An informal stopping point on Little Willow Creek for a number of years, the "town" of Emmaville was begun as a land promotion to take advantage of its strategic location as a mid-point between the boom-town of Alta and downtown Salt Lake City. Believed named for the famous Emma mine near Alta, even its famous name could not save the town from becoming another "relic" of Utah's history.

Popular from its start, it was a stopping point for the wagons hauling ore from the mines of Little Cottonwood, teams transporting granite blocks from the Mormon Temple quarry at Granite, stage-lines, travelers, and early sight-seers. The town grew quickly and several commercial buildings and homes were constructed in rapid succession.

Premium prices were paid for commercial and residential building lots that were promoted by F. A. Hoofman and Co., and sold by Agent John W. Lawrence.  

Stores, hotels, boarding houses, blacksmith, livery, and of course, 2 saloons, put Emmaville on the map. Dozens of families, miners, quarrymen, teamsters and more called it home, though many on a strictly temporary basis. At its height, some 500 people resided there. The town, in the beginning was everything the speculators, promotors, and agents could hope for.

Newspaper advertisements boasted that Emmaville was "Situated in a Fine Agricultural Section", "Close Proximity to the Celebrated Mines of Big and Little Cottonwood and American Fork", "Finest Water Power in Utah", and "The Proposed Terminus of the Utah Central Railroad".

While the first three items may have been true, the last was not to be. A railroad did eventually make its way into Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was not the Utah Central as promoted, but the Wasatch and Jordan Valley. More importantly, it did not terminate or even pass through Emmaville. It drove further south and east, terminating in the town of Granite, missing Emmaville by some two miles. Those two miles would prove critical to the future of the town.