Kirby Lumber Company
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Kirby Lumber Company
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Kirby Lumber Company
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Biographical History
Organized in 1901; founder John Henry Kirby continued as president of the enterprise until his death in 1940; during the Great Depression control passed into the hands of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company which continues to own and operate it.
John Henry Kirby, lawyer, lumberman, and financier, formed the Kirby Lumber Company in 1901 in his native East Texas. With the discovery of oil at Spindletop in mind, Kirby sought to create a unique business arrangement. He would organize dual corporations, one oil and one timber, with the lumber company to buy and manufacture timber from the oil company. The Kirby Lumber Company would gain timber rights on its extensive East Texas properties, while the Houston Oil Company would hold mineral rights. Kirby also agreed to help the oil company gain title to approximately 800,000 acres of East Texas timber land. The failure by Kirby and his eastern financiers to determine clear title to their various properties, as well as Kirby's overestimate of the worth of the timber, resulted in litigation. After the Maryland Trust Company, the primary backer of the scheme, brought suit, a Texas court placed both the Kirby Lumber Company and the Houston Oil Company into receivership between 1904 and 1908 allowing the two sides to determine their respective responsibilities. Despite its initial troubles, the Kirby Lumber Company prospered, selling lumber throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. By the 1920s, it had become the largest yellow timber manufacturer in the Gulf Southwest. The company owned numerous lumber mills and rail connections. John Henry Kirby died in 1940, seven years after declaring personal bankruptcy. The Kirby Lumber Company, however, continued operations, passing into the Santa Fe Railroad's control by the 1950s.
John Henry Kirby, lawyer, lumberman, and financier, formed the Kirby Lumber Company in 1901 in his native East Texas. With the discovery of oil at Spindletop in mind, Kirby sought to create a unique business arrangement. He would organize dual corporations, one oil and one timber, with the lumber company to buy and manufacture timber from the oil company. The Kirby Lumber Company would gain timber rights on its extensive East Texas properties, while the Houston Oil Company would hold mineral rights. Kirby also agreed to help the oil company gain title to approximately 800,000 acres of East Texas timber land.
The failure by Kirby and his eastern financiers to determine clear title to their various properties, as well as Kirby's overestimate of the worth of the timber, resulted in litigation. After the Maryland Trust Company, the primary backer of the scheme, brought suit, a Texas court placed both the Kirby Lumber Company and the Houston Oil Company into receivership between 1904 and 1908 allowing the two sides to determine their respective responsibilities.
Despite its initial troubles, the Kirby Lumber Company prospered, selling lumber throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. By the 1920s, it had become the largest yellow timber manufacturer in the Gulf Southwest. The company owned numerous lumber mills and rail connections.
John Henry Kirby died in 1940, seven years after declaring personal bankruptcy. The Kirby Lumber Company, however, continued operations, passing into the Santa Fe Railroad's control by the 1950s.
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External Related CPF
https://viaf.org/viaf/137384805
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n98051237
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n98051237
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Subjects
Bankruptcy
Company towns
Company towns
Company towns
Company towns
Company towns
Company towns
Company towns
Company towns
Company towns
Decedents' estates
Industrial relations
Industrial relations
Insurance
Insurance
Logging
Lumbering
Lumber trade
Lumber trade
Oil and gas leases
Oil and gas leases
Railroads
Railroads
Sawmills
Workers' compensation
Workers' compensation
Nationalities
Activities
Occupations
Legal Statuses
Places
Texas, East
AssociatedPlace
Texas--Silsbee
AssociatedPlace
Roganville (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Texas--Bessmay
AssociatedPlace
Steep Creek (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Louisiana--Merryville
AssociatedPlace
Texas--Loeb
AssociatedPlace
Silsbee (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Village Mills (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Texas--Village Mills
AssociatedPlace
Merryville (La.)
AssociatedPlace
Bessmay (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Texas, East
AssociatedPlace
Bessmay (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Loeb (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Silsbee (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Texas--Evadale
AssociatedPlace
Texas--Steep Creek
AssociatedPlace
Village Mills (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Texas--Roganville
AssociatedPlace
Loeb (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Merryville (La.)
AssociatedPlace
Texas
AssociatedPlace
Evadale (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Steep Creek (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Evadale (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Roganville (Tex.)
AssociatedPlace
Convention Declarations
<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>