Most of Comfort was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. 5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 181 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1866 on.
Founding year: the first Comfort post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Comfort’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Comfort is more historic than 64% 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 Comfort’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 Comfort’s 1,169 sits above most of its state (100% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 183 historic buildings outnumber those of 93% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 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 Comfort’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Comfort was established in 1854 by German immigrants, who were Freethinkers and abolitionists. Ernst Hermann Altgelt, at the age of 22, is credited with surveying and measuring the lots that were later sold to the incoming Germans. He stayed and married Emma (Murck) Altgelt, and they raised their nine children in the township of Comfort. Fritz and Betty Holekamp built the first house in Comfort, having started construction before Comfort's official founding on September 3, 1854. The first churches were not established in Comfort until 1892. After some controversy, a cenotaph honoring "the Founding Freethinkers" was dedicated on November 2, 2002.
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.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Comfort’s history
What year was Comfort founded?
The Comfort post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Comfort rank for history?
Comfort is more historic than 64% 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 Comfort?
5 listings: 1 building, among them the Otto Brinkmann House (listed 1977, the first), 1 historic district, the Comfort Historic District, with 181 contributing buildings, 2 structures, and 1 object. 183 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Comfort?
8% of Comfort’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
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