BEATRICE 



G39 



BEAUMONT 



prices arc rising, it is a bull market. See STOCK 

 Kx< HAM.K; HOARD OF THADK. 



BEATRICE, h ( 'atri*. NKHR., county seat of 



County, a manufacturing town situated 



in the heart of one of the best agricultural 



sections in the Middle West. The population in 



1910 was 9,356; in 1914 it was 9,987. Beatrice 



rs an area of four and a half square miles. 



It is in the southeastern part of the state, 



forty miles south of Lincoln, ninety-five miles 



southwest of Omaha and 200 miles north 



DOM City. 



The Big Blue River, on which the city is 

 located, is the great asset of the community. 

 It furnishes power for city lighting and 

 tories; along its banks are parks and drives. 

 and each year it is the scene of a water carni- 

 val which attracts thousands of visitors from 

 v part of the state. Canoeing is a favorite 

 line. Iron works, including manufactories 

 of gasoline engines and farm implements, 

 uneries, flour mills, cold storage plants 

 and nurseries represent the chief industries. 

 One mill manufacturing company employs 

 nearly 500 workers, and its annual output 

 amounts to $1,250,000. 



Beatrice was named for Julia Beatrice Kin- 

 ney, an honored pioneer. It was incorporated 

 as a town in 1871, the year its first railway, the 

 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, was completed 

 to the settlement. In 1873 the town was 

 granted a city charter. In addition to the 

 voad it is now served by the Union Pacific, 

 built in 1881, and the Chicago, Rock Island 

 & Pacific, built in 1889. Beatrice is the seat 

 of the state institution for feeble-minded 

 youth. The buildings and grounds represent 

 an expenditure of $1,000,000. The (, 

 County court hou>e. l>mlt in 1890 at a cost of 

 $150,000; the I . deral btlfldil 1 in 1892 



.in.l -nice i nlarg d at a total cost of (130,000; 

 the public library; the V. M. C. A. building, 

 built at a cost of $125,000, and the $100,000 

 high school building are objects of civic pud, 

 The coirnniwioM I'MIMI of government was 

 adopted in 1!12. Then' ii commis- 



sioners and a polio V.K..F. 



BEATRICE PORTIN ARI , pur f 

 (1266-12{X> -tied idol of Dan 



famous for all turn by hi- \ 



I. She \\a< tin- ilaugh- 



>i a wealthy c Florence, and 



of Simone dci IVn-di. She was but mi 



of age \\h. n Dante m< it the house 



nf her father, and he mil h. i only ODCC OF 



twice throughout his life, but his love for her 



dominated his genius. He loved her as saint 

 rather than as woman, ho\\wer. and in his 

 It Cnnn-rly makes her his guide through 



the highest heaven. See DAN 



BEAU BRUMMEL. See BRUMMEL, GEORGE. 



BEAUMARCHAIS, bo mahrshay', PIERRE 

 AUGUSTIN CARON DE (1732-1799), a famous 

 French wit, politician and dramatist, whose 

 literary reputation is due mainly to his bril- 

 liant and amusing comedies, The Barber of 

 Seville and The Marriage of Figaro. The 

 popular opera by Rossini, bearing the title of 

 the former, is adapted from Beaumarrhais* 

 comedy. He early showed musical ability and 

 was for a time teacher of the harp to the 

 daughters of Louis XV. In 1774 appeared his 

 celebrated Memoircs, written to uphold his 

 side in a lawsuit. They were greatly enjoyed 

 because of their wit, satire and liveliness. The 

 best of his other writings is a drama entitled 

 Eugenie. Beaumarchais had a remarkable 

 liking for notoriety, and, among several other 

 exploits, supplied the Americans with arms 

 and ammunition during the Revolutionary 

 War. 



BEAUMONT, bo' mont, TEX., the county 

 seat of Jefferson County, in the east-central 

 part of the state, eighty-four miles northeast 

 of Houston. It is on the west bank of the 

 Neches River, and is connected with the Gulf 

 of Mexico, thirty miles distant, by the river 

 and canals. yVith the completion of the 

 $1,000,000 improvement of this waterway which 

 was under construction in' 1916, Beaumont will 

 be accessible to ocean-going vessels. The city 

 is served by the dull", Colorado & Santa 



is & New Orleans; Kansas City Southern; 

 the Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western, and has 

 electric interurban service. The population 

 which w;u* 9,427 in 1900, incna>ed to l.v 

 during the next decade and to 25,433 in 1914, a 

 growth caused by the discovery and develop- 

 ment of extremely rich oil fields. The area is 



M\ and a half square mile-. 



Among the more prominent public buildings 

 are the Federal building, erected at a cost 

 ling $200,000, county court hou>e. city 

 hall. V. M ('. A. building and a Sisters' hos- 

 pital. ] Iran mont is one of the principal lumber 

 shipping centers in the South, the annual out- 

 inostly yellow pine. e\ci-dmg '. f>0,000,000 

 Live stock, rice and oil arc also impor- 

 tant exports. More than $45,000,000 is invested 

 in the d. t of the oil fields, in refin- 



eries, pipe lines and transportation and storage 

 city is also in a richly product- 



