| Historicial Development: | A Houston County bill of sale record in county records noted that Griffith Manufacturing Company was located at New Waverly in 1954. The Directory of Texas Manufacturers 1956-1958 reported that the company had been established in 1951 as a sole proprietorship under Ray Griffith. He employed more than fifty workers.
Ray Griffith and spouse, Juanita, along with Arnold Smith, reorganized the Griffith Manufacturing Company at New Waverly on October 23, 1957. The Griffiths exchanged ownership of the sawmill in return for ninety-eight shares of stock. Equipment included one Yates American #A-20 hi-speed planer, one fan and blow pipe, one 75-horsepower GE electric motor on the planer, a 40-horsepower electric motor on the blower, ten lumber buggies, one Esterer 28”x30” heavy duty gang saw, three carriages, one Vollmer grinder, one hanchett stretcher, a clamp, a band and gang saw wage and swage shaper, eleven electric motors, one 150-horsepower Westinghouse electric motor, a Cunningham two-saw trimmer, one sawmill building size 26-ft by 98-ft, six Nabors trailers, one Cunningham 36-inch 4-saw edger, a planer mill building 24-ft by 40-ft, two lift trucks, two log tractors, ten logging trucks, Russell dry kilns, and other tractors and trucks. |