Purley is an unincorporated community in Franklin County

Franklin County, Texas

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,458 people, 3,754 households, and 2,732 families residing in the county. The population density was 33 people per square mile . There were 5,132 housing units at an average density of 18 per square mile...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Purley is located at the junction of Texas State Highway 37 and Farm to Market Road 900 7 miles (11.3 km) south of Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon, Texas

Mount Vernon is a town in Franklin County, Texas, United States. It is the Franklin County seat, and the population was 2,286 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Mount Vernon is located at ....

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History

Purley was first settled in the 1850s. A post office opened in Purley in 1879, and a one-room schoolhouse was established by 1896. The town had a population of 150 and several businesses through the late 1800s, but the community diminished in the 1900s, falling to a population of twenty with no businesses by 1966. The population of Purley grew to 81 by 1972, where it remained through 2000; a business opened in the community in 1988.