Historical Marker
Thomas Lewis Latane Temple
Historical marker location:
300 Park St., Diboll, Texas
( at T. L. L. Temple Memorial Library, Diboll)
Marker installed: 1994
(1859 - 1935)
Virginia native Thomas Lewis Latane Temple, son of Henry W. L. and Susan (Jones) Temple, moved to Texarkana, Texas, in 1877. He married Georgie D. Fowlkes in 1880. In 1893 Temple organized the Southern Pine Lumber Company in Texarkana and began timber operations on lands he purchased here in Angelina County. Temple founded the town of Diboll in 1894 at the site of the company's main sawmill. His legacy of conservation and reforestation practices, and philanthropy towards the Diboll community and his employees was recognized by the Texas State Senate upon his death in 1935. (1994).