Alma is a small town in the southeastern corner of Ellis County, Texas, about four miles south of Ennis. Its roots reach back to the early 1840s, when settlers arrived in the area; one of the first, Thomas Smith, bought a thousand acres beside a lake then known as Willow Pond. The settlement that took shape there adopted the name Willow Pond and served as a stagecoach stop on Grant's Stage Line between Waxahachie and Marshall. For most of its history, Alma was the center of a surrounding farming community. The arrival of the Texas Electric Railway interurban line between Dallas and Corsicana in the early 20th century connected Alma to the wider region, and the town grew with homes, businesses, churches, and civic organizations. In the 1950s, the construction of Interstate 45 through the middle of the area reshaped Alma's landscape and reinforced its position along a major north-south corridor. Today Alma has a population of roughly 400 and a quiet, small-town character. It sits on U.S. Highway 75 and beside Interstate 45, giving residents direct highway access to Ennis just to the north and to Corsicana to the south. The town functions primarily as a residential community within the orbit of Ennis, which provides schools, shopping, and services a short drive away. Alma suits those who want a rural Ellis County setting with easy highway access rather than a self-contained urban center. Its position along the I-45 corridor places it within commuting range of Ennis and, farther north, the southern reaches of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, while the surrounding farmland preserves the open, agricultural character that has defined the town since its founding.