| Alpha-Numeric Key: | MO-140 |
| Corporate Name: | J. S. Hunt Lumber Company, Inc. |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | Lacy H. Hunt and Jewell S. Hunt (1943). J. S. Hunt Lumber Company, of Nacogdoches. 1953: Mrs. J. S. Hunt and sons, Sam and Van Hunt. |
| Location: | Willis |
| County: | Montgomery |
| Years in Operation: | 32 years |
| Start Year: | 1928 |
| End Year: | 1959 |
| Decades: | 1920-1929,1930-1939,1940-1949,1950-1959 |
| Period of Operation: | 1928 to the end of the 1950s |
| Town: | Willis |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | 832 in 190, 2500 in 1928; 1000 in 1934 |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Gum, hickory, magnolia, oak, shortleaf yellow pine.
 Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
 Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Steam. 1949: five boilers fed by sawmill refuse and shavings from the planing mill.
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | 40000: 1942 |
| Capacity Comments: | 40,000 feet daily in 1942 |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | 1928: circular sawmill, planing mill, edgers, trimmers, dry kilns. 1949: circular rig with a 12-ft shotgun feed, air-dog carriage, trimmers, drop sorter, band resaw, dry kilns, rough sheds, five boilers, and planing mill. |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | International & Great Northern |
| Historicial Development: | According to The Gulf Coast Lumberman, the J. S. Hunt Lumber Company was incorporated in 1926 at Nacogdoches with a stock capitalization of $30,000. The officers were A. W. Hunt, Sr., and sons Lacy H. Hunt, Jewell S. Hunt and Laurence C. Hunt. The J. S. Hunt Lumber Company was listed at Willis in the 1928 edition of the Southern Lumberman's Directory of American Saw Mills and Planing Mill. It ran a complete lumber manufacturing operation, with a circular sawmill, a planing mill, edgers, trimmers, dry kilns, a logging road, and a commissary. On February 14, 1942, the facility was destroyed by fire and rebuilt. The mill had been cutting 40,000 feet of lumber daily. In 1949, the equipment consisted of a circular rig with a 12-ft shotgun feed, an air-dog carriage, trimmers, a drop sorter, a band resaw, dry kilns, rough sheds, five boilers,, and a new Wood fast-feed planer and matcher. The J. S. Hunt, Tilford-Hunt, and Lacy H. Hunt lumber companies shared many of the same board members. According to The Gulf Coast Lumberman, the “Tilford- Hunt Lumber Company” at Willis changed its name to Lacy H. Hunt Lumber Company, in 1946. However, the firm was referred to as J. S. Hunt, in The Gulf Coast Lumberman, when the night fire of March 24, 1948, destroyed the plant's planer and a million feet of lumber. J. S. Hunt Lumber bought some logging equipment from A. H. Curry in 1952. Lacy H. Hunt sold the mill to Mrs. J. S. Hunt in 1953. It was closed by the end of the 1950s.
Members of the Hunt families were partners in Tilford-Hunt Lumber Company, which owned mills at Chireno (1915) and Lacyville (ca. 1905 to 1943). J. S. Hunt Lumber Company also had a sawmill at Jasper from 1926 to 1928, and one at Grapeland in 1928. Lacy H. Hunt served as president in 1943.
M. Cooper told Vernon Beasley that he remembered the company hand tenant houses, a commissary, and that it was a big mill.
|
| Research Date: | JKG 8-27-93, MCJ 03-20-96 |
| Prepared By: | J. Gerland, M Johnson |