The town was established as a stop on the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City Railway that was built through the area in 1894.

Serving the local sawmills and lumber camps, the post office was established at Lumberton in 1909.

[5] After the closure of the sawmill at Fletcher, the area remained populated and became part of the city of Lumberton when it was first incorporated in July 1973 when the towns city limits were within Beaumont's jurisdiction; however, two years later in 1975 Beaumont filed two lawsuits challenging Lumberton's right to exist.

At the time this happened the Mayor of Lumberton was Dannis Robinson and the lawyer was Kenneth Furlow.

[6] The eastern border of the city is Village Creek, a southeastward-flowing tributary of the Neches River.

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

Lumberton suffered significant property damage, particularly in the Pine Island Bayou and Village Creek areas.

In 2005, Lumberton resident Mike Smith was elected to the LISD School Board at the age of 19.

[16] In April 2007, Smith became the youngest man to testify in front of the Texas House of Representatives during the 2007 legislative session.

[17] On September 24, 2005, Lumberton made national headlines after suffering a direct hit from Hurricane Rita; on September 13, 2008, Lumberton made national headlines again for having another direct hit from Hurricane Ike.

On August 28, 2017, Hurricane Harvey hit Lumberton and approximately half of the community was submerged again.