Located at the foot of Port Arthur's central cross axis, Stilwell Boulevard, the Gates Memorial Library set an extremely high standard for public architecture, to which Port Arthur's institutions sought to measure up until the 1970s. Dellora Baker Gates built Port Arthur's former public library as a memorial to her husband, John W. Gates, and their only child, Charles Gates. Designed by New York City architects Warren and Wetmore, it is a monumental neoclassical block faced with gray Bedford, Indiana, limestone. After the public library outgrew the building, it became the library of Lamar University–Port Arthur in 1980. J. T. Rather Jr. of Houston, with Lawrence Vidrine of Port Arthur, designed the dignified rear addition.