History:

Haynesville enjoys a rich heritage dating back to its settlement in 1818. In a decade, there were eighteen families when the military road from Fort Jesup to Fort Towson was built through the area.

The community took the name Haynesville in 1843 from farmer Samuel Haynes of Georgia, who established Old Haynesville about two miles south of the town's present site. In 1898, the whole town moved north to meet the railroad.

In the early 1920 's, Haynesville was the scene of one of the states's biggest oil booms. When the first oil was discovered, Haynesville became a boom town with a population of some 20,000 persons. The economy today is boosted by oil, hunting, and fishing as well as the timber industry with large logging and pulpwood production in the area.