Huntington

Huntington is on U.S. Highway 69 and the Southern Pacific line, fifteen miles northwest of Zavalla and ten miles east of Lufkin in central Angelina County. It was established in 1900 and named for Collis P. Huntington, the chairman of the board of the Southern Pacific. The railroad line from Beaumont to Dallas was built through Huntington in May 1903. Huntington, like nearby towns in Angelina County, was carved from virgin forests during the heyday of the southern pine timber industry. Attempts in the 1880s by Lewis Baird and Alvin Russell to locate a townsite near the rich pine stands of the area had been futile. It was not until the arrival of the railroad line that E. A. Blount of Nacogdoches and W. J. Townsend, Sr., of Lufkin were able to establish a town at the site. Blount and Townsend intended to name the town Old Homer to honor the former county seat of Angelina County, but eventually settled on the name Huntington. In June 1900 the townsite was laid out and lots were sold at public auction. Many people became drunk at this auction and a free-for-all ensued. The community's post office was established in 1900 with R. D. Chapman as postmaster. That year A. F. Smith built a sawmill two miles to the east, and a few years later Joe Burnaman built a larger mill near the town. From that time onward, Huntington's economic mainstays were lumbering and farming.