Beauxart Gardens

The Division of Subsistence Homesteads of the Department of the Interior started Beauxart Gardens in December 1933, according to the National Agricultural Library. The Resettlement Administration took it over on May 15, 1935, the project was completed on October 15, 1935, and the Farm Security Administration received it on September 1, 1937. It was meant for low-income families working in Beaumont, Port Arthur and nearby places, with garden space so they could raise a major part of their own food.

What the plaque says

Beauxart Gardens Named for its location between Beaumont and Port Arthur, Beauxart Gardens was developed during the Great Depression by the U.S. Government as a federal subsistence homestead colony under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. The act encouraged urban and rural workers to supplement their incomes through agriculture. Residents worked part-time at area refineries and kept gardens and livestock. One of five such colonies in Texas, Beauxart Gardens was located on fertile rice land and provided a total of 50 families with a house and acreage. In 1934, the U.S. Government bought 205 acres of land from Frank D. and Lillian Mabry and Ed and Mary Mittie for the creation of Beauxart Gardens. Plans included homesteads of approximately 2.5 to 4.5 acres, two dedicated parks, two shelled public roads and a community center, all protected by fence and cattle guards. Residents purchased homesteads for an average of $3000, payable over a period of forty years. In addition to a modest frame home, each homestead included a combination garage and cow barn and a chicken house. The federal government transferred title to the Beauxart Homestead Association in 1936 but continued to provide agricultural and related instruction during the Depression. The Beauxart Homestead Association maintained its oversight of the community's development, and the community center was the location of frequent civic and social activities. In 1942 it became the polling place for a new voting precinct at Beauxart Gardens. Today, Beauxart Gardens retains its identity as a successful New Deal program. (2009)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 5.6 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.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 8.6 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.
• McFaddin-Ward House — 9.9 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.
• Sea Rim State Park — 18 mi
  Texas's far southeast corner: nearly two miles of Gulf shoreline backed by 4,000 acres of marsh, reached by boardwalk or paddle trail, rebuilt after Rita and Ike.

More markers nearby

• Southeast Texas Regional Airport — 1.0 mi
• City of Nederland — 2.6 mi
• Site of First Mercantile Building — 2.8 mi
• First Baptist Church of Port Neches — 4.2 mi