Thumbnail Sketch of Beaumont, Texas: The 'Queen City' of The Golden Triangle Page: 2 of 3

                                
The City of Beaumont, Texas is the
County Seat of Jefferson County; Jeffer-
son County, including Tidelands, is one of
the larger counties in the State.
Permanent settlers began locating in
the immediate area in 1827, The City of
Beaumont was established in 1835; it was
chartered in December of 1838 by the Con-
gress of the Republic of Texas. The first
Mayor, Alexander Calder, was elected on
July 28, l8U0. The present Mayor, Ken
Ritter took office May 19, 1970. Mayors
of the City of Beaumont are elected for a
two year term as are the four councilmen.
Beaumont is a "Home Rule" city with a City
Council of five members; four councilmen
and the Mayor. The city is divided into
four wards; councilmen must be residents
of the ward they represent but are elect-
ed by voters at large. The Mayor may be a
resident of any one of the four wards.
Beaumont has the Council-Manager form of
Government.
Beaumont's earliest industry was lumber
following lumber, at the turn of the cen-
tury, the Spindletop oilfield was brought
in making Beaumont the birthplace of the
modern oil industry, in-as-much as the
Spindletop well was. the first of the
100,000 barrell gushers. As an adjunct to
oil, refineries were built. Jefferson
County has some of the world's largest
refineries. The products of these refin-
eries have been extended into the Petro-
chemical industry of the Golden Gulf
Coast. Beaumont has a thriving Port, a
part of the Sabine Heches Waterway. Among
the facilities of the Port is a 3.5 mil-
lion bushel capacity Grain Elevator. A
thriving cattle business flourishes in
the immediate area surrounding Beaumont,
featuring not only range cattle but many
herds of fine registered cattle. Jeffer-
son County has one of the larger cattle
populations in the State of Texas. Rice
is the principal farm product of the area.
Rice is completely processed from the
field to the packaged product, ready for
sale in the stores within the city limits
of Beaumont. Jefferson County has the
largest rice acreage of any county in the
State.
Beaumont's 1970 population is 117,5^+8.
(Bureau of the Census)
A fine four-year college, Lamar Univer-
sity, is located in Beaumont; with an en-
rollment in excess of over 10,500. It is
the sixth largest of the State supported
Senior Colleges and Universities in the
State of Texas.
A sulphur dome located in the Old Spin-
dletop oilfield produces sulphur, mined
by the Frasch Method, one of the largest
sulphur mines in the world. A hugh salt
dome is also located in the field and
wells have been drilled into the salt and
brine is produced for the use of the in-
dustries in the area.
Other local manufacturing and distri-
buting industries are: wholesale grocery
drug, hardware and oilfield equipment in-
cluding derricks, drilling rigs, valves,
casing heads, heavy forging, and brass
fittings. Ship and barge building and
repairs, steel fabricating and stadium
seating. Refined products include lubri-
cating oils, greases gasoline and other
fuels. A number of petro-chemical insta-
lations are either operating or under con-
struction, producing a complete line of
petro-chemical materials including but
not limited to materials used in manufac-
turing synthetic rubber, anti-freeze, de-
tergents, cosmetics, nylon, and plastics.
For recreation there is available golf,
fishing, both salt water and fresh water,
hunting, boating, archery, tennis and
bowling.
Beaumont is the home of the Neches
River Festival, the South Texas State Fair
the Spindletop Horse Show, the YMBL Rodeo,
and the Grady Hatton Golf Tournament.
Beaumont is a city of outstanding busi-
nesses, industry, banks, homes, churches,
schools, and the finest people in the
world.
James T. Garrard
City Clerk