Pineland

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Pineland, over in Sabine County. Now settle in, because this is a town that grew up fast, the way tall pines do when the conditions are just right. It starts, like so many Sabine County communities, with the arrival of the logging industry to the east Texas pine forests.

A lumber camp was first recorded at this site in 1902, sitting right along the route of the newly-constructed Gulf, Beaumont and Great Northern Railway. The railroad was brand new, the timber was old-growth and plentiful, and somebody was about to make something of it. That first somebody worth naming was a miller who had recently arrived from Alabama.

His name was John Adams, and for a while this whole settlement carried his name. John Adams' Mill. Honest and plain.

But names have a way of drifting toward the landscape they sit in, and before long the place was simply called Pineland. The railroad didn't just pass through. It planted roots.

A passenger and freight station went up in Pineland, and that station acted like a magnet. The settlement rapidly grew. People came, families came, commerce followed.

A post office opened in 1904, and Walter Everett stepped in as the first postmaster. Three years later, by 1907, a commercial sawmill began operations. Now here's where the story picks up some serious weight.

After three years of that sawmill running, a man named T.L.L. Temple purchased the mill and folded it into the Temple Lumber Company. The lumber business wasn't just part of Pineland's story.

It was the story. In those early years, the town was populated almost exclusively by mill workers and their families. Think about that.

A whole town built around the work of cutting and milling timber out of east Texas forest. By 1925 Pineland had grown to fifteen hundred residents. And in 1941 the town incorporated, making it official.

The decades kept rolling. The Pineland State Bank was organized in 1957, the same year Pineland Day was first held. During the 1960s a hospital and a supermarket came to town, and a library and the Pineland Service Club were formed as well.

The schools have their own chapter. The Pineland Independent School District was formed in 1917 and ran for decades, until 1961, when it consolidated with the Bronson Schools to form the West Sabine Independent School District. The African American school in Pineland was added to that district in 1966, and the district continues to serve the community today.

A lumber camp on a new railroad line in 1902. Fifteen hundred people by 1925. Schools, banks, hospitals, a day of celebration named for the town itself.

The pines were tall to start with. Pineland just decided to grow right alongside them.

What the marker says

Like many Sabine County communities, Pineland was established as a result of the arrival of the logging industry to the east Texas pine forests. A lumber camp was first recorded at this site along the route of the newly-constructed Gulf, Beaumont & Great Northern Railway in 1902. The settlement was first known as John Adams’ Mill, after a miller who had recently arrived from Alabama, but it soon came to be known as Pineland. The railroad established a passenger and freight station in Pineland, causing the settlement to rapidly grow. The lumber business continues to drive the economy of the town. A post office was opened in Pineland in 1904, and Walter Everett served as the first postmaster. By 1907 a commercial sawmill began operations in Pineland, and after three years of operation T.L.L. Temple purchased the mill to add to the Temple Lumber Company. In its early years, Pineland was populated almost exclusively by mill workers and their families. The town grew to 1,500 residents by 1925 and incorporated in 1941. The Pineland State Bank was organized in 1957, and other businesses established in Pineland during the 1960s included a hospital and a supermarket. A library and the Pineland Service Club were also formed, and Pineland Day was first held in 1957. Pineland Independent School District was formed in 1917, and operated until 1961, when it consolidated with the Bronson Schools to form the West Sabine Independent School District. The African American school in Pineland was added to the district in 1966, and the district continues to serve the community.