Founding year: the first Houston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Houston’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Houston is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Houston’s overall grade.
Pennsylvania towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Pennsylvania town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Houston’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (25% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±9.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Houston’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The land on which this town stands was part of a tract purchased from John Haft on January 24, 1827, by Daniel Houston, a near relative of Gen. Sam Houston, leader of the Texans in their war for independence from Mexico. After the Chartiers Valley Railroad was completed through that section in 1871, David C. Houston, a son of Daniel Houston, saw the possibilities of a town at that point and laid out the present plan of Houstonville. The first house in the new town was completed in the summer of 1871 by A. T. Haft and the second by J. C. Johnson. A few years later H. E. Riggle laid out a plan adjoining which was called Riggletown. On May 13, 1901, The Borough of Houston was incorporated from land of Chartiers & North Strabane Townships.
Peaked at 1,957 in 1950; 1,172 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Houston’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Houston in 1910
Passages that mention Houston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
20th century history of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania1910 · page 1207Read the page →
Read the text
minister; Julia A., who is the wife of Alouzo Ileuiphill, of Houston, Pa. ; and Campbell Ledlic, who lives in Houston, Pa. Joseph Reed, Sr., served in township offices and for many years was a justice of the peace.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
20th century history of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania1910 · page 685Read the page →
Read the text
John Houston lived on a farm in Lancaster County, facing the Delaware Water Gap station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and he had six sons and two daughters born there. Five of these sons: Daniel, John, William, James and Thomas, were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. After its close, Daniel Houston took up his residence in Franklin County, Pa., removing later to Washington County, settling in what is now Cross Creek
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Houston, 1901 to 1950
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Houston. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1904Amity sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Houston.
Every building
Houston, building by building, 1907–1927
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.
The Houston post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Houston rank for history?
Houston is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Houston?
51% of Houston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (6), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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