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History · Chester

Chester’s post office opened in 1876

Most of Chester was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1970.

1876first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Chester began

When was Chester founded?

1876

The Chester post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hampton (1898), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 260 in 19702020 census: 270150 years
Founding year: the first Chester post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Chester’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Chester are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Chester’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chester’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Chester came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chester.

Read it all →

Chester, located in the northwestern corner of the county, was named after President Chester A. Arthur. It was formed in 1883 when the Trinity and Sabine Railway, which connected Colmesneil in the east to Trinity in the west, routed its new line just a few miles south and west of the earlier community of Peach Tree Village. The community moved the post office, Mount Hope Masonic Lodge, and several businesses to the area alongside the track. A. B. Green, postmaster of Peach Tree Village, became the first postmaster of the new postoffice named Chester. The town of Chester incorporated in 1968.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Chester, 1876 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876Post officeThe Chester post office opens
  3. 1898Post officeThe Hampton post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1926Post officeThe Hampton post office closes
  6. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.

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On the map

Chester on the map, 1955 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chester. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Chester on the 1955 USGS mapChester on the 1984 USGS map1955Camden sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Chester.

People over time

Chester, census by census

0100200300198020002020Peak: 312

Between 260 and 312 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Chester’s post office has been open since 1876. Another post office, Hampton, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Chester
1876–today
Hampton
1898–1926
18701950today
1cemetery inside Chester
Mahaffey

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Chester’s history

What year was Chester founded?

The Chester post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, 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.