Beaumont Enterprise

Near this site on November 6, 1880, the first "Beaumont Enterprise" came off the press. The newspaper, founded by John W. Leonard, is one of southeast Texas' oldest continuing business institutions. Over the years, "The Enterprise" has had a number of outstanding editors and publishers, including William P. Hobby, who came to "The Enterprise" in 1907 and later became governor of Texas. The "Beaumont Enterprise" attained national stature under James L. Mapes, who came to the newspaper in 1908 and in 1931 acquired the business. Mapes served two years as president of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. When he died in 1936, his widow, Kathryn Smythe Mapes, served as president. Upon her death in 1948, she left the majority stock in trust to her grandnephew. The "Beaumont Journal," founded in August 1889 by Robert Emmett Kelley, was published under the same ownership as "The Enterprise" from 1921 to 1983, when "The Journal" was merged into "The Enterprise." The "Beaumont Enterprise" serves a Texas-Louisiana community extending from the Trinity River on the west to the Calcasieu River on the east, and from the Redlands on the north to the Gulf of Mexico.

Beaumont Enterprise is a historical marker in Beaumont, Jefferson County, dedicated in 1984. 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 30.0856, -94.0989 near Beaumont. The nearest cataloged historic site is Central Fire Station (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Westminster Presbyterian Church of Beaumont, Sanders House, and Tevis, Noah.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5245010513. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.