R. D. Gribble was organized about 1884 as Anderson, Temby, & Co. and then reorganized as Temby, Lyons, & Gribble in the city of Houston and reorganized in in 1893 under Gribble. In 1893, this operation covered two city blocks with a planing mill, two lumber sheds, an office building, and a sash and door warehouse. Equipment included forty of the latest wood-working machines.
Handling about 2,000 carloads of lumber a year, the factory employed twenty-five to sixty-five men based on seasonal needs. By 1890, the company had expanded its lumber yards to Sherman and Gainesville, Texas. The Montague County Independent from Bowie, Montague County, Texas, carried an ad on January 21, 1890, reporting that Lyon, Gribble & Co were providing lumber and building materials at their outlets in Sherman and Gainesville.