Village Mills is an

unincorporated community 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 north central

Hardin County, Texas Hardin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 56,231. The county seat is Kountze. The county is named for the family of William Hardin from Liberty County, Texas. H ...

, United States. It is part of the Beaumont– Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The

Warren Independent School District Warren Independent School District is a public school district based in the community of Warren, Texas (USA). Located in Tyler County, the district extends into a small portion of Hardin County. Other communities in the district include Fred, ...

serves area students.

Historical development

This town was known on some maps as "Village" or "Village Station", with the name coming from nearby Village Creek. In late 1881, the Sabine and East Texas Railroad reached the area for the

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

trade to ship its products. The Long Manufacturing Company of Beaumont purchased 40,000 acres (160 km) of timberland and built a

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 ...

at the site. The Texas Tram and Lumber Company of Beaumont purchased this mill in 1883, the majority stockholder being William A. Fletcher.Village Mills Hangs Tough after Heyday
/ref> The post office was established this same year. By 1889, this sawmill was churning out 75,000 board feet of lumber daily. At this time, this mill consisted of two sections of town, one of which was the mill operations (called Long Station), the other being Village Mills 1 mi (2 km) away, which contained the housing. One day in 1895, this mill broke a world record by sawing over 250,000 board feet in 11 hours. In 1902,

lumber baron A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

and businessman

John Henry Kirby John Henry Kirby (November 16, 1860 – November 9, 1940) was an American businessman whose ventures made him the largest lumber manufacturer in Texas and the Southern United States. In addition to serving two terms in the Texas Legislature, ...

purchased the mill, and dubbed it "Mill L", an asset of the Kirby Lumber Company. As of 1907, the annual production of lumber was almost 17 million board feet.Handbook of Texas Online - VILLAGE MILLS, TX
/ref> The mill closed in the early 1930s, which caused Village Mills' population to drop from 300 down to 80 within the next decade. In 1945, the discovery of

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

and

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

deposits boosted the local economy. Over the next quarter-century, over 31 wells were drilled, with 17 of these still operating into the 1980s.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Hardin County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area