Nameless Towns: Texas Sawmill Communities, 1880-1942

·
· University of Texas Press
1 review
Ebook
271
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

Sawmill communities were once the thriving centers of East Texas life. Many sprang up almost overnight in a pine forest clearing, and many disappeared just as quickly after the company "cut out" its last trees. But during their heyday, these company towns made Texas the nation's third-largest lumber producer and created a colorful way of life that lingers in the memories of the remaining former residents and their children and grandchildren.

Drawing on oral history, company records, and other archival sources, Sitton and Conrad recreate the lifeways of the sawmill communities. They describe the companies that ran the mills and the different kinds of jobs involved in logging and milling. They depict the usually rough-hewn towns, with their central mill, unpainted houses, company store, and schools, churches, and community centers. And they characterize the lives of the people, from the hard, awesomely dangerous mill work to the dances, picnics, and other recreations that offered welcome diversions.

Sawmill communities were once the thriving centers of East Texas life. Many sprang up almost overnight in a pine forest clearing, and many disappeared just as quickly after the company "cut out" its last trees. But during their heyday, these company towns made Texas the nation's third-largest lum...

Discover more

Ratings and reviews

1 review

About the author

Thad Sitton is a historian of anthropological background and training, specializing in studies of rural Texas during the first half of the twentieth century. Three of Sitton’s books won the coveted T. R. Fehrenbach Award of the Texas Historical Commission, and his history of freedmen’s settlements received a major prize from the Texas Institute of Letters. In 2001, he received the Thomas L. Charlton Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Oral History Association.

Until his retirement, James H. Conrad worked as an oral historian, librarian, and archivist at Texas A&M University–Commerce. In 2002, he received the Thomas L. Charlton Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Oral History Association.

Thad Sitton is a historian of anthropological background and training, specializing in studies of rural Texas during the first half of the twentieth century. Three of Sitton’s books won the coveted T. R. Fehrenbach Award of the Texas Historical Commission, and his history of freedmen’s settlement...

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.