Kemp began in 1851, when the U.S. Postal Service approved a station by that name and Levi Noble became its first postmaster. Before the Civil War, it was primarily an agricultural community that provided goods and services for surrounding farm families. Presbyterian preacher R.O. Watkins settled near Kemp about 1855 and in 1867 began the Kemp Academy as an educational center for local children. Kemp's growth accelerated in the 1880s with construction of the Texas Trunk Railroad, built to connect Dallas with points east and south and later incorporated into the Texas and New Orleans Rail Line. As the tracks reached Kaufman in 1881, the county surveyor laid out a town plat for Kemp along the projected route, and by 1882, before the railroad had arrived, the community had two dry goods stores, a drugstore, grocery, saloon, saddle shop, barbershop, blacksmith, three church congregations, and a steam gin and mill. Although the exact date of incorporation is unknown, the citizens voted to abolish incorporation in 1910 and reincorporated in 1922. Kemp continued to grow as a trade center for surrounding farms and ranches, and despite post-World War II population shifts toward urban areas, it remained an important community in Kaufman County's history.