Clovis dates to 1906, and 12 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #36 of 73 in New Mexico. What drives it
Most of Clovis was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1910.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1907.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Clovis’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clovis is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #36 of 73 in New Mexico. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Clovis’ overall grade.
New Mexico towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical New Mexico town has 2.2 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Clovis’ 3.2 sits near the middle of its state (64% of New Mexico towns have fewer) while its 12 listings outnumber those of 77% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share (±1.4 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1906.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Clovis’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Clovis, building by building, 1909–1919
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Clovis began in 1906, when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was being constructed through the area and railway engineers were instructed to "locate and buy the first level section of land west of Texico" on which to build a town site and railroad facilities.
At first known as "Riley's Switch", the site was renamed Clovis. A likely-apocryphal story states that a daughter of a rail official (accounts vary whether her father was AT&SF president Edward Payson Ripley, chief engineer James Dunn, or an unnamed station master) was studying about Clovis, the first Christian king of the Franks, and proposed the name.
In 1906, according to Wikidata. Clovis’ post office opened in 1907, and the census of 1910 counted 3,255 people here.
How does Clovis rank for history?
Clovis is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #36 of 73 in New Mexico. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Clovis?
12 listings: 11 buildings, among them the Clovis Baptist Hospital (listed 1982, the first), and 1 structure.
How old are the homes in Clovis?
5% of Clovis’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 2.3% for a New Mexico town; the median home was built in 1975.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (16), the National Register of Historic Places (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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