Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont is a city and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas and is within the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 113,866. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the Gulf Coast.

Lamar University is based in Beaumont. The city's daily newspaper is The Beaumont Enterprise. An alternative weekly newspaper, The Examiner, is published on Fridays.

Gulf States Utilities had its headquarters in Beaumont until its absorption by Entergy Corporation in 1993. GSU's Edison Plaza headquarters is still the tallest building in Beaumont (as of 2005). Since 1907, Beaumont has been home of the South Texas State Fair. In 2004, the venue for the Fair changed to Ford Park, a new, larger facility on the west end of Beaumont.

History

According to an historical marker on Pearl Street, the city of Beaumont was named by Henry Millard for the family of his deceased wife, Mary. Millard came to Texas in 1835 and, along with his business partners, purchased some land between the settlements of Tevis Bluff and Santa Anna. On this property, they founded the city of Beaumont.

Oil was discovered at nearby Spindletop on January 10, 1901. Spindletop became the first major oil field and one of the largest in American history.

Beaumont was a small center for cattle raisers and farmers in its early years, and with an active riverport by the late 1800s, it became an important lumber and rice-milling town. The Beaumont Rice Mill, founded in 1892, was the first commercial rice mill in Texas. Beaumont's lumber boom, which reached its peak in the late 1800s, was due in large part to the rebuilding and expansion of the railroads after the Civil War. By the early 1900s, the city was served by the Southern Pacific, Kansas City Southern, Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe, and Missouri Pacific railroad systems. With the discovery of oil at Spindletop, Beaumont's population grew from 3,296 in 1890 to 9,427 in 1900.

A race riot took place in Beaumont in June 1943 after a white woman said she had been raped by a black man.[1]

In 1996, the Jefferson County courts, located in Beaumont, became the first court in the nation to implement electronic filing and service of court documents, eliminating the need for law firms to print and mail reams of documents.

In 2005, Beaumont and surrounding areas suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Rita. A mandatory evacuation was imposed upon its residents for about two weeks.

Geography

Beaumont is on Texas's coastal plain, about 30 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and just south of the dense pine forests of East Texas. The city is bordered on the east by the Neches River and to the north by Pine Island Bayou. Before being settled, the area was crisscrossed by numerous small streams. Most of these streams have since been filled in or converted for drainage purposes.

Beaumont is located at (30.079912, -94.126653).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 222.6 km² (85.9 mi²). 220.2 km² (85.0 mi²) of it is land and 2.4 km² (0.9 mi²) of it (1.07%) is water.

Climate

Beaumont has a subtropical climate with mild winters and warm, humid summers. The most recent snow event was December 24, 2004, the first such occurrence since 1989. The area suffered a severe ice storm in 1997.

Severe weather events

Several hurricanes have left their mark on Beaumont.

In 1957, Hurricane Audrey, a strong category 4 hurricane (borderline category 5 at times), came onshore straight up the Texas/Louisiana border, causing massive flooding and wind damage. 390 people lost their lives (other estimates show over 500), mostly in Louisiana due to drowning.

In 1961, Hurricane Carla, the largest storm in terms of size, affected the entire Texas coastline from Jefferson County to Brownsville. Carla caused millions of dollars in damage and still remains the strongest storm to strike the Texas coast. Beaumont suffered tornadoes and massive flooding due to poor drainage.

Beaumont lived without a strong hurricane until June 26 1986. On that day, Hurricane Bonnie roared through the region with maximum winds at 90 miles per hour (gusts to 125 mph) creating a havoc on local roadways because of the massive amounts of rain dumped on the area. Some regions received upwards of 10-15 inches of rain, flooding homes and businesses. Many mobile home parks were destroyed, people were displaced, and some area businesses never recovered. Three people lost their lives in Bonnie.

The region had some hits and misses but none more so than in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew threatened the area. Beaumont was under a hurricane warning, and evacuation procedures took place. It was rough going for the evacuation, which became the largest peacetime evacuation in the United States since Hurricane Carla in 1961. Andrew missed the Beaumont area, but it was a scare that still haunts the area today.

More recently, Beaumonters dealt with Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. Beaumont and the vicinity did not experience the damage and destruction that Houston got. Homes are still abandoned due to massive flooding that took place because of the non stop five-day rainfall. Total rainfall amounts associated with Allison reached the 20 inch mark in most towns and cities in Southeast Texas.

Hurricane Lili threatened the area in 2002 as a category 4 hurricane and prompted another "Andrew-style" evacuation. Though large, the evacuation went relatively smoothly and didn't mirror the 1992 evacuation. Lili veered north into central Louisiana and did not significantly affect the Beaumont region.

Hurricane Rita hit the city on September 24, 2005, leveling many buildings and leaving remaining residents without power. Virtually every building in the town was damaged, some even destroyed. Hurricane Rita hit Southeast Texas as a Category 3 storm. Many residents of Jefferson County evacuated to northern counties. It was two weeks before residents were allowed to reenter the city. A curfew from dusk to dawn was imposed for a little more than one month by Mayor Guy Goodson and the Beaumont City Council.

Despite a lax federal response, city and county officials were able to make a speedy recovery mostly independent of federal resources, however, President George W. Bush flew into the Southeast Texas Regional Airport in the days after Rita's landfall.

Hurricane Rita is the largest and most damaging Hurricane to hit Beaumont. Causing more than $7 billion in insured damage, Rita was among the top ten costliest storms in United States history.

On May 29, 2006, much of Beaumont and surrounding areas received 10 to 15 inches of rain during the morning hours. Numerous homes were flooded, but no major flooding occurred. Several vehicles also became trapped in high water on some low-lying roads and highway underpasses.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 113,866 people, 44,361 households, and 29,100 families residing in the city. The population density was 517.2/km² (1,339.4/mi²). There were 48,815 housing units at an average density of 221.7/km² (574.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 46.39% White, 45.85% African American, 0.24% Native American, 2.48% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.55% from other races, and 1.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.93% of the population.

There were 44,361 households out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.5% were married couples living together, 18.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.4% were non-families. 29.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.1% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 28.0% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 90.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $32,559, and the median income for a family was $40,825. Males had a median income of $35,861 versus $24,255 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,632. About 16.4% of families and 19.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.6% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over.

Employment

Top Ten Employers [2]:
*Beaumont Independent School District Education - 2,840
*Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital Health care - 2,500
*Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital Hospital - 2,250
*ExxonMobil Petrochemical manufacturing - 2,150
*Westvaco Paper mill - 1,690
*U.S. Postal Service Encoding Center - 1,686
*E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Petrochemical manufacturing - 1,450
*City of Beaumont Government - 1,450
*Lamar University University - 1,200
*Huntsman Corporation Petrochemical manufacturing - 1,038

Points of interest

* Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET), with its Perlstein Plaza, dedicated in memory of pioneer real estate developer Hyman Asher Perlstein (1869-1947), who arrived in Beaumont in 1889 as a poor Jewish immigrant from Lithuania and eventually became one of the city's major builders. The museum stands on the site of the Perlstein building, which was the tallest structure between Houston and New Orleans when it was erected in 1907. The museum's memorial plaza incorporates a bronze relief of Perlstein and an original column from his building. AMSET exhibits 19th-21st Century American art and offers 10-14 educational programs in any given year. Admission is free, and the museum is open seven days per week.
* Beaumont Botanical Gardens
* Beaumont's Sister City in Japan Beppu, Oita
* Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum
* Lamar University
* Thomas Alva Edison Museum
* John Jay French Museum
* Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum
* Texas Fire Museum - Home of world's largest fire hydrant
* Crockett Street Entertainment Complex
* Dishman Art Gallery
* Julie Rogers Theater
* The Jefferson Theatre

Education

Beaumont is served by the Beaumont Independent School District.
*Public high schools
*West Brook (Bruins) [3]
*Central (Jaguars) [4]
*Ozen (Panthers) [5]
*Parochial high schools
*Monsignor Kelly Catholic [6]
*Cathedral Christian
*University
*Lamar University - 4 year public university, with doctorate programs in Engineering, Educational Leadership, and Deaf Education. [7]
*Lamar Institute of Technology - 2 year technical school. [8]

Media

Newspaper: Beaumont Enterprise (Daily)

           Examiner (Weekly)

Television:

            KFDM  6 (CBS) DT 6.1
            KBTV  4 (NBC) DT 40
            KBMT 12 (ABC) DT 50
            KUIL 64 (FOX) Redirected from KVHP 29 Lake Charles
            KBCW 21 DT  (CW)

Radio:

            KIOC 106.1 Rock (Big Dog) Clear Channel
            KCOL  92.5 Oldies (Cool 92.5) Clear Channel
            KVLU  91.3 NPR located at Lamar University
            KYKR  95.1 Country (Kicker) Clear Channel
            KAYD  101.7 Country (KD 101) Cumulus
                  102.5 Urban (Magic 102.5) Cumulus 
            KQXY  94.1 Adult Contemporary (Q94) Cumulus
            KKMY 104.5 Adult Comtemporary (The Mix) Clear Channel
                  93.3 Tejano
                 107.9 Super Tejano
            KFNC  97.5 News/Talk (FM Newschannel 97.5) Cumulus (serves Houston market)
            KIOL 103.7 Rock Cumulus (serves Houston market)
            KLVI  560 AM Talk ABC Clear Channel
            KOLE 1340 AM 1380 AM Fox Radio
            KUHD 1150 AM Spanish
            KZZB  990 AM
            KALO 1250 AM

Famous people from Beaumont

* Frank Middleton - NFL offensive guard
* Nick Lampson - Democratic Congressman.
* Bernard C. Parks - former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.
* Babe Didrikson Zaharias - female athelete
* Chip Ambres - Major League Baseball Player
* Jason Tyner - Major League Baseball Player
* Ben Broussard - Major League Baseball Player
* Charles C. Alexander - Accomplished writer and Professor of Baseball History at Ohio University
* Kendrick Perkins - NBA player for the Boston Celtics
* Charles A. "Bubba" Smith - NFL defensive end
* O.A. "Bum" Phillips - head coach Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints
* Bruce Leitzke- PGA Golfer
* Mark Williams- PBA Bowler
* Barbara Lynn - singer
* Charlie Helpinstill - musician composer - goes by Ezra Charles performs in the Houston area
* Tracy Byrd - singer
* Keith Carter - photographer
*Melissa Meadows - fiber artist
* Mark Chesnutt - singer
* George Jones - singer
* Johnny Winter - musician
* Edgar Winter - musician
* The Big Bopper - musician
* Mark Henry - professional wrestler
* Mark Petkovsek - Major League Baseball Player
* Larry Graham - musician
* Tex Beaumont - Singer-songwriter
* Marcus Smith
* Aidan Black - Actor

Famous Businesses from Beaumont

*Conn's - Chain of Appliance and Electronic stores Web Site
*Jason's Deli - Fast Casual chain with location in 20 states.
*Texas Coffee Co. - TexJoy steak seasoning, spices, and Seaport Coffee Web Site
*Zummo Meat Co. - Sausage and Boudain Web Site
*Sweet Leaf Tea - Bottled teas
*Doguet's Rice Milling - Rice milling and Roux bottling
*M & I Electric - Manufacture for offshore drilling and petrochemical refining equipment, Worldwide
*EN Global - Engineering firm, Worldwide
*American Valve & Hydrant - Manufacture for plant equipment
*Helena Labs - Manufactures medical testing equipment

*City of Beaumont
*The Handbook of Texas Online: Beaumont, Texas
*Beaumont Enterprise
*Channel 4(NBC)
*Channel 6(CBS)
*Art Museum of Southeast Texas
*Fun365Days.com -- regional tourism web site
*Partnership of Southeast Texas -- regional economic development site

Beaumont, Texas: Encyclopedia BETA

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