HomeMy WebLinkAboutAC010_CITY_OF_BEAUMONT_MAYOR_AND_CITY_MANAGER_SCRAPBOOKSDescriptive Sheet
MF 1
,671,
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The City of Beaumont Mayor and AC -010
City Manager Scrapbooks Listed
General Type: Papers
Physical Description: Scrapbooks, 12 volumes
Inclusive Dates: 1956-1989
Donor: City of Beaumont
DESCRIPTION
This collection describes a dramatic period of change
in Beaumont's historic development. In 1961, the James
Committee investigations of vice and corruption tore apart the
city's political fabric. Moreover, the advent of desegregation
added further stress, particularly in Beaumont's school system.
After 1960, the economy declined dramatically as the oil industry
automated or moved from Beaumont. Economic decline and political
turmoil added to the growing perception that the "city was actually
moving backward." The turn -around came in the early 1970s as
business and city government came together to promote urban renewal
projects.
Between 1965 and 1975, Beaumont struggled to move away from
the trauma of the 1960s and toward a program of renewal and
renovation. Twelve scrapbooks comprised of newspaper clippings
recount the voter defeat of an urban renewal proposal (1967) and
the recall of City Councilman Dale Hager (1969). The collection
sums up Mayor James McNicholas' efforts at securing industry
payments to the city in lieu of taxes. Also, the researcher may
find interesting the constant controversy surrounding Police Chief
Willie Bauer and his direction of the Police Department. Finally,
the successful completion of the Capital Improvement Project
dominates the period after 1971.
No restrictions apply.