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There
are no directions for Acol since the "town" never stayed put long
enough to be added to a map. The name is an acronym for the Angelina County Lumber Company and the "town" was a movable railroad post
office for the company's logging crews. As the timber was cut across
East Texas in the 1930s
and 40s, the crews (and the post office) simply moved to the next
site - crossing county lines as if they didn't matter (which they
didn't).
Genealogists finding a postmark from Acol on family correspondence,
may be perplexed when they cannot find Acol, Texas on any map.
The John
Germann Collection of Discontinued Texas Post Offices contains
two covers of this unique "place."
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The
Front Camps by Bob
Bowman
"With names like Lindsey Springs, Fastrill and Alceda, they played
a supporting role in the development of Texas'
forest products industry between 1890 and 1940.
Today, they're little more than trails or clearings in the forest.
They were logging camps - the short lived and sometimes mobile communities
which supported the earliest East
Texas sawmills.
Frequently called "front camps" because they were located
at the edge of a forest, the settlements usually lasted only as long
as the timber they cut. When a tract was exhausted, the camps -- housing,
stores, equipment, people -- were loaded onto railroad cars or trucks
and moved to another location....
Acol, a logging camp owned by Angelina County Lumber Company,
was moved on railroad cars so it could be moved from forest to forest.
The town later became famous in forest history for its "wandering
post office." ... more" |
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| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and vintage/historic photos, please contact
us. |
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