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C−History
History · College Station

College Station’s post office opened in 1877

More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #367 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Most of College Station was built recently: 0.9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1940.

1877first post office
0on the National Register
0.9%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
8famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From College Station’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How College Station began

When was College Station founded?

1877

The College Station post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Wellborn's Station (1868), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 2,184 in 19402020 census: 120,511149 years

How historic is College Station?

C−

More historic than 16% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives College Station’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, College Station is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #367 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of College Station’s overall grade.
Founding era1877, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.9% of homes (±0.3) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical TX town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 16%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 43%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, College Station ranks #358 on History.

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 College Station’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.

Newer cities are common at College Station’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share (±0.3 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 College Station’s past

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

Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s College Station, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers.Famous sons and daughtersTiffany Thornton, Alex Caruso and 6 more were born here.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

College Station’s post office has been open since 1877. Another post office, Wellborn's Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Wellborn's Station
1868–1870
Wellborn
1871–today
College Station
1877–today
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
KoppeSpearWellbornWicker
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside College Station
College StationMemorial Cemetery of College StationWellborn

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

By decade

College Station, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1940s12 items
Collegestationold1938CollegestationoldCollege Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Horse1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Horse1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Horse1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Pigs1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Pigs1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Boar1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Boar1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Boar1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Goats1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Calf1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Calf1942College Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechan…
1950s–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
Famous people

8 famous people were born in College Station

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

See all →
Tiffany ThorntonAmerican actress · b. 1986
Alex CarusoAmerican basketball player · b. 1994
Brek SheaAmerican soccer player · b. 1990
E
Evan JonesAmerican actor · b. 1976
C
Clif GroceAmerican football player · b. 1972
K
Keith ValiguraAmerican politician · b. 1957
The story

How College Station came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of College Station.

Read it all →

College Station's origins date from 1860, when the Houston and Texas Central Railway began to build through the region. Eleven years later, the site was chosen as the location for the proposed Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, a land-grant school. In 1876, as the nation celebrated its centennial, the school (renamed Texas A&M University in 1963) opened its doors as the first public institution of higher education in the state of Texas.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

College Station, 1868 to 1994

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1868Post officeThe Wellborn's Station post office opens
  3. 1870Post officeThe Wellborn's Station post office closes
  4. 1871Post officeThe Wellborn post office opens
  5. 1877Post officeThe College Station post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1938In the archiveCollegestationold
  8. 1942In the archiveCollege Station, Texas. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. Horse
  9. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1976Born hereEvan Jones is born here
  11. 1986Born hereTiffany Thornton is born here
  12. 1990Born hereBrek Shea is born here
  13. 1994Born hereAlex Caruso is born here
On the map

College Station on the map, 1956 to 1980

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

College Station on the 1956 USGS mapCollege Station on the 1962 USGS mapCollege Station on the 1971 USGS mapCollege Station on the 1980 USGS map1956Bryan 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 College Station.

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.

Collegestationold
Retake this viewCollegestationold, 1938

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

College Station, census by census

020,00040,00060,00080,000100,000120,00019401960198020002020120,511

Grew from 2,184 people in 1940 to 120,511 in 2020, more than tenfold.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Help out

Finish College Station’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCollegestationold: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Bryan47 historic placesB−

Questions about College Station’s history

What year was College Station founded?

The College Station post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does College Station rank for history?

College Station is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #367 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 College Station?

0.9% of College Station’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1999.

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 (1), the Library of Congress (11), 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.