Shelby County Today

April 14, 2026 - For generations, hometown businesses have helped shape our community – creating jobs, serving neighbors and contributing to the character and pride of our towns and county. To honor legacy and America 250, we would like to spotlight our local businesses through short historical features, published throughout the year.

Local business owners are encouraged to submit a brief history of their businesses including: year founded; founder or family history; how the business has evolved over the years; memorable milestones and/or traditions; why the business values being part of this community.

These spotlights are about celebrating the people and stories behind our local businesses. Every business – whether open for 5 years or 100 years, has played a role in our shared history.

Please email, or mail the information to the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce: info@shelbycountychamber.com or 100 Courthouse Square, Center, Texas. If you have any questions, please contact us at 936-598-3682.

Join us in honoring the past, celebrating the present and looking ahead to the future – one local business story at a time.

April 13, 2026 - Ballard Diesel Performance celebrated moving to their new location with a ribbon cutting event held April 11, 2026. 

Members of the community joined in the event and gathered for the occasion. As a representative of Timpson Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Timpson, Paul Smith welcomed Ballard Diesel Performance to their new location.

Craig Ballard introduced his teammates, Jared Yoder and Issac Mathis.

“Thank you everybody for coming on out to our ribbon cutting and grand opening of Ballard Diesel Performance,” said Ballard. 

Ballard commended Yoder and Mathis for the work that they perform, “These guys are incredible with diesel trucks, everything up to a one-ton, big diesel trucks and they can do it.”

Yoder shared some of the services that they offer at Ballard Diesel Performance, and a teaser about upcoming projects, “We can take care of anywhere from preventative maintenance all the way up to cool performance fuels. We’ve actually got a couple fun things coming out here in the next couple months y’all will see on our Facebook that we’re getting ready to build, so stay tuned for that and anything you need swing by the shop we’d be happy to help the community.”

Ballard Diesel Performance is located at 14611 State Highway 87, in Timpson. For more information call, 936-254-4292.

April 10, 2026 - BOM Bank in Timpson celebrated its new renovation with a ribbon cutting event on Friday, April 10, 2026. 

Ken Hale, BOM Bank President, shared brief history of the bank and his familial connection including that he is a fifth-generation descendant of his grandfather Wardlow who was a part of the bank’s inception.

“I'm actually the fifth generation of my family to work at BOM, my family helped found the bank in 1903 in a little town called Montgomery, Louisiana,” said Hale.

Hale went on to introduce his wife Shannon, daughter Reagan who works for the bank, and a son that works for the bank as the sixth generation representatives of his family.

“We're proud, and excited when we were able to partner with Mark [Lowery, BOM Bank Texas Regional President] and buy some of the American State Bank branches, and I'm a big believer in giving back to the community. It's just the way I was raised. The town I was raised in was 600 people,” said Hale.

Hale shared he was raised by his grandparents who instilled values in him which included helping people. His grandfather was president of the bank when it began and he was also mayor of Montgomery, Louisiana.

Hale described the bank building as a well-built structure; however, he described that it was in dire need of refurbishment due to being dingy and having an odor. Hale enlisted the services of his wife to remodel the branch, as he explained she is well practiced in doing for all of their bank branches.

“I said, 'Shannon, we've got to do something over there. It just needs to be updated, you know smell a little nicer and just look a little better,' and so as I would come by and visit it would look better, and better, and better each time and man it turned out really, really nice. So, you know thanks to the staff here we got a lot of our staff here from all over Texas and Louisiana, so thank y'all everybody, I’m very humble,” said Hale.

Hale thanked everyone for attending and he encouraged anyone to send business their direction.

Paul Smith, Timpson Area Chamber of Commerce President, announced, “On behalf of the city of Timpson and Chamber of Commerce and our community, and we've got a lot of community leaders here today. Thank y'all so much for coming and investing in our community. We're happy that you're community-minded, and we think we'll be community back to you and do all we can to support you.”

Following the festivities, a drawing was held for door prizes.

BOM Bank in Timpson is located at 830 N 1st St, Timpson Texas and the number is (936) 254-2484.

April 8, 2026 - Climate Closet celebrated its grand opening on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 with the Chamber of Commerce and its ambassadors. Everyone gathered together to cut the official chamber ribbon and mark the special occasion.

Ambassador President Andi Foster welcomed everyone, "On behalf of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and the ambassadors, I want to thank everyone for coming out today and supporting as we celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting for Climate Closet. And congratulations to them on their new venture and for choosing to once again invest in our community. We're excited to have you, the Climate Closet, as part of our chamber family. We look forward to watching this grow and thrive in our community as well in Shelby County."

Foster then invited owners, Collin Mathews and Taighen Mathews May, to speak. Collin Mathews shared, "We truly appreciate the chamber and also the community for its continued support. With the Climate Closet, we're here to provide, or our goal is to provide secure, reliable, and convenient storage with 24/7 access and climate controlled units. We're proud to invest in Shelby County and we're thankful to continue to be here and again, we thank you so much for showing up and showing your support for us."

Taighen May added, "I see a lot of familiar faces. We are so excited to be joining the chamber today as well as the addition of climate controlled storage here in our area. It is a need that we felt needed to be filled and we are so excited to see it come to life today. This is a community that I grew up in, I came back to, and to even have a small part of the growth and progress here makes it all the more special."

May gave thanks again to everyone and special recognition for the project, "Projects like this don't happen overnight and they definitely don't happen without a lot of behind the scene work. This was a project that has been in the works for several years and was definitely a labor of love. We had a lot of hands that helped make it what it is today. I'll give a special shout out to Pam [Hall] because she did a lot and made a lot happen."

A unique feature of some of the storage units was described as a 'walk through' unit. Walk through units have an access door on both the front and back side which makes accessing what is inside even easier.

Climate Closet is conveniently located at 171 Loop 500, Center, Texas and features climate controlled units, security camera monitoring, keypad entry and a spacious parking lot. There are 56 storage units ranging in size from 8x8 to 15x12, including 10x15 and 10x20 walk through units. Climate Closet offers an easy online registration system with options of convenient automatic payments and text message account updates. To reserve a storage unit go to www.theclimatecloset.com, or contact Pam Hall at 936-598-7800.