Texas' First Rice Mill

Joseph Eloi Broussard was born on December 18, 1866, on Hillebrandt Bayou, on the site of present Beaumont. When a post office opened in 1885 he became its first postmaster and named it La Belle for his fiancee, Mary Belle Bordages. In 1892 he converted a gristmill he partly owned into a rice mill. In 1898 he cofounded the Beaumont Irrigation Company, whose first canal led to the Lower Neches Valley Authority. He led the Rice Millers' and Dealers' Association from 1907 to 1918, and Pope Pius XI knighted him in 1938.

What the plaque says

Texas' First Rice Mill Beaumont Rice Mill, founded 1892 by J. E. Broussard, was developed after first commercial planting of rice in Texas in 1863. Earlier crops, due to dependence on rain, were dubbed "Providence Rice." Broussard, pioneer grower and irrigator, was also co-founder of Rice Millers' Association. His efforts caused factories to spring up in nearby counties. Firm is still operated by his descendants. Present building was erected in 1907. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• McFaddin-Ward House — 0.3 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 — 3.9 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 — 18 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

• Congregation Temple Emanuel — 0.5 mi
• Pandit Mehar Chand — 0.6 mi
• The Clubhouse, The Woman's Club of Beaumont — 0.7 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Beaumont — 0.8 mi