Emory, Texas

Everything Emory is known for

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Music in Emory

Songs About Emory

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Artists From Emory

B
Billie Jo Jones
country Pop: 14

Rivers & Roads in Song near Emory

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Emory.

Sabine River 10 songs Interstate 20 10 songs

History of Emory

A Mile-Tall Column of an Ancient Vanished Sea RoadyGoat

The salt under Grand Saline isn't a flat layer. It's a column, a dome that rises like a frozen plume from deep underground. It started as the Louann Salt, the dried-out remnant of an entire sea that evaporated here during the Jurassic, roughly a hundred and seventy million years ago. Buried under heavier rock, salt behaves strangely. It actually flows, slower than honey but unstoppable, and over eons it squeezed upward into a towering plug of nearly pure rock salt more than a mile deep. The top is just a couple hundred feet down. There's so much of it that geologists estimate the deposit could supply salt for thousands of years at current rates. You are standing on the ghost of an ocean that dried up before the dinosaurs were done.

14.3 mi away

The Only Rock You're Allowed to Eat RoadyGoat

Look down. Somewhere under Grand Saline is the only rock human beings actually eat. Table salt is the mineral halite, and in its raw form it really is rock, mined in solid chunks just like coal or marble. But unlike every other rock on Earth, you put this one in your body on purpose, every single day. You have to. The sodium and chloride in salt run your nervous system, fire your muscles, and keep the fluid balance in every cell. Sodium and potassium act like a tiny chemical battery that powers every nerve signal and heartbeat you have. Too little, and you get dizzy, confused, even seizures. So while we say 'don't eat rocks,' there's exactly one exception, and a whole town is built on top of it.

14.3 mi away

The Town Named for the Mountain of Salt Beneath It RoadyGoat

900

Here's a town that's exactly what it says on the label. Grand Saline means 'great salt marsh' in French, and it sits on top of one of the largest, purest salt deposits in North America. Caddo people were boiling salt from these brine springs as far back as nine hundred A.D., long before any town existed. Early settlers called the spot Jordan's Saline, but when the Texas and Pacific Railway laid track through in 1873, the new depot was christened Grand Saline, and the name stuck to the whole town. Morton Salt bought up the local salt works around 1920 and sank a deep mine into the dome by 1931. Nearly a century later, they're still digging the same salt. The name isn't a metaphor. It's a geology report.

14.4 mi away

Rains, Emory

1839

Emory Rains, early legislator, was born in Warren County, Tennessee, on May 4, 1800, the son of John and Mary Ann Katie (Duncan) Emory. He came to Texas with his family in 1817, settling first at Nacogdoches and then moving to Shelby County. During his early years in Texas, he became a largely self-taught lawyer and began a career in politics. He represented Shelby County as senator in the Second and Third congresses of the republic and in the Convention of 1845 . Among Rains's most important legislative accomplishments was his sponsorship of the Homestead Law in 1839. After annexation he continued to represent Shelby County in the House of the Second, Fourth, and Fifth legislatures. Sometime before 1859 he moved to Wood County, and he represented that county in the Senate of the Eighth Legislature. When Texas seceded from the United States, Rains did not swear allegiance to the Confederacy or participate in the Civil War. During Reconstruction in 1869, he helped survey a new county from Wood County that was established in 1870 and named in his honor. The county seat town, first named Springville, was renamed Emory, also in his honor. Rains was married to Marana Anderson in 1822. The couple had twelve children. Rains died at his home in Rains County on March 4, 1878, and was buried in the City Cemetery at Emory.

Tsha Handbook →

Chicken Salad Case

1915

The "Chicken Salad Case" was involved in the impeachment charges against James E. Ferguson in 1917. On February 11, 1915, the Thirty-fourth legislature passed a deficiency appropriations act providing $2,000 a year for two years for expenses incurred by former Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt for fuel, lights, water, and ice for the governor's mansion, and for food, including "chicken salad and punch," automobile repairs, feed, and stationery for his private use. Although Attorney General Benjamin F. Looney ruled the appropriation invalid, Ferguson signed the bill. Representative W. C. Middleton of Rains County brought suit and on June 12, 1915, was granted a temporary injunction by Judge George Calhoun of the Fifty-third District Court, Austin, restraining comptroller Henry Berryman Terrell from issuing warrants on the state treasury to cover these expenditures. On appeal by Terrell to the state Supreme Court, transferred to the Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, Fourth District, San Antonio, Chief Justice William Seat Fly , on June 14, 1916, upheld the lower court, making the injunction perpetual in part. The court ruled that the legislature could appropriate for fuel, water, lights, and ice necessary for the Governor's Mansion , but not for groceries and other personal needs of the governor, which appropriation was held to be contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of 1876 on the governor's salary, casual deficiencies, and prohibition against appropriation for private purposes. Meanwhile, Ferguson continued to purchase groceries with state money under this appropriation. When questioned before the House Investigation Committee of the Thirty-fifth Legislature on charges of misappropriated funds, he testified under oath that he would repay the state if the Supreme Court decided against him. But in spite of the adverse decision he failed to do so. In September 1917 the High Court of Impeachment held that Ferguson was guilty of a misapplication of appropriations made by the legislature for fuel, lights, ice, and incidentals, in that he used the same in the purchase of groceries, feed, automobile tires, and gasoline for his private use, and that his refusal to repay these funds constituted a continued misapplication of the public funds of Texas.

Tsha Handbook →

Smyrna Union Church

1902

This house of worship is the site of the old school house in which, on Sept. 2, 1902, Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America (National Farmers Union) established its first local union. The stated purpose was "To secure equity, establish justice and apply the Golden Rule." The ten men who founded "Farmers Union" were residents of this area. The organization which they here established has become known and respected throughout the agricultural world. This tablet is erected to honor their names and memory. Jesse Adams, W. T. Cochran, Tom Donaldson, Newt Gresham, J. B. Morris, T. J. Pound, O. H. Rhodes, Dr. Lee Seamster, W. S. Sisk, and J. S. Turner; presented by James G. Patton, President, National Farmers Union, Denver, Colorado.

Historical Marker → · 3.7 mi away

Rains County

1840

One of the earlier areas of Texas to be settled. J. H. Hooker, first known settler, built a grist mill on the Sabine River here in the 1840s. Emigrants from the Old South came in after 1840, although the county was not created until 1870. The name honors pioneer Emory Rains (1800-1878). He served as Senator in 8th Legislature from district out of which this county was later carved and had a long public service career. Rains County is known as the birthplace of the Farmers Cooperative and Educational Union of America, founded in 1904.

Historical Marker →

Amis, James Alexander

1910

Built n 1910-1912, this residence features unusual cast-concrete block construction. James Alexander Amis (1872-1939) poured and cured the blocks for his family's home. A versatile businessman, Amis operated a sawmill, lumberyard, truck farm, cattle and hog farm, pickle factory, and an undertaking business. He also sponsored the successful flight of a hot air balloon over Emory in 1914 and later led efforts to build Highway 19 through the city. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1985

Historical Marker →

Emory, TX

1848

Emory, the county seat and largest town of Rains County, is at the junction of U.S. Highway 69 and State Highway 19, at the center of the county. It was named for Emory Rains , who settled east of the townsite around 1848. The community was originally known as Springville, reportedly for the many springs in the area. A town plat was evidently prepared by the late 1840s, and by 1857 a store, a tannery, a gin, and a number of houses occupied the site. When Rains County was organized in 1870 Springville became the county seat, and the name was changed to Emory in honor of Rains, who had played an important role in the authorization of the county. A post office founded the same year has continued to operate to the present. A log house initially served as a temporary courthouse. In 1872 a two-room frame courthouse was built; it burned in 1879, along with all of the county records, and the county offices were again housed in the log house until 1884, when a brick courthouse was constructed. About 1880 the Denison and Southeastern Railway was built across the county, making Emory a shipping point for the surrounding lumber-producing area. In 1885 the town had two churches, two sawmills, two cotton gins, two saloons, two hotels, a weekly newspaper named the Rains County Record , and a population of 600. The town continued to prosper during the early years of the twentieth century. By 1914 it had three banks and 700 inhabitants, and in 1920 its independent school district was established. The 1920s witnessed a period of unprecedented prosperity in Emory, and by 1929 the community, now incorporated, had a reported population of 1,000. The Great Depression and the agricultural crisis of the early 1930s, however, began a decline that continued until the 1960s. By 1931 the population had fallen to 750, and by 1936 it had dwindled further to 447, as many inhabitants sought their fortunes in the larger cities. The early postwar period saw modest population growth, but it was not until the late 1950s, when nearby Lake Tawakoni was built and Rains County began attracting large numbers of retirees, that Emory began to see sizable increases in the number of inhabitants. After the mid-1960s the town grew steadily, from 578 in 1965 to 813 in 1985 and 963 in 1990. Over the same period the number of businesses increased from twenty to thirty-seven. Tourism and agriculture form the mainstays of the town's economy. In 2000 the population was 1,021 with 160 businesses.

Tsha Handbook →

Sports in Emory

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 3A · Softball · 2019–2021

Rains — UIL 3A Softball State Champions — 2 titles

Most recent: 2021 3A

The Emory community, nestled in the heart of East Texas, has a proud tradition of supporting its student-athletes, and the Rains High School Lady Cats softball program stands out. Competing in Class 3A, the team has achieved significant success on the state stage, bringing home multiple University Interscholastic League (UIL) state championships.

The Lady Cats have demonstrated consistent excellence, securing UIL 3A state titles in both 2019 and 2021. These championships reflect the dedication and hard work within the program, making Rains High School a notable name in Texas high school softball.

State titles
2 (2019–2021)
Most recent
2021
Class
3A
The moment

The 2021 UIL 3A state championship was a high point for Rains High School softball.

Sources: UIL State Championship Archives · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near Emory

96 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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