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B+History
History · Clarendon

Clarendon’s post office opened in 1878, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 72% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Donley County Courthouse and Jail, the Martin-Lowe House and the Clarendon Motor Company Building. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1921 on, and the census since 1890.

1878first post office
3on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Clarendon’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Clarendon began

When was Clarendon founded?

1878

The Clarendon post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 949 in 18902020 census: 1,877148 years

How historic is Clarendon?

B+

More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Clarendon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Clarendon’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clarendon is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Clarendon’s overall grade.
Founding era1878, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194021.3% of homes (±6.8) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register3 listings, 4 historic buildings, 21.5 per 10,000 residents · typical TX town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 72%
NewerOlder

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 Clarendon’s 21.5 sits above most of its state (91% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 (±6.8 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 Clarendon’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 2,756 in 1930; 1,877 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Clarendon’s homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Clarendon’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewClarendon, Texas, Donley Co. 1890: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Clarendon, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,756

Peaked at 2,756 in 1930; 1,877 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Clarendon came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Clarendon.

Read it all →

Clarendon, established in 1878, was one of the three original Panhandle settlements, the other two being Mobeetie and Tascosa. Clarendon was relocated after its original location was bypassed by the Fort Worth and Denver Railway.

The town founder was a Methodist clergyman, L. H. Carhart, who envisioned a "sobriety settlement" in contrast to typical boomtowns of that era. Clarendon acquired the sobriquet "Saints Roost" from local cowboys, hence the unusual name of the Clarendon museum, the Saints' Roost Museum.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Clarendon, 1878 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Clarendon post office opens
  3. 1890In the archiveClarendon, Texas, Donley Co. 1890
  4. 20th century
  5. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 2,756
  6. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Clarendon, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
Clarendon, Texas, Donley Co. 18901890Clarendon, Texas, Donley Co. 1890
1900s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today11 recent
Clarendon, Texas2015Clarendon, TexasCity Hall2015City HallFerol Shelton is pictured aboard his horse, Sleepy, at his ranch homestead near Clarendon in the Texas Panhandle2014Ferol Shelton is pictured aboard his horse, Sleepy, a…Saints IMG 06612008Saints IMG 0661Old West sign IMG 06532008Old West sign IMG 0653Granary IMG 06592008Granary IMG 0659Drive-in IMG 06572008Drive-in IMG 0657Donley Courthouse IMG 06672008Donley Courthouse IMG 0667Clarendon streets IMG 06582008Clarendon streets IMG 0658Saint's Roost Museum2006Saint's Roost MuseumSandelldrivein2000Sandelldrivein
On the map

Clarendon on the map, 1963 to 1982

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

Clarendon on the 1963 USGS mapClarendon on the 1982 USGS map1963Clarendon sheet · 1:24,000

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

Every building

Clarendon, building by building, 1921

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Clarendon fire insurance map, 1921, sheet 11921Sheet 1 of 13
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Clarendon, Texas, Donley Co. 1890
Retake this viewClarendon, Texas, Donley Co. 1890, 1890

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Clarendon’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Clarendon

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Donley County Courthouse and Jail
Donley County Courthouse and JailMartin-Lowe HouseClarendon Motor Company Building
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Romanesque Revival Style1
Queen Anne Style1
Mission1
Donley County Courthouse and JailRomanesque Revival Style
Martin-Lowe HouseQueen Anne Style
All 3 listings
Clarendon Motor Company BuildingBuilding · listed 1994

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about Clarendon’s history

What year was Clarendon founded?

The Clarendon post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Clarendon rank for history?

Clarendon is more historic than 72% 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 Clarendon?

Three places: the Donley County Courthouse and Jail (listed 1978), the Martin-Lowe House (1985) and the Clarendon Motor Company Building (1994).

How old are the homes in Clarendon?

21% of Clarendon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1964.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.