Port of Beaumont

The city of Beaumont, 41 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, was served from its founding in 1837 by schooners and sternwheelers navigating the Neches River. The three-foot depth of Sabine Lake between the river's mouth and the Gulf limited passage to shallow-draft vessels. Surveys after 1852 recommended navigation improvements, and dredging of a 12-foot-deep channel at Sabine Pass began in 1876. Competition appeared in 1897 when a new railroad passed through Beaumont to terminate at Sabine Lake. There Port Arthur was established and a 25-foot-deep canal was dug from the Gulf to the new city. Other railroads and Beaumont businesses then supported extension of the new canal and deep-dredging of the Neches. In 1911 Beaumont shared half the cost with the Federal government of dredging a 25-foot-deep channel. One year later a Wharf and Dock Commission was appointed by Mayor Emmett A. Fletcher (1867-1943); Charles E. Walden (1865-1938) was its first chairman. The deep water port and Sabine-Neches waterway were officially opened in 1916. The Port of Beaumont Navigation District was created by the Texas Legislature in 1949. Local citizens approved bonds in 1971 to construct Harbor Island Marine Terminal. (Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986)

Port of Beaumont is a historical marker in Beaumont, Jefferson County, dedicated in 1986. It is one of 109 historical markers documented in Jefferson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 137 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 30.0790, -94.0918 near Beaumont. The nearest cataloged historic site is Jefferson County Courthouse (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Beaumont: Lumber Mill City of the Nineteenth Century, Beaumont, and Millard, Henry.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5245010554. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.