| Beaumont
is the seat of Jefferson County in southeastern Texas. The city is located at the head of navigation on the Neches River ship channel, near the Gulf of Mexico. Situated in a rice-growing and timber-producing region, Beaumont is heavily industrialized, with oil wells, petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants, steel mills, and shipyards. The city's busy inland port accommodates oceangoing vessels. The area is served by Jefferson County Airport.
Points of interest include Lamar University; the Texas Energy Museum; Gladys City, a replica of an oil boomtown; and a museum dedicated to Babe Didrikson Zaharias, considered among the best female athletes of the 20th century. The Big Thicket National Preserve was established in Beaumont in 1974.
In 1901 the world's first great oil gusher came in at the Lucas well in the nearby Spindletop
oil field, making Beaumont an early center of the modern petroleum
industry. |