Iron ore and steel shaped Morris County's economy through the mid-20th century

Iron ore deposits in Morris County were recorded as early as 1819. When World War II created demand for domestic steel, the federal government built a blast furnace in the county in 1943 through the Defense Plant Corporation. After the war, Lone Star Steel Company leased and then bought the facility. By the early 1950s, it employed more than 3,000 workers.

The steel industry made Morris County far more industrial than most rural East Texas counties of its size. The community of Lone Star, in the county's south, grew around the plant. The Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas covers this history in detail.