PINELAND — Pineland will never be another Dallas.
But the small woodsy town, just minutes from the Louisiana border, is enjoying a renaissance that could lead to a population boom to 1,000 residents.
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Like many rural Texas towns, Pineland has wilted since its glory days as a company town in the 20th Century, while the state’s urban centers have blossomed. But the small town isn’t ready to give up hope for a return to prosperity. A confluence of events over the last six years spurred the town into action. New residents, new leaders and the expansion of one of the town’s largest employers, the timber and manufacturing company Georgia-Pacific, have set the stage for a once-in-a-generation chance at revitalization.
The question is whether the town can capitalize on this momentum and achieve its goal of gaining 150 new residents by 2030. Doing so could open doors for the tiny community to broaden its city limits, increase tax revenue and entice new businesses.
The likelihood of this happening is not a foregone conclusion, however. The town, with an official population of about 888, according to the U.S. Census Bureau has been reaching for 1,000 residents since the 1980s.
“We add a few, and we lose a few,” said Mayor Joseph Lane. “We add another family that will come and bring some kids with them, then they leave after high school. It’s a never-ending battle.”
Xiuhong “Helen” You, the interim director and senior demographer at the Texas Demographic Center, said there are several factors that indicate whether growth will happen: the scale and timing of economic investment, available housing stock or new construction, local job creation and migration patterns.
“These trends can be promising but are also difficult to project with precision in smaller places where year‑to‑year changes are more volatile,” You wrote in an email.
Much of East Texas has grown since 2020, as residents of urban areas sought more space and quiet during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as Texas’ population is expected to boom over the next 40 years, that growth in East Texas is expected to stall, if not reverse entirely, due in part to declining birth rates, according to the Texas Demographic Center Vintage 2024 Population Projections.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Texas saw the most growth in the nation; it added 391,243 new residents in 2025. But much of that growth was centered in the state’s urban complexes and not in the rural areas. And that growth has slowed since 2024.
Based on the Demographics Center data, Sabine County, the county in which Pineland is located, is projected to lose nearly 23% of its population over the next 40 years. And there is a real concern about what that decline would do to the small town.
So city officials are doing something about it.
Using the momentum of economic investment by Georgia-Pacific, which updated the sawmill to be the largest in the south, and a revitalized interest in local politics, Pineland is taking big steps to preserve its lifeblood for the future.
“We understand that we’re not going to be Lufkin or Nacogdoches. We’re not going to even be Jasper, for that matter,” City Manager DeWayne Armstrong said, referring to other East Texas cities. “If Pineland is going to survive, we have to have a vision to get the infrastructure where it needs to be, we have to do the upgrades necessary to draw businesses to come into Pineland.”
Pineland has always been home to the lumber industry, with most of its original settlers being millhands and their families. In the early 1900s, the Temple family — which ran a massive timber operation in the 20th Century — took over the local mill, and Pineland became a sort of company town with an established commissary and child care center.
Under the wing of the Temple family, Pineland’s population grew substantially. When Temple first entered the picture, Pineland was home to 250 people. At the height of its existence as a company town, Pineland was home to more than 1,500 people.
Things slowed down in the 1980s and Pineland’s population dropped to the 800s. Eventually, Georgia-Pacific took over operations.
Since then, the community has been stuck in a holding pattern, Lane said.
For years, residents of the community wanted Pineland to remain a small timber town that is reliant on a single corporation.
That mindset changed in 2020.
People began moving to rural areas, including Pineland, to escape the cities. And residents took a long, hard look around them and began taking action. Community members stepped into seats relinquished by city council members. The local school board, West Sabine ISD, hired a new superintendent, Carnelius Gilder. And there has been a concerted effort to revitalize the school district and community infrastructure.
In the last five years, Pineland’s leaders have doubled the town’s police force to four officers. And with the help of grants and the American Rescue Plan, the city has invested in new equipment for the volunteer fire department, new sewer lines and upgraded the water tower. Leaders are revitalizing decades-old water infrastructure and developing plans for a $7.5 million sewer plant.
The city established a 10-year plan to fix every city road. In the last two years, Pineland was able to utilize Community Development Block Grants and funding from the General Land Office for two roads, and then local dollars went toward five other city roads.
The city has also made major investments in the parks and recreation areas, especially in facilities that benefit a thriving youth sports community.
And then, in 2023, Georgia-Pacific invested $120 million into Pineland Lumber to make it the largest sawmill in the South. More than 300 lumber trucks come and go from the facility every day. The site produces about 450 million board feet of lumber per year – enough to build 30,000 homes, said Fritz Mason, the Georgia-Pacific Lumber president.
“It’s a win-win for us and the community of Pineland to continue to grow their population,” Mason said. “We have a long-term commitment to being in Pineland, which should be very helpful for that.”
Georgia-Pacific chose Pineland for many reasons, including its available workforce, the forests that surround the mill, the available mill, and the city’s proximity to major markets. Pineland is bisected by Highway 96 and sits along the Union Pacific rail line that can ship timber to the west.
This investment set off a chain reaction and a flurry of development. The town is nearly ready to celebrate the opening of its first real truck stop, which will add several new gas pumps. Currently, there are only four in the entire town. And a CDL driving school created by Lamar University has opened up well-paying employment opportunities for Pineland residents.
In 2025, the Texas Legislature designated Pineland as the “Sawmill Capital” of Texas. A point of pride for many in the community.
Other small businesses, like Tall Timbers Gymnastics, have opened up shop in recent years. Armstrong, the city manager, is making plans to keep this momentum going. City infrastructure could handle another company the size of Georgia-Pacific that employs about 300 people full-time, and the city has obtained more properties with which they hope to entice new businesses.
The next big challenge, however, will be housing. There isn’t a lot of it in the city, and many of the homes are old sawmill houses in desperate need of repair. The newer homes are being built in subdivisions outside of city limits. The city has begun to help residents apply for U.S. Department of Agriculture loans and housing subsidies so they can purchase or build new homes.
If Pineland can grow to 1,000 people naturally, then the city can expand its city limits through annexation. This could bring hundreds more properties, including businesses, onto the tax roll, compounding growth.
Disclosure: Lamar University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.