Kerr's Inc.

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Some businesses open their doors and close them just as quick. And some, well, some just keep goin'.

Kerr's Inc. is that second kind. Regarded as the oldest Angelina County business in continuous operation, Kerr's traces its roots all the way back to 1870, when a man named Captain Joseph Kerr opened a general store in Homer, the early county seat, sitting about five miles southeast of where you're drivin' right now. Capt.

Kerr was born in 1828 in South Carolina, and by the time he planted his flag in Angelina County, he was already a Civil War veteran. A man who'd seen a thing or two, in other words. The kind of man who, when he decided to open a store, you figure he meant to keep it.

And keep it he did. Then came the railroad. In the 1880s, Lufkin was founded as a railroad town, and it wasn't long before Kerr moved the whole operation there.

That's the thing about a man like Kerr, he wasn't just a shopkeeper. The marker calls him an active business, civic, and political leader. He had his hands in the county the way a good root system has its hands in the ground.

When Kerr eventually stepped back, his sons stepped up, carrying the family name and the family firm right along with them. Now here's where the story takes a turn that'll make you smile. That little general store from 1870 became a tin shop somewhere along the way, and that tin shop kept evolving, kept reaching, until Kerr's Inc. became what it is today: a leader in steel fabrication.

Started in the earliest days of Angelina County, still standin', still workin'. That's not just a business. That's a legacy with its boots on.

What the marker says

Regarded as the oldest Angelina County business in continuous operation, Kerr's began in 1870 as a general store in the early county seat of Homer (5 mi. SE). It was started by Civil War veteran Capt. Joseph Kerr (B. 1828), a native of South Carolina. The operation was moved to Lufkin in the 1880s, soon after the railroad town was founded. An active business, civic, and political leader, Kerr was later succeeded in the firm by his sons. Started in the early days of the county and later operated as a tin shop, Kerr's Inc. is now a leader in steel fabrication. (1981)