Call. One of many lumber towns once prevalent in East Texas, the town of Call began in 1895-96 with the construction of a sawmill by George H. Adams and Dennis Call, Jr., for whom it was named. The town soon included a post office, company store, company housing, community hall, school, and church. Adams and Call leased the mill to the Industrial Lumber Company in 1898. An 1899 fire caused extensive damage, but the mill soon was rebuilt. It was purchased by the Kirby Lumber Company in 1901, and the subsequent expansion in operations brought more families to the mill town. After another fire in 1924 the mill was rebuilt as a hardwood plant. Call survived the Great Depression despite the closing of the mill. Families were allowed to remain in company housing, a local doctor supplied them with rice from his farm, and Federal works projects brought needed jobs to displaced mill workers. The mill eventually was reorganized and was declared an essential defense industry during World War II, employing women for the first time. After the war the Kirby Company consolidated its East Texas mills. The Call Mill closed in 1953, and the town's buildings were dismantled and moved. #11109