Saline residue along the banks of Salt Creek attracted settlers to this area in the 1850s. The first commercial salt production here was undertaken by Martin V. Bowers, who arrived before the Civil War. A farmer and local politician, he later sold the business to A. B. Gant and moved to Parker County. Gant, a Confederate veteran, operated the salt works until 1871, when he was elected to the Texas Legislature. He then sold the operation to brothers Gustavus A. Graham and Edwin S. Graham, who had come to Texas with the Texas Emigration and Land Company. In 1872 the Grahams improved the salt works by adding new equipment. Although it could produce 2,500 pounds of salt per day, the operation lasted only two years because the salt cost more to transport than to produce, and it was discontinued. Despite its short life, the enterprise played a vital role in local development, and the Graham brothers donated land for a town named for their family and for Oak Grove Cemetery, where both were later buried.