Beaumont CVB Official Blog

Set the DVRs folks because this weekend is Beaumont weekend on C-SPAN! And yes, we are just a tad bit thrilled to be featured in their 2012 Tour of Cities. So much so, that we may have to skip watching the Super Bowl to catch the exciting stuff C-Span has in store. We had a blast showing the producers around a few weeks ago when the crew rolled into our city to visit our literary and historic sites.

The programming will air throughout this weekend on C-SPAN. Some of the highlights you can expect to see as part of Beaumont weekend include those on American History TV and Book TV.

C-SPAN3's American History TV aires Sunday, February 5th at 5:00 p.m. and features:

• Spindletop and Lucas Gusher - On January 11, 1901, oil began gushing out of a salt dome mound about three miles south of downtown Beaumont. Dubbed the "Lucas Gusher", the oil discovery on Spindletop Hill changed the economy of Texas and helped usher in the petroleum age. Gulf Oil and Texaco were formed to develop production at Spindletop, which remained productive until 1936. Other oil wells in the area were subsequently found as well.

• Spindletop/Gladys City Boomtown - With the discovery of oil, an economic boom came to Beaumont. This re-created city depicts what existed following the discovery of oil at Spindletop in 1901. Gladys City was originally intended to be the "perfect industrial city" but after oil was discovered, the rapid influx of businessmen, oilfield workers, prostitutes, and others made that plan impossible.

• The James Commission - Visit the site of the former Dixie Hotel, an infamous brothel on Crockett Street, which you can read about in Betting, Booze & Brothels. By the mid-1950s, as an outgrowth of the oil industry, Beaumont had become at hotbed of vice. For decades, gambling, prostitution and other crime thrived as local police and government officials either looked the other way or took kickbacks. In 1960, the James Commission - an investigating committee of the Texas House of Representative - comes in and the result is a cleaned up Beaumont with governmental reforms and a crackdown on crime. The Dixie Hotel was closed shortly after in 1961.

• McFaddin-Ward House - To learn about the early 1900s in Beaumont, we look at the influence of the cattle and lumber industries on our area. The McFaddin-Ward family lived in this Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival house for seventy five years and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

• Texas Energy Museum - We travel to the Texas Energy Museum to hear about the history of the oil industry in Texas as well as some of the different techniques used in oil drilling. We'll learn about the different scientific techniques used in the early days of oil drilling and extraction compared to today's methods.

• Texas Congressman Jack Brooks - We take you to Lamar University and the statue of longtime Democratic Party Congressman and Committee Chairman, Jack Brooks, to learn about his career in the House which spanned 40 years. Defeated for re-election in 1994, Congressman Brooks was in the motorcade in Dallas when JFK was shot, on the plane when LBJ was sworn-in, helped write the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. He also helped draft the articles of impeachment regarding President Nixon.

• Medieval Manuscripts: Books of Hours - We visit the Stark Museum of Art to take a look at the Books of Hours exhibition. These 4 prayer books highlight two important aspects of medieval life: the significant role of the Church and religion in European life and the cultural interests in objects of beauty. The books are filled with devotional imagery. We will also learn how these books were made in their time, and how they are preserved now.
• Lamar University Library - We will see their Special Collections and to talk with Archivist, Penny Clark, about the University's history as a war training facility. We'll also focus in on the photo collection of Dorothy Becker, a nurse in World War II.
• The Book Bazaar - Here, we'll talk with owner, John Roberts, about the local literary culture in Beaumont and the challenges of running an independent book store.