St. Paul began in 1910 through a land promotion venture led by developer George H. Paul and the Shary Land Company after Paul bought 70,000 acres from local rancher J.J. Welder and divided the land into farm lots. The townsite was platted in December 1910, and Adolph, Robert, and John Shary formed the Shary Land Company to promote the new town. Agents worked throughout the Midwest to publicize the community, and excursion trains left Kansas City twice a month bringing prospective settlers to Texas. St. Paul grew quickly with homes, the three story Shary Hotel, retail stores, schools, and churches. The George H. Paul company operated a huge company farm employing as many as 300 workers, as well as the town's largest store, the George H. Paul farm store, which also housed a post office established in 1910, a telephone exchange, and a bank. By the 1920's prosperous cotton gins processed farmers crops, and eight trains a day came through the busy St. Paul Depot. The town declined after World War II as many people moved to larger cities.