Founding year: the first Bartlett post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bartlett’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bartlett is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bartlett’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 Bartlett’s 175 sits above most of its state (97% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 34 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.9 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 Bartlett’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Starting in 1909, Bartlett was the headquarters of the Bartlett-Florence Railway, later the Bartlett Western Railroad, which ran from Bartlett's connection with the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad to the cotton processing center of Florence, Texas. However, that line was abandoned in 1935.
In 1914 and 1915, Bartlett was home to minor league baseball. The Bartlett Bearcats played as members of the Class D level Middle Texas League for two seasons. Baseball Hall of Fame member Ross Youngs played for Bartlett in 1915.
The Bartlett post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Bartlett rank for history?
Bartlett is more historic than 81% 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.
What is on the National Register in Bartlett?
One place: the Bartlett Commercial Historic District (listed 1980).
How old are the homes in Bartlett?
26% of Bartlett’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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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