History of Elmo, Texas: From Flourishing Community to Small Town (original) (raw)

By: David Minor

Published: 1952

Updated: September 22, 2023

Elmo is on U.S. Highway 80 some thirteen miles northeast of Kaufman in northeastern Kaufman County. When the Texas and Pacific Railway laid tracks through the area in the early 1870s, a community quickly developed around the railroad, and residents chose the name Elmo in honor of Elmo Scott, a wire engineer who surveyed and routed the T&P through the county. In 1873 a post office branch opened there. Within a decade Elmo had an estimated population of 900 and was a shipping point for cotton, corn, and wheat. The town had a flour mill, several cotton and grist mills, five churches, and a district school. By 1890 its population had dropped to 300, but the community still supported some fifteen businesses, four churches, one school, and several gins. For the first few decades of the twentieth century the population in Elmo remained at an estimated 400, but during the Great Depression and World War II its population declined. In 1945 the town had 150 residents, and over the next four decades that figure decreased. In 1990 Elmo had ninety residents and two businesses. In 2000 the population remained the same with six businesses.

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Bibliography:

Robert Richard Butler, History of Kaufman County, Texas (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1940). Mabel Covington Keller, History of Kaufman County, Texas (M.A. thesis, North Texas State College, 1950).

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

David Minor, “Elmo, TX,”Handbook of Texas Online, accessed October 16, 2025, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/elmo-tx.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

TID:HNE12

Original Publication Date:

1952

Most Recent Revision Date:

September 22, 2023