| Historicial Development: | Alexander Gilmer, one of the grand old men of East Texas milling, built a shingle mill at Orange in early 1879. The 1880 Census enumerated the capitalization of the mill at $35,000. Gilmer employed thirty-five men, who worked nine hours daily in the winter and eleven during the winter for skilled wages of $3.00 daily and unskilled of $1.50. Gilmer paid an annual wage during the Census reporting period of $10,500. From cypress logs worth $15,000, logged from the swamps of the Sabine River, and supplies worth $500, the factory manufactured 14,000,000 shingles worth a gross value of $32,900.
The mill was leased to Sheriff G. W. Michael in January 1882. The first of several disastrous fires at the plant occurred the following December, causing a $35,000 loss with only $15,000 insured, but five million shingles and the raw timber were saved. Gilmer took control of the operation and rebuilt the mill, expanding it to mill lumber as well as cut shingles. The dry kilns burned on February 12, 1891, with a $9,000 loss against a $4,000 insurance policy. A fire on March 15, 1893, resulted in the destruction of the mill, the kilns, and five million feet of lumber and heavy damage to the planing mill. Insurance covered only $22,000. The net loss came to $128,000. Gilmer persevered and rebuilt. This mill burned in October 1899, with a complete loss of inventory, equipment, and lumber. Of a loss of $150,000, only $40, 000 was covered. The mill was not rebuilt.
Gilmer used company schooners to ship export trade.
The first three fires cost Gilmer $225,000 in buildings and equipment and $225,000 in lumber.
The location of this mill (and others) can be found on an Sanborn-Perris Map of Orange, which has been annotated by Howard C. Williams. |