Founding year: the first Carter post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Carter’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Carter is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Carter’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 Carter’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 (±8.0 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 Carter’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 Carter yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Carter is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Parker County, Texas, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. As of the 2020 census, Carter had a population of 1,637. It is in the northern part of the county, spread over several low ridges and valleys draining south to the Clear Fork of the Trinity River and north to Walnut Creek, a tributary of the West Fork of the Trinity River. Texas State Highway 51 passes through the east side of the CDP, leading northeast 5 miles (8 km) to Springtown and southwest 10 miles (16 km) to Weatherford, the Parker county seat. Fort Worth is 29 miles (47 km) to the southeast.
Its first post office opened in 1888.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Carter’s history
What year was Carter founded?
The Carter post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Carter rank for history?
Carter is more historic than 23% 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 Carter?
5% of Carter’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2007.
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 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.
