Elmo is a
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
and
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Kaufman County, Texas
Kaufman County is a county in the northeastern area of the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 145,310. Its county seat is Kaufman. Both the county, established in 1848, and the city were named for David S. Kaufman ...
, United States. It is located on
U.S. Highway 80, east of
Terrell and northeast of
Kaufman, the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
. The population was 768 at the
2010 Census.
History
Elmo's history began in 1870 when the
Texas and Pacific Railway
The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California. However its lines never went we ...
laid track through the area. A community subsequently emerged at the railhead, and it was decided that the new town be named in honor of Elmo Scott, a T&P Railroad surveyor. Elmo received a post office in 1873, and by the mid-1880s, it possessed several mills, five churches, schools, and approximately 900 residents. Throughout the remainder of the 19th century, however, the population declined, and by 1945 only 150 people resided in Elmo. By 1990, this figure had fallen to 90 and remained at this level through to the
2000 Census.
In 1892, Elmo residents adopted a resolution declaring it a
sundown town
Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, were all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States. They were towns that practiced a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combinati ...
, prohibiting African Americans from living there and forcing existing black residents to leave.
[ Reprinted in ]
Demographics
Elmo first appeared as a
census designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in the
2010 U.S. Census.
[
]
Notable person
* Henry Qualls (July 8, 1934 – December 7, 2003) — American texas blues
Texas blues is blues music from Texas. As a regional style, its original form was characterized by jazz and swing influences. Later examples are often closer to blues rock and Southern rock.
History
Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900 ...
and country blues
Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...
guitarist and singer
See also
* List of sundown towns in the United States
References
External links
ELMO, TX
at ''Handbook of Texas
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...
'' Online
Unincorporated communities in Kaufman County, Texas
Unincorporated communities in Texas
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
Populated places established in 1870
Census-designated places in Kaufman County, Texas
Census-designated places in Texas
Sundown towns in Texas
1870 establishments in Texas
{{KaufmanCountyTX-geo-stub