LITTLE ELM, TEXAS. Little Elm is on Farm Road 720 and an arm of Lewisville Lake, twelve miles southeast of Denton in extreme east central Denton County. It was established in 1844 by Kit King on the banks of Little Elm Creek. The county's first post office was located in King's house in 1852. King's Crossing at that time was used by the stagecoach from Preston Bend to Bird's Fort. The first store in Little Elm began operations in 1859. In 1866 Henry Hill built a store a mile east of the present site, and the post office moved to the new location and changed its name to Hilltown. In 1900 Little Elm had a population of 194, and in the 1930s it had 120 residents and six businesses. It had 200 residents and five businesses during the 1950s. Thereafter the community's population and businesses grew steadily because of road development in the county that made it more accessible to both Denton and Dallas, and because of its location near Lewisville Lake. In 1966 it reported 300 residents; by 1976 it had 363 and had incorporated. Little Elm had a population of 1,168 and thirteen businesses in 1989, and in 1990 its population was 1,255. By 2000 the population reached 3,646 with 127 businesses.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Edward Franklin Bates, History and Reminiscences of Denton County (Denton, Texas: McNitzky Printing, 1918; rpt., Denton: Terrill Wheeler Printing, 1976).

Brian Hart