Dodge County GaArchives History .....Town of Gresston 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 December 27, 2004, 5:54 pm

Gresston.

  Situated about eight miles north of Eastman, on the Southern Railway, is the
little town of Gresston.

  This town was named for Mr. G. V. Gress, who in 1883 built one of the largest
sawmills in the South at this point. In connection with the sawmill was a large
dry kiln plant, the first of its kind in this section. Although here was the
best yellow pine timber, which was both plentiful and cheap, the mills at that
time were having trouble in disposing of their lumber, especially the boards and
random lengths, because of low price and the lack of demand. G. V. Gress was
quick to see the advantage of selling a finished product, and he made a trade
with a Mr. Moore, of the Moore Dry Kiln Co., to build these dry kilns, which
were among the first in the South. This proved a paying investment and thus was
established a market for kiln-dried boards, which up to that time were
considered a byproduct of the mill.

  By kiln-drying his boards and having a planing mill, the Gress mill had a big
advantage over the less progressive manufacturers and as a result the Gress
Lumber Company built up a profitable business and showed the way to the other
mills.

  These kilns were built with a great stack about forty feet high at the "green"
end of the dry kiln. This method was used by Mr. Moore to induce a draft and
speed up circulation for drying lumber. The mill town of Gresston grew and
flourished for many years, but, like all sawmill towns of those early days, when
the mills were through and moved away, the town also went. In fact they folded
their tents like the Arabs and as silently stole away. All that is left of this
once flourishing town are a few residences and a mercantile establishment and a
large ginnery that are owned and operated by Ragan Brothers, they being Messrs.
Claud and. R. T. Ragan, of Eastman.

  The name of Gress has been associated with the lumber industry in the South
for half a century. G. V. Gress, who built this mill in 1883, has retired from
the lumber business and is living in Jacksonville, Florida. He lived in Atlanta
for a number of years and presented the city of Atlanta with a Zoological Garden
and also the famous Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta, which, together with the
building in which it is housed, is insured for a million dollars.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY
OF
DODGE COUNTY

COPYRIGHT    1932
By MRS. WILTON PHILIP COBB

Printed by
FOOTE & DAVIES CO., ATLANTA.


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