| Alpha-Numeric Key: | NA-41 |
| Corporate Name: | T. O. Sutton & Sons Lumber Company |
| Local Name: | |
| Owner Name: | T. O. Sutton & Sons Lumber Company. T. O., J. W., and T. H. Sutton. |
| Location: | On Sutton Mill Road (438) where it turns south and west of Chireno |
| County: | Nacogdoches |
| Years in Operation: | 26 years |
| Start Year: | 1937 |
| End Year: | 1962 |
| Decades: | 1930-1939,1940-1949,1950-1959,1960-1969 |
| Period of Operation: | 1937 to 1962 |
| Town: | Chireno |
| Company Town: | 1 |
| Peak Town Size: | Twenty-five to thirty tenant houses |
| Mill Pond: |  |
| Type of Mill: | Pine and hardwood lumber
 Sawmill |
Pine Sawmill |
Hardwood Sawmill |
 Cypress Sawmill |
| Planer |
Planer Only |
Shingle |
Paper |
| Plywood |
Cotton |
Grist |
Unknown |
| Other |
|
|
|
|
| Power Source: | Steam
| Horse |
Mule |
Oxen |
Water |
| Water Overshot |
Water Turbine |
Diesel |
Unknown |
| Pit |
Steam |
Steam Circular |
Steam Band |
| Gas |
Electricity |
Other |
|
|
| Maximum Capacity: | 42000: 1946 |
| Capacity Comments: | About 42,000 feet daily in 1946 (new mill) |
| Produced: |
| Rough Lumber |
Planed Lumber |
Crossties |
Timbers |
| Lathe |
Ceiling |
Unknown |
Beading |
| Flooring |
Paper |
Plywood |
Particle Board |
| Treated |
Other |
| |
|
| Equipment: | 1943: sawmill, planing mill, dry kilns. 1946: new sawmill located next to old mill with circular headrig. |
| Company Tram: | |
| Associated Railroads: | Angelina & Neches River Railroad (shortline and logging tram road of the Angelina County Lumber Company) |
| Historicial Development: | Joe Stewart, grandson of Chireno sawmiller J. C. Stewart, Jr., reports that the Sutton mill is misidentified on most Nacogdoches County survey maps. It was located just west of Polysot Creek at New Camp. In November, 1936, T. O. Sutton bought 1,000 acres from W. W. Hall et al for $4,000, part of the Remigio Totten [Totin] survey, and known as the Mettauer Bros ranch. The acreage straddles Polysot Creek.
The Lufkin Daily News reported in 1943 that T. O. Sutton & Sons had a sawmill operating at Chireno. Three years later, according to The Gulf Coast Lumberman, a new mill was being erected alongside of the old mill. The old mill had a new planing mill and cross circulation dry kilns. The new sawmill would operate a circular headrig that could cut 5,200 feet per hour. The company also had a new planing mill at Woodville.
In 1954, the manager was M. O. Sutton, who supervised more than fifty employees. Quarters for whites and blacks were built. Initially, water was carried from the mill site about two hundred yards from the quarters. Wells were eventually dug on a hill and later in the quarters. Electricity came to the mill and the sawmill town in 1940. A typical home would have a gasoline-powered washing machine, a kerosene refrigerator, a Coleman white gas clothes iron, and an Aladdin lamp.
The company had divested itself of all other mills by 1946. The Directory of Texas Manufacturers 1954 lists the T. O. Sutton & Sons sawmill at Chireno as being established in 1938. It was listed in the 1957 Directory of Wood-Using and Related Industries in East Texas. The company closed the mill in 1962. The Sutton family would reestablish itself in the lumbering business in 1979, when it opened the current G & S Lumber Company at Nacogdoches. |
| Research Date: | MCJ 02-10-96 |
| Prepared By: | M Johnson |