On September 18, 1963, the Kirby board of directors authorized the construction of a new plywood plant at Silsbee. Southern Pine had never been manufactured into plywood on a commercial scale before and Kirby Lumber Corporation was an early innovator in establishing the now widespread industry. The plant was scheduled to produce 36 million square feet of 3/8-inch basis plywood and create 80 new jobs. It was scheduled to open in September 1964. In June, 1964, Kirby Lumber announced that the plant, at a $2,000.000 cost, would open the next month, creating 80 regular jobs and an annual payroll of $300,000. E. B. Brown would be the General plant superintendent and W. I. Lydstrom the supervisor of the plywood plant. In 1966, veneer drying facilities were added to the facility. Louisiana-Pacific Corp bought Kirby Lumber Company in 1986. A letter received by researcher Jonathan Gerland revealed that after Santa Fe sold Kirby Lumber Corporation to Louisiana-Pacific that “all manufacturing facilities at Silsbee (plywood, sawmill, particleboard) were shut down. The plywood and sawmill were scrapped in 1987-1988.”
Southern Lumberman noted that in April, 1965, that Kirby Lumber and Southern Pine Plywood, with annual capacities of 36 million and 80 million square feet, respectively, were the only two operating plywood plants in the state. Angelina Plywood was building a sixty million square foot annual capacity plant and Gulf States Plywood was planning building a plywood plant at Woodville.