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History · Adrian

Adrian dates to 1900, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1960.

1900founded
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
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Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

How Adrian began

When was Adrian founded?

1900

Adrian dates its founding to 1900 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1960.

First census: 258 in 19602020 census: 128126 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1908.The full story ↓

What stands out about Adrian’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Adrian are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Adrian’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Adrian came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Adrian.

Read it all →

The community originated in 1900, when the Rock Island Railroad survey marked the site as a future station and shipping point. Former Texas Ranger Calvin G. Aten was one of the area's first settlers. He built a dugout west of the site for his family. The town was named after another early settler, Adrian Cullen. In 1909, the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway was completed through Adrian. The Iowa-based American-Canadian Land and Townsite Company attracted prospective farmers and businessmen to the community. J.P. Collier set up a printing press and dug a water well, running water pipe for the town's first infrastructure. By 1910, Adrian had a post office, several stores, and a newspaper – the Adrian Eagle. Approximately 50 people were living in the community in 1915. The slow growth rate was attributed to a lengthy drought and the difficulty of maintaining a sufficient water supply.…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Adrian, 1900 to 1966

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900
    FoundingAdrian is established
  3. 1908Post officeThe Adrian post office opens
  4. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Adrian, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Adrian, Texas, USA - Flickr - pom'2019Adrian, Texas, USA - Flickr - pom'Adrian, Texas2015Adrian, TexasStuckeys, I-40 Exit 182009Stuckeys, I-40 Exit 18US66 abandoned truck2008US66 abandoned truckTXMap-doton-Adrian2004TXMap-doton-Adrian
On the map

Adrian on the map, 1966 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Adrian. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Adrian on the 1966 USGS mapAdrian on the 1985 USGS map1966Adrian sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Adrian.

People over time

Adrian, census by census

01002001960198020002020Peak: 258

Between 128 and 258 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Adrian’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Adrian’s history

What year was Adrian founded?

In 1900, according to Wikidata. Adrian’s post office opened in 1908, and the census of 1960 counted 258 people here.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.