Emhouse, TX

Emhouse, an incorporated farming town at the junction of three farm roads eight miles northwest of Corsicana in north central Navarro County, was laid out around 1906 after the Trinity and Brazos River Valley Railway purchased the right-of-way for a line between Waxahachie and Teague. The community was originally known as Lyford, but since there was already another Texas post office by that name, officials renamed the settlement Emhouse, after Col. Edward M. House, superintendent of the railroad. The town grew rapidly in its first few years. Lured by the prospect of being on the rail line, most residents of nearby Kelm and King Willow moved their houses and businesses to Emhouse. A post office was opened in 1908, and by 1914 the community had Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, and Methodist churches, a bank, two restaurants, five grocery stores, three general stores, three blacksmith shops, a weekly newspaper called the Emhouse News, and an estimated population of 500. In 1915 the town adopted the commission form of government. Emhouse continued to prosper during the 1920s, and as late as 1929 its population was still listed at 500. But the estimated population had fallen to 322 by 1936, when thirteen businesses were reported. The decline continued after World War II, and by the mid-1960s the number of residents had fallen to 150 and the businesses to five. In 1990 Emhouse was a rural community with several churches, a district school, a large number of houses, and a population of 195. In 2000 the population was 159.