Piney Woods of East Texas

Deep in the Piney Woods of East Texas, Diboll began as a company town for the Southern Pine Lumber Company.  Diboll was named for J. C. Diboll, who had sold 7,000 ac in East Texas to T. L. L. Temple, the founder of Southern Pine Lumber Company. The mill opened in June 1894 and was soon producing 60,000 board ft of lumber every day.  To compete with market demand, the firm opened a second mill less than 10 years later. As news spread of the abundance of jobs deep in East Texas, hopeful workers moved their families to Diboll. ​

To obtain funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for a multi-family development project, a cultural resources survey was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA of adjacent properties. In response to comments received by the developer from the THC, the survey included the documentation of historic-age architectural resources directly adjacent to the proposed project, one of which was a company house for the Southern Pine Lumber Company. For the survey, five historic-age residences and evaluated and determined for listing on the NRHP.