Research: Sawmill Database

Alpha-Numeric Key: TY-27
Corporate Name: Fleming and Son
Local Name:
Owner Name: D. H. Fleming and Son, owners. Daniel Hampton Fleming and John Beaver Fleming
Location: Hampton
County: Tyler
Years in Operation: 31 years
Start Year: 1888
End Year: 1918
Decades: 1880-1889,1890-1899,1900-1909,1910-1919
Period of Operation: 1888 to at least 1918
Town: Hampton
Company Town: 1
Peak Town Size: 84 in 1905
Mill Pond:
Type of Mill: Lumber
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: 30000: 190020000: 1893
Capacity Comments: 30,000 or 40,000 feet daily
Produced:
Rough Lumber Planed Lumber Crossties Timbers
Lathe Ceiling Unknown Beading
Flooring Paper Plywood Particle Board
Treated Other
Equipment: Either a circular or band mill and planing mill
Company Tram:
Associated Railroads: Missouri, Kansas, & Texas
Historicial Development: D. H. Fleming was an early East Texas sawmiller who followed the construction of the railroads to tap the most easily accessible pine stumpage. In 1880, he operated a small mill south of the Trinity River on the Houston, East and West Texas Railway, but he later moved to Polk County, on the Trinity and Sabine railroad. He named the mill site after himself, and his mill there was rated at 20,000 board feet per day in 1893. Such a mill could possibly support a town of 100 persons, but the town's population undoubtedly grew in 1897 when Fleming started operating the first band sawmill on the Trinity and Sabine line. D. H. Fleming & Son in 1896 were running a sawmill at Hampton, in Tyler County, just east of Polk County. It was still operating in 1907. It may have bought out the Big Tree Lumber Company between 1902 and 1904. Daniel Hampton Fleming established a thriving sawmill town on the Texas & Southern Railroad between Trinity and Colmesneil with a large Fleming-owned general store, a post office, and a Presbyterian church. Fleming became the first postmaster of Hampton in 1898. His son, John Beaver Fleming, continued the business until 1918.
Research Date: MCJ 02-21-96
Prepared By: M Johnson