Bright Coop had its humble beginnings in 1951. Charles and N.G. Bright, reared in their father's grocery business, had returned from World War II and as the 50's approached, realized the time of the personal service grocery store had passed, for large grocery chains were beginning to show interest in the Nacogdoches market.

With an abundance of both pine and hardwood timber in the area, the brothers initially thought of building church furniture. The broiler industry was in its infancy in East Texas at this time and a couple of local "chicken haulers" impressed upon them the need for locally produced and readily available chicken coops for transporting birds to the Houston area and other markets.

After much deliberation, the brothers decided to build chicken coops. Their auspicious beginnings, with limited capital and a "fly by the seat of your pants and learn as you go" attitude, enabled them to produce a coop that was just what the local market needed.

With an abundance of both pine and hardwood timber in the area, the brothers initially thought of building church furniture. The broiler industry was in its infancy in East Texas at this time and a couple of local "chicken haulers" impressed upon them the need for locally produced and readily available chicken coops for transporting birds to the Houston area and other markets.

After much deliberation, the brothers decided to build chicken coops. Their auspicious beginnings, with limited capital and a "fly by the seat of your pants and learn as you go" attitude, enabled them to produce a coop that was just what the local market needed.

There was a readily available labor pool of unskilled but hard working rural folks who were willing to learn what it took to make coops. Bright Coop was an equal opportunity employer 30 years before the government coined the phrase and made it a part of the work force.

Initially, every step of coop production was by hand but as they gained experience, some of these steps were eliminated with the introduction of machines, many of which were designed or adapted by Walter Harris, a machinist who joined the fledgling company in its infancy.

As with any new venture, "the Bright boys" as they were called by local folks, tried many things in getting their business going; manufacturing cane bottom chairs; broom handles; hauling grain and other produce; whatever it took.

They soon added a small mill behind their lot to cut and dress the wood they purchased in a variety of sizes for making coops. As the broiler industry began to really take shape in the 50's, so did their business grow. From supplying a local market, they began to expand into neighboring states and even had sales into Mexico, eventually selling coops in practically every broiler producing state in the nation, all the while adding to their facilities and expanding their holdings around their original site.

With the advent of plastic coops in the early 70's, wood chicken and turkey coops began to lose their popularity with the live haul industry that had evolved through integration of the broiler industry. Continuing their wood products base, the Bright's added pallet building to their product line, supplying wood pallets to petrochemical companies and refineries along the Texas and Louisiana gulf coast as well as other markets.

In 1976, N. G., the older of the brothers, decided to retire and sold half of his interest to Charles and the other half to a long time employee, Joe Biggerstaff.

Upon his return from the Southeastern Poultry Convention and trade show in Atlanta in 1978, Charles was convinced the wood chicken coop business was all but gone, as plastic coops had taken the market. He and Walter Harris immediately began to consider ways to "develop a better mouse trap". Thus was born the Cage Dumping system as it is known today. John Holladay, an employee of USDA's Russell Research Center in Georgia, had developed a coop dumper and he aided in the design and development of the cage dumping system.

In 1989, the pallet operation was sold and Charles Bright became the sole owner of the company. In 1992, the firm began building trailers for the forestry, poultry and highway markets. Bright Coop Inc., continues to grow, as evidenced by the addition of our new 35,000 sq.ft. state-of-the-art trailer manufacturing facility in 1998. The firm continues in the tradition established by Novel Bright, who taught his sons the meaning of personal service at an early age, and instilled in them the lesson by example that "your word is as good as your bond". Clem Russell, general manager, adheres to these same principles, learned through long association as an employee whose tenure began when he was a young teenager.