unincorporated settlement
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Wood County, Texas
Wood County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 44,843. Its county seat is Quitman. The county was named for George T. Wood, governor of Texas from 1847 to 1849.
History
The first docume ...
, United States. According to the
Handbook of Texas
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...
, only three people lived in the community in 2002.
History
Slightly southeast of Pine Mills' location, a sawmill community named Liberty Hill had been established as early as 1850. As of 1854, the Holly Springs Baptist Church of Christ was meeting at a facility known as the Liberty Hill Meeting House or Liberty Hill Chapel. A
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
manufacturing operation was in the area as early as 1860. In the early 1870s, the community was known by the name Reedsville, allegedly for a local sawmill owner named Richard G. (Dick) Reed. The Pine Mills post office was established in July 1875, and Reed was hired as postmaster. The community's official name was changed at that time from Reedsville to Pine Mills. In 1884, Pine Mills reported a population of 130, two churches, and several businesses including a
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
,
carpenters
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters trad ...
, two
cotton gin
A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...
s, and several
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
s. The population reached 250 by 1892, and eleven businesses including two
physician
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
s were noted. A
Church of Christ Church of Christ may refer to:
Church groups
* Christianity, the Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ
* Christian Church, an ecclesiological term used by denominations to describe the true body of Christia ...
was organized in the community sometime before 1892. In 1904, the population was noted at 222; by the next year, the majority of the local timber supply had been depleted and the sawmills had left the community. The post office closed in 1907, and the population was near 40 as of 1910. During the 1930s, the community had a few businesses, among them a factory.
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...
became a noted cash crop in the area after 1930, and specialty crop farming increased in the area as well. The population had climbed to 80 by 1943. The discovery of the Pine Mills Oilfield in 1949 did not have much effect on the area's declining economy. The population dwindled to 70 by the mid-1960s. It had two churches, several scattered houses, and two businesses, one of which was a sawmill. The local pottery business was established in 1979 and was still in operation in 2002 with only three people living there.
R.A. Walton operated a gristmill in the area in the 1850s. Reed's daughter, Sarah Tennie Reed, married Joseph Shields in 1871, and he later operated the Shields-Lindley sawmill with George Lindley in the Pine Mills to Mount Pisgah road. D.V. Wagoner came to Pine Mills in 1884 and operated a general merchandise store; he was also a dentist and undertaker. Dr. Robert O. Connell came to the community around 1890 and practiced medicine in Pine Mills.
Geography
Pine Mills is located at the intersection of Farm To Market Roads 14, 49, and 312 approximately ten miles southeast of the county seat of Quitman in the southeastern portion of Wood County.
Education
A school was reported to be part of the settlement by 1855. It was still in operation in 1884. During the 1930s, the community was served by the Liberty School district. Today, the community is served by the Quitman Independent School District.