Downtown Beaumont

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Downtown from the west

Downtown Beaumont is the central business district of Beaumont, Texas. It is where the city's highrise buildings are located, as well as being the center of government and business for the region. Downtown Beaumont is currently experiencing a renaissance, with streets, sidewalks and historic buildings receiving significant attention.

Contents

The approximate borders of Downtown are the Neches River to the east. Interstate 10 to the north. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway to the West and College street to the south.

Arts and culture

Downtown Beaumont is a cultural center for the region. It features most of the region's museums, theaters and historic buildings. Many of the buildings in downtown are on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Beaumont Commercial District

The Beaumont Commercial District, located in downtown, consists of various styles of buildings, including six high-rises built before 1932. The district is registered on the NRHP as a U.S. Historic District. The historic district is roughly bounded by Willow, Neches, Gilbert and Main Streets. [1] The Old Spanish Trail (U.S. Route 90) travels through the district on Willow, Park, Pearl and College Streets. [2]

Museums

The downtown district is home to the city's museum district which features five museums. The Beaumont Children's Museum is temporarily located in the Beaumont Civic Center. It features children's educational activities. The Edison Museum dedicated to inventor Thomas Edison features more than 60 historic objects in its tour and has over 1,400 artifacts of Edison in its possession. The museum also features a reference library. It is the only museum of its kind west of the Mississippi River. [3] The Texas Energy Museum documents the Texas Oil industry and its ties to Beaumont's Spindletop. The museum also has exhibits on the geology and science behind oil deposits. The Fire Museum of Texas is home to the world's largest working fire hydrant and houses a large collection of historic equipment. The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) features 1,000 pieces of 19th, 20th and 21st-century American Art plus regional and folk art. AMSET hosts eight to ten traveling exhibits throughout the year. [4]

Libraries

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Tyrrell Historical Library

The Beaumont public library system has its headquarters and main branch in downtown Beaumont. The main branch features more than 130,000 titles available for loan, DVDs, Blu-ray, Audiobooks and computer access. [5] The Tyrrell Historical Library, also part of the Beaumont public library system, has archives including material from the Jefferson Beaumont family; the George W. O'Brien diaries from the American Civil War and the O'Brien family papers; and, an autograph album which belonged to Captain Randolph Owen of Alabama which included autographs of Confederate military leaders imprisoned by Union Forces at Johnson's Island, Ohio after the Civil War. [6] The Terrell Historical Library is located in the original First Baptist Church of Beaumont.

Theatres

Built in 1927 for Jefferson Amusement Company, Jefferson Theatre was built at a cost of $1 million and constructed of the finest materials available at the time. It's A Wonderful Life 1946 premiere was held at the Jefferson Theatre, with star James Stewart and director Frank Capra in attendance. [7]

Julie Rogers Theater was originally constructed as City Hall in 1928. The capacity is approximately 1700 seats. The theatre is home to the Beaumont Civic Ballet, Beaumont Civic Opera, and Symphony of Southeast Texas. The theatre is located across the street from the Beaumont Civic Center.

Entertainment and recreation

Crockett Street

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Crockett Street

The Crockett Street entertainment complex offers night clubs and restaurants for the nightlife of downtown Beaumont. Crockett Street once included an entirely different lay out. It was restructured after a lawsuit resulting from an incident involving the death of a local women due to negligence of alcohol consumption. With Beaumont's convenient location off I-10, a major highway connecting Houston to New Orleans, Crockett is able to host both local and national music acts.

Events

The Gusher Marathon formed in 2010 by the local nonprofit Sports Society for American Health is the city's first annual marathon. The Gusher takes place in march and includes a 5K, half marathon and full marathon. The course begins at the Montagne Center of Lamar University and tours Downtown and Lamar before returning to the Montange. Festivals such as The Beaumont Jazz & Blues Fest have been held in downtown Beaumont since 2005. The Boomtown Film and Music Festival is a film and music festival that began in 2008. The Jefferson Theater and Crockett street venues are used to host events. Beaumont's Winter Parade featuring a lighted boat parade occurs annually in December and begins and ends in downtown. The city's Fourth of July celebration takes place at Riverfront park yearly. Including fire works, concessions, and live music.

Parks & Facilities

The Beaumont Civic Center is on main street, the venue is host to trade shows, sporting events, conventions, banquets, graduations and concerts. [8] The civic center had seating for 6,500.

On a fourteen-acre site, the Beaumont Event Centre and plaza is located between the streets of Neches and MLK Pkwy. Covering twelve acres, the center features a twelve-acre Great Lawn for concerts, a walking path, a multilevel 16,000 sq ft event hall, and a 3,800 sq ft band stand facing the Great Lawn. A 14,000 sq ft canopy overlooks a two and one half acre lake with a thirty-five foot fountain. [9] [10] [11]

Riverfront park is just east of Main street along the Neches River. The park includes an amphitheater with seating for fifty, boat docks, a river overlook, and covered pavilions. The park and surrounding area is the site of the annual July 4 celebration. The park was indefinitely closed due to damages from flooding caused by Tropical Storm Harvey in September 2017 [12]

Economy

Downtown is home to the headquarters of Entergy Texas, whose offices are housed in Edison Plaza. Salad Soulmates, manufacturer of Leo's Salad Dressing has national distribution through Jason's Deli (also based in Beaumont), maintains its corporate and manufacturing headquarters in downtown. [13] CB&I, Capital One, RDS Engineering, Provost Umphrey law firm and many other smaller firms have offices in downtown.

Downtown is mainly host to government offices, law firms, engineering firms and banks.

Government

City

Beaumont City hall is located on Main Street in downtown.

County

Jefferson County Court house is located in downtown and is a notable Art Deco building.

Federal

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is located in the Jack Brooks Federal Building. The federal building is also home to a branch of the United States Postal Service.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neches River</span> River in East Texas

The Neches River begins in Van Zandt County west of Rhine Lake and flows for 416 miles (669 km) through the piney woods of east Texas, defining the boundaries of 14 counties on its way to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, Lake Palestine and B. A. Steinhagen Reservoir are located on the Neches. The Angelina River is a major tributary with its confluence at the north of Lake B. A. Steinhagen. Tributaries to the south include Village Creek and Pine Island Bayou, draining much of the Big Thicket region, both joining the Neches a few miles north of Beaumont. Towns and cities located along the river including Tyler, Lufkin, and Silsbee, although significant portions of the Neches River are undeveloped and flow through protected natural lands. In contrast, the lower 40 miles of the river are a major shipping channel, highly industrialized, with a number of cities and towns concentrated in the area including Beaumont, Vidor, Port Neches, Nederland, Groves, and Port Arthur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaumont, Texas</span> City in the State of Texas

Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the seat of government of Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about 85 miles (137 km) east of Houston. With a population of 115,282 at the 2020 census, Beaumont is the largest incorporated municipality by population near the Louisiana border. Its metropolitan area was the 10th largest in Texas in 2020, and 130th in the United States.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edison Museum</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Theatre</span> United States historic place

The Jefferson Theatre is a historic performing arts theatre located on Fannin Street in downtown Beaumont, Texas. Designed by Emile Weil and built in 1927, it is an example of Old Spanish architecture and seats over 1400. The theatre was built by Jefferson Amusement Company, which was owned by Saenger Amusements. The theatre is featured on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. The theatre recently underwent a comprehensive multimillion-dollar renovation. It is also one of the few theatres in the country containing its original Morton organ, produced by the Robert Morton Organ Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaumont Civic Center</span>

The Beaumont Civic Center, in downtown Beaumont, Texas, is a 6,500-seat arena where concerts, conventions, trade shows and exhibitions are held. Banquet maximum capacity is 2,000. It has 29,300 square feet (2,720 m2) of ground-level exhibit space and 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) space on the second level for a combined space of 41,300 square feet (3,840 m2). The building includes four dressing rooms with showers. 850 parking spots are onsite. The venue is part of the Beaumont Civic Center Complex. This complex includes the Civic Center, Julie Rogers Theater and the Jefferson Theatre.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Rogers Theater</span> United States historic place

The Julie Rogers Theatre is a historic performing arts theatre located on Pearl Street in downtown Beaumont, Texas. Built in 1928, the theatre was once Beaumont's City Hall and Auditorium. The capacity is approximately 1,663 seats.

The Crockett Street Dining and Entertainment Complex is located in Downtown Beaumont, Texas. It consists of five restored buildings built at the turn of the 20th century. They were used for various businesses then, but now host restaurants and various entertainment venues. From Left to right, the historic names are: Wilson Building, Littleton Building, Millard Building, Dixie Hotel.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaumont Children's Museum</span>

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References

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  2. "TX". Archived from the original on 2011-02-26. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  3. "Home". edisonmuseum.org.
  4. "Art Museum of Southeast Texas - Exhibitions & Collections".
  5. "Beaumont Library System". Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  6. "Beaumont Library System". Archived from the original on 2014-08-13. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  7. "Jefferson Theatre * 345 Fannin Street * Beaumont, Texas 77701". Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  8. "Beaumont Civic Center * 701 Main Street * Beaumont, Texas 77701". Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  9. "Studio Red Architects Designs Beaumont Event Centre". studioredarchitects.com. Studio Red Architects. January 10, 2013. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  10. "The Event Centre". Beaumont Visitors and Convention Bureau. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  11. Clay Thorp (July 12, 2012). "Take a look inside Beaumont's new Event Centre". beaumontenterprise.com. Hearst Newspapers II, LLC . Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  12. KFDM (11 September 2017). "Harvey causes major damage to Riverfront Park in Beaumont". KFDM 6 News. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  13. "Leo's Originals Specialty Salad Dressings | Certified Organic Salad Dressings". Archived from the original on 2012-03-28. Retrieved 2011-07-29.

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