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John Henry Kirby, son of John T. and Sarah Payne Kirby, was born in the village of Peachtree in North Tyler County, Texas, in 1860. A promising young student, he was encouraged to move to Woodville where he could attend schools with a more challenging curriculum. Kirby married Lelia Stewart in 1883 and afterward joined the staff of Texas State Senator and Attorney Samuel Cooper. He gained admittance to the Texas Bar in 1885 and became Cooper's law partner. After helping Boston investors form the Texas and Louisiana Land and Timber Company he formed his own Kirby Lumber Company in 1901. The company evolved into a regional economic powerhouse responsible for the creation of numerous lumbermill towns in southeast Texas with more than 16,000 employees and covering more than a million acres of timberland. Kirby amassed a lumber empire and became known as the "Prince of the Pines." Though immensely wealthy and a figure of national and state prominence, Kirby never forgot his Tyler County roots. Kirby's many philanthropic acts and gifts to churches, schools, parks, and organizations in East Texas included his donation of land and the funds to build "Kirby High School" at this site in 1928. The last Kirby High School class graduated in 1979. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995 |
