DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Rhonesboro, up in Upshur County. Now, before there was a town here — before there was much of anything — there was one man running one sawmill. W.
M. Rhone. Just him, out there in the East Texas pines, the only sawmill operator in the area.
That's the name this place carries to this day. But the real story gets going in 1901, when the Marshall and East Texas Railroad came through, and friend, when a railroad arrives in the piney woods, things do not stay quiet for long. Rhonesboro was founded in 1902, and what had been one solitary sawmill became — hold on now — fifteen sawmills.
Fifteen. You've got Connally running one, Barton and Smith running another, then McWhorter, Cone and Watkins, Whitter, Dacus, Waterman, Nolan, James, Swann, Beavers and Meek, P. K.
Williams, M. C. and F. C.
Florence, and Roger and J. O. Schrum rounding out the count.
That is a lot of men with a lot of saws and a lot of ambition. And where the mills went, everything else followed — ten stores, two churches, a school, a hotel, a bank, a gin, and a cotton yard. A whole world built out of pine and railroad iron.
But here is the thing about a boom town built on timber — it needs trees. And East Texas pine, magnificent as it is, is not without limit. By 1917, the forest here was depleted.
The mills moved. The railroad was abandoned. And Rhonesboro, which had roared to life with the sound of fifteen saws and a locomotive whistle, went quiet again.
The trees were gone, and the town went with them.
What the marker says
Founded 1902; Named for W. M. Rhone, only sawmill operator in area until 1901, when arrival of Marshall & East Texas Railroad created a town which grew to have 15 sawmills, 10 stores, 2 churches, a school, hotel, bank, gin, and cotton yard. Mill operators were Connally; Barton and Smith; McWhorter; Cone and Watkins; Whitter; Dacus; Waterman; Nolan; James; Swann; Beavers and Meek; P. K. Williams; M. C. and F. C. Florence; Roger and J. O. Schrum. After pine forest here was depleted (1917), the mills moved and the railroad was abandoned.