Masonite Corporation

Masonite needs no glue. Mason, a friend and protege of Thomas Edison, patented his process at Laurel in 1924. Wood chips were saturated with steam at 100 pounds per square inch, then raised to 400 and released through an orifice to atmospheric pressure. The fibers were formed into boards on a screen, then pressed and heated, and the wood's own lignin bonded them without added adhesive. Mass production began in 1929. The company later passed to USG in 1984, International Paper in 1988 and Premdor in 2001.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lauren Rogers Museum of Art — 1.2 mi
  Mississippi's oldest art museum, a 1923 memorial to a timber heir in Laurel, with a major Native American basket collection and no admission fee since it opened.
• Amos Deason House — 6.2 mi
  A Greek Revival house in Ellisville where a Confederate major was shot in 1863, tied to the history of the Free State of Jones.
• African American Military History Museum — 26 mi
  The wooden USO club that opened in March 1942 for Black soldiers training at Camp Shelby, now a museum of African American military service from the Revolutionary War to Iraq.
• Forrest County Courthouse and Dahmer Memorial — 26 mi
  The courthouse where Hattiesburg held Freedom Day on January 22, 1964, and where a memorial now honors Vernon Dahmer, killed by Klansmen in 1966.

More markers nearby

• Dr. King Visits Laurel — 0.5 mi
• Beacon Homes — 0.6 mi
• Triangle Homes — 0.7 mi
• Oak Park School — 0.7 mi