| Historicial Development: | A man by the name of J. F. (or I. F.) Kelley (or Kelly) was very prominent in Walker County sawmilling during the 1880s. W. T. Block has identified Kelley as J. F. Kelly (different spelling of last name), who was enumerated during 1880 in District 155, Precinct 4, residence 2. During 1880, he owned outright two sawmills and partnered two others (Kelley & Roberts and Kelley and Robbins) at Phelps, one at New Waverly (Kelley & Robinson), one at Riverside (another Kelley & Roberts), one five miles north of Riverside (Kelley & Grinstead), one in District 155, where he lived (Kelley & Johns), and one in District 157 (Kelley & Pace). The first seven are documented in Northwestern Lumberman listings and the last two in the Census of 1880. Block quoted from Walker County, Texas: A History: “He built a sawmill near the International & Great Northern a few miles from Waverly. . . . The railroad built a switch across to the sawmill. . . . known as Kelly's Switch. Just a mile south was the community with store, school, and post office called Barado. One day the boiler of the mill blew up, resulting in Kelly's death a few days later (on November 5, 1888). As late as the 1930s, the old boiler and some equipment were still there, where the forest had grown up around them. . . ”. Block reasonably assumes that Kelly had either Houston or Galveston money behind him. |