A lignite coal deposit was discovered near Alba around 1900 and in 1902 and 1903, the Texas Short Line Railway was constructed to ship coal from Alba and nearby Hoyt to Grand Saline in Van Zandt County. By 1911, five area mines produced about 40,000 tons of coal per month. Population was around 1,500 by this year. Unlike other coal mines in the state, those at Alba were forced to use convict labor, because Alba was a sundown town that banned African Americans and Hispanics from living or working there.