M. T. Jones and S. F. Carter, both of Houston, purchased approximately 5755 acres of land situated in southern Angelina County from W.H. Bonner on November 3, 1892. The town of Emporia received a post office in July 1893, and it is believed that a mill was operating by that time, and certainly no later than October 1894 when the Emporia Lumber Company was incorporated. Jones and Carter , identified as “manufacturers of long leaf yellow pine lumber at Emporia, Angelina County, Texas,” then deeded approximately 9186 acres to the newly formed corporation on November 1, 1894. A company letterhead dated August 8, 1897 reveals the Emporia plant having a sawmill capacity of 75,000 and a planing mill capacity of 100,000. Advertisements in trade journals indicated an Emporia mill at Emporia as late as June 1906, but the mill actually was destroyed by fire in March 1906. However, the firm was still listed in the 1907 Reference Book of the Lumbermen's Credit Association, January 1907.
The post office was discontinued in April 1907.
Original directors were S.F. Carter, M.T. Jones, and T.W. Ford. The Emporia & Gulf ran 15 miles west to Crooker, then several miles northwest to connect with the Texas & New Orleans between Huntington and Zavalla