Alba, TX

Alba sits at the intersection of US 69 and FM 17 on the western edge of Wood County, about ten miles west of Quitman and south of Lake Fork Reservoir. Joseph Simpkins arrived around 1843, and the settlement carried the names Albia and Simpkins' Prairie before Alba became the lasting one. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad reached town in 1881, connecting the farm country to a larger shipping network. Today the city office is at 145 South Broadway, keeping municipal business on the same central street that frames the town.

Alba's everyday center includes the Alba Public Library and Museum at 109 East Holley Street and the Alba-Golden school campus at 1373 County Road 2377. The district carries students through high school and gives the town a visible gathering point through athletics, agriculture science, culinary arts, and theater. Lake Fork Reservoir supplies the nearby fishing and boating landscape, while US 69 keeps Alba connected north toward Quitman and south through East Texas. The result is a small railroad town with a school-centered routine, a library-museum in the older street grid, and a reservoir just beyond town.