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toledo bend express realty
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TodayMar 19, 2024
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Toledo Bend
Clear conditions throughout the day.

Many of Newton County communities got their names as well as their existence from sawmill industry. Nearly every place had a sawmill, but some of them were operated by big lumber industries and would have a “big mill.” One such town was Call community.

Call is in west central Newton County on the Orange and Northwestern Railroad and was named for Dennis Call, a business associate of the town’s founder, George Adams, Sr. The dividing line between Jasper and Newton Counties goes through the town, both the sawmill and the school being in Jasper County. The town was established in 1895 when Cow Creek Tram Company built a sawmill, which in 1901 became a part of the Kirby Lumber Co. The pine mill burned in 1924 and was rebuilt as a hardwood plant which has been discontinued.

The Call post office founded in 1896, burned in 1906 along with the Commissary (the company store), and was moved into a small building north of the doctor’s office. In 1915 a remodeling job was done for the post office. The money order and general delivery windows were left facing the front, while the box sections angled back to form an L-shaped lobby. Mollie Eddlemon says that this is the way she remembered the office on November II, 1918 as she walked home from school, a man sitting on the post office porch told her that the Armistice had been signed.

After the war was over, a larger building was needed. The women of the town had fought hard against keeping a pool hall open, although sometimes one could send a boy inside with a message. The pool hall was in operation as early as 1906, with two white circles painted on the ceiling to reflect light on the pool tables. Since the women had been successful in closing the pool hall, the building was the logical choice for the new site of the post office. It was south of the Commissary and the lumber company office building. Only the barber shop was south of the post office and it was important because it was situated in a place that never blocked the south breezes.

In 1927, another section of boxes was added and, a parcel post window was added. The 1927 expenditure added to Mr. Gee’s running inventory shows a total of $452.33 spent. Such precise records have not been kept regarding the addition of a rest room in 1958, nor other purchases or repairs. When the ceiling of the lobby was painted, part of one of the white circles of the old pool hall was obliterated.