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Nabors Sign Project, Mansfield, LA (2026)

01/17/2021

Photos from Friday, January 15, 2021's rededication and ribbon cutting for the refurbished Nabors Trailer sign at it's rominent new location on Polk Street (near the intersection of Wasington St.)

01/16/2021

The new refurbished sign was dedicated today, Friday, January 15, 2021. It is now located close to the intersection of Washington and Polk St.

05/29/2020

DID YOU KNOW
By Raymond Powell

With the interest in the preserving of the Nabors Trailers Sign headed up by David Calhoun it appears appropriate for a historical article to be written about W.C. Nabors, the owner and founder of the Nabors Trailers Company. W.C. (Will) Nabors was born in Naborton, La. on Dec. 16, 1977. There aren’t many people living today that knew Mr. Nabors personally. This writer knew him but not on a social level.

W.C. Nabors was one of the earlier DeSoto students attending L.S.U. and received an accounting degree. He was employed as an accountant in Shreveport at the time he bought the Ford Agency and moved back to Mansfield, La. He Built his first home at the S.W. corner of Martha Ave. and First St. This home was moved to Grand Cane in 1919. He built his next home on the east side of U.S. Hwy 171 and kept the name Briarwood. He had married Cara Rives who was the daughter of Albert Rives and he had already named that location Briarwood. It is interesting to note that this is the location at the bottom of Hungerbeller Hill was the last location that a family of American Indians had occupied near Mansfield.

W.C. Nabors realized if he was going to be able to sell Ford trucks that a trailer would be needed to haul logs to the sawmill. Until this time logs were hauled by wagons pulled by mules or oxen. To develop a trailer company he took Willard D. Benson as Vice President and Earnest L. Martin as Secretary/Treasurer. Nabors and Martin developed the trailer hookup called a “5th Wheel” which revolutionized the trucking industry. It was agreed between them that the survivor of the two would own this successful patent. Mr. Nabors ended up with the patent because Mr. Martin pre-deceased him.

The log trailer was the first development with a sugar cane “V” typed trailer next. This was a very big seller and is still used in South Louisiana. This was followed by a cotton trailer and even school bus bodies. La. Normal School used the school bus body on a Ford chassis for many years to transport students from Sabine, Natchitoches and Winn Parishes. Possibly the most important body developed was the refrigerator vans.

The company policy was to train local people, offer them regular work hours and pay regular industrial wages. In 1942 with war looming the Mansfield Lions Club sent a delegation to Washington D.C. to help secure a War Dept. contract. It was said that “The Sun never sets on a Nabors Trailer” as they were all over the world because of the war. The company opened sales offices in Dallas & Houston, Tx. and Memphis and Jackson, Ms. There were 400 employees at the Mansfield Plant.

Mr. Nabors sold the plant in 1959 to Sterling Precision Corp. with Mr. Claude Roberts and Mr. Hartwell Smith continuing as management. Roberts was with Mr. Nabors from the opening of the Ford Agency in the early 1920’s. It never was as successful after the ownership and finally was closed. Nabors Trailers was the life blood of DeSoto Parish along with Hendrix Manufacturing Co. It was a sad day when Mr. W.C. Nabors was no longer able to operate his famous company at Mansfield, La.

04/02/2019

Nabors Trailers Lists Donor Updates

Chairman David Calhoun and the Nabors Sign Restoration Project Committee would like to thank all donors that have made contributions thus far since the fundraiser for the project was made public. The committee has now reached the 35% mark of their goal of $30,000.

Calhoun said, “It’s a big job, and we need lots of help with funding to preserve the landmark. We humbly thank those that have already contributed toward the familiar sign, and ask that the history lovers of Mansfield and DeSoto Parish continue to help us. ”

Donations can be sent to the Nabors Sign Project; PO Box 114; Mansfield, LA 71052. For more information call 318-461-0031. If you are a PayPal user, you make your donation using that means. Also, check out their page under Nabors Sign Project.

The most recent donors making contributions to the project include The Flower Shop of Mansfield, Sara Stokes, Kenneth and Kim Lee, DeSoto Historical and Genealogical Society, George M. Gilmer, Jr., G. Gerald Williams, Faster Tax – Joann Atkins, Shaw Stokes, Doris Meredith (in memory of Bronson Gamble and Alfred Stennett), David and Dianne Mason, and Beth Timmons.

03/18/2019

DeSoto Historical Society Meeting Highlights Nabors Trailers Contributions to Area
By: George Gilmer

In our meeting on February 24, 2019, the DeSoto Historical and Genealogical Society voted to donate $100.00 to the Nabors Sign Restoration Project. We believe it is important to preserve and restore this symbol (sign) because of the economic value it represented for many people in Mansfield and DeSoto Parish. Nabors Trailers provided so many good paying manufacturing jobs to families over its 5 year history. It was a major part o our manufacturing base economy for many years.

Nabors Trailers had U.S. Defense Contacts during WWII, which helped bring Mansfield out of the Great Depression of the 1930’s because it provided many good paying jobs.

Nabors Trailers provided a stable middle class income for many families over its 85 years life and its employees were a major force in the cultural life of Mansfield. Nabors executive Claude Roberts was the leader in creating the DeSoto Parish Public Library. One half of the construction cost of DeSoto General Hospital was donated by Nabors. The first air-conditioned hotel and movie theater were built on the Courthouse Square in the early 1940’s by Nabors. Some people still have fond memories of the Victory Theater.

For many reasons it is important to preserve this sign which symbolized economic prosperity for Mansfield…HOME OF NABORS TRAILERS”!

Some of the people employed at Nabors that I remember include Wilfred Nabors, Marie Nabors, Claude Roberts, Green Rives, Jr., Hartwell Smith, John Sly, Harlan Blackmon, Mr. Chaffin, Mr. Gallaspy, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Hatcher, Mr. Ryan and “Red” Nabors, Scout Master of Troop 30.

Editor’s Note: This article demonstrates the influence that Nabors Trailers had on Mansfield and around the world. The restoration committee is still in need of your contributions forward the sign project. You can send your donations to the attention of David Calhoun, PO Box 114, Mansfield, LA 71052. You can also email him at [email protected] or call 318-461-0031. If you have a PayPal account, your contribution can also be submitted that way, and you can find them on Facebook under Nabors Sign Project, so please go and “Like” the page.

03/06/2019

Donors:
Week 1: David Calhoun, Matt Weeks, Van Reech, VFW Post 4586, Jayson Richardson, Gay and Roy Lee Barron, a Concerned Citizen, Robert and Linda Davidson, Marshall and Gayle Laffitte, Anne Simpson, Cleco, Greg and Elizabeth Grant, Johnny and Viola May and Edward Gorman.

Week 2: Anna Morris-Jackson (in loving memory of Isaiah and Anna C. Morris), Terry and Jacque Ward, James Grice, Bobbie English, Walsh Timber Co., Greg Grant, Anne Gannon, Wayne and Ronnie Hooper, Katherine Young-Hartkins, A. J. and Jean Williams, Jr., Blackmon Trailer Sales, John L. and Carolyn L. Freeman, Judson and Hilda Rives, Bryan and Frances Norwood, and Billy J. and Julie Morris.

Week 3:The Flower Shop of Mansfield, Sara Stokes, Kenneth and Kim Lee, DeSoto Historical and Genealogical Society, George M. Gilmer, Jr., G. Gerald Williams, Faster Tax – Joann Atkins, Shaw Stokes, Doris Meredith (in memory of Bronson Gamble and Alfred Stennett), David and Dianne Mason, and Beth Timmons.

Week 4:Mary “Honey Gal” Odenwelder, Tommie J. Crossland, Ricky Weeks, Scott Gurley, Margaret Carlisle (in memory of Vernon Rains, who worked over 30 years and helped erect the Nabors sign), Mr. and Mrs. Bill Lowrey, William and Carolyn Palmer, Kenneth Gasner, William and Marianne Eagleson (on behalf of the McFarland family), Roxanna Scott Meers, Larry and Wanda Deas, Julia Hollowell, Wilfred Nabors, Jr., and Sid and Elizabeth Ramsey.

Week 5: Billy Herring, Marshal and Linda Whatley, Tom B. King, Evelyn Noles, Travis M. Spears, Rep. Larry Bagley, Harold and Sherryl Ford, Martha Calvert, Mindy Runge State Farm Insurance, Hugh and Jane Bennett, Betty Page (in memory of her dad, Doyle Ward, who worked at Nabors for over 35 years), Hilda and Robert Thompson, and Barbara Welborn (in memory of Raymond L. Ryan).

Total raised as of April 17, 2019 is 15,445.97, which is 51% of the needed amount of $30,000.00

03/06/2019

Chairman David Calhoun and the Nabors Sign Restoration Project Committee would like to thank all of the donors making contributions since the fundraiser for the project was made public.

Calhoun said, “It’s a big job, and we need lots of help with funding to preserve the landmark. We humbly thank those that have already contributed toward the familiar sign, and ask that the history lovers of Mansfield and DeSoto Parish continue to help us. ”

Donations can be sent to the Nabors Sign Project; PO Box 114; Mansfield, LA 71052. For more information call 318-461-0031. They can also be made in honor or memory of someone special.

03/06/2019

Save the Sign!
Mansfield’s WWII Contributions
By: Van Reech
At the recent DeSoto Historical Society’s quarterly meeting I substituted for David Calhoun to give an update on our progress in saving the old “Home of Nabors Trailers” sign. Of course I was interrupted but that is one of the things I really like about our meetings – the impromptu reminiscing of history. One subject usually leads to another and soon we are wildly off center and having fun talking about DeSoto Parish!
When I mentioned coming up the hill on old Hwy 171, Mr. Powell mentioned how Nabors Trailers occupied that entire block where the old sign had stood. Mr. George Gilmer remembered that when coming home as a child he was encouraged to stand up in the back seat of his parent’s car and count all the trailers parked there waiting to be shipped all over the United States. During WW II he remembers cannon carriages and ammunition caissons being parked there instead of truck trailers. There were rows and rows of them waiting to be transported across town to Hendrix’s Manufacturing who had the contract to make the axles for those same bodies that would then be shipped all over the world to every theatre of battle that America or our Allies fought in. The sun truly “Never Sets on a Nabors Trailer” as their slogan boasted.
If any more of you have more Nabors Trailer memories please share with me and let’s all go historically impromptu and get wildly off center with memories like we did last Sunday and I’ll share with you!

Nabors Sign Project

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