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History · Emelle

Emelle’s post office opened in 1912

Most of Emelle was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Below: maps from 1974 on and the census since 1990.

1912first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Emelle began, and where its name came from

When was Emelle founded?

1912

The Emelle post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Ramsey (1861), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 44 in 19902020 census: 32114 years

How did Emelle get its name?

Emelle was named after the daughters of the man who donated the land for the town.

Founding year: the first Emelle post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Emelle’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Emelle are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 53 in 2010; 32 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Emelle’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Emelle’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Emelle, census by census

020002020Peak: 53

Peaked at 53 in 2010; 32 people lived here in 2020.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Emelle’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Emelle came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Emelle.

Read it all →

It was named after the daughters of the man who donated the land for the town. The town was started in the 19th century but not incorporated until 1981. The daughters of the man who donated were named Emma Dial and Ella Dial, so he combined the two names to create Emelle. Emelle was famous for its great cotton. The first mayor of Emelle was James Dailey. He served two terms.

The town is known for being the site of the largest hazardous waste landfill in the United States, operated by Waste Management, Inc. That hazardous waste disposal facility was the subject of a case decided by the United States Supreme Court, Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt, 504 U.S. 334 (1992).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Emelle, 1861 to 2010

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861Post officeThe Ramsey post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1912Post officeThe Ramsey post office closes
  5. 1912Post officeThe Emelle post office opens
  6. 1928Born hereThornton Dial, Sr. is born here
  7. 1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 21st century
  9. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 53
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Emelle on the map, 1974 to 1987

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Emelle. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Emelle on the 1974 USGS mapEmelle on the 1987 USGS map1974Emelle sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Emelle.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Emelle’s post office has been open since 1912. Another post office, Ramsey, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Ramsey
1861–1912
Emelle
1912–today
18601940today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Emelle’s history

What year was Emelle founded?

The Emelle post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.