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Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont
City
City of Beaumont
Beaumont Commercial District
Location in the state of Texas
Location in the state of Texas
Coordinates: 30°04′48″N 94°07′36″W / 30.08000°N 94.12667°W / 30.08000; -94.12667Coordinates: 30°04′48″N 94°07′36″W / 30.08000°N 94.12667°W / 30.08000; -94.12667
Country  United States
State  Texas
County Jefferson
Settled 1835
Incorporation 1838
Demonym Beaumonter
Government
 • Type Council-Manager
 • City Council Mayor Becky Ames
Claude Guidroz
W. L. Pate, Jr.
Robin Mouton
Audwin M. Samuel
Gethrel 'Get' Williams-Wright
Mike Getz
 • City Manager Kyle Hayes
Area
 • City 85.9 sq mi (222.6 km2)
 • Land 85.0 sq mi (220.2 km2)
 • Water 0.9 sq mi (2.4 km2)
Elevation 16 ft (5 m)
Population (2010)
 • City 118,296
 • Estimate (2015) 118,129
 • Density 1,339.4/sq mi (517.1/km2)
 • Urban 147,922 (222th U.S.)
 • Metro 404,872 (130th U.S.)
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes 77701–77710, 77713, 77720, 77725, 77726
Area code(s) 409
FIPS code 48-07000
GNIS feature ID 1330268
Interstates I-10 (TX).svg
U.S. Routes US 69.svg US 90.svg US 96.svg US 287.svg
Waterways Neches River, Pine Island Bayou
Public transit BMTS
Website beaumonttexas.gov

Beaumont (/ˈbmɒnt/ BOH-mont) is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas in the United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about 90 mi (140 km) east of Houston, Beaumont city had a population of 118,296 at the time of the 2010 census, making it the twenty-fourth-most populous city in the state of Texas.

Beaumont was founded as a town in 1835 by Northerners. The early European-American settlement had an economy based on the development of lumber, farming, and port industries. In 1892, Joseph Eloi Broussard opened the first commercially successful rice mill in the state, stimulating development of rice farming in the area; he also started an irrigation company (since 1933 established as the Lower Neches Valley Authority) to support rice culture. Rice became an important commodity crop in Texas, and is now cultivated in 23 counties.

A big change occurred in 1901 with the Spindletop gusher, which demonstrated the potential of the huge oil field. With Spindletop, several energy companies developed in Beaumont, and some continue. The area rapidly developed as one of the major petro-chemical refining areas in the country. Along with Port Arthur and Orange, Beaumont forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the Texas Gulf Coast.


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