Vidor

Vidor is located in Southeast Texas at the intersection of Interstate Highway 10 and State Highway 105, six miles east of Beaumont in western Orange County. The site had heavy lumbering activities with the construction of the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railroad in 1898. Vidor was named after lumberman Charles Shelton Vidor, who acquired the Beaumont Sawmill Company and later established the Miller-Vidor Lumber Company. By 1909 the Vidor community had a post office. Four years later a company tram road was built. It was known locally as the Peach Line, and it opened thousands of acres of virgin timber to loggers. Almost all Vidor residents worked for the company. In 1924 the Miller-Vidor Lumber Company moved to Lakeview because local timber stands were depleted, but a small settlement remained, and the Miller-Vidor subdivision was laid out in 1929. Rice, cotton, and cattle were developed into important local industries. Georgetown Texas Steel announced its plans to build a new $50 million plant at Vidor in 1974, thus encouraging further growth.