Beaumont

Beaumont took longer to become a city than its charter date suggests. The Congress of the Republic granted a charter in 1838, a second charter in 1840 produced a municipal government that was soon abandoned, and an attempt in 1860 was short-lived. Continuous city government dates from 1881, under a general statute. The census counted 3,296 people in 1890, 9,427 in 1900 and 20,640 in 1910, with the Spindletop boom between the last two. A council-manager charter followed in 1947.

What the plaque says

Beaumont County seat of Jefferson County. Settled in 1825 as Tevis Bluff; incorporated as Beaumont Dec. 16, 1838. Early trading post, riverboat port, lumber, rice and ranching center. Near site of Spindletop gusher, where oil became an industry, ushering in the modern port and shipyards, and a vast industrial and chemical complex. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• McFaddin-Ward House — 1.2 mi
  A Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival mansion finished in 1906 and lived in by one family for 75 years, with free guided tours of three furnished floors, the carriage house and gardens.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 3.5 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.
• Village Creek State Park — 12 mi
  A 2,466-acre state park on one of the few free-flowing creeks in Texas, with a launch for the Village Creek Paddling Trail, boat rentals and sandy-upland trails in the Big Thicket.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 17 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.

More markers nearby

• Henry Millard — steps away
• Nancy Tevis — steps away
• Beaumont: Lumber Mill City of the Nineteenth Century — steps away
• William G. "Bill" Hall — steps away