This was  a typical farming community until 1894.  In that year Bodcaw Lumber Company began buying up land for a sawmill.  This company incorporated under the laws of Arkansas with William Buchanan as its president.   J. A. Buchanan, W. F. Ferguson, J. G. Ferguson, W. C. Brown, T. A. Brown, J. R. Brown, & Marshall Northcutt were other members.

The first land was purchased from J. A. Byrnes in July of 1894.  In 1896 the sawmill operation began with approximately 50 employees.  The company contracted to build 25 houses in the area west of the mill.  They  would be homes for the workers in the area.  This area is still know locally as "Sawmill Town".  

This was the humble beginning of what was to become Louisiana's northern-most industrial city.

The community informally adopted the name of Piney Woods.  Mrs. Maxwell, wife of one of the construction workers, was given the honor of naming the town.  Since there were so many men working in bare feet, she selected Barefoot as a suitable name.

Mrs. A. B. Rowland, in a letter, has given a vivid account of those early days.  She says " I landed at Barefoot Station in November of 1896.  It was on the L & A right-of-way, one  mile south of the state line.  A grading crew was camping in tents.  The L & A tracks lacked about five miles reaching here at that time, but was soon laid.  Pine Woods Lumber Company sent George Harris as general manager and J. F. Giles as secretary and commissary manager, to begin building a sawmill.  I was present when Mr. Giles pulled the sign, Barefoot Station, from the store door,  wrote Springhill on the reverse side, and nailed it up again.  That was a few days before Christmas, 1896".

During this early period, Springhill consisted of a company store, a post office, and a barber shop.

While this seems meager by today's standards, it was really quite remarkable.  Springhill was every bit a boom town.  This was accomplished with only mules and oxen for transportation.

About 1897 the Pine Woods Lumber Company was organized and took over the operation of the sawmill.  The first recorded land purchase by the new company was in November, 1899.  

From 1887 to 1993  Springhill grew and prospered with Pine Woods Lumber Company.  

In 1933 the company went out of business and the population dwindled.  Frost Lumber Company purchased and revitalized the mill in 1936.  Thus it remained until 1946, when it  was purchased by the Springhill Lumber Company, which eventually became Anthony Forest Products Corporation.  Anthony Forest Products permanently closed the sawmill in 1972.  

The town grew around the old mill.  By the time of its closure, the mill was in the center of downtown Springhill.  The sawmill is long gone now, but not forgotten by longtime residents of the area.  Many remember, with nostalgia, the mill's rhythmic pulse, the old mill whistle, and even the black cinders which covered cars, smudged clothing, and lodged in eyes.  About all that is left of this historic old mill is a section of wall here and there and a big empty space, but that's where it all started.  

In 1918, the first  oil well was drilled in the area.  The Smitheman Well was a gas producer and provided the first natural gas to the growing community.  

It was 1927, however, before Louisiana Power and Light came into Springhill to provide the community with electricity.  Before this time, the only electricity available in the area was from the sawmill's big dynamo.

Perhaps it was the success of the Springhill Sawmill that encouraged International Paper Company to consider Springhill as a site for a different type of mill.  In 1937 the big paper company chose Springhill for a large Kraft paper mill.  This selection changed Springhill almost overnight from a sleep little sawmill town to an industrial town of almost boom town proportions,  Men cane from near and far to apply for work in constructing the mill and hoping for permanent employment upon the mill's completion.  The influx of people greatly over taxed the housing facilities of the area.  Men lived in tents, in what is now the city park.  Several families would crowd together in dwellings that were meant for one family.  It was to take several years for supply to catch up with  demand in the housing market.

Mr. Erling Riis was construction engineer for the building of the mill.  C. L. Crain was manager of the brand new mill, which employed 850 people by 1938.

Other industries soon joined the paper mill in Springhill.  In 1946 International Paper began construction of a box plant, which now ships products all over the world.  Stauffer Chemical was the next industry to locate in Springhill.  Stauffer began production of aluminum sulfate in 1949.  In 1960 Arizona Chemical Company constructed a multi-million dollar plant in Springhill, and began operation with 65 employees.  American Cyanamid was next to join the list of Springhill industries.

From that historic date in 1937 when International Paper Company selected Springhill for the site of its paper mill, the names of Springhill and International Paper were almost synonymous in this area.  As International Paper Company went, so went Springhill.  Therefore, it was with a great deal of shock and despair that Springhill received the announcement on October 10, 1978, that the sprawling paper mill which provided a multi- million dollar payroll, was to close and be torn down.  Springhill almost collectively went into shock.  

As it was in 1933, when the Pine woods Lumber Company ceased operation, many left Springhill to seek employment elsewhere.   Many people stayed.  The sons and grandsons of the men who had built the mill secured jobs with the demolition companies and helped tear the mill down.  The people of Springhill watched with lumps in their throats and an empty feeling in the pits of their stomach as the old mill was blown up, dismantled, and hauled away.  

Springhill was not to become a ghost town.  She proved to be a city of survivors.  As you can see from our logo on the main page.  We all think "Springhill is Special"  This is why we have survived in spite of all the difficulties.  There were still names like Arizona Chemical, American Cyanamid, Stauffer Chemical, and Tyson Foods to provide employment.  A new source of jobs also began to develop in the form of the oil industry.  New oil fields were discovered in the area.  Springhill men and women went to work, not only drilling and producing oil and gas, but in the jobs that provided services to that industry.

International Paper had not abandoned Springhill.  Almost like Phoenix rising from the ashes, its  new Wood Products Plant began to take shape in the dust where the old Kraft Paper Mill had stood.  Many of Springhill's sons and daughters are once again employed at a saw mill ... an ultra-modern, mechanized, state of the art mill, but a saw mill none the less. 

The first school house of Springhill was built on Rock Hill in 1897, on the site what was Tyson Foods on the Plain Dealing Highway.  The building was a one room, log structure.  Grades one through eight were taught at the school.  Enrollment was 26, with W. A. Miller as the first teacher.  Mr. Miller became a staunch advocate for more and better education.  He was instrumental in having a petition drawn up, which if passed, would be a tax for the support of the schools.  Although many people favored the tax, some did not , and trouble broke out.  
Even though the tax was not brought to a vote, education did not flounder.  In 1902 a large auditorium-type school building was erected.  Arthur Pope was the principal.  Enrollment was 62.  This school, which consisted of ten grades, kept no permanent records and issued no report cards to pupils. 

" History of Webster Parish Schools" states that, "The man who well deserves the credit for establishing a high school is W. B. Smith".  Smith began teaching in Springhill in 1909, and by 1910 he was successful in having a school approved as a State High School by the Louisiana Department of Education.  The first graduates of S.H.S. were in 1910. They were Mrs. G. A. Reynolds & Arthur Miller.

Education in Springhill continued to grow.  In 1920 a school erected,  and J. L. Liggin became principal.  In 1927 a new brick building was built.   S. R. Emmons was principal at the new school.  During this period Springhill became an accredited high school.  This period also saw Springhill absorb small schools through consolidation.  1927 was also the year that the State Athletic Association included Springhill in its membership.  

The early school house served the community as a church.  The Church, known as Union Church, was interdenominational.  Worship services were held in the school until 1920, when Pine Woods Lumber sold one acre building sites to both the Methodist and Baptist Churches for $1.00 each.  Materials were donated to the town to construct a church building.  At first the Baptists and Methodists shared this building, meeting on alternate Sundays.  Later, the Methodists offered to sell their interest in this building to the Baptists for $500, provided the Baptist moved the Union Church building to what is now the site of the First Baptist Church.  The Methodists retained the original site and erected a new structure.  

In 1908, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Dees established the first telephone service for Springhill.  They operated the  Springhill Telephone Company from their home.  Originally, the company served approximately eight families.

 Dr. Gary Bonner wrote a book for the Centennial Celebration, but he died June 16, 2001, about one month after completion of the history book for his city.  Its completion was one of his proudest achievements, he had said.

Ann Bonner, wife of Dr. Gary Bonner, took the article below from his book, "SPRINGHILL, LOUISIANA:  The City That Pine Trees Built", which he wrote for the Centennial Celebration.