Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Kemp, TX

Kemp is a city in southeastern Kaufman County whose motto is "Easy Livin'" and which sits at the northern end of Cedar Creek Lake, a popular Dallas-area recreation reservoir.

Kemp was named for Sara Kemp, the mother of Levi Noble, the community's first postmaster, and it was officially established when the post office opened in 1851.

A Presbyterian congregation was organized in Kemp in 1854, and the Kemp Academy of Learning began operating in 1867, before the community even had a railroad.

The railroad arrived in the mid-1880s and made Kemp a terminus and the trade center for the lower part of Kaufman County, serving the surrounding cattle ranches and cotton farms.

By 1926 Kemp had grown to 1,200 people with 60 businesses and two banks, making it one of the livelier small trade towns in the county.

Kemp was formally incorporated on May 18, 1922, as a Type A general-law municipality with a mayor-council government.

The completion of Cedar Creek Reservoir just south of town in 1965 reshaped Kemp, which became the first community Dallas-area visitors pass through on their way to the lake.

The 2020 census counted 1,129 people in Kemp, living in 385 households and 232 families.

Kemp drew national media attention in the summer of 2011 when its aging water system struggled badly during the severe Texas drought.

Kemp students attend the Kemp Independent School District, whose teams are the Yellowjackets, and Kemp High School plays at Jacket Stadium.