Standard Lumber Company
Hampton Springs,
& Econfina, Florida
In 1910, Richard Sears bought out the large pine mill and holdings of the Dowling Lumber Company in Suwannee County on the Live Oak, Perry and Gulf Railroad, and incorporated it in that same year as the Standard Lumber Company. On his death in 1914, this operation was left in its entirety to his widow, Anna L. Sears. Backed by the Sears’ millions, Anna Sears and her sons expanded rapidly, opening, in addition to the mill at Dowling Park, which cut cypress and pine, pine mills at Hampton Springs, Cedar Key, and Econfina, as well as a cypress and pine mill at Alton, the latter located in Taylor County. The company had a log camp south of Tallahassee, which logged both cypress and pine, although, according to Mr. Clippinger, the cypress never amounted to more than five or ten percent of the entire operation. Profits varied from time to time, but most of them were dumped back into acquiring more holdings and apparently Standard never declared a dividend throughout its entire career.