More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #318 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Alice was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1922 on, and the census since 1910.
The Alice post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Collins (1878), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 2,136 in 19102020 census: 17,891138 years
How historic is Alice?
C−
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Alice post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Alice’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Alice is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #318 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Alice’s overall grade.
Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Alice’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas 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 C− to C. The pre-1940 share (±2.3 points) is firm at this size. 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 Alice’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Alice originated from the defunct community of Collins, 3 miles (5 km) to the east. c. 1880, the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway attempted to build a line through Collins, which then had approximately 2,000 inhabitants. The townspeople were not amenable to selling their land to the railroad company; consequently, the railroad site was moved 3 miles west, and in 1883, a depot called "Bandana" was established at its junction with the Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande Railway. Bandana soon became a thriving cattle-shipping point, and an application for a post office was made under the name "Kleberg" in honor of Robert Justus Kleberg, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. The petition was denied because a town named Kleberg already appeared on the post office list, so residents then chose the name "Alice", in honor of Alice Gertrudis King Kleberg, Robert Justus Kleberg Jr.’s w…
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.
The Alice post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Alice rank for history?
Alice is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #318 of 642 in Texas. 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 Alice?
4% of Alice’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (2), 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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