Grand Saline

Grand Saline is on U.S. Highway 80 and State Highway 110, fifteen miles northeast of Canton in northeastern Van Zandt County. It is known, because of its extensive salt mines, as the "salt capital of Texas." The town was called Jordan's Saline until the arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railway on its route from Marshall to Dallas in 1873. Landowner Samuel Q. Richardson donated fifty acres for the townsite and constructed a general store facing the train tracks. The new railroad depot, built by chief engineer Grenville M. Dodge, was called Grand Saline, and the new commercial center subsequently expanded to include what had been Jordan's Saline. A local post office opened in 1874. Dodge located and divided the townsite into lots and blocks, constructed the Lone Star Salt Company, and on May 9, 1876, turned over all rights to the Texas and Pacific.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.