Living Room
This large living room was not the usual style in Beaumont, but instead was modeled after similar country or coastal homes. Other than that, the rest of the home is typical for an upper-middle class family during this time.
Homer and Edith Chambers were married in 1901. Edith came from the Fuller and Gilbert families, and we know that the Gilberts struck oil in Sour Lake, so she came from a prominent family. Mr. Chambers, however, came from humble beginnings. He left home for work in Beaumont at age 16 in 1894. After getting his start as a pattern maker for Beaumont Iron Works, he later followed in his father’s footsteps by entering the hardware business as a traveling salesman. By 1905, he had his feet in both oil production and business management as the owner of his new store, Chambers Hardware on Pearl St. Mr. Chambers was highly respected and served on several boards as the director, including Gilbert Oil Co. and the First National Bank.
When they bought this home in 1914, it would become theirs for the rest of their lives. Homer died in 1952, and Edith died 12 years later in 1964. Ruth and Florence remained in the home through old age. Ruth died in 1989 at age 87, and Florence lived here until 2002, when her health forced her to move to an assisted care facility. She died in 2004 at age 91. This is around the time that the Beaumont Heritage Society began the serious undertaking of cleaning and restoring the home. The home was not the way you see it now.
The outside had not been painted in decades and the entire house sagged. Nothing, not even a light fixture, was renovated after 1924. A few odds and ends were added in the 1960s, but everything else we found was original to the changes Homer made 100 years ago. The wallpaper was hanging in shreds from the wall and the rugs were disintegrating, but we were thankfully able to find smaller original pieces that were preserved for us to send off and have exact replicas made. Everything we restored was done according to Florence’s instructions she left in the trust.
