William Henry Stark (March 19, 1851 – October 8, 1936) was an industrial leader whose contributions helped the city of

Orange, Texas Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Houst ...

develop financially. Stark was the president of the Lutcher Moore Cypress Lumber Company of Lutcher, Louisiana. Stark was born March 19, 1851, to John Thomas and Martha Ann (Skidmore) Stark. Originally from

San Augustine County San Augustine County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 7,918. Its county seat is San Augustine. History San Augustine County was formed in 1837. It was supposedly named after the Saint, A ...

, Stark lived in

Burkeville, Texas Burkeville is an unincorporated community in northern Newton County, Texas, United States. It sits at the intersection of State Highways 63 and 87 10 miles west of the Sabine River. The Burkeville Independent School District serves the reside ...

and

Newton, Texas Newton is a city in and the county seat of Newton County, Texas, Newton County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,633 at the 2020 census. History Both Newton County, Texas, Newton County and its county seat, Newton, were named after Joh ...

before moving to Orange in 1870 to seek employment in the sawmills.TSHA Online - Texas State Historical Association
/ref> He worked in the early area sawmills and would soon become a leader of the local lumber industry. In 1881, Stark married Miriam Melissa Lutcher (1859–1936), the daughter of

Henry J. Lutcher Henry Jacob Lutcher (November 4, 1836 – October 2, 1912) was a sawmiller and business partner of the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company. His business ventures would help establish Orange, Texas, as the timber-processing capital of the South in th ...

, a partner in the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company. In the early 1880s, Stark's expertise in the lumber business would soon land him the position of managing two mills belonging to his father-in-law's firm in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. Stark's success in the lumber industry led him to invest in other businesses such as

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

production, real estate, and ranching. His innovative ideas, including development of the deep water ports on the Sabine River and an irrigation system that provided needed resources for the region's rice industry, led to increased population growth for the city of Orange. Stark also served as a regent for the

University of Texas System The University of Texas System (UT System) is an American government entity of the state of Texas that includes 13 higher educational institutions throughout the state including eight universities and five independent health institutions. The UT& ...

, 1911–15, an office later held by his son H.J.Lutcher Stark, who became chairman of the University Board. Stark died on October 8, 1936, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Orange, Texas. The

Texas Historical Commission The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas. The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Historic La ...

has constructed a marker to commemorate his contributions to the city.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, William Henry 1851 births 1936 deaths People from San Augustine County, Texas People from Orange, Texas Businesspeople in timber People from Newton, Texas