Galloway, Texas

Everything Galloway is known for

1 song mention this city 1 artist from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Galloway. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Music in Galloway

Songs About Galloway

Work Was Through (feat. Aaron Watson)

Shane Smith & the Saints

"Patsy Cline and Mr. Reeves"

Artists From Galloway

Jim Reeves

country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Galloway

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Galloway.

Interstate 10 36 songs US Route 90 9 songs Neches River 2 songs Sabine River 13 songs Trinity River 11 songs

History of Galloway

Fannett, TX RoadyGoat

The thing about Fannett is, it always comes back. Situated right there in the heart of Southeast Texas, a stone's throw from Beaumont and practically breathing the salt air off the Gulf, it takes a beating. Hurricane Harvey, that one really stung. The flooding was just biblical, turning Highway 124 into a river. Folks in these parts are used to storms, but Harvey was different. It wasn't just the wind, it was the days and days of relentless rain. What I remember most is the way the community pulled together. Neighbors helping neighbors muck out flooded homes, churches becoming makeshift shelters. You saw the best of people, truly. And even now, years later, you can still see the scars. A few empty lots where homes used to be, a slightly different mix of faces in the grocery store. But the spirit is still there, that deep-rooted sense of place. Fannett might bend, but it doesn't break. It just rebuilds, a little stronger each time.

3.9 mi away

Fannett, TX RoadyGoat

Fannett is home to the Clifton Steamboat Museum, which features a large exhibit on Lieutenant Commander Harry Brinkley Bass, after whom the United States Navy destroyer USS Brinkley Bass was named.

RoadyGoat → · 3.9 mi away

Fannett, TX RoadyGoat

Fannett, Texas, out there in Jefferson County, is rice country through and through. You can’t drive ten minutes in any direction without seeing those flooded fields shimmering under the Southeast Texas sun. It's more than just agriculture; it’s woven into the fabric of the community. Generations have worked the land, passing down the know-how from father to son, mother to daughter. The area’s flat coastal prairie and abundant water sources – the Neches River, especially – made it ideal for rice cultivation. It really took off in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when irrigation techniques improved and rice farming became more commercially viable. The Gulf Coast climate, with its hot, humid summers and mild winters, provides a long growing season perfect for rice. And the soil, a rich alluvial deposit from centuries of river flooding, is naturally fertile. It’s hard work, no doubt, but the land rewards those who know how to coax a good harvest from it. You can taste that history and hard work in every grain.

3.9 mi away

Spindletop Gusher

1901

On January 10, 1901, the Lucas Gusher at Spindletop Hill erupted, launching the modern petroleum industry and transforming Texas and the global economy.

Historical Marker → · 8.1 mi away

Richardson, Jiles Perry [Big Bopper]

1958

The Big Bopper, disc jockey, songwriter, and singer, was born Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., on October 24, 1930, in Sabine Pass, Texas. He was the son of Jiles Perry Richardson, Sr., and Elsie (Stalsby) Richardson. He usually went by the initials J. P. and briefly used the nickname Jape, before settling on the pseudonym, "The Big Bopper," on air and when recording. He is best-known for his hit, "Chantilly Lace," which reached Number 6 on the charts in 1958, and for dying in a plane crash with Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly . His family moved to Beaumont when he was very young. At Beaumont High School he sang in the school choir as well as played on the football team. He graduated from Beaumont High School in 1947 and enrolled at Lamar College. While still a teenager Richardson began working as a disc jockey at KTRM radio in Beaumont, and he soon left college to work full-time. He eventually became program director while still working as a disc jockey. His colorful on-air personality (a stark contrast to the naturally shy Richardson) made him a very popular disc jockey in the Golden Triangle area. Richardson was influenced early by country singers but soon moved into the realm of rock-and-roll. In 1958 he traveled to Houston's Gold Star Studios to record songs for Pappy Daily 's D Records . Richardson recorded his novelty song, "Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor," as the A-side of a single that he hoped would capitalize on the popularity of other novelty songs that had recently been released. For the B-side he recorded "Chantilly Lace," which he reportedly penned as an afterthought in the backseat of the car while driving to the session. At the recording session, he also reportedly formally adopted his nickname "The Big Bopper" as his musical persona. Unexpectedly, the record's B-side, "Chantilly Lace," quickly gained the attention of radio programmers and listening audiences, and Daily released it on his D label and subsequently leased it to Mercury Records for national distribution. "Chantilly Lace" became very successful and would eventually go gold and multi-platinum as an early hit in rock-and-roll history. It was by far the most famous record on Daily's D label. Songs from the Gold Star sessions comprised Richardson's only album, Chantilly Lace . He followed with "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Big Bopper's Wedding," which were also hits but not of the same caliber as "Chantilly Lace." Richardson's song, "White Lightning" became the first Number 1 hit for George Jones in 1959. Later that year, his song "Running Bear" became a Number 1 hit for fellow Texan Johnny Preston . The Bopper wrote about thirty-eight songs during his life and recorded twenty-one of them. Most of his recordings were classified as novelty songs that did not have lasting popularity. His appeal was largely in his flamboyant stage performances. He wore checkered jackets and zoot suits and used a prop phone during "Chantilly Lace" to talk to his girl. In 1958 he also made a pioneering video for the hit song and later coined the term "music video" for the production. In order to maintain his showman image, he did not wear his wedding ring in public and generally kept his marriage to Adrianne "Teetsie" Fryou (married on April 18, 1952), a secret from his fans. The couple had two children. With his newfound fame, Richardson resigned his position as disc jockey at KTRM in Beaumont in order to perform full-time by November 1958. In this capacity, he appeared on the top pop shows of the day and was booked on the "Winter Dance Party" tour with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. On February 2, 1959, Richardson, Holly, and Valens played a show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. They were scheduled to play in North Dakota the next day. After the show Holly and Valens chartered a plane so that they could rest before their bands arrived. Richardson, who had the flu, was supposed to take the bus, but at the last minute switched places with Holly's band memb

Tsha Handbook → · 9.0 mi away

Spindletop Oilfield

1901

The Spindletop oilfield, discovered on a salt dome formation south of Beaumont in eastern Jefferson County on January 10, 1901, marked the birth of the modern petroleum industry. The Gladys City Oil, Gas, and Manufacturing Company, formed in August 1892 by George W. O'Brien, George W. Carroll, Pattillo Higgins , Emma E. John, and J. F. Lanier, was the first company to drill on Spindletop Hill. Three shallow attempts, beginning in 1893 and using cable-tool drilling equipment were unsuccessful; Lanier and Higgins had left the company by 1895. Anthony F. Lucas , the leading United States expert on salt dome formations, made a lease with the Gladys City Company in 1899. Higgins and Lucas made a separate agreement a month later. With Lucas in charge of the drilling operation, another attempt was made on the John Allen Veatch survey on Gladys City Company lands. Lucas was able to drill to a depth of 575 feet before running out of money. He was also having great difficulty with the tricky sands of the salt dome. Despite the negative reports from contemporary geologists, Lucas remained convinced that oil was in the salt domes of the Gulf Coast. He finally secured the assistance of John H. Galey and James M. Guffey of Pittsburg. Much of the Guffey and Galey support was financed in turn by the Mellon interest; their terms excluded Higgins and left Lucas with only a small share of the potential profits. Nonetheless, Lucas pressed ahead in his effort to vindicate his theories. Galey and Guffey played a crucial role by bringing in Al and Curt Hamill, an experienced drilling team from Corsicana. Lucas spudded in a well on October 27, 1900, on McFaddin-Wiess and Kyle land that adjoined the Gladys City Company lands. A new heavier and more efficient rotary type bit was used. From October to January 1901, Lucas and the Hamills struggled to overcome the difficult oil sands, which had stymied previous drilling efforts. On January 10 mud began bubbling from the hole. The startled roughnecks fled as six tons of four-inch drilling pipe came shooting up out of the ground. After several minutes of quiet, mud, then gas, then oil spurted out. The Lucas geyser, found at a depth of 1,139 feet, blew a stream of oil over 100 feet high until it was capped nine days later and flowed an estimated 100,000 barrels a day. Lucas and the Hamills finally controlled the geyser on January 19, when a huge pool of oil surrounded it, and throngs of oilmen, speculators, and onlookers had transformed the city of Beaumont. A new age was born. The world had never seen such a gusher before. By September 1901 there were at least six successful wells on Gladys City Company lands. Wild speculation drove land prices around Spindletop to incredible heights. One man who had been trying to sell his tract there for $150 for three years sold his land for $20,000; the buyer promptly sold to another investor within fifteen minutes for $50,000. One well, representing an initial investment of under $10,000, was sold for $1,250,000. Beaumont's population rose from 10,000 to 50,000. Legal entanglements and multimillion-dollar deals became almost commonplace. An estimated $235 million had been invested in oil that year in Texas; while some had made fortunes, others lost everything. The overabundance of wells at Spindletop led to a rapid decline in production. After yielding 17,500,000 barrels of oil in 1902, the Spindletop wells were down to 10,000 barrels a day in February 1904. Deposits from the shallow Miocene caprock seemed to diminish, but the Spindletop oilfield had not yet dried out. A second boom came when Marrs McLean speculated that production could be found on the flanks of the dome. Miles F. Yount also believed more oil was present at deeper depths. Their convictions proved correct; on November 13, 1925, the Yount-Lee Oil Company brought in a flank well drilled to 5,400 feet. This and other discoveries on the flanks of the salt dome set off another speculative boom. The Gladys C

Tsha Handbook → · 9.0 mi away

Babe Didrikson Zaharias - Beaumont

1911

Mildred 'Babe' Didrikson Zaharias, born in Port Arthur and raised in Beaumont, won two gold medals in the 1932 Olympics and dominated women's golf. She is widely considered the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.

Historical Marker → · 7.4 mi away

Beaumont, TX

1901

Beaumont, the county seat of Jefferson County, is in the northeast part of the county, at 30°05' north latitude, and 94°06' west longitude, on the west bank of the Neches River and Interstate Highway 10, eighty-five miles east of Houston and twenty-five air miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. With nearby Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the Gulf Coast. Beaumont developed around the farm of Noah and Nancy Tevis, who settled on the Neches in 1824. The small community that grew up around the farm was known as Tevis Bluff or Neches River Settlement. Together with the nearby community of Santa Anna, it became the townsite for Beaumont when, in 1835, Henry Millard and partners Joseph Pulsifer and Thomas B. Huling began planning a town on land purchased from the Tevises. The most credible account of how the town was named is that Millard gave it his wife's maiden name, Beaumont. At Millard's urging, the First Congress of the Republic of Texas made Beaumont the seat of the newly formed Jefferson County and granted it a charter in 1838. Under a second charter municipal government was organized in 1840, but it was soon abandoned. Another attempt at municipal government in 1860 was short-lived. Continuous municipal government dates from incorporation under a general statute in 1881. 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. The population grew from 3,296 in 1890 to 9,427 in 1900. The Spindletop oil gusher of 1901 produced a boom that left Beaumont with a doubled population (20,640 in 1910), great wealth, and a petroleum-based economy that expanded as refineries and pipelines were built and new fields discovered nearby ( see SPINDLETOP OILFIELD ). Three major oil companies-the Texas Company (later Texaco ), Gulf Oil Corporation , and Humble (later Exxon )-were formed in Beaumont during the first year of the boom. The Magnolia Refinery ( see MOBIL OIL COMPANY) became the city's largest employer; by 1980 it was Mobil's largest manufacturing plant. Beaumont became a major seaport (variously second or third in tonnage in Texas in the 1970s) after the Neches was channelized to Port Arthur in 1908. By 1916 the channel was deepened, a turning basin dredged, and a shipyard constructed. The Gulf States Utilities Company, which serves southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, made its headquarters in Beaumont. Discovery of a new oilfield at Spindletop in 1925 brought another burst of growth. The population of Beaumont was 40,422 in 1920 and 57,732 in 1930. This era also had its darker side: in the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan gained strength in Beaumont, and from 1922 to 1924 it controlled local politics. By the end of the 1920s, however, it had lost much of its membership and consequently its power. Though stagnant through the Great Depression , Beaumont's economy prospered during World War II with shipbuilding and oil refining. With the new boom came overcrowding, which may have contributed to the Beaumont race riot of 1943 , in which interracial violence led to the declaration of martial law and the virtual shut-down of the city in June. Beaumont's economy grew with petrochemicals and synthetic rubber in the post-war era and reached a plateau about 1960, when the growth slowed. In the mid-1950s the city, which had been segregated since Reconstruction , saw the civil rights movement begin to gain momentum, as the local chapter of the NAACP won two consecutive desegrega

Tsha Handbook → · 8.8 mi away

Lucas Gusher

1901

Erected by the State of Texas to Commemorate The Lucas Gusher. Discovery well of the Spindletop Oil Field and the first important well on the Gulf Coast. It blew in on Jan. 10, 1901, flowing 100,000 barrels of oil a day from a depth of 1020 feet. The oil production which resulted made Beaumont a city and the Sabine District a major oil refining and exporting center of the world. The Lucas Gusher was drilled by the Hamill Brothers, contractors, under the direct supervision of Captain Anthony F. Lucas for Guffey and Galey of Pittsburgh, on the McFaddin, Weiss and Kyle lease. 1936

Historical Marker → · 9.1 mi away

Things to Do in Galloway

historical 8.7 mi away

Spindletop

On January 10 1901 a well south of Beaumont blew its crown block clean off the derrick and started gushing oil a hundred and fifty feet in the air at nine…

Everything Near Galloway

448 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Fannett, TX · 3.9 mi
The thing about Fannett is, it always comes back. Situated right there in the heart of Southeast Texas, a stone's throw from Beaumont and practically breathing the salt air off the Gulf, it takes a beating. Hurricane…
Hillebrandt Bayou and the Rice Prairie · 4.0 mi
The slow water that helped make rice farming possible in central Jefferson County runs through Hillebrandt Bayou. It was probably named for Christian Hillebrandt, an early Jefferson County settler who owned land along…
The Marsh That Treats the City's Sewage · 5.1 mi
Cattail Marsh looks like wild Gulf Coast wetland, full of birds and alligators, but it's actually a piece of municipal engineering doing double duty. Beaumont built the constructed wetland in 1993 as part of its…
The Store That Named Fannett · 5.9 mi
Fannett takes its name from B.J. Fannett, sometimes recorded as Frangel Fannett, an early landowner who, together with partner Joe Dugal, opened a general store on the Gulf and Interstate Railway in the mid 1890s. The…
Beaumont, City of · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're rolling through Beaumont, a city with a name that tells a story! It was laid out in 1835 by Henry Millard, who named it for his wife, Mary Dewleigh Borlace Warren Beaumont. Millard established the town on a spot…
The Rice Baron of Fannett · 6.7 mi
In 1904 Yoshio Mayumi, a banker, wealthy landowner, and former member of the Japanese parliament, traveled to Texas to study the coastal prairie for rice growing. Convinced the wet flatland was ideal, he returned in…
LaBelle, Fannett's Sister on the Bayou · 7.1 mi
A short way southeast of Fannett, on Taylor Bayou and Farm to Market Road three sixty five, sits the small community of LaBelle. Settlers had lived in the Taylor Bayou area since the eighteen thirties, but the place was…
Babe Didrikson Zaharias - Beaumont · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker
Mildred 'Babe' Didrikson Zaharias, born in Port Arthur and raised in Beaumont, won two gold medals in the 1932 Olympics and dominated women's golf. She is widely considered the greatest female athlete of the 20th…
West Brook High School (Jerry Ball) · 7.5 mi
West Brook High School in Beaumont, Texas (8750 Phelan Boulevard) is where Jerry 'Ice Box' Ball anchored the brand-new school's 1982 Class 5A state championship team in its very first year. He went to SMU, then the…
The Salt Dome Under Fannett · 7.6 mi
A few miles southwest of Fannett, a giant plug of salt rises through the earth. It is called Fannett Dome, and it formed when ancient Louann salt, buried deep, slowly flowed upward over millions of years, punching a…
Craigen, Leon Edward · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannett, and the story of Leon Edward Craigen is tied to this area. Born in 1845, Craigen served bravely in the Confederate Army of the Mississippi during the Civil War. He was wounded at the…
Spindletop Gusher · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker
On January 10, 1901, the Lucas Gusher at Spindletop Hill erupted, launching the modern petroleum industry and transforming Texas and the global economy.

Show all 200 nearby places

The Mayumi Legacy · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, heading towards the Gulf Coast. Look around you, because this area is a major rice-growing region today, and it owes a lot to a Japanese family. In 1905, Yoshio Mayumi, a banker from…
Patillo's, One of Texas's Oldest Barbecue Families · 8.3 mi
At 2775 Washington Boulevard, Patillo's Bar-B-Q has been feeding Beaumont since 1912, and it's still a fourth-generation Black family business. Its signature isn't Central Texas brisket but an intensely seasoned,…
The Well That Changed the World · 8.4 mi
On January tenth, nineteen oh one, a drill bit punched through the Spindletop salt dome outside Beaumont and unleashed a gusher that blew one hundred thousand barrels of oil a day for nine straight days before anyone…
First Christian Church of Beaumont · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Beaumont's First Christian Church. It began in 1894 with evangelist A.J. Bush and a local group. By 1899, they were using a donated Episcopal church building as their sanctuary. Over the…
Spindletop · 8.7 mi · Things to Do
On January 10 1901 a well south of Beaumont blew its crown block clean off the derrick and started gushing oil a hundred and fifty feet in the air at nine…
Disney Built a Great Wall on the School Football Field · 8.8 mi
In 1999, Walt Disney Home Video went looking for the perfect place to celebrate the home video release of its animated film Mulan. They found it in the least likely spot imaginable, a rice-farming town of about a…
Beaumont, TX · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Beaumont, the county seat of Jefferson County, is in the northeast part of the county, at 30°05' north latitude, and 94°06' west longitude, on the west bank of the Neches River and Interstate Highway 10,…
Higgins, Pattillo · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Beaumont, and right here is where a man named Pattillo Higgins, once a troublemaker who lost an arm in a fight, became the 'prophet of Spindletop.' After a religious conversion, Higgins became…
Oil and Gas Industry · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here, you're passing through the heart of the Spindletop oilfield. Back on January 10, 1901, a well drilled by Anthony F. Lucas, funded by Pittsburgh investors, blew in…
Beaumont Riot of 1943 · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, Texas, right where a major riot erupted back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1943</say-as>. Tensions were already sky-high. This city had boomed during World War II, bringing…
Broussard, Joseph Eloi · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, and right here, Joseph Eloi Broussard changed the Texas landscape forever. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1866</say-as>, Broussard wasn't content with just ranching. In…
Farish, William Stamps · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here, you're passing through the heart of the oil boom that changed this region forever. William Stamps Farish arrived in Beaumont back in 1901, drawn by the Spindletop…
Fisher, Joseph Jefferson · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Beaumont, where a landmark case unfolded in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Joe J. Fisher. Back in 1969, a lawsuit was filed that would change asbestos litigation…
Harris, Felix · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, Texas, and right here is where a remarkable artist named Felix Harris, known as 'Fox,' created a world of wonder. After a spiritual vision, Harris retired from his work as a foreman and…
McFaddin, William Perry Herring · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here, you're passing through the heart of the McFaddin family's empire. William Perry Herring McFaddin wasn't just a cattleman; he was a capitalist who helped shape this…
McLean, Marrs · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here is where Marrs McLean, known as the 'second prophet of Spindletop,' made his mark. While others focused on the top of the famous salt dome, McLean believed oil was…
Millard, Henry · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, perhaps near Beaumont. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1835</say-as>, Henry Millard and his partners bought fifty acres along the Neches River. They laid out…
Rush, Bonnie Eloise [Milam, Eloise] · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Beaumont, Texas, you're driving past the birthplace of a unique cultural phenomenon: the Melody Maids. It all started in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1942</say-as> when music teacher Eloise Milam…
Yount, Miles Frank · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, a region forever changed by the oil boom. Right here, Miles Frank Yount wasn't just an oilman; he was a pioneer. He brought one of the first rotary drilling rigs to the Gulf Coast…
Hughes, Howard Robard, Sr. · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Howard Robard Hughes, son of Felix Turner and Jean Amelia (Summerlin) Hughes, was born at Lancaster, Missouri, on September 9, 1869. Hughes attended school at Keokuk, Iowa, and prepared for college at military academies…
The Gate That Keeps the Gulf Out of the Rice · 8.8 mi
The flat land under Taylor Landing sits barely seven feet above sea level, which makes water the central engineering problem here. Taylor Bayou is fresh, but the Gulf is only a few miles downstream, and salt water…
The Town That Voted Itself Into Existence · 8.8 mi
Taylor Landing is one of the youngest towns in Texas, even though people had farmed this ground along Taylor Bayou for well over a century. It sits near the geographic center of Jefferson County, about thirteen miles…
Taylor Landing, TX · 8.8 mi
In a pivotal moment for Taylor Landing, residents voted to incorporate as a city on September 10, 2005. Out of 124 votes cast, 80, or 64.5%, were in favor, while 44, or 35.5%, were against. This decision marked a…
Barnes, Benjamin Milam, Jr. [Benny] · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Beaumont, Texas, you're driving past the hometown of Benny Barnes, a country singer who struck gold in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1956</say-as> with a song called "Poor Man's Riches."…
Chance, John Barnes [Barney] · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here in Beaumont, John "Barney" Chance was born in 1932. He became a composer known for his romantic style and unique rhythms. While serving in the U.S. Army band in…
Gray, Spurgeon Nathaniel · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, and right here, you're passing the legacy of Spurgeon Nathaniel Gray. He opened Gray's Pharmacy in 1903, the very first Black-owned pharmacy in Southeast Texas. For nearly sixty years,…
Jenkins, John Holmes III · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here is where a sixth-generation Texan, John Holmes Jenkins III, was born in Beaumont. He wasn't just a historian; he was a publisher, a bookseller, and a passionate collector of…
John, Grace Zillah Briggs Spaulding · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here in Beaumont, Grace Spaulding John got her start. Born in Michigan in 1890, she moved to Beaumont with her family when oil was discovered, and her father took over…
Keith, Jehu Frank · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here in Beaumont, you're passing through the heart of a lumber and oil empire built by J. Frank Keith. Keith started as a laborer in a shingle mill but rose through the…
O'Brien, George Washington · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, a city forever changed by oil. Right here, George W. O'Brien, a lawyer and former Confederate captain, was a key player in the very beginnings of the Spindletop oilfield. In 1900,…
Pollard, Thomas Titus [T. T.] · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, a city that owes a lot to educator Thomas Titus Pollard. He arrived here in 1889, starting as the *only* teacher in a rundown one-room schoolhouse. But Pollard, with help from the…
Price, Albert James, Sr. · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, the city Albert James Price, Sr. represented for over two decades in the Texas House. But before he became a state legislator, Price broke barriers as a pilot. In 1966, facing the racial…
Ward, Mamie Louise McFaddin · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, Texas, a city forever marked by the generosity of Mamie McFaddin Ward. Born in 1895, she inherited a fortune from her family's ranching, rice, and oil ventures, including ties to the…
Turner, Louise Marble [Lou] · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, and right here is where Lou Marble Turner spent much of her life. Born into slavery between 1847 and 1854, Lou's story is primarily known today through her interview for the WPA Slave…
Zernial, Gus Edward · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, Texas, hometown of Gus Zernial, one of the American League's most feared sluggers in the 1950s. Growing up during the Great Depression, Zernial watched future stars play for the local…
The Fertile Bayou That Drew Louisiana South · 8.8 mi
Long before it had a town charter, this stretch of Jefferson County was known simply as Taylor's Bayou, a scattering of farms strung between Sabine Pass and Fannett. The bayou, once called Bayou los Flores, was renamed…
Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here is a story about how a railroad helped shape the region's growth. It started in 1903 as the Beaumont, Sour Lake and Port Arthur Traction Company, planned as an…
Collins, Vinson A. · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here, Vinson Collins made history in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1913</say-as>. As a Texas Senator, he authored the state's very first workmen's compensation…
Cooper, Samuel Bronson · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here is where a key figure in connecting this region to the wider world once lived and worked. Samuel Bronson Cooper, a politician born in Kentucky, moved to Texas as a…
Gulf States Utilities Company · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here in Beaumont, you're passing the historic heart of Gulf States Utilities. This company wasn't just about electricity; it was a massive consolidation of over…
Lawson, Clarence · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, Texas, the birthplace of Clarence Lawson, a sculptor who made a name for himself on the national stage. Born in 1909, Lawson was the first Black artist to win a prestigious travel…
Milam, Lena Triplett · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, a city that owes a lot of its musical soul to Lena Triplett Milam. She returned to Beaumont in 1911 and by 1919, she was the music supervisor for the entire school district. For nearly…
Vincent, Albert Linder [Al] · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, and right here in Beaumont, you're passing through a place that was a baseball hotspot for Al Vincent. Vincent was a player and manager who led three different Texas League teams…
China, TX · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving west of Beaumont, and right here is China, Texas. It all started back in 1860 when the railroad came through. They built a water stop called China Grove, named for the chinaberry trees nearby. A few miles…
Fletcher, William Andrew · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
William Andrew Fletcher, lumberman and Civil War soldier, the son of Thomas and Eliza (Miller) Fletcher, was born in St. Landry parish, Louisiana, on April 23, 1839. In 1856 the family moved to Texas, where they settled…
Cunningham, Michael Angelo · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, Texas, where for twenty years, Michael Angelo Cunningham led the charge against tuberculosis. Born in Iowa in 1889, Cunningham earned his medical degree and honed his skills in…
Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City Railway · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City Railway Company got its start. Chartered in 1893, this line wasn't just about moving people; it was built to haul timber. John H.…
Tunica Indians · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, and you might be passing near where the Tunica Indians once roamed. Originally from Mississippi, pressure from the Chickasaw pushed them across the Mississippi River into Louisiana. By…
Amelia, TX · 8.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what used to be Amelia, just west of Beaumont. Back in 1936, this area struck oil, creating the Amelia oilfield. By 1939, just three years later, this field was already boasting 114 producing…
Spindletop · 8.9 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Get ready to hear about the gusher that launched the Texas oil boom! In 1901, near Beaumont, a drilling team at Spindletop struck it rich. On January 10th, their well erupted, spewing oil at an estimated 100,000 barrels…
Richardson, Jiles Perry [Big Bopper] · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Big Bopper, disc jockey, songwriter, and singer, was born Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., on October 24, 1930, in Sabine Pass, Texas. He was the son of Jiles Perry Richardson, Sr., and Elsie (Stalsby) Richardson. He…
Spindletop Oilfield · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Spindletop oilfield, discovered on a salt dome formation south of Beaumont in eastern Jefferson County on January 10, 1901, marked the birth of the modern petroleum industry. The Gladys City Oil, Gas, and…
The Namesake Tree Makes Birds Drunk · 9.0 mi
The tree that named this town is a chemistry lesson on a trunk. Chinaberry, Melia azedarach, packs its yellow marble-sized fruit with tetranortriterpene compounds called meliatoxins, labeled A1, A2, B1, and B2. These…
The Town Named for a Grove of Trees, Not a Country · 9.0 mi
China sits on U.S. 90 about ten miles west of Beaumont, and its name has nothing to do with the country. When the Texas and New Orleans Railroad was completed through this prairie in 1860, crews built a water stop for…
Cathedrals of the Prairie · 9.0 mi
As you drive near China, look to the horizon. You'll likely see the town's most iconic landmarks, the towering rice dryers, and they tell the story of what made this place. In the early twentieth century farmers found…
Engineering the Rice Prairie · 9.0 mi
The landscape you're seeing around China isn't just farmland; it's a massive, engineered system for manufacturing rice. The science starts with the soil, part of the Beaumont Formation. It’s a dense clay that creates a…
The Canals That Grew Rice · 9.0 mi
Before oil ever came out of the ground around here, China ran on rice, and rice runs on engineered flooding. Starting in 1898, Jefferson County built out a network of irrigation canals to feed Gulf Coast rice fields --…
China, TX · 9.0 mi
During World War II, a small branch camp was built in China for German prisoners of war detailed from the larger Camp Huntsville. These prisoners helped maintain rice paddies while local farmers were serving in the…
Dowling, Richard William · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Sabine Pass, Texas, a place that became famous thanks to Dick Dowling and his forty-seven men. On September 8th, 1863, Union forces launched a major invasion here, expecting an easy victory. But…
Dorman, Catherine E. Sanders McGill [Kate] · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Jefferson County, near Sabine Pass, where in the summer of 1862, a yellow fever epidemic ravaged the community. While many fled, Kate Dorman, owner of the Catfish Hotel, stayed behind. She and a…
Fort Griffin · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Jefferson County Fort Griffin was a Confederate fort located in the southeastern part of the county on what is now Farm Road 3322, fifteen miles south of Port Arthur. Hoping to block Union threats to the upper Texas…
Sabine Pass, TX · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
The town of Sabine Pass is on State Highway 87 at Sabine Pass , thirty miles southeast of Beaumont in extreme southeastern Jefferson County. The townsite, first known as Sabine City, was perhaps laid out as early as…
How a Fire Moved the Whole Town Two Miles East · 9.0 mi
For years there were really two settlements here. The original China depot sat to the west, while two miles east, Charlie Nash and Howell Land organized a rival community called Nashland. By 1900 Nashland had 174…
The Chinaberry and the China Doll · 9.0 mi
So, how did China, Texas get its name? Look up — or rather, look for what used to be here: chinaberry trees. When the Texas and New Orleans Railroad finished its line through this country back in 1860, the crews put in…
Chaplin, Chichester · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, likely near Jefferson County, and you might be passing through territory that was once the heart of the Fredonian Rebellion. Right here, in 1826, Chichester Chaplin was a key player in…
Clifton · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Sabine Pass, and right here, the USS Clifton met its end. This steam ferryboat, built in New York in 1861, served the Union Navy throughout the Civil War. She saw action from Mississippi to…
Dashiell, William Collier Vauness · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Sabine Pass, Texas, a place that was once the scene of a tense standoff between the Republic of Texas and the United States. In the 1840s, Texas desperately needed revenue, and its customs collector…
Garner, David Hess · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Jefferson County, and right here, in what was then called Old Jefferson, David Hess Garner organized a company of volunteers to fight Santa Anna. Armed with flintlock muskets and Bowie knives, his…
Garner, Jacob Harmon · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Jefferson County, maybe near Sabine Pass, a place that's seen its share of Texas history. Jacob Harmon Garner arrived here as a boy in the 1820s, settling near what's now Bridge City. He fought in…
Gladys, TX (Jefferson County) · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Jefferson County, not far from Beaumont. Right here is the site of Gladys, or Gladys City. In 1892, Pattillo Higgins, a local promoter, had big dreams for this spot. He envisioned a major…
Grigsby, Joseph · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Jefferson County, and right here, you're passing the site of Grigsby's Bluff. Joseph Grigsby arrived in Mexican Texas in 1828, eventually settling on the Neches River. He built a massive…
Johnson, Benjamin · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Jefferson County, near Sabine Pass. Right here, Benjamin Johnson was one of the earliest settlers, farming land after fighting in the Texas Revolution. He was at the Grass Fight and the Battle of…
Lee, Nelson · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe thinking about the Wild West. Well, right here, you might have been passing through the territory where Nelson Lee claimed to have had his wildest adventures. Born in New York in…
McFaddin Ranches · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, maybe near Beaumont, where the McFaddin Ranches once spanned over 120,000 acres. This wasn't just any ranch; it was a multi-generational legacy, with William Perry Herring…
McReynolds, Felix Columbus · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Sabine Pass, and right here, Major Felix Columbus McReynolds took command of Fort Manhassett in 1863. He was charged with defending this vital Texas coastline during the Civil War. During a scare in…
Rainbow Bridge · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near the Neches River, connecting Port Arthur and Orange County. Right here, you're near the site of the Rainbow Bridge, dedicated back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1938</say-as>. This…
Smith, Niles F. · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, near the Louisiana border. Right here, Niles F. Smith was a key player in the early days of the Republic of Texas. He was an engineer during the Revolution, a delegate to the…
West, Claiborne · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Jefferson Municipality, right where Claiborne West made his mark on Texas history. He was there at the Convention of 1836, putting his name right there on the Texas Declaration of…
Williams, John A. · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Jefferson County, near the Louisiana border. Back in the 1820s and 30s, this was a hotbed of political tension. John A. Williams arrived in Texas in 1822, and by 1832, he was elected…
Yell, Archibald · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, perhaps near the site of a pivotal moment in the Mexican-American War. Right here, Archibald Yell, a former Arkansas governor and congressman, met his end. Yell, a man known for his courage…
Yokum Gang · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, not far from where the infamous Yokum Gang operated in the early 1820s. These were reputed thieves and murderers who plagued the lawless Neutral Ground between Spanish Texas and…
Ashworth Act · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Ashworth Act, passed by the Texas Congress on December 12, 1840, came in response to an act passed on February 5, 1840, which prohibited the immigration of free Blacks and ordered all free Black residents to vacate…
Taylor, Richard · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Richard Taylor, Confederate general, only son of Margaret Mackall (Smith) and Gen. Zachary Taylor , was born at the Taylor family home, Springfield, near Louisville, Kentucky, on January 27, 1826, and named for his…
The Iron Lifeline · 9.0 mi
Listen for a train horn. The railroad tracks that parallel the highway here aren't just passing through China; they created it, and they named it too. The Texas and New Orleans Railroad came through in 1860 and put a…
Pattillo, George Alexander · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, an area that was wild frontier country back in 1830 when George Alexander Pattillo arrived. He secured one of the earliest land grants in what is now Jefferson County. Pattillo…
Sabine, TX (Jefferson County) · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past what's left of Sabine, Texas, a community born from a financial dispute. In 1878, New York financiers, unhappy with waterfront property prices in nearby Sabine Pass, decided to found their own town.…
Taylor Bayou (Jefferson County) · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Jefferson County, and right here is Taylor Bayou. Once known as Bayou los Flores, it got its modern name after James G. Taylor bought land along it back in 1841. Early settlers loved the fertile…
Taylor Bayou, TX · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Taylor (Taylor's) Bayou was on Taylor Bayou ten miles south of Beaumont in central Jefferson County. The name referred to widely scattered settlements throughout much of the area between the sites of present Sabine Pass…
Lower Neches Valley Authority · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, near the Neches River. Back in 1933, during the Great Depression, the Lower Neches Valley Authority was created. Its mission was huge: control and conserve the water of the lower…
Texas Trunk Railroad · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Texas Trunk Railroad Company was chartered on November 6, 1879, to build from Dallas southeast to the Gulf Coast near Sabine Pass in Jefferson County. A branch was also planned to connect the main line in Angelina…
Lucas Gusher · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
Erected by the State of Texas to Commemorate The Lucas Gusher. Discovery well of the Spindletop Oil Field and the first important well on the Gulf Coast. It blew in on Jan. 10, 1901, flowing 100,000 barrels of oil a day…
Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
Mildred Ella Didrikson was born in Port Arthur in 1911 and raised in Beaumont, where she got the nickname 'Babe' after hitting five home runs in a childhood baseball game. What she did after that has no parallel in the…
Hamshire House · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hamshire House, built in 1859 from Louisiana cypress. It was constructed for Emil Broussard, a name you'll hear again, as his son J.E. Broussard would later build the first rice mill in Texas.…
South Park High School · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the original South Park High School in Beaumont, built way back in 1922. For a decade, this building wasn't just for high schoolers; it also hosted classes for South Park Junior College.…
Spindletop Gusher · 9.3 mi · Historical Marker
At 10:30 on the morning of January 10, 1901, a drilling crew on a small salt dome hill south of Beaumont heard a deep rumbling from below. Mud shot up the pipe. Then the drill pipe itself launched out of the ground.…
The Grove That Fooled the Sign · 9.3 mi
Here's a town whose name plays a trick on you the second you read the sign. China, Texas, out here in northwestern Jefferson County, is not named for the country on the far side of the Pacific. Not even a little. So…
A Poisonous Mahogany Cousin · 9.3 mi
You're rolling through China, Texas, and the name comes from a tree, so let's talk about the one that did the naming, because it lives a wild double life. The chinaberry, Melia azedarach to a botanist, is not a Texas…
Not One Wall, Not From Space · 9.3 mi
The town you're rolling through is China, Texas, named for a grove of chinaberry trees, not the country across the Pacific. But since that country's most famous landmark keeps getting the facts wrong, the Great Wall…
Paper, Print, Powder, Compass · 9.3 mi
You're in China, Texas, a town named for a stand of chinaberry trees and not the country, but the country is worth one more detour, because the payoff is huge. Chinese scholars traditionally point to four inventions…
The Town That Ate Nashland · 9.3 mi
The town you are standing in almost carried a different name entirely. Two miles east of the original China depot, two men named Charlie Nash and Howell Land organized their own little settlement and, in a fit of plain…
Now, About the Actual China · 9.3 mi
You're passing through China, Texas, out in Jefferson County, a town named for a grove of chinaberry trees and not for the country on the far side of the Pacific. But that faraway country the town is not named after…
Rice On Top, Oil Below · 9.3 mi
Here on the ground in China, Texas, the name sits on top of a fortune. Ten miles east of here is Beaumont, and just south of Beaumont is Spindletop, the salt-dome hill where, on January tenth of nineteen oh one, the…
One Name, A Whole World · 9.3 mi
So look at everything one short, misleading town name can hold. China, Texas, has nothing to do with the country. It is named for China Grove, a cluster of imported chinaberry trees that a railroad crew watered their…
The Gusher that Changed the World · 9.4 mi
Just south of Beaumont is a low hill that doesn’t look like much, but it’s the site of an event that changed the world. This is Spindletop. In 1901, a determined mining engineer named Anthony Lucas was drilling for oil…
The Engineering That Unleashed Spindletop · 9.4 mi
The Spindletop gusher of 1901 wasn’t just luck; it was a triumph of engineering against expert opinion. The man with the vision was Captain Anthony Lucas, a mining engineer who believed oil was trapped under the…
The Texas Tomboy · 9.4 mi
As you pass through Beaumont, you’re in the hometown of one of the greatest athletes in history: Mildred 'Babe' Didrikson Zaharias. Raised in the city's working-class South End, she was a true prodigy. She could do it…
The Beaumont Race Riot of 1943 · 9.4 mi
Not all of Beaumont’s history is triumphant. In June of 1943, the city became the site of a brutal race riot. World War Two had brought thousands of workers, both Black and white, to the city’s shipyards, creating…
Hello, Baby! The Big Bopper's Beaumont · 9.4 mi
If you’re a fan of old-time rock and roll, Beaumont holds a special place in music history. This is where J.P. Richardson became 'The Big Bopper.' He was a fast-talking, larger-than-life DJ on local radio station KTRM.…
Texas' First Rice Mill · 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Beaumont, where Texas' first commercial rice mill once stood. It all started back in 1863 with the first commercial planting of rice in the state. Early farmers called it 'Providence Rice' because…
Harry James' Childhood Homesite · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the childhood home of Harry James, the legendary bandleader and trumpeter. Born in 1916, he moved to Beaumont at age eight. His father, a music teacher, even set up a studio in this house. From here,…
Hamshire, TX · 9.7 mi
Hamshire, Texas, sits right in the heart of the rice belt of Southeast Texas, and that's no accident. You can't drive far without seeing fields of it, shimmering green in the summer sun. Rice farming really took hold…
Arceneaux House · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Arceneaux House, a classic example of a 'daubed' home built around 1856. Its walls were plastered with moss, mud, and sassafras strips. This house belonged to Moise Broussard, and it's connected…
C. Homer and Edith Fuller Chambers Home · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the C. Homer and Edith Fuller Chambers Home, a house that connects two of Beaumont's biggest early industries: lumber and oil. Built in 1907, likely with lumber from the Turner & Nabers Company, it…
Boudreaux House · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Boudreaux House, built back in 1859 by A. Mobray for Sevan Broussard. This classic "dog-trot" style home has been continuously occupied by the Broussard family ever since. It's a prime example of…
Pandit Mehar Chand · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Pandit Mehar Chand. Born in Mahilpur, Punjab, India, on May 18, 1894, Pandit Mehar “P.M.” Chand was an early Asian Beaumont resident and business owner. After moving to Lahore (current…
McFaddin–Ward House · 9.9 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Pull over here for a minute and imagine yourself in the shoes of Texas oil royalty. This is the McFaddin-Ward House, a monument to Beaumont's boomtown past. In 1905, Di Vernon Averill commissioned this Beaux-Arts…
McFaddin-Ward House · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past McFaddin-Ward House. This classical revival mansion was erected on the homestead of William McFaddin (1819-1897), who received land from the Republic of Texas for service at the 1836 Battle of San…
The Mansion Cattle, Land and Oil Built · 9.9 mi
At 1906 Calder Avenue stands the McFaddin-Ward House, a 1906 Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival mansion that shows exactly what oil-era money looked like when it settled into a Beaumont family. The house is filled with…
Caroline Gilbert Hinchee House · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Caroline Gilbert Hinchee House, a stunning example of Queen Anne architecture built in 1906. Caroline, a wealthy artist and oil heiress, commissioned this elaborate home. It boasts a wraparound…
The Day Oil Blotted Out the Sky · 10.0 mi
Just south of where you're standing, on a low rise called Spindletop, the modern oil age began. On January 10, 1901, drillers struck the Lucas Gusher, and oil blasted roughly 150 feet into the air, a black geyser that…
German Prisoners Harvested the Rice in 1945 · 10.0 mi
North of U.S. 90, on North Broadway, a Texas historical marker records an unlikely chapter. In September 1944, with so many local farmers away at war, a branch prisoner of war camp opened here, holding German soldiers…
The Salt Dome and the Mud That Tamed It · 10.0 mi
Spindletop wasn't just lucky drilling, it was a geology and engineering breakthrough. The hill sits over a Gulf Coast salt dome: a buried mass of salt that behaves plastically under pressure and slowly pushes upward…
Site of World War ll Prisoner of War Camp · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through China, Texas, where during World War II, this site hosted a temporary branch camp for German prisoners of war. Opened in September 1944, these POWs, many from Rommel's Afrika Korps, were leased…
Mildred Buildings · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Mildred Buildings in Beaumont, a massive complex built between 1929 and 1930 for seven hundred thousand dollars. It was named for the daughter of Miles Frank Yount, a key figure in the Yount-Lee…
Saint Anthony's Cathedral · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Beaumont's Saint Anthony's Cathedral. Catholic services started here in the 1850s, with the first church built in 1881. This grand Italian Renaissance revival structure you see was…
Chaison, Jean Baptiste · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Pipkin Park area in Beaumont, the final resting place for Jean Baptiste Chaison, a man who lived an incredible life. Born in Nova Scotia in 1745, he was captured by the British during the French…
Congregation Temple Emanuel · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, and right here is the site of Congregation Temple Emanuel. Jewish worship services first started in Beaumont back in September of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1887</say-as>, on…
North End Methodist Church · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the North End Methodist Church, later renamed Wesley United Methodist. In 1912, residents in Beaumont's growing North End built this church with help from First Methodist. Services began…
Site of Spindle Top Hill Confederate Camp · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Beaumont, and right here, from 1862 to 1864, was the site of a Confederate Army camp. Colonel A. W. Spaight's Battalion, the 2nd Texas Infantry, set up headquarters here. These soldiers, drawn from…
The 1943 Beaumont Race Riot · 10.3 mi
Downtown Beaumont and the approaches to the old shipyards were the setting for one of the city's darkest days. On June 15, 1943, a white woman reported that a Black man had assaulted her. The unproven allegation spread…
George Jones Sang for Coins on Pearl Street · 10.3 mi
Before George Jones became one of the most celebrated voices in country music, he was a kid singing for tips on the streets of Beaumont. Accounts place the young Jones performing outside businesses and at a penny arcade…
Beaumont, TX · 10.3 mi
Beaumont's story is etched into the landscape, a place where Southern hospitality meets the rough-and-tumble world of industry. It sits low, only 26 feet above sea level, making it a place that lives intimately with the…
Millard, Henry · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Beaumont, a town named for the wife of its founder, Henry Millard. Millard was a New Yorker who came to Texas in 1835, already a seasoned businessman and a widower. He and a partner bought land right…
William G. "Bill" Hall · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past William G. "Bill" Hall. (1929-1983) Music publisher William G. Hall helped start and promote the careers of dozens of musicians. Hall was raised in Beaumont’s Multimax Village and graduated…
A Boomtown Rebuilt From Scratch · 10.3 mi
The Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum on the Lamar University campus is the closest you can get to standing inside the 1901 oil rush. The original Gladys City, a hurried tangle of offices, saloons, lodging houses…
Beaumont Built Ships While the World Went to War · 10.3 mi
Look toward the Neches and the working port, and you're looking at where Beaumont helped fight World War II. On Industrial Island, the Pennsylvania Shipyards became one of the city's largest employers, turning out C1-A…
The Ghosts of the Jefferson Theatre · 10.3 mi
The Jefferson Theatre opened in 1927 with an ornate Mediterranean-influenced interior, a marble staircase and a historic organ that still rises from beneath the stage on a hydraulic lift. It also has a reputation.…
Sarah Jane Road and the Crybaby Bridge · 10.3 mi
About 20 to 25 minutes southeast of central Beaumont, in Port Neches, Sarah Jane Road carries one of the area's most enduring ghost legends, a classic "crybaby bridge" tale. The versions don't agree, which is part of…
Beaumont's Vice and Corruption Years · 10.3 mi
By the middle of the twentieth century, downtown Beaumont and the Crockett Street area had earned a reputation as a wide-open town, known for illegal gambling, prostitution and tolerated vice running quietly alongside…
When Hurricane Harvey Shut Off a City's Water · 10.3 mi
When you cross the Neches River on Interstate 10, you're passing the spot where an entire city of nearly 120,000 people abruptly lost its water. After Hurricane Harvey stalled over Southeast Texas in August 2017 and…
Jefferson Theatre · 10.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Imagine the glitz and glamour of the roaring twenties! This spot, the Jefferson Theatre, was Beaumont's palace of entertainment. Built in 1927 by the Jefferson Amusement Company and owned by Saenger Amusements, this…
Jefferson County Courthouse · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Jefferson County Courthouse in Beaumont, a building that's seen a lot of history. The first structure here back in 1838 was a jailhouse, also serving as county offices and courts. By 1854, a…
Young Men's Christian Association of Beaumont · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, right where the 1901 Spindletop oil boom kicked off a wild west atmosphere. Amidst the vice and chaos, a young man named H. G. Behrman was sleeping in a tent. He met W. M. Lewis of the…
First National Bank Building · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Beaumont's First National Bank, a testament to the city's oil boom revival. In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1935</say-as>, the bank's board decided to build this impressive Art…
First Security National Bank · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Security National Bank in Beaumont. Organized in 1889 as the First National Bank, it was the oldest bank between Houston and Louisiana. It played a key role in the Spindletop…
Marble staircases, vaudeville, and Spanish style · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, and right here is the historic Jefferson Theatre, built back in 1927. Designed by Emile Weil, Inc., this place was a real landmark, showcasing marble staircases and Spanish-style decor.…
Jefferson Theatre · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
Built in 1927 by the Jefferson Amusement Company, this theatre quickly became a landmark in downtown Beaumont. Emile Weil, Inc., a New Orleans architectural firm, designed the structure. The interior is a showcase of…
The Lost Electric Line to Port Arthur · 10.3 mi
Long before the highways, Beaumont and Port Arthur were stitched together by electric rail. Streetcars first shaped the city's residential growth, and beginning in 1913 interurban trains, larger electric cars running…
The Museum of the Oil Age · 10.3 mi
At 600 Main Street in downtown Beaumont, the Texas Energy Museum tells the story that Spindletop set off. Its exhibits walk you through the whole arc of petroleum: the geology of the salt domes that trap oil, the…
The Gothic Church Turned Library · 10.3 mi
At 695 Pearl Street, an imposing Gothic building with pointed arches and rich stained glass holds Beaumont's memory. The Tyrrell Historical Library was completed in 1903 as a Baptist church, and the architecture still…
Holmes Duke House · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Holmes Duke House, a survivor of Beaumont's early days. Holmes Duke arrived in town in the late 1800s, buying this land in 1898 and building his home by 1899. Take a look at its Queen Anne and…
Santa Anna · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Santa Anna, a town that was platted way back in 1835. This spot was the hub for all the action west of the Neches River. Imagine, by July 1835, Joseph Pulsifer arrived to manage a store…
The Clubhouse, The Woman's Club of Beaumont · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic Clubhouse of the Woman's Club of Beaumont, built way back in 1909. This wasn't just any meeting hall; it was a hub for culture and community. Designed by C.C. McDonald, it housed…
Tyrrell Public Library · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Tyrrell Public Library in Beaumont. This striking Romanesque Revival building started life in 1903 as the First Baptist Church. In 1923, a local captain bought the former church and donated it to…
Woman's Club of Beaumont · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Woman's Club of Beaumont. It started in 1895 as the Beaumont Literary Club, formed at a private home by a handful of friends. By 1899, it was the Woman's Reading Club, affiliated with…
First United Methodist Church of Beaumont · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Beaumont's First United Methodist Church. Methodists have been gathering here since 1839, when missionary Samuel Williams held the first service. For decades, circuit riders on the…
Beaumont · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Beaumont, a city whose story is forever tied to a gusher that changed the world. Originally settled in 1825 as Tevis Bluff, it was incorporated as Beaumont in 1838. For decades, it thrived as a…
Tevis, Nancy · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Tevis Bluff, the first Anglo-American settlement on the Neches River. Nancy Nixon Tevis arrived here in 1825 with her family, and after her husband Noah died, she held her ground during…
Fire Museum of Texas · 10.4 mi · Scraped Hmdb
You're approaching a monument to firefighting history! This is the Fire Museum of Texas, housed in Beaumont's old Central Fire Station. Built in 1927, this building served as the heart of the city's fire response for…
Graham, Dr. Chalres F. L. N. · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Beaumont, where a remarkable man named Dr. Charles Graham made his mark. Born in British Guiana, he came to Texas in 1918, sent by the American Missionary Association. Dr. Graham didn't just found a…
Port of Beaumont · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Beaumont, a city that's been a gateway to the sea, even though it's over 40 miles inland! For years, only small boats could navigate the Neches River. But Texans dreamed bigger. After surveys and…
Beaumont Enterprise · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Beaumont, and right around here, on November 6, 1880, the very first edition of the Beaumont Enterprise rolled off the presses. Founded by John W. Leonard, this newspaper became one of Southeast…
The 24-Foot Dalmatian Fire Hydrant · 10.4 mi
At 400 Walnut Street, the Fire Museum of Texas lives inside a handsome 1927 fire station, but the thing that stops traffic is parked out front: a 24-foot fire hydrant painted to look like a Dalmatian, white with black…
First Baptist Church of Beaumont · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church, with a history stretching back to 1872. Imagine this: in 1877, Baptists and Methodists joined forces to build a church, and the…
French Trading Post · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the site of the French Trading Post, built back in 1845. John J. French, a merchant and tanner who arrived in Texas in the 1830s, built this place as both his home and his store. Tucked away nearby…
Young Woman's Christian Association of Beaumont · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Beaumont's YWCA, established back in 1911. It officially chartered three years later, meeting in the Temperance Hall until this building went up in 1918. Remarkably, that same year, a…
Central Fire Station · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Central Fire Station in Beaumont, a building that's been home to the city's firefighters since 1927. Designed by Livesay and Wiedemann, its red brick and geometric tile work showcase the popular…
Westminster Presbyterian Church of Beaumont · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, where Presbyterian worship started with traveling preachers. In 1880, seven charter members organized the First Presbyterian Church, meeting in the courthouse and a rented hall. The…
The Haunting of the John Jay French House · 10.5 mi
At 3025 French Road stands one of Beaumont's oldest surviving residences, the John Jay French House, built in 1845 for merchant and tanner John Jay French. Its outbuildings still interpret tanning, blacksmithing and…
Beaumont: Lumber Mill City of the Nineteenth Century · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, a city that literally grew out of the timber! From its very beginnings, this place was all about lumber. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1840</say-as>, Lucien Hopson was…
Sanders House · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Sanders House. Tennessee-born Robert Washington Sanders (1850-1916), a master wood carver, was drawn to Beaumont in 1878 by the newly-emerging lumber industry. He worked in several local lumber mills…
Beaumont's Oldest House · 10.5 mi
At 3025 French Road sits the John Jay French House, built in 1845 and among the oldest surviving residences in Beaumont, old enough to predate Texas statehood by just months. It was the home of John Jay French, a…
Travis Street Substation · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Travis Street Substation in Beaumont, built in 1929 by Gulf States Utilities. This building kicked off a new era of progress, bringing dependable electric power to homes, farms, and industries…
Blind Willie Johnson · 10.7 mi
You're driving through Beaumont, the hometown of a true Texas legend: Blind Willie Johnson. Born near Independence around 1897, he lost his sight as a child, but his vision for music was crystal clear. He learned gospel…
Charlton-Pollard / Beaumont South End (Bubba Smith) · 10.7 mi
Beaumont's South End is where Bubba Smith grew up and played for his father, coach Willie Ray Smith Sr., at the old Charlton-Pollard High School (long since consolidated). Smith became a two-time All-American at…
Beauxart Gardens · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Nederland, and right here you're passing Beauxart Gardens. This was a New Deal program from the 1930s, designed to help families during the Great Depression. Fifty families got a house and land to…
Rao's Bakery and Beaumont's Italian Roots · 10.9 mi
Rao's Bakery has been part of everyday Beaumont since 1941, when Johnny Rao founded it during the years the rice, railroad and oil booms were drawing Italian families to Southeast Texas. Those families opened groceries,…
Prater Cemetery · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be the Rosedale community, near Beaumont. Look to your right for the Prater Cemetery. It started in 1894 when Edwin Prater bought this land for ten dollars, setting it aside for his…
Smyth, Andrew F. · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, and right here is the resting place of Andrew F. Smyth. He was an officer in the Jasper Volunteers, fighting for Texas independence. While the marker doesn't give us his dates, it does…
Magnolia Missionary Baptist Church · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Magnolia Missionary Baptist Church. It began in 1890 in a schoolhouse, and over the years, the congregation purchased land, built sanctuaries, and changed its name. The church has…
Aubrey Wilson "Moon" Mullican · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Aubrey Wilson "Moon" Mullican. Born in the small town of Corrigan in 1909, Aubry Wilson Mullican became famous as a country and western singer and songwriter. His father was a farmer and the…
McFaddin, William · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former domain of William McFaddin, a man who saw some of Texas's most pivotal moments. He fought in the Texas War for Independence, taking part in the first Siege of the Alamo and the decisive…
Tevis, Reid · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, and right here is where Reid Tevis spent his career fighting crime. He started as a cop at just 19, eventually becoming Beaumont's Chief of Detectives and later Chief of Police. Tevis…
Magnolia Cemetery · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont, a place with a history that stretches back even before its official founding in 1887. The Magnolia Cemetery Company got its charter that year, and soon after, five…
Southeast Texas Regional Airport · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Southeast Texas Regional Airport, a place that’s been a lifeline for this region since World War II. Jefferson County bought the land in 1941, and by 1944, it was up and running with three…
Spell Cemetery · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Spell Cemetery, established in 1873 by the Marble family. The earliest burial here is Martha Marble, who died in 1864. The land was officially designated a cemetery in county records in 1924.
Central Gardens, TX · 12.1 mi
Central Gardens, a census-designated place in Jefferson County, Texas, is part of the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area. It's located in eastern Jefferson County, with Nederland to its southeast. The community is…
Early Texas Oil Pipelines · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the birthplace of Texas's first major oil pipelines! Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1901</say-as>, right after the Spindletop gusher blew in just seven miles north, a company rushed…

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