Mont Belvieu is a city in Chambers County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. It is just north of

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

along State Highway 146. The population is currently 11,922 and was 7,654 at the 2020 census, an increase of nearly 100% from 3,835 in 2010. It is the site of the largest underground storage facility for

liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...

in the US. The US LPG market pricing indicator is driven primarily by the Mont Belvieu market, and reported daily by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Geography

Mont Belvieu is located in northwestern Chambers County at (29.860242, –94.874535). A small part of the city limits extend north into Liberty County. The city is northeast of Baytown via Highway 146 and east of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

via Interstate 10. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, Mont Belvieu has a total area of , of which is land and , or 2.14%, is water. The city is along

and is east of

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45 ...

Historical development

The first permanent settlers to the area were Henry Griffith and his wife, Amelia Barrow, both from the

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

area. Henry was a cattle rancher, and at one time all of Mont Belvieu was used as pasture land for their cattle. Amos Barber became the second settler, and other settlers followed. After years of owning all of the land Griffith sold the deed to the land known today as Mont Belvieu. Henry Griffith died and was buried with no grave marker; Amelia soon followed. A memorial has been erected at the site of an old oak tree, and there is a rumor that Amelia was buried just down the hill from where their house once stood,(which now borders the Enterprise Products gas storage facility). Growth of local industries soon proved a mixed blessing. Serious pipeline and petrochemical plant accidents happened in 1960, 1964, and 1965. A 1985 explosion at one of the plants threatened the entire

salt dome A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when salt (or other evaporite minerals) intrudes into overlying rocks in a process known as diapirism. Salt domes can have unique surface and subsurface structures, and they can be discovered us ...

on which the city was built, which had in recent years been used to store liquid petroleum gas, and led to a series of efforts by townspeople to force the petrochemical industries to buy out the homes in the immediate vicinity of their plants. By 1990 some 200 families had been bought out by a dozen petrochemical corporations. With the aid of these local industries the community was rebuilt two miles east of its 1985 location. Among the buildings at the new site were a city hall, several new churches, and the relocated Barbers Hill ISD schools. This area (Eagle Drive) is now the central core of Mont Belvieu's residential area hosting multiple subdivisions and many "mom & pop" stores. Another core was developed south of the original city along Texas State Highway 146 north of Interstate 10; this core is based mostly on commercial services for Interstate 10 travelers hosting multiple hotels, fast food restaurants, and gas stations. The two cores are connected by the city's old location (now dubbed "the hill") which consists mostly of petrochemical company offices and cement slabs of the old city.

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 7,654 people, 2,147 households, and 1,772 families residing in the city. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 2,324 people, 805 households, and 664 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 888 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 90.96%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.26%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.69% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 2.50% from other races, and 1.16% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 6.50% of the population. There were 805 households, out of which 49.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.4% were non-families. 15.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.19. In the city, the population was spread out, with 31.5% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 5.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $54,732, and the median income for a family was $64,808. Males had a median income of $47,614 versus $29,537 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $22,415. About 6.4% of families and 7.4% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 6.7% of those under age 18 and 18.8% of those age 72 or over.

Economy

In 2019 Dwight Silverman of the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'' described Mont Belvieu as "a fairly affluent city" due to its taxes on the various area industrial plants. In addition it is at the junction of various oil and natural gas pipelines numbering in the hundreds.

Government and infrastructure

By 2019, Mont Belvieu began offering a municipal broadband internet service, MB Link, as home rule cities in Texas are permitted to establish municipal internet. Mont Belvieu won a court agreement in 2017 that internet is a utility, like electricity and water. Mont Belvieu chose this path because it was unable to persuade private telecommunications companies to expand or add new infrastructure for internet purposes, even after the city government offered to have the cables laid. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

operates the Mont Belvieu Post Office at 16043 Eagle Drive, 77580-9700.

Education

The portion of Mont Belvieu in Chambers County is served by the Barbers Hill Independent School District. The portion in Liberty County is zoned to Dayton Independent School District. The Sam and Carmena Goss Memorial Branch Library in Mont Belvieu is a branch of th
Chambers County Library System
They are located at 1 John Hall Drive, Mont Belvieu, Texas 77523. Residents of Barbers Hill ISD and Dayton ISD are zoned to

Lee College Lee College is a public community college in Baytown, Texas. Lee College's main campus occupies near downtown Baytown and extension campuses throughout its service area. The school has an enrollment of over 7,773 total students as of Fall 2018 ...

.Texas Education Code, Sec. 130.186. LEE COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA

References

External links

City of Mont Belvieu official website

Chambers County Library system
* {{authority control Cities in Texas Cities in Chambers County, Texas Cities in Liberty County, Texas Greater Houston