City of Lufkin, TX history

Lufkin, city, seat (1890) of Angelina county, in the Piney Woods region of eastern Texas, United States The city is situated near the Angelina River and between Davy Crockett and Angelina national forests, some 110 miles (175 km) northwest of Beaumont.

The Lufkin Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1919, with 102 members.

Interview 158a : Born in 1924, Edd Kenley tells of his life working for his father Dave Kenley in the cattle ranching business in Trinity, Houston, and Angelina counties, mostly on timberlands owned and managed by Southern Pine Lumber Company.

On six of the quartet’s gospel recordings, Bess Lomax, John’s daughter who was then in her late teens, is listed as a “recordist” indicating she may have joined her father and stepmother for part of their 1940 tour.

Rockmore, who noted in 1942 that he played in “a string band about” Lufkin, also recorded two monologues which reflect John Lomax’s interest in documenting oral history, an effort he emphasized while working for the Federal Writers’ Project four years earlier.

Changed to Angelina County Chamber in 1948 and now, 98 years later it is still shaping the business community of Angelina County.

The Youth Fair was part of the original Texas Forest Festival until 1953 — it has been operated as a separate event since then and has raised in excess of $3.5 million for the youth of Angelina County since that time.

A task for of the Chamber researched the need for a community college and helped pass a bond issued to create Angelina College in the late 1960's.

Local resources also include fuller’s earth, oil, and natural gas. It is the home of Angelina (junior) College (1966). Inc.

Kuykendall moved to Lufkin in 1969 and began teaching at Dunbar school, spent a few years as Principal of Crockett High School in Crockett, and then returned to Lufkin as Principal of Garrett Primary, from which he retired.

Created the Community Chest, now the United Way, part of the Chamber until 1975.

The Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce is a 4 star accredited Chamber by the United States Chamber of Commerce and has been accredited since 1979.

In September 1980, Marjorie Shephed was recorded reading the text of this interview for the Diboll Oral History Project, since the original audio was unavailable.

The first event at the Expo Center was the Angelina County Youth Fair in 1983.

Angelina Beautiful/Clean was created in 1984 as an outshoot of the Chamber Beautification Committee — two of the Governor’s Awards for Beautification were won by the Chamber’ committee before AB/C went on to win another as their own 501(c)(3) organization.

Opened the Small Business Development Center in 1989, initially housed at the Chamber, now housed at Angelina College, the SBDC has helped 100’s of small business and brought over $15+ million in new construction to the area.

The Angelina Arts Alliance was formed from the Chamber’s Cultural Arts Council in 1996.