Soon after that, a small community grew up around the farm, which was named Tevis Bluff or Neches River Settlement. They added more property for a total of acres. Beaumont became a town on 16 December Beaumont's first mayor was Alexander Calder. Later, other businesses were formed, especially in railroad construction and operation, new building construction, lumber sales, and communications.
The Port of Beaumont became a successful regional shipping center. Beaumont was a small center for cattle raisers and farmers in its early years. With an active riverport by the s, it became an important lumber and rice-milling town. It exported rice as a commodity crop. It became a public institution, the Lower Neches Irrigation Authority. This helped stimulate the expansion of rice cultivation from acres in to , acres in 23 counties by his death in The rise of Beaumont's mill economy drew many new residents to the city, many of them immigrants.
The first Jewish man in the city was from Louisiana, others migrated from the South, and were joined by immigrants. They worked as merchants and in a variety of jobs in the growing city and ranching area. In Jews formed their first congregation. Spindletop became the first major oil field and one of the largest in American history. With the discovery of oil at Spindletop, Beaumont's population more than tripled in two months from 9, in January to 30, in March Oil is, and has always been, a major export of the city, and a major contributor to the national GDP.
William Casper Tyrrell , nicknamed "Captain W. An entrepreneur from Pennsylvania and Iowa, he arrived after the gusher at Spindletop , and invested in development of a commercial port in the city, and an irrigation system to support the local rice industry, as well as residential and retail development of suburban property.
He was also a philanthropist. He purchased and donated First Baptist Church, whose congregation had moved to a new facility, to use as the city's first public library, now known as the Tyrrell Historical Library. The Roosevelt administration ordered the defense industry to be integrated, and many Southern whites were working closely with blacks for the first time.
Housing was scarce in the crowded city, and racial tensions increased. In June after workers at the Pennsylvania shipyard in Beaumont learned that a white woman had accused a black man of raping her, nearly 2, went to the jail where a suspect was being held, attracting more men along the way and reaching a total of 4, No one was prosecuted for the deaths.
The riot in Beaumont was one of several in which centered in the defense industry, including Los Angeles ,  Detroit ,  Chicago  and Mobile, Alabama  as well as other cities across the country. The wartime social disruption was similar to war time riots which had occurred in other parts of the country during and following World War I.
In the postwar years, Beaumont's port continued in importance. As was typical with other cities, post-war highway construction led to the development of new suburbs and dispersal of the population in search of new housing.
Recently, there has been some renewal in Downtown Beaumont and in other areas of the city. In , the Jefferson County courts, located in Beaumont, became the first court in the nation to implement electronic filing and service of court documents. This eliminated the need for law firms to print and mail reams of documents.
In and , Beaumont and surrounding areas suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike , respectively. Mandatory evacuations were issued in advance of both storms. In August , Beaumont and surrounding areas experienced severe flooding as a result of Hurricane Harvey.
Due to the flooding, Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital evacuated all of its highest level of acuity patients with the help of National Guard helicopters. In addition, many Beaumont residents had to be rescued by both boats and helicopters as a result of the floodwaters. As of February , many residents in the area are still attempting to recover from the hurricane. Before being settled, the area was crisscrossed by numerous small streams.
Most of these streams have since been filled in or converted for drainage purposes. The island directly across from Riverfront Park is called Trinity Island. Harbor, Smith and Clark. Climate of Beaumont, Texas The city of Beaumont is within the humid subtropical climate regime,  and is within the Piney Woods region of eastern Texas. Summers in the area are usually hot and humid, due to the moisture that flows inland off of the Gulf of Mexico. Winters are usually kept mild by the warm gulf waters.
Hurricanes also pose a threat to the region. Hurricane Rita in and Hurricane Ike in both caused significant damage. Hurricane Harvey in caused historic flooding throughout the city. On August 18, , a tornado hit the west side of Beaumont, causing damage to cars and several local businesses.
The most recent significant wintry event to occur was December 8, when the Southeast Texas Regional Airport recorded 3 inches of snowfall.
Snow also fell across the Beaumont area on Christmas Eve