La Belle, Texas

La Belle, also known as LaBelle,[1] is an unincorporated community on Taylor Bayou and FM 365, approximately twelve miles south of Beaumont, in central Jefferson County, Texas, United States.

The area's first school was probably started by Leo (Peg Leg) Craigen, near what later became the Port Arthur Country Club.

Located in the fertile but flood-prone prairies of the upper Texas Gulf Coast, La Belle was the site of one of several pumping stations designed to control flooding and drainage along Taylor Bayou.

Fourteen years later, however, the discovery of large quantities of oil and natural gas at the La Belle oilfield, five miles south of the community, sparked new interest in the area.

Scattered residences, the pumping station, and oilfields and gas lines to the south marked the La Belle community on maps during the mid-1970s.