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History · Houck

Houck’s post office opened in 1895, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Houck was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Its Register listings are the Allentown Bridge and the Querino Canyon Bridge. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1943 on.

1895first post office
2on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Houck’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Houck began

When was Houck founded?

1895

The Houck post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Allantown (1924), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 886131 years
Founding year: the first Houck post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Houck’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Houck’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Houck’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHouck (vicinity), Arizona. Passing a dr…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Houck came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Houck.

Read it all →

Houck was founded by a mail carrier by that name working a route from Prescott to Fort Wingate. In 1877, he established a trading post called Houck's Tank here. Houck left in 1885.

Houck was home to Fort Courage (a replica of the set of the 1960s television series F Troop, which was a tourist attraction along Route 66) and a Greyhound bus stop. It once had a gas station, a Taco Bell, and a pancake house. It is home to the Native American Baha'i Institute.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Houck, 1895 to 1943

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1895Post officeThe Houck post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Born hereFrancis M. McAlister is born here
  5. 1923BuiltAllentown Bridge is built
  6. 1924Post officeThe Allantown post office opens
  7. 1930Post officeThe Allantown post office closes
  8. 1943In the archiveHouck (vicinity), Arizona. Passing a dry riverbed along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe…
By decade

Houck, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item
Houck (vicinity), Arizona. Passing a dry riverbed along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Gallup, New …1943Houck (vicinity), Arizona. Passing a dry riverbed alo…
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today4 recent
The remains of a pancake house peaks above the horizon in2021The remains of a pancake house peaks above the horizo…Remains of a Van de Kamps in2021Remains of a Van de Kamps inExit 348 to2021Exit 348 toBahaiPrayerHogan2008BahaiPrayerHogan
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Houck (vicinity), Arizona. Passing a dry riverbed along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Gallup, New …
Retake this viewHouck (vicinity), Arizona. Passing a dry riverbed along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Gallup, New …, 1943

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Houck’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Houck

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1988
Allentown Bridge
Allentown Bridge, built 1923Querino Canyon Bridge
Structures
Allentown BridgeBuilt 1923
Querino Canyon BridgeStructure

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Houck’s post office has been open since 1895. Another post office, Allantown, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Houck
1895–today
Allantown
1924–1930
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Allentown

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Houck’s history

What year was Houck founded?

The Houck post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Houck?

Two places: the Allentown Bridge (listed 1988) and the Querino Canyon Bridge (1988).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.