Woodson Lumber Company
Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Brothers James R. (Jim) (1884-1940) and Harrie P. Woodson, Jr. (1892-1974) left their home in Richmond, Missouri after their mother died in 1912. In California they worked in a lumberyard, with Harrie as a laborer and Jim in the office. Jim made his way to texas in late 1912 and Harrie arrived in 1913. When they learned that Reeves-Slliman Lumber Company was for sale, they partnered with D.E. Reeves. Area population growth and a booming east Texas timber market made Caldwell an ideal location for the retail lumber industry. The Reeves-Woodson Lumber Company opened on December 1, 1913, and soon became the area’s primary source for building materials. In 1916 the name changed to Woodson Lumber Company. The company’s building materials, household items and supplies equipped a majority of homes and other buildings in the area. The business helped families establish homes as the area grew, particularly in the 1910s and again during the post-war boom of the late 1940s to 1950s. Proximity to the railroad depot made unloading and delivering materials convenient. The company also expanded to more than a dozen retail locations throughout the region and across Texas beginning in 1924. In 1946, after Harrie’s two sons-in-law returned from World War II service, the company’s second generation joined the family business. The Woodson brothers were also active in their community, with Jim serving as an alderman and acting chamber of commerce president and Harrie serving as First United Methodist Church trustee and building committee chairman. In 1974, the city’s Harrie P. Woodson Memorial Library was dedicated in his honor. Woodson Lumber Company has had the privilege of serving multiple generations of neighbors over more than 100 years in the same family.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Brothers Jim and Harrie Woodson left Missouri after their mother's death, worked in a California lumberyard, and made their way to Texas, where in 1913 they partnered with D. E. Reeves to open a lumber business in booming Caldwell. Renamed Woodson Lumber Company in 1916, it became the area's main source of building materials, aided by its spot beside the railroad depot, and expanded to more than a dozen locations across Texas. The family firm has served the region for over a century, with later generations joining after World War II.
Why it matters
Woodson Lumber embodies the local retail lumberyard that literally built rural America's homes and towns, and the multigenerational family business at the center of civic life.
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Related people
- · James R. Woodson
- · Harrie P. Woodson, Jr.
Themes & tags
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