Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key: HR-80
Corporate Name: Houston & Liggett Manufacturing Company
Local Name:
Owner Name: W. G. Liggett, E. A. Liggett, Gilmer Green. Houston & Liggett Manufacturing Company.
Location: Houston in the Fifth Ward
County: Harris
Years in Operation: 3 years
Start Year: 1906
End Year: 1908
Decades: 1900-1909
Period of Operation: 1906 to 1908
Town: Houston in the Fifth Ward
Company Town: 1
Peak Town Size: Unknown
Mill Pond:
Type of Mill: Rough and finished pine and hardwood products, including insulator pins, boxes, crates
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: 50000: 1908
Capacity Comments: 50,000 feet daily in 1908
Produced:
Rough Lumber Planed Lumber Crossties Timbers
Lathe Ceiling Unknown Beading
Flooring Paper Plywood Particle Board
Treated Other
Equipment: Sawmill and planing mill
Company Tram:
Associated Railroads: Unknown
Historicial Development: Houston & Liggett announced in May 1906 that it was forming the Houston & Liggett Manufacturing Company with a mill to be constructed near Houston. W. G. Liggett was already running his own cedar pencil block factory in Houston, and involved with C. C. Houston in other matters. They bought a mill from Plummer & Matthews in 1907 at Magnolia (Tharp) in Montgomery County. By early 1907, the Houston mill was manufacturing brackets and insulation pins. W. H. Liggett was the general manager and F. C. Brown the superintendent. The Southern Industrial and Lumber Review reported that seven sawmills operated along Buffalo Bayou in 1908. The Houston-Liggett Lumber Company had been two years earlier in the Fifth Ward of Houston. A sawmill and a hardwood factory were built. That year the plant has been enlarged. A band mill replaced the circular saw plus trimmers, edgers, and slashers were added. Lumber was sent to the National Dry Kiln Company kilns then manufactured into commercial implements and stock in the factory which used a band resaw. Operations also included a box and crate factory. Eighty-five employees helped to manufacture 50,000 board feet daily of products.A box and crate factory. 50,000 feet daily. 85 employees. National Dry Kiln Company kilns. Southern Lumberman reported in October 1908 that the company had rebuilt the older mill in the Fifth Ward, replacing machinery with Fay & Egan equipment and doubling the capacity of the plant. The older plant had sawed oak and manufactured it into insulator pins for cross-arms.
Research Date: MCJ 05-06-96
Prepared By: M. Johnson