Founding year: the first Boyd post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Boyd’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Boyd is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #252 of 642 in Texas. 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 Boyd’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 Boyd’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 still be C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.8 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 Boyd’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Originally named Greasy Bend in reference to the local hog-fattening industry, the settlement was established in the early 1890s by farmers. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad reached the town in 1893, and the settlement was subsequently renamed Parkhurst in reference to one of the railroad's officials. Not long afterwards, the town renamed again to Boyd (another railroad official) to avoid possible confusion with the nearby Park Springs.
The Boyd post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Boyd rank for history?
Boyd is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #252 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 Boyd?
9% of Boyd’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (4), 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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