University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 2, 1992 Page: 2 of 4
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University Press
Friday, October 2, 1992 (
LU Briefs
SSCC cancels leadership conference
The Student Organizations leadership conference scheduled for
today and Saturday has been cancelled. Organizational leadership
training sessions will be scheduled for later in the semester.
Lamarissimo! tickets now on sale
Season tickets are on sale now for "Lamarissimo! The Third
Season," presented by the Lamar University department of music
and theater.
James Simmons, dean of Fine Arts and Communication,
announced that the 1992-93 season will be expanded to include six
performances. The six-concert series opens Monday with a perfor-
mance by the Symphonic band. The series will continue with the
Faculty Artist and Chamber Orchestra presentation on Nov. 12; A
Cappclla Choirs holiday concert, Dec. 1; Lamar Theater, Feb. 16;
Jazz Bands, March 9; and Cardinal Singers, April 27.
All performances will begin at 8 p.m. in the Julie Rogers Theater.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $8 for students for all six concerts.
To order season tickets, call the Lamar University department of
music and theater at 880-8144.
Black Student Association to meet
The Black Student Association will met Monday at 12:30 p.m. in
206 Setzer Student Center. Officers will be elected at this time.
For more information contact Eric Boutte, BSA president, at
832-8575.
Governor's hotline open
The hotline to Gov. Ann Richards' office is 1-800-843-5789.
Cardinal Fall Fest scheduled
The Office of Student Organization and Volunteer Services will
host Cardinal Fall Fest Oct. 30 and 31 at Gladys City. On Oct. 30
activities will run from 12:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. On Oct. 31 activities
will run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Applications for participation in Cardinal Fall Fest are currently
available in the Office of Student Organization and Volunteer
Services, 220 Setzer Student Center. The deadline for submitting
'an application is Oct. 16 at 12:30 p.m.
Blood drive to begin Monday
The Louisiana Blood Center and the Blood Center of Southeast
Texas will sponsor a blood drive Monday through Thursday in the
Setzer, Student Center Ballroom.
. Donations will be taken each of these days between the hours of
8 a»m. and 3:30 p.m. Every donor will receive a free T-shirt.
Associate justice featured speaker
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Antonin
Scalia will be the next distinguished lecturer in the Judge Joe J.
Fisher lecture series.
___.ScaJia's presentation,,''Reflections on the Constitution/ will be
presented Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the University Theater. There will
be a reception immediately following in the Dishman Gallery.
Scalia will also host an informal seminar Oct. 20 from 9:30 a.m.
to 10:45 a.m. on the eighth floor of the Gray Library.
Economics Association elects officers
The Lamar University Economics Association has elected offi-
cers for the fall 1992 semester. They are president Beth Phelps,
-Hamsbire junior; vice president Darrell Evans, Orange post-bac-
calaureate; treasurer Michael Domingo, Woodville senior; secretary
Mathew Reddell, Fannett freshman.
Free child safety brochure offered
A free copy of "Accident Prevention: A Family Guide to Child
"Safety" is available by sending a stamped, self-addressed, business-
size (#10) envelope to: Accident Prevention, Baylor College of
- Medicine, Room 176B, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030.
The publication is also available in Spanish for those who
request it.
Deadline far submitting announcements for LU Briefs is noon of the day
one week prior to publication. Announcements are run as space allows, no
exceptions.
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New life for historical landmark
Just north of Beaumont in
Kountze stands a house that has
been much in the public eye during
recent months. It seems to perch in
the midst of the overgrown block of
property that serves as its yard in the
200 block of the city’s old main
street and directly across the street
from the public library. To the peo-
ple of the community, the old Kirby-
11 ill home has long been an object of
both awe and mystery.
Recently the house was bought
by the Kountze Council of Arts and
Education with the intent of mem-
bers restoring the home to its once
opulent beauty and opening it to the
public as a historical museum.
The home was built in 1902 by
James L. Kirby, brother and tax man
to timber baron John Henry Kirby,
for his daughter Lucy Kirby Hill and
her husband, Austin Hill.
The home itself was designed
and constructed by Beaumont archi-
tect and contractor Frank T. Smith,
who built many of Beaumont’s finer
old homes of the 1880s, 1890s and
early 20th century.
Kirby lived in the home for 15
years with his daughter, son-in-law
and grandson, Austin Hill Jr., until
his death in 1922. Kirby’s wife,
Elizabeth Longgen Kirby, died
before completion of the home.
After Miss Lucy Hill, as she was
known by the townspeople, died in
1957, the house passed on to Austin
Jr., his wife, and their daughter
Autie. They occupied the house for
another 30 years. It was Audie who
recently sold the house to the Arts
Council after the deaths of both her
father and her mother.
The two Kirby brothers originally
came from a small town in Tyler
county named Peach Tree Village,
which was roughly five miles
norhtwest of present-day Chester.
They came from a family of seven
children. Their parents John T.
Kirby and Sarah Payne Kirby came
to East Texas from Mississippi in
1850 and settled on a plot of land
that was once an Indian settlement.
Three children made the journey.
Four more were born after the family
settled in Tyler County. John Henry
was the youngest.
The original Kirby home at Peach
Tree Village now rests on a private
camp museum. Between the old
home and the road sits a brick gothic
chapel erected by John Henry in
honor of his father. Inside is a mural
by the Russian artist Boris Bernhard
depicting John T. Kirby’s baptism.
- After a childhood of being the
children of less-than-comfortable
farmers, the brothers began a lum-
bering business in 1889 with the
help of such people as Nathan D.
Silsbee, a Massachusetts congress-
man and financier.-By 1901, the com-
pany was worth a revenue capital of
$10 million, a very large sum of
money for that day. That company
was Kirby Lumber Co.
Its First board of directors read
like a list of Southeast Texas histori-
cal notables: John T. Kirby, James L.
Kirby, W.W. Wilson, Marccllus E.
Foster, B. F. Bonner, F. A. Reichardt,
H.B. Rice and S.B. Cooper Jr.
The first mill was established in
Silsbee, which was named for
Nathan Silsbee, who was also on the
board of directors for another Kirby
company, the Houston Oil Co.
Eventually Kirby Lumber Co.
became the largest manufacturer of
The Kirby-Hill home was completed in 1902 for James L. Kirby, brother of lumberman John Henry y
Kirby, by Beaumont architect and contractor Frank T. Smith.
The upstairs porch, pictured above,
surrounds the house on the south, east
and west sides. As can be seen from the
photograph, many of the comers in the
house are rounded. In addition, all
rooms facing the porch have French
windows enabling occupants to walk
directly onto the porch.
Text by Anthony Flowers and photos by Matt Lumpkin
The staircase in the Kirby-Hill home was con- v
structed in St. Louis, of mahogany, and shipped to ,
Kountze.
f
i
j
lumber in the world, with 40
sawmills and requiring thousa"^
workers. During its pinnacle Kirby
Lumber employed a vast majority of
people in and around Southeast
Texas.
While John Henry Kirby made
millions of dollars for himself, he
always seemed to be giving to others.
Christmas parties and July picnics
were but the minor ways he had of
giving back to his employees. Every
child of every family working for
Kirby received a substantial
Christmas gift.
But, perhaps the best example of
Kirby’s concern for both his employ-
ees and the community at large
resides within a letter which is on
display at the Silsbee Independent
School District’s Administration
office, wherein the secretary of the
school board in 1919 wrote in answer
to Kirby’s inquiry. “To my knowl-
edge Silsbee School District does not
now have or has ever had a regula-
tion against teachers dancing.”
Obviously, he was concerned that
r
the school board was trying to pre-
vent teachers from dancing }
Total restoration of the Kirby-Hill
home is scheduled to be completed
by the year 2002, the home’s 100th*
anniversary. Regular tours on a daily,
basis are scheduled to begin in 1994.
In the meantime, the home may1
be seen in its unrestored condition^
every first Sunday of the month from
1 p.m. until 7 p.m.
For more information about ther
house or plans, contact Rita Peterson
at 246-2591 or 246-3454.
3440A Fannin, Beaumont
Call toll free, 1-800-666-9207
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MORNING CLASSICS
MAKE BELIEVE
BALL ROOM
BROADWAY
AND BEYOND
. THE .READER rebroadcasj.
MARIAS' McPARTLANDS
PIANO JAZZ
AFTERNOON |AZZ
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED
cmr CLUB FORUM
EVENING CLASSICS
CLEVELAND
ORCHESTRA
PrTTSBURGH
SYMPHONY
EVENING CLASSICS
CHICAGO
SYMPHONY
MUSIC THROUGH THE NIGHT
(TO 5AM)
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
ST. PAUL
CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA
THE CLASSICAL
JDRGAN__
Thursday
SPEAKERS CORNER OR
NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
LIVING ON EARTH .
R1VERWALK/LIVE
.RO^E.LANDING
CAR TALK
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RUBY—
FRIDAY
NIGHT
|AZZ
HEARTS
J______OF_SPACE.
EARTHTONES
Friday
AMERICA L THE WORLD.
THE
ELECTRIC RADIO
SATURDAY
NIGHT WITH
THE FOLKS
THE THISTLE
AND SHAMROCK
OUT OF
the.blue...
THE |AZZ
ARCHIVES
Saturday
MATTERS OF THE MIND
PUBLIC PERSPECTIVE
WEEKEND
.....EDITLON____
ST. LOUIS
SYMPHONY
WEEKEND
RADIO
WHADYA
KNOW
ALL
THAT
! AZZ
Sunday
10:00
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2.00
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Bankston, Mark. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 2, 1992, newspaper, October 2, 1992; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth499841/m1/2/: accessed June 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Lamar University.