Lumberton, Texas

Everything Lumberton is known for

1 song mention this city 1 artist from here

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

Music in Lumberton

Songs About Lumberton

the ballad of lavern and captain flint

guy clark

10%

Artists From Lumberton

Ethan Osborne

country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Lumberton

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

Neches River 2 songs Interstate 10 36 songs US Route 90 9 songs Sabine River 13 songs Trinity River 11 songs Angelina River 4 songs

History of Lumberton

The Great Flood of 2017 RoadyGoat

In late August 2017, Lumberton faced a disaster of biblical proportions. Hurricane Harvey stalled over the region, and the rain just wouldn't stop. The town is built around Village Creek, which flows into the Neches River. Both waterways became overwhelmed. The water rose with terrifying speed, pouring into thousands of homes and businesses, many in areas that had never flooded. US Highway 96, the town’s main artery, disappeared under feet of brown water, cutting Lumberton in half and isolating it from the outside world. An army of volunteers in private boats, the 'Cajun Navy,' descended on the town, performing heroic rescues and plucking stranded families from rooftops and flooded homes. It was a moment of absolute devastation, but also one of incredible community spirit. The flood reshaped the landscape and the lives of nearly everyone here, leaving a permanent mark on the town’s memory.

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The Ghost Light of Bragg Road RoadyGoat

About twenty-five miles north of Lumberton, up past Kountze and out toward Saratoga, lies one of Texas's most famous spooky legends: the Ghost Road. Officially it's Bragg Road, an eight-mile, arrow-straight, unpaved lane cutting through the dark woods of the Big Thicket. It runs that straight because it isn't really a road at all — it's an old Santa Fe branchline bed, rails laid in 1901 and pulled up in 1934. Ever since, people have driven down it at night, turned off their engines and headlights, and waited. More often than not, they see it: a mysterious, floating light that appears in the distance, sways back and forth, and then vanishes. The most popular legend says it's a railroad brakeman decapitated in a wreck on the Saratoga line. His body was recovered; his head never was. And so he walks the old rail bed forever with his lantern, looking for it. Scientists have offered swamp gas or the reflection of distant car headlights, but no explanation has ever stuck. For people around Lumberton, going to see the Ghost Light for yourself is still a rite of passage.

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Harvey's Hydrological Assault RoadyGoat

The 2017 flooding in Lumberton wasn't just a bad storm; it was a catastrophic failure of a complex water system pushed past its limits. Here's the science of what happened. Harvey stalled and dumped twenty to forty inches of rain across Hardin County, straight into the Neches River watershed. Think of a watershed as a giant funnel, and Lumberton sits right in the middle of it. All that water had to go somewhere. It poured into the creeks and bayous that feed the Neches, above all Village Creek, which runs right past town. The creek, normally a gentle stream, swelled past a record crest that had stood since August of 1915, and the U.S. 96 bridge over it near Silsbee collapsed outright. But the water also hit a bottleneck. The Neches itself was running its second-highest level in records going back to 1884, creating a backwater effect. Village Creek couldn't drain, so it backed up and spread across the flat coastal plain Lumberton is built on. Nearly ten thousand homes flooded in Hardin County. It was a perfect storm of meteorology, topography and hydrology that turned a suburban town into a temporary lake.

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David Choate Jr.

1836

David Choate Jr. was born in Louisiana in 1811. He moved with his family to Texas and later joined a group of Beaumont volunteers and fought in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Choate received bounty for 320 acres of land for serving in the army and 640 acres of donation land for fighting in the Battle of San Jacinto. These lands were surveyed on the north side of Pine Island Bayou, where in 1856 he founded Concord, originally part of Jefferson County. It had a well-known ferry crossing that connected Beaumont to Points North. Choate and his wife, Mary (Coon), contacted the Orange County surveyor to lay out the town in 1858. Hardin County was created in 1858, carved out of Jefferson, Liberty and Tyler counties. The town of Hardin was created as the county seat in 1859. It was located on the Concord to Woodville road. Concord became the southern shipping point for steamboat traffic on the Neches River, bringing farm products and lumber from Hardin, Tyler and Jasper Counties into Beaumont. At its peak, concord had 300 residents. Concord and the town of Hardin thrived from steamboat traffic and shipping. With the completion of the railroads from Beaumont to Rockland, the town of Concord passed into history as steamboats were no longer needed. Concord was abandoned in 1880 but had served its purpose as a steamboat stop. David Choate Jr. died in Concord in 1879 and was buried in Leatherwood Cemetery, located on the David Choate survey. His widow died in 1909 and is also buried in the cemetery.

Historical Marker →

Former Townsite of Concord

1858

First town in Hardin County. Established in 1858 at a strategic crossing from Beaumont to points north. Original name was Benton. Rapidly became a thriving steamboat port and reached a population of about 300, but declined in the 1880s with coming of the railroad.

Historical Marker → · 4.0 mi away

Hardin-Concord Road

1859

In use from 1859 to about 1900, this historic roadway is one of the oldest area landmarks. It accommodated wagon and horseback travel between early settlements and provided connection between river voyages. Concord, to the southeast on Pine Island Bayou, was the southern limit for steamboat traffic on the Neches River. Hardin, to the northwest, was the first Hardin county seat from 1858 to 1887. Much of the old road can be traced today, a reminder of 19th century overland and waterway travel. Although development has obscured it from view at this point, modern U.S. Highway 69 crosses its course here. Today the historic road is remembered for its contributions to local transportation and commerce. 					(1971, 2011)

Historical Marker →

Giles, Robert C.

1954

Robert C. Giles, journalist and educator, was born in Silsbee, Texas, on August 23, 1928, to Wilbert and Carrie Giles. The Giles family had relocated to Texas from their native state, Louisiana, during the Great Migration. The late 1920s ushered in the decline of sawmill work and the start of the Great Depression . For these two reasons, the family trekked across the Sabine River into Texas. A frugal Wilbert Giles saved enough funds to purchase a farmhouse in Silsbee in Hardin County, where he and his family lived. There in Silsbee, Wilbert found more reliable work at a nearby sawmill, offsetting his wages with farming. The family survived the Great Depression and the pressures of living in the segregated South. Deeply religious, the Catholic family prided themselves on their spiritual roots that went back to Louisiana. Some of the children apparently remained in Louisiana; others built lives in Silsbee. Then others moved to Texas cities and made respectable livings as barbers and dressmakers. One son served in World War II . The youngest of the six Giles children, Robert, finished high school in 1945 or 1946. A good writer, he knew he wanted to attend college, even though his parents could not afford to send him. Resilient and hardworking, young Robert found a way to enter college. Scholarship money and hard work helped him pay his way through undergraduate school. He entered St. Thomas College (today the University of St. Thomas) in St. Paul, Minnesota, and earned his bachelor's degree in 1952. He then entered graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin and earned his master's degree in journalism in 1954. Some sources suggest Robert Giles became the first African American to desegregate the university's journalism program (now the College of Communication) and was one of the first to earn a journalism degree. Like other Blacks in the 1950s and 1960s, Giles opened important doors of opportunity to other African Americans. Robert Giles then entered the United States Army after finishing his master's degree; he ultimately became a staff sergeant. After his honorable discharge, he remained in the armed serves and served his country in the Air Force Reserves. Working as a journalist at a number of newspapers, he found his niche when he secured permanent work at the Texas Catholic Herald, published by the Diocese of Galveston-Houston (today the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston), in 1966. Giles especially loved human-interest stories that captured the attention of the Catholic community and secular press. His series on the homeless in Houston attracted national attention and earned him awards. His ability to humanize his subjects, including those most despised, propelled his reputation as a first-rate journalist. Giles later told journalists in a 2001 interview that his ability to connect with the indigent and homeless had to do with his own background. Growing up poor in Louisiana and Texas gave him an edge over others, he thought. Giles knew his sensitivity and empathy would also motivate his subjects to "trust" him. He always said he felt God's presence in many of his subjects, regardless of their circumstances. Giles, who worked for the paper for thirty-five years, also authored a number of books, including Changing Times: The Story of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston in Commemoration of Its Founding (1972). Giles loved writing and teaching. For more than twenty years he taught part-time in the Department of Journalism and Telecommunications (today School of Communications) on the campus of Texas Southern University. Giles also advised the student newspaper. On the campus, the associate professor of journalism reached out to young people from all walks of life, including working-class backgrounds. In the late 1980s he often lectured to students about the dangers of embracing those cultural constructs that denigrated the Black community. Giles also reminded students of their responsibilities to future generations. Dedi

Tsha Handbook → · 6.4 mi away

Silsbee, TX

1894

Silsbee is at the junction of U.S. Highway 96, State Highway 327, and Farm roads 92 and 418, twenty miles north of Beaumont in eastern Hardin County. Its origins can be traced to the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City Railway, which reached the site in 1894. A project of John Henry Kirby , the railroad was intended to open East Texas forest lands to the timber industry. The Texas Pine Land Association, also managed by Kirby, established a logging camp and then a sawmill at the site of Silsbee after the railroad was completed. The growing community was first called Mill Town but was soon renamed Silsbee in recognition of one of Kirby's East Coast partners, Nathan D. Silsbee. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe system bought Kirby's Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City line and built mechanical shops and a roundhouse in Silsbee in 1901. It also extended a fifty-mile line to the Trinity River, thus giving access to still more East Texas forests. In 1902 the Kirby Lumber Company took control of the Silsbee sawmill, which had been leased to the Industrial Lumber Company. By 1907 the mill, rebuilt after a 1904 fire, was producing over twelve million board feet per year. Independent of the Kirby interests, the South Silsbee Townsite Company was formed in 1906. South Silsbee was renamed Woodrow after President Woodrow Wilson and was home for many of the town's railroad workers. Woodrow had its own post office from 1913 to 1918. Another small community, Red Cut, was also laid out in the late 1900s. The separate communities gradually became part of Silsbee proper. The Silsbee Ice, Light, and Power Corporation received the right to supply electricity to patrons in Silsbee in 1921, when the town was defined to include residents of Silsbee, Old Town, South Silsbee or Woodrow, and Red Cut. In 1936 a major oilfield was discovered north of Silsbee. Another large field was found west of town in 1941. The most productive of the wells had produced a cumulative total of more than 23 million barrels of crude oil by 1984. Silsbee also became a center for the area's truck and fruit farmers. The Kirby Lumber Company's consolidation at its huge new plant in Silsbee, completed in 1955, further solidified the local economy. The oil, railroad, timber, and agricultural resources provided residents with a diversified economic base. The Silsbee Bee , a weekly newspaper, has served the area since 1919. The town's population, set at 162 in 1904, was 2,525 in 1941 and had risen to 7,684 by 1980. Roughly one-third of these residents were black. In 1990 the population was 6,368. The population was 6,393 in 2000.

Tsha Handbook → · 6.4 mi away

Evadale, TX

1839

Evadale is at the junction of U.S. Highway 96 and Farm roads 105, 1131, and 2246, twenty-five miles northeast of Beaumont in southwestern Jasper County. During the 1830s and 1840s the site was called Richardson (Richardson's) Bluff, for early settler Benjamin Richardson, who operated a ferry on the Neches River and who also served as postmaster in 1839. Town lots for the area were listed in county tax rolls as early as 1859. After Richardson's death in 1849, the land was sold to John A., Philip U., and Charles T. Ford. At this time the site was often referred to as Ford's Bluff. Hoping to establish a sawmill, Philip Ford went to New Orleans to buy machinery but contracted yellow fever there and died shortly after returning to Jasper County. Nonetheless, Ford's Bluff became an important collection point for logs, which were floated down the river to Beaumont mills. In 1893 John Henry Kirby chartered the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City Railway and rebuilt a tram line that already ran from Ford's Bluff to Buna as part of his larger common carrier project. Kirby renamed the site for Miss Eva Dale, a teacher at Jasper's Southeast Texas Male and Female College, and constructed a mill there by 1904, when the post office was established. By 1914 the Evadale plant, known as Mill U, included kilns, a circular sawmill, and a planing mill with a daily capacity of up to 70,000 board feet. Evadale had a population of 300 by 1920. The Kirby mill closed during the Great Depression , and by the late 1940s the town's population had fallen to 100. Economic revitalization began in 1948, when the Champion Paper and Fiber Company acquired riverfront acreage for a pulp mill. By the 1970s the giant Temple-Eastex pulpwood and paper mill dominated the local economy. With the new activity, the population in Evadale reached 700 by the early 1960s. In 1984 the town had twenty-two businesses and an estimated 715 residents. In 1990 its population was 1,422 and in 2000 it was 1,430.

Tsha Handbook → · 9.7 mi away

Things to Do in Lumberton

historical 15.2 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…

nature 16.8 mi away

Big Thicket National Preserve

The Big Thicket is the place where four different ecosystems collide on a single patch of ground. Southern swamp from the Louisiana lowlands, eastern hardwood…

spooky 19.9 mi away

The Light of Saratoga (Bragg Road)

A decapitated railroad worker's ghostly lantern floats along this abandoned rail bed in the Big Thicket every night. The Saratoga Light has been reported since…

Everything Near Lumberton

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

The Great Flood of 2017
In late August 2017, Lumberton faced a disaster of biblical proportions. Hurricane Harvey stalled over the region, and the rain just wouldn't stop. The town is built around Village Creek, which flows into the Neches…
The Ghost Light of Bragg Road
About twenty-five miles north of Lumberton, up past Kountze and out toward Saratoga, lies one of Texas's most famous spooky legends: the Ghost Road. Officially it's Bragg Road, an eight-mile, arrow-straight, unpaved…
Harvey's Hydrological Assault
The 2017 flooding in Lumberton wasn't just a bad storm; it was a catastrophic failure of a complex water system pushed past its limits. Here's the science of what happened. Harvey stalled and dumped twenty to forty…
Where Nine Ecosystems Collide
Out past Lumberton, the Big Thicket doesn't act like one forest -- it acts like nine stitched together. Longleaf pine upland, cypress bayou, hardwood bottomland, dry sandhill, pine savanna, swamp -- the National Park…
Lumberton, TX
Lumberton has faced significant challenges from natural disasters. In October 1994, the region suffered a severe flood due to heavy rains, resulting in 22 flood-related deaths and significant property damage in…
The Tale of Two Towns
The town you're driving through didn't start as a single place, and the pieces are older than the city is. Loeb, down on Pine Island Bayou, began life as Concord, with a post office as far back as 1858. It was a…
The Town the Sawmills Named · 1.0 mi
Lumberton wears its origin in its name. Before 1902, the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City Railway laid a stop here to serve the sawmills and logging camps cutting yellow pine across southern Hardin County. Loggers, mill…
From Mill Stop to Boomtown Suburb · 1.0 mi
After the mills fell quiet, Lumberton reinvented itself as a bedroom community, a leafy place to live within a short drive of Beaumont's jobs. The numbers tell a boomtown story. The census counted 2,156 residents in…
The Year Lumberton Lost Its Post Office · 1.0 mi
Here is a curious twist most residents never hear. Lumberton got its post office in 1909, but it lasted only five years. In 1914 the office was discontinued and the mail was transferred to nearby Fletcher, a site built…
David Choate Jr. · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
David Choate Jr. was born in Louisiana in 1811. He moved with his family to Texas and later joined a group of Beaumont volunteers and fought in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Choate received bounty for 320…
Monuments Are for Dead Things: The Big Thicket Fight · 1.4 mi
U.S. Highway Sixty Nine between Beaumont and Lufkin is designated the Big Thicket National Preserve Parkway, named for a patch of Southeast Texas forest so dense that the word thicket stuck. People fought for decades to…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Lumberton (Lumberton) · 1.6 mi
Lumberton (Lumberton, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Luke Cody (5 HR).

Show all 200 nearby places

America's Ark on Lumberton's Doorstep · 1.7 mi
Just north of Lumberton lies one of the most biologically rich pockets on the continent. Scientists call the Big Thicket the biological crossroads of North America, a place where southeastern swamps, eastern hardwood…
Village Creek, the Ribbon Through the Thicket · 1.7 mi
Lumberton's signature landmark is water, not timber. Village Creek is a sand-bottomed, free-flowing tributary of the Neches River that runs about sixty-three miles, rising in northwestern Hardin County and emptying into…
Hardin-Concord Road · 2.8 mi · Historical Marker
In use from 1859 to about 1900, this historic roadway is one of the oldest area landmarks. It accommodated wagon and horseback travel between early settlements and provided connection between river voyages. Concord, to…
Former Townsite of Concord · 4.0 mi · Historical Marker
First town in Hardin County. Established in 1858 at a strategic crossing from Beaumont to points north. Original name was Benton. Rapidly became a thriving steamboat port and reached a population of about 300, but…
The Big Thicket Ghost Light · 4.9 mi
Head northwest out of Silsbee, past Kountze and on toward Saratoga, and you come to a dead-straight sand track through the Big Thicket. Bragg Road on the maps. Ghost Road to everybody else. It was a railroad once, the…
The World's Strongest Man · 4.9 mi
Silsbee High School's football stadium and weight room were the training grounds for a legend. This is where Mark Henry, a young man of almost unbelievable strength, began his journey to becoming 'The World's Strongest…
Silsbee, TX · 4.9 mi
Silsbee's history is deeply intertwined with the timber industry. The town's site was reached by the Gulf, Beaumont, and Kansas City Railway in 1894, leading to the establishment of a logging camp and a sawmill. The…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Silsbee (Silsbee) · 5.3 mi
Silsbee (Silsbee, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Brendon Hughes (3 HR); David Babuska (3 HR).
Knupple Cemetery · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Knupple Cemetery, a final resting place established around 1870 by August Knupple, a Prussian immigrant who came to Texas in 1846. The earliest marked grave here is for Henry Robinson, dating to…
Wiess Bluff · 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past Evadale, and right here, you're seeing the end of the line for big riverboats on the Neches River. This spot, once called Grant's Bluff, became Wiess Bluff in the 1840s. Simon Wiess built a wharf…
Giles, Robert C. · 6.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Robert C. Giles, journalist and educator, was born in Silsbee, Texas, on August 23, 1928, to Wilbert and Carrie Giles. The Giles family had relocated to Texas from their native state, Louisiana, during the Great…
Silsbee, TX · 6.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Silsbee is at the junction of U.S. Highway 96, State Highway 327, and Farm roads 92 and 418, twenty miles north of Beaumont in eastern Hardin County. Its origins can be traced to the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City…
The Ice House That Beat the Heat · 6.5 mi
Before home freezers, East Texas beat the heat with block ice, and Silsbee made its own. The Ice House was built by Gulf States Utilities in 1928, using ammonia-based mechanical refrigeration to freeze water into heavy…
First Baptist Church of Silsbee · 6.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Silsbee's First Baptist Church. This congregation started worshiping in a railroad car back in 1903, officially organizing in 1908. Timber baron John Henry Kirby donated land and lumber…
From Mill Town to Silsbee · 6.7 mi
Silsbee began as a railroad and sawmill camp. In 1894 the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City Railway reached this spot in the pines, a project of timber baron John Henry Kirby meant to open East Texas forests to market.…
The Kirby Lumber Machine · 6.7 mi
For half a century, Silsbee ran on lumber. In 1902 the Kirby Lumber Company took control of the town's sawmill, which had been leased to the Industrial Lumber Company, and became the beating heart of the local economy.…
The Roundhouse and a Town Named Woodrow · 6.7 mi
Silsbee was not only a mill town; it was a railroad shop town. In 1901 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe system bought Kirby's little Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City line and built mechanical shops and a roundhouse here, a…
Silsbee Ice Plant · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Silsbee Ice Plant, a building that once kept a huge chunk of Southeast Texas cool. Originally the Silsbee Ice, Light, and Power Co., it was bought by Gulf States Utility in 1926. But…
Waldo Mathews High School · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Waldo Mathews High School, a beacon of education for African American students in Hardin County. Organized in the early 1900s, it grew under principals like Professor Waldo Mathews and…
Harvey Houses of Silsbee · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Silsbee, a town that boomed thanks to the railroad and a touch of elegance. Laid out as a sawmill town in 1894, Silsbee became a key stop on the Santa Fe Railroad in 1902. By the end of that year, a…
First Missionary Baptist Church · 6.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Missionary Baptist Church in Silsbee. Organized around 1900 by Reverend J.B. Dunbar for the African American community, it was initially called First Baptist Church. John Kirby…
First United Methodist Church of Silsbee · 7.0 mi · Historical Marker
Methodist worship began in Silsbee in 1901, meeting in an old passenger coach. The church officially formed in 1904 with 13 members and has since grown and rebuilt multiple times, reflecting the town's own development.
The Sand Prairie That Needs Fire · 7.1 mi
Just west of town, off Highway 327, the Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary protects one of the last longleaf pine communities in Texas. The Nature Conservancy has managed these 5,673 acres since 1977, running from deep…
Spell Cemetery · 8.0 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.
Why This Spot Floods: The Physics of a Slow Bayou · 8.4 mi
Bevil Oaks floods so badly because of simple physics. Pine Island Bayou runs roughly 55 miles through the Big Thicket, dropping only about 34 meters from source to where it meets the Neches River. That is an extremely…
West Beulah Missionary Baptist Church · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of West Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, founded around 1875 in a shotgun-style house. The congregation moved to Cedar Street in 1912 and then to Bigner Road in 1968. Through flood, fire,…
When the Bayou Took Every House But Four · 8.5 mi
In late August 2017, Hurricane Harvey stalled over Southeast Texas and dumped historic rain into the Pine Island Bayou watershed. The bayou that borders Bevil Oaks on its north and west sides rose out of its banks and…
Two Years Later, the Water Came Again · 8.5 mi
Just two years after Harvey, Bevil Oaks flooded again. Tropical Storm Imelda came ashore on September 17, 2019, and stalled over Southeast Texas, unloading rain into the same low, slow watershed for days. Jefferson…
The Flood That Took a City · 8.6 mi
In late August 2017, as Hurricane Harvey's rains finally subsided, the residents of Bevil Oaks faced a new, slow-motion disaster. A mandatory evacuation was ordered as Pine Island Bayou, the waterway that curls along…
The Science of the 2017 Flood · 8.6 mi
The 2017 flooding of Bevil Oaks was a dramatic lesson in hydrology. It wasn’t just rain falling on the town; it was an entire river basin being overwhelmed. Hurricane Harvey dumped two to four feet of rain across…
Bevil Oaks, TX · 8.6 mi
Bevil Oaks, Texas, a small community nestled within Jefferson County, doesn't often make national headlines for its famous progeny. Yet, the area has contributed to the tapestry of American life in its own quiet way.…
A Town Voted Into Being, Sixty to Zero · 8.6 mi
Bevil Oaks did not grow up slowly around a crossroads or a railroad. It was assembled from two 1960s residential subdivisions, Bevil Acres and River Oaks, laid out on the wooded flats near Pine Island Bayou about six…
The Old Pioneer Behind the Name · 8.6 mi
The "Bevil" in Bevil Oaks came straight from its Bevil Acres subdivision, but that surname carries older weight across Southeast Texas. It traces to John Bevil, born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, on August 24, 1784,…
The Town That Said 'No' to the Big City · 8.6 mi
Bevil Oaks exists today because about 370 people agreed on something, unanimously. Back in the early 1960s this was a pair of country subdivisions out on the highway west of Beaumont — Bevil Acres and River Oaks — with…
Reading the Neches · 9.1 mi
Where U S 96 crosses the Neches River just west of Evadale, a quiet instrument keeps watch. This is United States Geological Survey gauge number oh eight oh four one thousand, one of the long standing stations on the…
Prater Cemetery · 9.1 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…
Rao's Bakery and Beaumont's Italian Roots · 9.3 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,…
Site of Former Settlement of Richardson's Bluff · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Jasper County, past the site of Richardson's Bluff. This was the homesite of Benjamin Richardson, an early settler who arrived in Texas in 1830. Richardson and his sons operated a vital ferry…
North End Methodist Church · 9.5 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…
How Pine Becomes Paperboard · 9.6 mi
The mill at Evadale runs on chemistry with a German name, kraft, meaning strength. Wood is mostly cellulose fiber glued together by a tough natural compound called lignin. To make paperboard, pine chips are cooked in a…
The Mill That Saved The Town · 9.6 mi
Evadale came back to life on wood pulp. In nineteen forty eight the Champion Paper and Fiber Company acquired riverfront acreage here for a pulp mill. Then in nineteen fifty four the East Texas Pulp and Paper Company…
Evadale, TX · 9.6 mi
Evadale is located in southern Jasper County and is bordered to the west by the Neches River, which forms the Hardin County line. According to the United States Census Bureau, the Evadale CDP has a total area of 17.7…
Evadale, TX · 9.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
Evadale is at the junction of U.S. Highway 96 and Farm roads 105, 1131, and 2246, twenty-five miles northeast of Beaumont in southwestern Jasper County. During the 1830s and 1840s the site was called Richardson…
The Teacher Behind the Name · 9.9 mi
This town wears a woman's name. In the eighteen thirties this bluff above the Neches River was called Richardson's Bluff, for early settler Benjamin Richardson, who ran a ferry here and served as postmaster in eighteen…
Site of Collier's Ferry · 9.9 mi
You're driving past the site of Collier's Ferry, a vital crossing point on the Old Jasper Road and the Opelousas Trail. Long before it was a ferry, this route was used by Native Americans. Starting around 1750,…
Mill U and the Prince of the Pines · 9.9 mi
John Henry Kirby was called the Prince of the Pines, and for good reason. At his peak he controlled around three hundred thousand acres of East Texas timberland and ran a dozen mills employing thousands. Evadale held…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Evadale (Evadale) · 10.0 mi
Evadale (Evadale, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Kayden Hubbard (2 HR).
Pinewood Estates, TX · 10.0 mi
Pinewood Estates is located in southern Hardin County, Texas, and is part of the Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The community is bounded on the south by Texas State Highway 105, which leads east to…
The Haunting of the John Jay French House · 10.2 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's Oldest House · 10.2 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…
French Trading Post · 10.2 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…
William Williamson · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Vidor, and right here is the heart of a community founded by William Williamson. He and his wife bought this land back in 1867, and their home quickly became the spot for local socials and church…
Zaharias, Babe Didrikson · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of Babe Didrikson Zaharias, a woman who absolutely dominated sports in the first half of the 20th century. Born right here in Beaumont in 1914, she was nicknamed 'Babe' after the…
Babe Zaharias, the Greatest Athlete From Beaumont · 10.3 mi
Beaumont's greatest sports story is buried right here at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias grew up and went to school in Beaumont before becoming arguably the most versatile athlete America…
Pine Ridge Baptist Church · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Pine Ridge Baptist Church, organized in 1874 by the Reverend David M. Jordan. He donated land for this church and its cemetery. Baptisms were held in Little Pine Island Bayou in the early…
J.P. Richardson, Jr: The Big Bopper · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beaumont, the hometown of a rock and roll legend! Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., better known as The Big Bopper, was born right here in Texas in 1930. He started out as a local DJ, developing his…
The Pine That Hides From Fire As Grass · 10.6 mi
The pines of these woods are survivors of one of the strangest tricks in botany. Longleaf pine, native to East Texas, does not shoot skyward as a seedling. Instead it enters a grass stage, looking like a low clump of…
Pine Forest Votes Itself Into Existence · 10.6 mi
This little village took its name from the pine timber that once blanketed northwestern Orange County. Pine Forest sits at the junction of Farm Roads 105 and 1131, about ten miles northeast of Beaumont, on the piney…
The Schoolhouse That Helped Build Vidor · 10.6 mi
Before Pine Forest was a city, it was a schoolhouse. In the early twentieth century this stretch of the county ran on small rural common school districts, one to a neighborhood. In 1929 four of them, Magnolia Grove,…
The Peach Line and the Vanished Virgin Pine · 10.6 mi
The forest that gave Pine Forest its name was, a century ago, a fortune waiting to be cut. When the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railroad pushed through nearby Vidor in 1898, it unlocked heavy lumbering across this corner…
Hooks Cemetery · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Hooks Cemetery. North Carolina native William Hooks (1818-1894) lived in Florida and Georgia before moving to Texas in 1849. He settled here on his survey in 1852. Soon after, he set aside land at…
First United Methodist Church of Kountze · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kountze, a town that sprang up with the railroad in the 1880s. Right here is where Methodists organized a congregation soon after the town was founded. Their first church building, with a…
General Braxton Bragg, C. S. A. · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hardin County, and the town name you might see on a map, Bragg, is named for a Confederate general. Braxton Bragg was born in North Carolina, but he fought in Texas during the Mexican-American War…
First Baptist Church of Kountze · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Kountze. The Baptist Church of Hardin was organized in 1860, but as the railroad bypassed Hardin, residents moved to Kountze. The Kountze congregation was…
Kirby-Hill House · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Kirby-Hill House, a grand home built in 1902. It was the residence of James L. Kirby, superintendent of the massive Kirby Lumber Company, founded by his brother John Henry Kirby. Many of the…
Hart-Herrington Cemetery · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hardin County, where two brothers-in-law, William Hart and Hampton Herrington, settled in Providence in 1853. They set aside land for a cemetery, and after Hart's death in 1861, it became…
Courthouses of Hardin County · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kountze, the county seat of Hardin County, which was created way back in 1858. The county's first courthouse, a log building, burned down around 1886, taking early records with it. Since then,…
Hooks Abstract Company · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kountze, and right here is a business that's been serving Hardin County since 1902. The Hooks Abstract Company is believed to be the oldest continuously operating business in the county. Started…
Named for five Hardin brothers · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hardin County, organized in 1858. It's named for five brothers—Benjamin Watson, Augustine Blackburn, William, Frank, and Milton A. Hardin—who arrived in Texas way back in 1825. The county seat was…
Hardin County · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
Created January 22, 1858. Organized August 9, 1858. Named in honor of the Hardins of Liberty County. Five brothers-- Benjamin Watson, Augustine Blackburn, William, Frank and Milton A. who came to Texas in 1825. County…
Pine Lodge # 642, A. F. & A. M. · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kountze, where Pine Lodge Number 642 of the Freemasons was organized in 1886. It started with thirteen members from all over Hardin County, and its first home was the Washburn Building. The lodge…
The Country Editor Who Fired Both Barrels · 11.2 mi
In September 1950, Archer Fullingim printed the first issue of the Kountze News from this small county seat. His blunt front-page column, called The Printer Fires Both Barrels, gave a weekly with roughly two thousand…
The Town the Bankers Never Saw · 11.2 mi
Kountze began as a railroad station around 1881, when the Sabine and East Texas Railway laid track through the pine country of southeast Texas. The town takes its name from two brothers who almost certainly never set…
The Fastest Man in the County · 11.2 mi
How did Kountze really win the county seat? The official story is a courthouse fire at the town of Hardin around 1886, followed by a new vote in 1887. But local legend, retold in a 1972 Dallas Times Herald account,…
Fullingim, Archer Jesse · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas right now, near Kountze, where a small-town newspaper editor became a giant of Texas commentary. Archer Fullingim bought the Kountze News in 1950, and with his column, "The Printer…
Golemon, Thomas Jefferson · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Kountze, and you might just be passing through the old stomping grounds of Thomas Jefferson Golemon, better known as the 'Red Fox of the Big Thicket.' Born in 1909, Golemon…
Kountze, TX · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kountze, a town that owes its existence to the railroad. <break time="400ms"/> Kountze was named for Herman and Augustus Kountze, financiers of the Sabine and East Texas Railroad. <break…
Hardin County · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hardin County, a place known for its Big Thicket forests and, believe it or not, quicksand pits! Long before Texas was a state, Native Americans sought healing from a pond here called Medicine…
Richardson, Richard Allison [Booger Red] · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Southeast Texas, maybe near Kountze, and you might be passing the final resting place of a man known as "Booger Red." Richard Allison Richardson earned that nickname for his fiery red hair, but he…
Watts, Pinkney Samuel · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hardin County, and right here is the final resting place of Pinkney Samuel Watts. He wasn't just a farmer; Watts was a sheriff for over a decade, a state representative for two terms, and even a…
Magnolia Missionary Baptist Church · 11.2 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…
The Biological Crossroads · 11.5 mi
You are now entering a place scientists call a 'biological crossroads.' The Big Thicket, which surrounds Kountze, is one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the entire world. Why here? It’s a massive convergence…
The Cheerleader Banner Case · 11.5 mi
Imagine the scene: Friday night lights, the local high school team taking the field. In 2012, this familiar Texas ritual in Kountze became the center of a national legal storm. The issue? The paper banners the football…
Aubrey Wilson "Moon" Mullican · 11.5 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…
Kountze, TX · 11.5 mi
Kountze has always known water. Not just the slow, sweet sip of southern comfort life offers, but the kind that rises fast and furious, testing the very foundations of this Hardin County seat. We've seen floods that…
The Midnight Move · 11.5 mi
The Hardin County Courthouse in the center of Kountze is more than a government building; it's a monument to a victory in a classic Texas county-seat war. When Hardin County was organized, the seat of power was a small…
McFaddin, William · 11.5 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 · 11.5 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…
Hardin · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hardin, folks, the original county seat for Hardin County. It was founded way back in 1859. For a while, it was the heart of the county, but then the railroad came through and bypassed it.…
Smyth, Andrew F. · 11.6 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…
Higgins, Pattillo · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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, TX · 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beaumont, a city that owes much of its modern existence to a gusher that blew in back in 1901. Right here, the Spindletop oil field erupted, spewing a staggering 100,000 barrels of oil a day! This…
Beaumont Riot of 1943 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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] · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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. · 11.9 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…
Barnes, Benjamin Milam, Jr. [Benny] · 11.9 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] · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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.] · 11.9 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. · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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] · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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…
Kountze Baptist College · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kountze, Texas, where a vital center of African American education once stood. In 1910, the Trinity Valley Baptist Association opened Kountze Baptist College, also known as Jermany College. This…
Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway · 11.9 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. · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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] · 11.9 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…
Fletcher, William Andrew · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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 · 11.9 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…
Kountze Church of Christ · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kountze, where this Church of Christ congregation got its start back in 1886. They first met in the Masonic Hall and the Courthouse before building their own place on land donated by Judge and…
Blind Willie Johnson · 12.0 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…
West Brook High School (Jerry Ball) · 12.0 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…
Graham, Dr. Chalres F. L. N. · 12.0 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…
First Christian Church of Beaumont · 12.1 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…
Charlton-Pollard / Beaumont South End (Bubba Smith) · 12.2 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…
McFaddin–Ward House · 12.3 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 · 12.3 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 · 12.3 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…
C. Homer and Edith Fuller Chambers Home · 12.3 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…
Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum · 12.5 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…
The Spring That Became Smith Lake · 12.5 mi
Smith Lake didn't start as a lake at all. According to the family history shared when the waterpark reopened, workers digging a sand pit here in the 1960s struck a spring, and the flooded excavation was developed into a…
Mildred Buildings · 12.5 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…
Holmes Duke House · 12.5 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…
First Baptist Church of Beaumont · 12.5 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…
Young Men's Christian Association of Beaumont · 12.6 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…
The Clubhouse, The Woman's Club of Beaumont · 12.6 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…
Congregation Temple Emanuel · 12.6 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…
Woman's Club of Beaumont · 12.6 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…
Beaumont, TX · 12.7 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…
Texas' First Rice Mill · 12.7 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…
Sanders House · 12.7 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…
Young Woman's Christian Association of Beaumont · 12.7 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…
First United Methodist Church of Beaumont · 12.7 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…
Westminster Presbyterian Church of Beaumont · 12.7 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…
Fire Museum of Texas · 12.8 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…
Beaumont Enterprise · 12.8 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 · 12.8 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…
Central Fire Station · 12.8 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…
Travis Street Substation · 12.8 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…
First National Bank Building · 12.9 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…
George Jones Sang for Coins on Pearl Street · 13.0 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…
Tevis, Nancy · 13.0 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…
Pandit Mehar Chand · 13.0 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…
A Boomtown Rebuilt From Scratch · 13.0 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 · 13.0 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 · 13.0 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 · 13.0 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 · 13.0 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 · 13.0 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…
First Security National Bank · 13.0 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 · 13.0 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 · 13.0 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 · 13.0 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 · 13.0 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…
Where East Texas Meets Louisiana on a Plate · 13.0 mi
If you want a meal that tastes like exactly where Vidor sits on the map, pull in at Hush Puppy Seafood, 1202 North Main Street. The business dates to roughly 1985 and is still listed by the City of Vidor. Its menu leans…
The Cradle of Texaco · 13.1 mi
As you drive through Sour Lake, you are in the place where one of the world's most recognizable brands found its fortune. In 1902, an oilman named Joseph S. Cullinan had an ambitious plan. He had seen the potential at…
The Wildest Town in Texas · 13.1 mi
In the summer of 1903, Sour Lake was pure chaos. Oil found the year before had turned a quiet resort of about a hundred and fifty people into a frantic city of ten thousand. The town was a sea of mud, tents, and hastily…
The 1943 Beaumont Race Riot · 13.1 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…
The Town Built on Smelly Water · 13.1 mi
Long before oil, Sour Lake's biggest attraction was its pungent, sour-tasting water. Indians used these mineral springs and the pitch that seeped up around them, and by 1850 the place was a going health retreat,…
Millard, Henry · 13.1 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…
Beaumont · 13.1 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…
The Ghost Light of Bragg Road · 13.1 mi
Head northeast out of Sour Lake, about fifteen miles into the Big Thicket, and you'll find a lane so straight it looks drawn with a ruler. That's Bragg Road, and there's a reason for the straightness: it was laid on the…
Jefferson Theatre · 13.1 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…
Beaumont: Lumber Mill City of the Nineteenth Century · 13.1 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…
The Gothic Church Turned Library · 13.1 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…
Beaumont, City of · 13.1 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…
Tyrrell Public Library · 13.1 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…

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David Choate Jr.

Former Townsite of Concord

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