The Arcola post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Duke (1883), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
2020 census: 2,034157 years
How historic is Arcola?
D
More historic than 13% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Arcola post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Arcola’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Arcola is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Arcola’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 Arcola’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 D to C. The pre-1940 share (±2.0 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 Arcola’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Arcola yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Arcola is a city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population was 2,034 as of the 2020 census, an increase over the figure of 1,642 tabulated by the 2010 census, which represented, in turn, an increase over the 2000 figure of 1,048. Arcola incorporated in 1986.
Its first post office opened in 1869. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,642 to 2,034 (+24%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Arcola, 1869 to 1922
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Arcola post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Arcola rank for history?
Arcola is more historic than 13% 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 Arcola?
0.0% of Arcola’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.0 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2001.
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), 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.
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