Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Alba

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Alba

Alba’s post office opened in 1881, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1920.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Alba’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Alba began

When was Alba founded?

1881

The Alba post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,352 in 19202020 census: 473145 years
Founding year: the first Alba post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Alba’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 Alba’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Alba came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Alba.

Read it all →

A gunsmith named Joseph Simpkins was likely the first to settle the area, arriving here with his family from Missouri around 1843. The area was previously alternately known as Albia and Simpkins' Prairie. Theories on how the community got its name differ; one claims it was because the town had been intended for white settlers only while another claims it was named for the son of a railroad official.

The Alba Oilfield was discovered just south of Alba in 1848 by F.R. Jackson.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Alba, 1880 to 1958

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Texas - Wood County - ED 250-1 - ED 250-24
  3. 1881Post officeThe Alba post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Alba, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item
1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Texas - Wood County - ED 250-1 - ED 250-2418801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Texas - Wood …
1890s–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
Today2 recent
Downtown2011DowntownAlba town square22011Alba town square2
On the map

Alba on the map, 1958 to 1981

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

Alba on the 1958 USGS mapAlba on the 1981 USGS map1958Alba 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 Alba.

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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Texas - Wood County - ED 250-1 - ED 250-24
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Texas - Wood County - ED 250-1 - ED 250-24, 1880

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Alba, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,400192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,352

Between 430 and 1,352 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Alba

Nobody well known was born in Alba itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
S
Sissy SpacekAmerican actress · b. 1949
Colleen HooverAmerican author · b. 1979
N
Noble WillinghamAmerican actor · b. 1931
Willie Brown Jr.41st Mayor of San Francisco · b. 1934
Morgan G. SandersAmerican politician · b. 1878
Alexandra MollenhauerAmerican-Azerbaijani basketball player · b. 1998

Questions about Alba’s history

What year was Alba founded?

The Alba post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (3), 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.