Tyrrell Historical Library

Discover your family history in classic style

Thousands of periodicals on genealogy and Texas history await discovery inside this Romanesque-Gothic building in downtown Beaumont. Prominent Texas architect  

Alonzo N. Dawson designed it as First Baptist Church of Beaumont in 1903. After the church moved to accommodate a growing congregation in 1923, Captain W.C. Tyrrell honored the memory of his wife, Helen, by buying the building and donating it to Beaumont residents for use as a library.  

Tyrrell Public Library opened on September 16, 1974, when a new building was built. 

The Tyrrell Public Library became the Tyrrell Historical Library when a new library was built downtown.  

The historical library contains newspaper clippings, pamphlets and other literature documenting the area’s history as well as genealogy vertical files with information on families including group sheets, pedigree charts and newspaper clippings. In addition, the library contains more than 25,000 books on genealogy, Texas history and art as well as computers available for use with internet access to hundreds of online databases for genealogical research.The Tyrrell Historical Library is open and free to the public for research. Publications may not be checked out.