On May 6, 1922, three local African-American men were lynched in Kirvin by being mutilated and then burned alive for the alleged murder of a 17-year-old white girl, Eula Ausley.

[5][6][7] Ausley is buried in the Shanks Memorial Cemetery in Kirvin, on 950 just east of FM 80.

[8][9] A book by Monte Akers titled Flames After Midnight: Murder, Vengeance, and the Desolation of a Texas Community was written about the incident.

[10] Two white men[11][12][13] who were suspects in the Ausley killing were never charged-despite bloody tracks from the murder scene to their house.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town of Kirvin has a total area of 0.40 square miles (1.04 km2), all land.