ALERT: Information on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Mission and History of Gates Memorial Library

The purpose of Library Services is to provide essential resources and services -- collections, instruction in library usage, access, facilities, and personnel – to our students, faculty, and staff in support of the educational programs.

The Gates Memorial Library is one of the most attractive academic library buildings in the state. The two-story Classical Revival building was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

After a major $2.1 million addition and renovation was completed in 2004, the library now includes a 47-station open student computer lab, a quiet study carrel area, group study areas, a periodical reading room, extensive stack areas, individual audiovisual rooms, a multi-purpose conference room and expanded reference and access services areas. Plenty of soft seating inside the library complements an idyllic outside fountain garden surrounded by year-around patio seating. The on-line public access catalog is available 24 hours a day on or off campus and is part of a system that automates the major library components. The library is open 60 hours and five days per week during regular semesters. Collections are developed in support of all of the college's educational programs.

Materials are accessible in many formats, including paper, videotapes, DVDs, CD-ROMs and the Internet. Through password authentication, students and faculty have continuous access to the library's vast electronic holdings, from anywhere on or off campus. The total volume count numbers more than 60,000 and an e-book collection provides an additional 45,000 titles. The total periodical count numbers more than 30,000 subscriptions in both paper and electronic formats. Special areas feature a law collection, a textbook collection, a career collection, a children's collection, a Texana collection, a rare book collection and a best-seller collection.

The Gates Library is a member of AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, which provides inter-library loan services to more than 400 libraries statewide and 20,000 libraries worldwide. Other affiliations included the Consortium of Academic Libraries and Learning Resources and TexShare, which provides on-site borrowing services for Lamar-Port Arthur students and faculty at most academic libraries statewide. Students also may use their student ID to check out materials at the Beaumont and Orange campuses and at the Port Arthur Public Library.

Historical plaques mounted on and near the library:

Plaque mounted near the sidewalk to the right of the library:

GATES MEMORIAL LIBRARY

  JOHN WARNE "BET A MILLION" GATES (1855-1910), A NATIVE OF ILLINOIS, WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN THE EARLY GROWTH OF PORT ARTHUR. A PROMINENT BUSINESSMAN AND FINANCIER NOTED FOR HIS PROMOTION OF BARBED WIRE, HE BECAME A LEADER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY FOUNDED BY ARTHUR STILLWELL, THE PRESIDENT OF THE KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN RAILROAD. GATES WAS INITIALLY ATTRACTED TO THE PORT ARTHUR AREA BY THE LOCAL OIL BOOM OF THE EARLY 1900S. AS AN INVESTOR, HE FIGURED PROMINENTLY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEXAS COMPANY, NOW TEXACO.

  LATER A RESIDENT OF NEW YORK, GATES MAINTAINED HIS BUSINESS AND PHILANTHROPIC INTERESTS IN PORT ARTHUR WITH THE HELP OF HIS SON CHARLES. GATE'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CITY INCLUDE PORT ARTHUR BUSINESS COLLEGE, ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL, AND THE PLAZA HOTEL.

  IN 1909 JOHN GATES SET ASIDE LAND AT THIS SITE FOR A PUBLIC LIBRARY, BUT INITIAL PLANS FOR THE PROJECT WERE DISCONTINUED AFTER HIS DEATH IN 1911. PLANNING RESUMED FIVE YEARS LATER WHEN IT BECAME APPARENT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY IN THE NEARBY HIGH SCHOOL COULD NOT ADEQUATELY SERVE THE CITY. THROUGH THE EFFORTS OF GATE'S WIDOW DELLORA (1855-1918) AND LOCAL RESIDENTS, THIS LIBRARY WAS COMPLETED IN 1917. THE FOLLOWING YEAR IT WAS DEDICATED AND DEEDED TO THE CITY.

(1981)


Plaque mounted near the sidewalk to the right of the library:

GATES MEMORIAL LIBRARY

  JOHN W. GATES (1855-1911), A NOTED
FINANCIER AND PHILANTHROPIST, SET
ASIDE LAND AT THIS SITE FOR A
PUBLIC LIBRARY. IN 1917, THROUGH THE
EFFORTS OF HIS WIDOW DELLORA
(1855-1918), THIS CLASSICAL REVIVAL
LIBRARY WAS COMPLETED. IT WAS
DESIGNED BY THE NEW YORK FIRM OF
WARREN & WESTMORE, ARCHITECTS
OF SEVERAL NEW YORK LANDMARKS,
INCLUDING GRAND CENTRAL STATION.
DEEDED TO THE CITY OF PORT ARTHUR
IN 1918, THE LIBRARY IS NOW PART OF
LAMAR UNIVERSITY AT PORT ARTHUR.

RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK -- 1981

 

ENTERED IN
THE NATIONAL REGISTER
OF HISTORIC PLACES

1981