Aldridge Sawmill

The cultural, social, and economic structures for modern East Texas were shaped and molded by the early 20th-century logging industry. Some mill towns have become cities; logging railroads have become multi-lane highways; and family-owned mills have become multi-national corporations, all in the last 100 years. There are few, if any, facets of modern East Texas that have not been directly affected or influenced by the boom-bust cycles of the early 20th-century logging industry.

Resources such as the Aldridge site and others located on the four National Forests in Texas, represent the first great growth cycle of industrial logging in East Texas at the start of the 20th century. These sawmills, mill towns, front camps, and logging railroads in their current abandoned state also stand as stark reminders of the collapse of this industry in the 1920s as a result of, among other things, poor conservation practices driven purely by a desire for short-term economic gain.
Commercial logging in the East Texas piney woods began about 1820 with small, water-driven mills producing lumber for local consumption. After the Civil War, railroads began to open up the eastern and central portions of Texas to national and international commerce, and by the early 1880's a transportation system was in place that allowed for the construction and operation of larger, more productive mills. The resource base for these mills was the great, largely untapped pine forests of the East Texas region. National growth during this "bonanza" period along with the material needs of World War I, coupled with the depletion of the northern forests, created a strong market for southern lumber. This encouraged the establishment of more, bigger, and more powerful mills. By the turn of the century the bonanza period was in full swing, but by the 1920's most of the virgin old-growth forest had been cut out, and the scant second growth was not yet merchantable. This coupled with the stock market crash of 1929 severely depressed the Texas timber industry, ending the bonanza period.

The Aldridge Sawmill was constructed in 1903 by Hal Aldridge and was owned and operated by the Aldridge Lumber Company. The site's location on the Neches River was chosen because of its access to water for both industrial needs and for the transportation of materials. It was also adjacent to the rich long-leaf pine timberlands purchased by Aldridge before the construction of the mill. In 1906 a right-of-way was granted to the Burr's Ferry, Browndel, and Chester Railway Company to run a spur line into the mill. On 2 August 1911, a portion of that right-of-way was leased back to the Aldridge Lumber Company, and the location was used to construct an office, commissary, and warehouses for the mill. An inventory of the property taken for insurance purposes in January of 1911 listed a total of 76 buildings at the site (including the mill facilities, company/town facilities, and residences). The original mill and its adjacent support buildings were of wood frame construction, however, a fire on 25 August 1911 destroyed several of these buildings. When the new buildings were erected the Boiler Building, Engine Building, Fuel Storage Building, and Dry Kiln Building were all reconstructed of hand-poured, reinforced concrete. The mill machinery was also upgraded at this time, upgrading it from circular saw to band saw technology. The town itself was company owned, and located immediately adjacent to the mill facilities. It consisted of a post office, a commissary (company store), a hotel, two churches, a blacksmith shop, and a depot. Residential areas were divided into five segregated locations; one for upper management, two for white employees, and two for black ("colored") employees. Production at the mill peaked in 1913, at which time the Aldridge Lumber Company employed approximately 500 men working in the woods and the mill. The town at this time had a population ranging between 1,000 and 1,500 persons, living in approximately 200 company houses. In 1918 the Aldridge Lumber Company sold its interest in the property to J.E. Keith, who added the property to his own mill holdings and sold the entire package to the Kirby Lumber Company on the following day. The Kirby Lumber Company closed down the main mill facilities that same year, moving many of the houses and other facilities and equipment to their other mill locations. By 1920 the town was abandoned except for a few individual Kirby employees who remained at the site to work at the smaller "mill B" which continued to operate on a limited basis until 1923. The U.S. Forest Service acquired the Aldridge site along with other adjacent lands in 1935.

The Aldridge Sawmill and Town Site is representative of the small-to-medium-sized East Texas lumber mills of the bonanza period, and their associated company towns, as outlined and discussed in "A Historic Context for the Early Logging Industry in East Texas: A Planning Document for the National Forest and Grasslands in Texas" (Ippolito et al. 1999). As such, the property is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in the area of "Industry" for its association with the early 20th century logging industry, and "Engineering" as an early example of reinforced concrete construction in East Texas. The site has already been determined eligible for the NHRP by the Texas Historical Commission.