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Page Two
Kiln Community History
At the same time. Kiln had a prosperous business in charcoal production and sold on the New Orleans Market. The great virgin forest north of Kiln was to be the backbone of the whole area in many years to come.
The sawmill era began around the Civil War when a sawmill was built in Kiln on Jourdan River by Capt. Sam Favre from Mobile, Alabama* also built a home in Kiln on Jourdan River in year 1859, later moved to present location near the Catholic Church and today owned by Sam Favre, Jr. , a decendant of Capt. Favre, considered to be oldest house in Kiln.
Francois Haas from New Orleans built a sawmill on Bayou Talla in the Kiln area 4fter the Civil War Capt. Favre moved on to logtown and Napoleon Area, and the Francois Haas sawmill was operated by Elisha Haas and Timothy Herlihy, later known as Herlihy and Haas. The next sawmill in Kiln was operated by Emilio Cue, who became the first Postmaster at Kiln on January 31, 1887.
During this era there were other industries set up in Kiln area because of water transportation on the River Jourdan and the vast virgin forest to the North. A shipyard was operated in Kiln on Jourdan River by Willie Curet, another shipyard on Bayou Talla operated by Jeremiah Haas, also a shingle mill operated by Salvadore Necaise^ All familiar names and decendants today in Kiln Community.
The great timber supply brought in another large industry known as Naval Stores, or turpentine business. The natural gum was tapped from the living pine trees and manufactured into turpentine and resin by plants called turpentine stills. A large plant was built near Kiln on Jourdan River owned and operated by A. J. McLeod, continued on into late 1950's by his wife., Virginia McLeod and nephew, Norton Haas. The product was shipped by schooner and later by power boats down Jourdan River to parts of New Orleans and Mobile.


Kiln Kiln-History-Haas (02)
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