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BHistory
History · Cleburne

Cleburne’s post office opened in 1867, and 5 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 56% of U.S. towns · #110 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Most of Cleburne was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. 5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 89 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.

1867first post office
5on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
23famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cleburne’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Cleburne began

When was Cleburne founded?

1867

The Cleburne post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 686 in 18702020 census: 31,352159 years

How historic is Cleburne?

B

More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Cleburne’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cleburne is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #110 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cleburne’s overall grade.
Founding era1867, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19405.5% of homes (±1.7) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register5 listings, 93 historic buildings, 27.1 per 10,000 residents · typical TX town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 56%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 83%

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 Cleburne’s 27.1 sits above most of its state (92% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 93 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share (±1.7 points) is firm at this size. 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 Cleburne’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A historic districtThe Cleburne Downtown Historic District takes in 89 historic buildings.Mapped building by building7 fire insurance maps, 1885 to 1918, drew every building in Cleburne.Famous sons and daughtersDillon Gee, Johnny Carroll and 21 more were born here.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cleburne’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMarket Square: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

5 listings protect 93 historic buildings

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

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
93
each building in a district counts
first listed
1976
Cleburne Carnegie Library
Cleburne Carnegie Library, built 1905Johnson County CourthouseJoiner-Long HouseWright BuildingCleburne Downtown Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Classical Revival1
Beaux Arts1
Prairie School1
Queen Anne1
Commercial1
Cleburne Carnegie LibraryClassical Revival · Built 1905
Johnson County CourthouseBeaux Arts
Joiner-Long HouseQueen Anne
Wright BuildingCommercial
All 5 listings
Cleburne Downtown Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2018

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

Every building

Cleburne, building by building, 1885–1918

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 year, then a sheet.

Cleburne fire insurance map, 1885, sheet 11885Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

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

The story

How Cleburne came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cleburne.

Read it all →

In 1862, Cleburne began as an army camp during the Civil War known as Camp Henderson. The waters of the Buffalo Creeks made for a good site for the first volunteer Confederate camp in Johnson County on Colonel W.F. Henderson's land. Camp Henderson became the third county seat of Johnson County in 1867 after Hood County was established, throwing Buchanan out of the county's legal boundaries. The name was soon changed to Cleburne, named after Patrick R. Cleburne, a major general of the CSA, under whom many of the locals served. Many of the residents of Buchanan relocated to Cleburne along with the public buildings and residences.

ChaptersFoundingLate 1800sEarly to mid 1900sLate 1900s to 2000s

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cleburne, 1850 to 1986

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850In the archiveMarket Square
  3. 1867Post officeThe Cleburne post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905BuiltCleburne Carnegie Library is built
  6. 1905Born hereWillie Lewis is born here
  7. 1910In the archiveMain Street, Cleburne, TX, 1910s cph.3b18657
  8. 1937Born hereJohnny Carroll is born here
  9. 1951Born hereJohn Steakley is born here
  10. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1986Born hereDillon Gee is born here
By decade

Cleburne, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s1 item
Market Square1850Market Square
1910s2 items
Main Street, Cleburne, TX, 1910s cph.3b186571910Main Street, Cleburne, TX, 1910s cph.3b18657Old Soggy No.11912Old Soggy No.1
1920s–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
Today6 recent
HulenParkCleburne2014HulenParkCleburneConfederateRoseHillCleburne2014ConfederateRoseHillCleburneBuffaloCreekCleburne2014BuffaloCreekCleburneCleburnePoliceCar2013CleburnePoliceCarCarnegie library cleburne 20102010Carnegie library cleburne 2010BonoCemeteryTX2002BonoCemeteryTX
On the map

Cleburne on the map, 1961 to 1978

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

Cleburne on the 1961 USGS mapCleburne on the 1978 USGS map1961Cleburne West 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 Cleburne.

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.

Market Square
Retake this viewMarket Square, 1850

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Cleburne, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,0001880190019201940196019802000202031,352

Grew from 686 people in 1870 to 31,352 in 2020, more than tenfold.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Famous people

23 famous people were born in Cleburne

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Dillon GeeAmerican baseball player · b. 1986
Johnny CarrollAmerican musician · b. 1937
W
Willie LewisAmerican bandleader, conductor and jazz musician · b. 1905
J
John SteakleyAmerican writer · b. 1951
D
Dave OwenAmerican baseball player · b. 1949
L
Lou SmythAmerican football player · b. 1898
Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Cleburne’s post office has been open since 1867.

Hamlets and corners on the map
LebanonOak Hill
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cleburne
Cleburne Memorial ParkGreen Acres Memorial ParkGreenlawnLightfootOakOld Lane PrairieRose Hill

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

KeeneIts storyDJoshuaIts storyC−

Questions about Cleburne’s history

What year was Cleburne founded?

The Cleburne post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Cleburne rank for history?

Cleburne is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #110 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.

What is on the National Register in Cleburne?

5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Cleburne Carnegie Library (listed 1976, the first), and 1 historic district, the Cleburne Downtown Historic District, with 89 contributing buildings. 93 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Cleburne?

6% of Cleburne’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1983.

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 (9), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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), 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.