<Tr> <Th> Public transit </Th> <Td> BMTS </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> beaumonttexas.gov </Td> </Tr> <P> Beaumont (/ ˈboʊmɒnt / 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 . </P> <P> 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 . </P>

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