Tatum Sawmill

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Hattiesburg, MS / Forest Management Office

The old Tatum Lumber Company headquarters was once a thriving company town in South Mississippi. Built in 1915, the town was complete with not only sawmills, planer mills, and dry kilns, but also with a headquarters building, company store (commissary), church, school, doctor, and workers’ houses.

Molpus acquired the property in 2000 and began renovations of the buildings for use as the operational headquarters of Molpus Timberlands Management, LLC. The old office building, commissary and one worker’s house were still standing at the time of purchase. After vast renovations to restore the buildings to their original glory, Molpus moved to the old company town (also known as Bonhomie) in May 2002. The company also had an opportunity to later purchase and restore the old church, which it did. A lovely addition to the complex, panels placed around the property explain the history and former use of the various buildings. Each year, Molpus enjoys many visitors who walk the property and take self-guided tours that tell the historical significance of this property.

To oversee the multiple phases of this project, Molpus engaged Tom Howorth of Howorth & Associates Architects of Oxford, Mississippi, to preserve the character of the buildings while making a fully functional office environment for a technology-driven, twenty-first century management operation. To learn more about Howorth & Associates Architects, please visit their web site at www.howortharch.com.

To honor its significance in history and its finely restored characther, the Tatum Sawmill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.