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CHistory
History · Alvord

Alvord’s post office opened in 1882, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 31% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1890.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Alvord’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Alvord began

When was Alvord founded?

1882

The Alvord post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 560 in 18902020 census: 1,351144 years

How historic is Alvord?

C

More historic than 31% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Alvord post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Alvord’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Alvord is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Alvord’s overall grade.
Founding era1882, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194010.7% of homes (±5.7) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical TX town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 31%
NewerOlder

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 Alvord’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 is a Census survey estimate (±5.7 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 Alvord’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1900 to 1911, drew every building in Alvord.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Alvord’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Alvord’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 viewAlvord, Texas: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Every building

Alvord, building by building, 1900–1911

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.

Alvord fire insurance map, 1900, sheet 11900Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Alvord came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Alvord.

Read it all →

Originally known as Nina, Alvord adopted its present name in 1882 in honor of the president of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway. There is no connection with the Arizona bandit Burt Alvord. A post office was established in 1882. By 1890, Alvord was a retail center for area farmers. In 1925, Alvord had 1,376 residents (42 more than in 2010), a high school, an elementary school, four churches, and a weekly newspaper. The Burlington Northern Railroad stopped there.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Alvord, 1882 to 1961

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Alvord post office opens
  3. 1890In the archiveAlvord, Texas
  4. 1892Born hereErnest O. Thompson is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Alvord, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s2 items
Alvord, Texas1890Alvord, TexasOld map-Alvord-18901890Old map-Alvord-1890Map
1900s–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
Today3 recent
First Baptist Church, Alvord, TX IMG 68042013First Baptist Church, Alvord, TX IMG 6804Ernest O. Thompson historical marker IMG 68092013Ernest O. Thompson historical marker IMG 6809Downtown Alvord, TX IMG 68072013Downtown Alvord, TX IMG 6807
On the map

Alvord on the map in 1961

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Alvord.

Alvord on the 1961 USGS map1961Alvord 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 Alvord.

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.

Alvord, Texas
Retake this viewAlvord, Texas, 1890

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Alvord, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,376

Between 560 and 1,376 people in every census since 1890.

12 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Questions about Alvord’s history

What year was Alvord founded?

The Alvord post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Alvord rank for history?

Alvord is more historic than 31% 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 Alvord?

11% of Alvord’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1983.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), 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.