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W.J. Smith Wood Preserving Co.

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The Tie Plant in Denison, Texas
1700 West Morton Street

From Donald Fisher via Ollie Buckner, March 17, 2011:

Another Denison neighborhood where African Americans lived was "The Tie Plant" (W. J. Smith Wood Preserving Co.), in the northwest part of Denison. Richard Chumley, Jackie Chumley (who is married to Venetta Haney), and their sister Lillian Chumley grew up there. The Black people who lived there worked for the MKT Railroad in housing furnished by MKT. This is where they repaired train engines and processed railroad cross-ties in a chemical called creosote before laying them for the train track. My father worked there, "loading" these railroad ties "by hand on his shoulders" into boxcars. He would come home smelling terrible.... [Ollie's father also worked at the Tie Plant.]

Kathy Thompson Jones wrote: I can still remember going by there as a little girl and having to hold my nose. Creosote was some nasty smelling stuff! Ironically, I miss it.

Betty Nicholson Snider wrote: I remember that smell, too. And did that eventually pollute sand springs and other areas as well?

Kelley Copley wrote: For the folks that worked there, it was the smell of money!

Gary Mosse wrote: I remember stopping at a trestle on the way to Loy Lake to get water. The ties polluted the area and remained a strong odor source for years.

Linda Russell Warren wrote: My dad was a foreman there in the 1950s. We lived close to there on Woodard Street. And could smell that creosote. They had open pits in the ground with that stuff in it. No environmental concerns back then. That ground there has to be contaminated.

Mark Grams wrote: I remember walking through the field with my brothers and one of them fell through the crust to his waist. The clothes had to be thrown away. We lived on West Main Street, and when the wind caught it, it was horrible. I lived on Morton and was always questioning the water there, since it was so close.

James Bryant wrote: "Creosote Creek" meandered through the Katy Golf Course - it was so thick that if you hit your ball in it there was little hope of finding it. I never saw anyone fishing there!

Carol Hutchison wrote: Perception is everything. My grandfather was my hero when I was little. He lived on West Gandy and worked at the tie plant. He always smelled of cigars and creosote. I still love those smells and smile when I smell either of those, because they remind me of him.

Brian Hander offered : From "A Look Through the Area's Past" in the Herald Democrat on September 21, 2010: "Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Smith built a Georgian Colonial type home at 1401 W. Woodard in 1939. The home is constructed of brick and has a beautiful setting of trees and a well-kept lawn."

Paul Ontiveros said: Back in the day, the whole neighborhood smelled like creosote. I still remember the whistle that blew every morning, noon, and evening.

Fredrick Michael Lessly recalled : I also grew up in that neighborhood, and the smell of creosote was always in the air! I didn't mind it, though; it was just part of growing up in the neighborhood downwind of the "Tie Plant".

Cecelia Mull Hausler agreed : That's right. We lived at 1626 W. Bond Street, and creosote was in the air for many blocks around the plant. My mother worked for Mr. W.J. Smith for a few years during the 1950s.