 76, 80-81, 83-85, 90 

Lamar University-Orange, 81 

Lamar University-Port Arthur, 81 

Lamar, Mirabeau Bonaparte, 71, 80, 84 

Lamarissimo!, 81 

Lamb, Hanna, 42 

Lamb, Mary, 42 

Lamb, Thomas A., 41 

Lamont, Nick, 45 

Landrum, Samuel, 77 

Lang, Katie, 84 

Langham, Henry, 43 

Langham, James Biddle, 22-23 

Langham, Tom, 26 

Lanier, J. D., 49 

Lanza, Mario, 61 

Laura, 40 

Leadership Beaumont, 78 

Leary, Ethel, 43 

Lee, Thomas P., 60 

Lee, William E., 60 

Leonard, John W., 41 

Levias, Jerry, 83 

Levy, Aaron, 60 

Levy, Leon R., 44 

Lewis, Joshua, 15 

Lewis, Thomas F., 15 

Liberto, Frank, 44 

Liberty, 9-10, 21, 24, 30, 34 

Lietzke, Bruce, 83 

Little Theater, 61, 73 

Littlefield, H. B., 21 

Live Oak Missionary Baptist Church, 43-44, 

76 

Loeb, Morris J., 44 

Logan, William M., 18 

Long and Company, 28, 36-38 

Long, Davis, 36 

Long, James, 13-14 

Long, James M., 28-29, 36, 40 

Long, Jane, 13-14 

Long, Theresa, 28 

Lord, Evelyn, 91, 93 

Louis Mayer’s Dry Goods Store, 50 

Lover’s Lane, 68 

Lucas Gusher, 50-52, 71-72, 88, 90-91 

Lucas Gusher Monument Association, 72, 90 

Lucas, Anthony F., 49-50, 54-55 

Lucas, Anthony FitzGerald, 72 

Lucas, Carrie, 50 

M 

Madison, 46 

Magnolia Cemetery, 48 

Magnolia Park, 63 

Magnolia Petroleum Company, 53, 65 

Magnolia Refinery, 55, 59, 61, 72 

Magruder, J. Bankhead, 30 

Maida, Sam, 44 

Maison Rouge, 12 

Malhado, 7 

Manes, Paul, 84 

Mapes, Jim, 62 

Marshall, James, 69 

Marshall, Joe, 69 

Mary and John Gray Library, 81 

Mary Falvey, 28 

Mason, Elvis, 78 

Matagorda, 13 

Matagorda Bay, 8 

Mayer, Louis, 44 

McAllister, Susie, 83 

McCarty, S. W., 41 

McDonald, F. L., 75, 76 

McDowell, E. A., 57, 62-63 

McFaddin Beach, 12 

McFaddin, Andrew, 31 

McFaddin, Charles, 26 

McFaddin, David, 19 

McFaddin, Elizabeth, 16, 18 

McFaddin, James, 16, 18, 23 

McFaddin, Rachel Williams, 18 

McFaddin, William, 18-19, 23, 26-27, 38-39 

McFaddin, William Perry Herring, 38, 39, 86 

McFaddin-Ward House Museum, 87 

McGill, Scott, 84 

McKinney, Thomas F., 22 

McLean, Marrs, 59-60 

McNeill, Alan, 46 

McNeill, Barbara, 46 

Melody Maids, 72, 84-85 

Metropolitan Saloon, 56 

Meyers, Maurice, 80, 92 

Milam, Ben, 18 

Milam, Bucky, 84 

Milam, Eloise, 72, 84 

Milam, Lena, 61, 73, 84 

Millard, Darcourt Josiah Otho, 22 

Millard, George, 26, 43 

Millard, Henry, 16-22, 92 

Millard, Sidney, 22 

Molett, Alex, 65 

Molett, Lewis, 65 

Molett, Shellie, 65 

Moore, David, 90, 93 

Moore, Mary, 85 

Moore, Ray, 85 

Morgan Steamship Lines, 27 

Moscoso, Luis, 7-8 

Moss Bluff, 16 

Mullican, Aubrey “Moon”, 84 

Multimax Village, 69 

Music Study Club, 61 

Myers, Scott, 71-72 

N 

Nabidachos, 9 

Nacogdoches, 14, 16, 18, 19 

Nancy Tevis Market, 67 

Narcisse, William, 75 

Natchez, 13, 16, 17 

Nathan Building, 88 

Nathan, Jake J., 44 

Nation, Carry, 56 

National Association for the Advancement of 

Colored People, 64, 74-76 

National Football League, 83 

Navasota, 8 


Neches Belle, 28 

Neches River, 5-6, 8-10, 12-13, 15-19, 21- 

23, 25-27, 30, 34, 39-40, 44, 46, 57, 71, 

74, 92 

Neches River Festival, 73 

Neches River Settlement, 15 

Neches Valley News, 31, 41 

Negro Goodwill Council, 74 

Neild, William E., 80 

New Orleans, 10, 13, 16, 22-24, 27, 29, 31, 

39, 42, 44, 59 

New Orleans Saints, 83 

Newman, Jerry, 84 

O 

O’Brien Oak, 68, 71 

O’Brien, Chenault, 45 

O’Brien, George W., 30-34, 41- 42, 49 

O. K. Bakery, 46 

Oaks Historic District, 88 

Ogden Saloon, 56 

Ogden, Ed, 41, 43 

Ogden, Frederick W., 22, 24 

Oliver, Mike, 84 

Opelousas, 24 

Opelousas Trail, 9 ,15, 22-24 

Orange, 28, 46, 83 

Orange County, 46 

Owens, W. J., 43 

Ozen High School, 83 

Ozen, Clifton, 82-83 

P 

Parkdale Mall, 79, 80, 86 

Parker Robert M., 82-83 

Parker, Thomas, 75 

Patterson, W. E., 48 

Pearl Plant, 28 

Penland, Joe, 88 

Pennsylvania Shipyards, 69-71 

Perlstein, Hyman Asher, 44-45 

Petroleum Building, 78, 86, 92 

Petty, Van, 43 

Phelan, Harry, 60 

Phelan, Johanna Cunningham, 45 

Phelan, John Henry, 45 

Phillips, O. A. “Bum”, 83 

Phillips, William, 29 

Pine Island Bayou, 73 

Pipkin Park, 33 

Pipkin, John Fletcher, 26-27, 30, 34, 43 

Pipkin, Woodson, 30, 43-44 

Pivoto, Joseph, 26 

Pivoto, Michel, 19, 26 

Planning Economic Progress, 80 

Pollard, T. T., 43-44, 49 

Port Arthur, 36, 46, 48, 51, 57, 73, 83-84 

Port Neches, 46 

Port of Beaumont, 33, 56-57, 59, 68, 92 

Port of Beaumont, 74 

Potter, Harry W., 38 

Price, Nash, and Company, 39 

Public Works Administration, 66 

Pulsifer, Joseph, 16-20 

Q 

Quilliam, Gladys Harned, 73 

Quinon, Vitalus, 43-44 

R 

Ratcliff, Chaney, 65 

Reaud, Morgan & Quinn, 88 

Reaud, Wayne, 88 

Reconstruction Act, 33 

Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 66 

Red Front Saloon, 25 

Reddick, Will, 56 

Reeves, Joe, 43 

Reliance Lumber Company, 29, 38 

Reynolds, J. J., 34 

Rich, Jim, 91 

Richardson, J. P., 84 

Rienstra, Gatze Jans, 45 

Ritter, Tex, 84 

Riverfront Park, 94 

Robichau, Odette, 57 

Rodgers, Samuel, 17 

Rogers, Ben, 79-80 

Rogers, Julie, 62, 80 

Rogers, Nate, 79-80 

Rogers, Regina, 80 

Rogers, Sol, 79-80 

Rogers, Vic, 79-80 

Rogers, William E., 39 

Ronne, Finn, 74 

Rosedale, 73 

Rosenthal, Joe, 44 

Rosenthal, Leon, 44 

Rosinger, Samuel, 60 

Ross and Alexander Lumber Company, 28 

Ross, John R., 29 

Rothwell, Talbot, 60 

Rough and Ready, 28 

Rowe, “Schoolboy”, 68 

Ruff, Hilmer, 25 

Ruff, Otto, 29, 38 

Runaway Scrape, 18 

Russell, Lillian, 61 

S 

Sabine and East Texas Railroad Company, 35 

Sabine Bay, 17 

Sabine Lake, 8-9, 12, 16, 19, 36, 40, 43 

Sabine Pass, 8, 10, 22, 26-28, 30, 32-33, 35, 

39, 45, 84 

Sabine River, 5, 9, 12-13, 15, 18-19, 22-23, 

28 

Sabine-Neches Ship Channel, 72 

Sam Houston Regional Library, 10 

San Antonio, 14, 17-18, 42 

San Felipe de Austin, 17 

San Francisco de los Tejas, 8 

San Jacinto Building, 60, 92 

San Jacinto River, 19 

San Juan Bautista, 8, 9 

Sanders, Nita, 57 

Sanders, Robert W., 46 

Santa Anna, 16-17 

Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez de, 16-19 

Saratoga, 54 

Seale, Elias, 38 

Sears, Roebuck and Company, 71 

Second Battle of Manassas, 30 

Security Refinery, 55 

Shamrock Hotel, 77 

Sharfstein, Jake, 44 

Shell, Jack, 69 

Shotwell, Luther, 76 

Simmons, James M., 81-82 

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, 

44-45 

Smith, Bubba, 83 

Smith, Edmund Kirby, 32-33 

Smith, Tody, 83 

Smith, Tom, 47-48 

Smith, Willie Ray, 83 

Smith’s Bluff, 21 

Smyth, Andrew F., 39-40 

Smyth, George, Sr., 21 

Smyth, George W., Jr., 38, 59 

Solinsky, Hank, 43 

Soul Bowl, 83 

Sour Lake, 16, 46 

Sour Spring Mound, 30, 48-49, 51 

Sousa, John Philip, 61 

South Park High School, 61, 82 

South Park Independent School District, 82 

South Park Junior College, 61, 71, 80 

South Park Middle School, 81 

South Park School District, 61, 71, 76, 82 

South Texas State Fair, 68 

South Texas State Fairgrounds, 70-71, 79 

Southeast Texas Entertainment Complex, 91 

Southern Pacific Depot, 72 

Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 35, 88 

Southern States Steel, 71 

Southwestern Bell Telephone Building, 86-87 

Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, 78 

Spaight’s Texas Regiment, 30-31 

Spaight, A. W., 31 

Spindletop, 35, 44-45, 47, 49-55, 59-60, 71, 

72, 90 

Spindletop 2001 Commission, 90, 93 

Spindletop Fiftieth Anniversary, Inc., 72 

Spindletop Hill, 51, 72, 88 

Spindletop Museum, 90 

Spindletop Springs, 30-31 

Spindletop/Gladys City Boomtown Museum, 

90 

Sprott, Curtis, B., 75 

Sprott, Ed D., Jr., 74-75 

Sprott, Ed, Sr., 74-75 

Sprott, James T., 75 

Sprott, Maxie, 75 

Sprott, Myrtle Mills, 74-75 

Sprott, Oliver W., 75 

St. Anthony’s Cathedral, 55 

St. Denis, Louis Juchereau de, 8, 9 

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 45 

St. Louis Catholic Church, 43-44 

St. Therese Hospital, 61 

Standard Oil, 54, 55 

Stanolind Oil Company, 66 

Steadman Foundry, 29 

Stedman Fruit Company Building, 86, 88 

Steinhagen, B. A., 62 

Steinhagen, Mark, 78 

Stephenson, Gilbert, 17 

Stephenson, Mary Tevis, 17 

Stevens, Risë, 61 

Stillwell, Arthur, 35, 36, 46 

Stockholm, Peter D., 26 

Stoker, George Parker, 52, 53 

Strong, Nancy, 61, 73 

Sun Oil Company, 54, 78 

Sunflower, 28 

Swaine, Charles D., 21 

Sweat, Lynn, 84 

Symphony of Southeast Texas, 85, 94 

Szafir, E., 44 

T 

Index ✦ 205

Taft, W. H., 82 

Tate, U. Simpson, 75 

Tatum, Cleo, 57 

Taylor’s Bayou, 24 

Telegraph and Texas Register, 17 

Temperance Hall, 42 

Temple Emanuel, 60 

Tevis Bluff, 15-17 

Tevis, Noah, 15-18, 22, 87, 92 

Texaco Oil Company, 54 

Texas and New Orleans Railroad Company, 

28, 35, 41 

Texas Education Association, 82-83 

Texas Energy Museum, 90-91 

Texas Gulf Sulphur Company, 72 

Texas Mid-Continent Oil and Gas 

Association, 71 

Texas Revolution, 17, 24 

Texas School Business, 82 

Texas State Optical Company, 79-80 

Texas State University System, 81 

Texas Tram and Lumber Company, 28-29, 

31, 38 

Thames, Jeanine, 84 

Third Company Infantry, Second Regiment, 

Texas Volunteers, 18 

Thomas, Carroll A., 82-83 

Town Bluff, 21 

Trapp Family Singers, 61 

Trinity River, 5, 8-9, 15, 18, 29 

Trost, Frank, 51 

Trowell, A. B., 34 

Tubbs, Billy, 84 

Tuscany Park, 85 

Tyrrell Historical Library, 88 

Tyrrell Park, 75 

Tyrrell Public Library, 67, 88 

Tyrrell, W. C., 61, 66 

U 

Umphrey, Walter, 86, 88 

Uncle Ben, 28, 31 

United Citizens for Law Enforcement, 77 

USS Arizona, 31-32 

USS Clifton, 31-33 

USS Enterprise, 13 

USS Granite City, 31-32 

USS Lynx, 12 

USS Sachem, 31-32 

V 

Valenzuela, Carlos, 48 

Vaughan, A. N., 27, 29 

Veatch, John Allen, 16 

Vidor, 84 

Village Creek, 68 

Vincent-Beck Stadium, 83 

Votaw, Bruce, 69 

Voth, 48, 73 

W 

Wadenpfuhl, Jay, 84 

Walker, Clay, 84 

Walker, John, 69 

Ward, John C., 48 

Ward, Mamie McFaddin, 85, 87 

Ware, Johnnie, 75 

Washington-on-the-Brazos, 18 

Weaver, Bert, 83 

Weber, Reuben, 43 

Wegemer, Allen, 76 

West Brook High School, 82-83 

West Harshaw, 71 

West, Claiborne, 17 

West, J. K., 69 

White, Earl, 75 

White, Mildred Sprott, 75 

Whittier, Lorraine Sprott, 75 

Wiess Bluff, 23 

Wiess, Mark, 29-30, 38 

Wiess, Massena, 29 

Wiess, Napoleon, 39 

Wiess, Simon, 23 

Wiess, Valentine, 29-30, 38, 40 

Wiess, William, 29-30, 38-39 

Wilbarger, Lee, 43 

Willard, Elmo R. III, 75-76, 82-83 

Williams, Hezekiah, 19 

Wilson, Earl, 43 

Wilson, Ed, 43 

Wilson, Rosine McFaddin, 85 

Windsor Hotel, 35 

Winter, Edgar, 84 

Winter, Johnny, 84 

Woman’s Club of Beaumont, 42 

Women’s Christian Temperance Union, 51 

Woodville, 21, 27 

Woodward, E. F., 60 

Works Progress Administration, 66 

World War I, 58, 69 

World War II, 68-69, 76 

Y 

Ybarbo, Antonio Gil, 9-10 

Yianitsas, Harry, 45 

Yianitsas, John, 45 

York, Rudy, 68 

Young Audiences, Inc., 85 

Young Men’s Christian Association Building, 

60-62 

Young Women’s Christian Association, 54, 85 

Yount, Frank, 59-60, 66 

Yount, Mildred, 60 

Yount-Lee Oil Company, 60, 66 

Z 

Zaharias, George, 68 

Zaharias. Mildred “Babe” Didrickson, 67-68, 

83 


SPONSORS 

Air Comfort, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 

Allco, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 

American Real Estate Corporation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 

American Valve & Hydrant Company . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 

Athletes for Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 

Bank One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 

Beaumont Chamber of Commerce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 

Beaumont Convention & Visitor’s Bureau . . . . . . . . . 152 

Beaumont Independent School District . . . . . . . . . . . 106 

Benign Essential Blepharospasm 

Research Foundation, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 

The Blanchette-Hebert Family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 

Blood & Plasma Research, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 

Brock Enterprises, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 

Broussard’s Mortuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 

Catholic Diocese of Beaumont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 

CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 

Chisum Resource Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 

Coldwell Banker Southern Homes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 

Community Bank and Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 

Conn’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 

Connor Plumbing, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 

Doguet’s Rice Milling Company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 

DuPont-Beaumont Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 

Entergy Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 

ExxonMobil Beaumont Complex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 

First United Methodist Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 

Fisherman’s Reef Shrimp Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 

Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 

Gold Crest Electric Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 

Golden Triangle Telephone Directory, Inc. . . . . . . . . . 132 

Gulf Coast Electric Company, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 

H. B. Neild & Sons, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 

Hibernia Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 

Holiday Inn Midtown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 

Howell Furniture Galleries, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 

International Currency, L.L.C.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 

Kelley-Watkins Funeral Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 

Kinsel Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 

Lamar Advertising of Beaumont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 

Lamar Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 

Lamar Institute of Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 

Lamar University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 

The Law Offices of Gilbert T. Adams, P.C. . . . . . . . . . 146 

Lovoi & Sons Pharmacies, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 

Market Basket Food Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 

Mason Construction, Ltd.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 

Matrix Engineering, Ltd.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 

Maverick Communications, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 

Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 

Moore Landrey, L.L.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 

North Star Steel Texas, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 

Petrocon Engineering, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 

Port of Beaumont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 

Quality Concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 

South Trust Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 

Southeast Texas Classic Automotive, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . 162 

Southern Avionics Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 

St. Anne Catholic School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 

St. Anthony Cathedral School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 

Strong Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard, L.L.P. . . . . . . . . . . . 142 

Texas Coffee Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 

Three Rivers Council, Boy Scouts of America . . . . . . . 112 

Zummo Meat Company, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 

Sponsors ✦ 207

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

Ellen Walker Rienstra and Judith Walker Linsley are sisters and sixth-generation Beaumonters. Both were educated in Beaumont 

public schools and both hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Lamar University, Rienstra’s in English and Linsley’s in Spanish 

and history. 

Linsley is currently employed as assistant curator/archivist at the McFaddin-Ward House Museum in Beaumont and serves 

as an adjunct instructor of history at Lamar University. Rienstra is a historical consultant and freelance musician. Their joint 

publications include several articles in the New Handbook of Texas and Giant Under the Hill, a publication of the Texas State Historical 

Association produced in July 2002. 


ISBN 1-893619-28-1

Historic Beaumont

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