Beaumont Enterprise
Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
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.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The first Beaumont Enterprise rolled off the press in 1880, founded by John W. Leonard, and grew into one of southeast Texas's oldest continuous businesses. Among its editors was William P. Hobby, who joined in 1907 and went on to become governor of Texas, while James L. Mapes built the paper into a nationally respected voice. For more than a century the Enterprise has chronicled life across the Texas-Louisiana borderlands from the Trinity River to the Calcasieu.
Why it matters
A local newspaper is a community's running memory, and this one launched a future governor while binding together a Gulf Coast region across two states.
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Related people
- · John W. Leonard
- · William P. Hobby
- · James L. Mapes
Themes & tags
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