Editing Alba, Texas (section)

==History==
A gunsmith named Joseph Simpkins was likely the first to settle the area, arriving here with his family from Missouri around 1843. The area was previously alternately known as Albia and Simpkins' Prairie. Theories on how the community got its name differ; one claims it was because the town had been intended for white settlers only while another claims it was named for the son of a railroad official.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hla10|title=ALBA, TX|last=RACHEL|first=JENKINS|date=June 9, 2010|website=Tshaonline.org|access-date=November 25, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Courier-Gazette">{{cite news|work=[[McKinney Courier-Gazette|The Daily Courier-Gazette]]|location=McKinney, Texas|date=June 2, 1950|page=7|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29356056/|via=Newspapers.com|quote=Alba, Texas was so named because settlers did not permit negroes to live there. Alba means 'white.'|title=Clipped from the Courier-Gazette }}</ref>

The [[Alba Oilfield]] was discovered just south of Alba in 1848 by F.R. Jackson.<ref name=":0" />

The [[Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad|Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad]] came through Alba in 1881. One of the earliest shipments to Alba is reported to have been a telegraph office and, reportedly one of the first telegraphs received told details of the assassination of President [[James A. Garfield|James Garfield]].<ref name=":0" /> Later that year, Alba also received a post office. It closed briefly in 1882 but reopened that same year.<ref name=":0" />

By 1882, a townsite had been laid out and a number of merchants were opened in the area to serve the influx of railroad-tie cutters; population was 50 by 1884 and 300 by 1896.<ref name=":0" />

A [[Lignite|lignite coal]] deposit was discovered near Alba around 1900 and in 1902 and 1903, the Texas Short Line Railway was constructed to ship coal from Alba and nearby Hoyt to [[Grand Saline, Texas|Grand Saline]] in [[Van Zandt County, Texas|Van Zandt County]]. By 1911, five area mines produced about 40,000 tons of coal per month. Population was around 1,500 by this year.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} Unlike other coal mines in the state, those at Alba were forced to use convict labor, because Alba was a [[sundown town]] that banned African Americans and Hispanics from living or working there.<ref name="Courier-Gazette" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Convict Labor in Mines|first=D. C.|last=Earnest|work=[[The Daily News (Texas)|The Galveston Daily News]]|location=Galveston, Texas|date=January 14, 1904|page=2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29356148/|via=Newspapers.com|quote=It must be remembered that the labor situation at Alba and surrounding territory is different from that which prevails at any other lignite or coal mine in the entire State of Texas; this is due to the fact that the citizens of Alba and that community will not permit either negroes or Mexicans to work there. This makes the owners of the lignite mines at Hoyt, Tex., entirely dependent on white labor; whereas at other mines in Texas both negro and Mexican labor is permitted to enjoy the legal right to work.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=James W.|last=Loewen|authorlink=James W. Loewen|title=Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism|location=New York City|publisher=[[The New Press]]|date=2005|isbn=978-1-62097-454-4|pages=347, 444}}</ref>

[[File:Alba town square2.jpg|left|thumb|Alba Town Square]]

By 1990, the boundaries of Alba had expanded in to nearby Rains County, and the city had a population of 489, which dropped to 430 in 2000.<ref name=":0" />

In 2008, the town received national attention following the [[Caffey family murders]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Daughter, 16, charged in murder of mother, brothers |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/02/texas.deaths/index.html |website=[[CNN]] |access-date=23 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305184534/https://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/02/texas.deaths/index.html |archive-date=5 March 2008 |date=3 March 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>