Kirbyville, Town of, Site of Town Lot Auction
Kirbyville, Jasper County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(May 1, 1895) Named for John Henry Kirby, attorney, railroad builder, and timber, lumber, and oil king. With R. P. Allen, Kirby founded the town when their railroad-- Gulf, Beaumont, & Kansas City-- reached this point. Since 1904 city has also been terminus of the Jasper & Eastern Railroad. A major business, Kirby Lumber Co. Sawmill (acquired in 1903), burned in 1917. City has been an area of timber conservation work since 1926; State Forest No. 1 is located 3 miles east. Today city is a trade center for Jasper and Newton counties and has electric power concerns.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Kirbyville was born on May 1, 1895, when a town-lot auction marked the point where the Gulf, Beaumont & Kansas City Railroad—built by attorney and timber magnate John Henry Kirby with partner R. P. Allen—reached this spot. Kirby's lumber empire ran through the town, whose big Kirby Lumber Co. sawmill operated from 1903 until it burned in 1917. The community became a hub of the East Texas timber trade and, from 1926, a center of early forest-conservation work, with State Forest No. 1 nearby.
Why it matters
Kirbyville's founding shows how railroads and the lumber barons of the Piney Woods conjured whole towns out of the forest during Texas's timber boom.
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Related people
- · John Henry Kirby
- · R. P. Allen
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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