Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #17 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 537 buildings between them. Most of Corsicana was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
Corsicana dates its founding to 1848 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Corsicana is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #17 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Corsicana’s 212 sits above most of its state (98% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 541 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
18801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Texas - Navar…
18801950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Texas (TX) - …
19021902 Corsicana Oil Citys
1910Odd Fellows Widow's & Orphan's Home
1913A group of children at a District School in cotton pi…
1913"Renters." Itinerant Texas farmers who rent a farm fo…
1913"Renters." Itinerant Texas farmers who rent a farm fo…![I.O.O.F., W. and O. Home showing new chapple [sic] and hospital buildings, Corsicana, Texas, June 10, 1914](https://images.townratings.com/story/17611/ac927e23d207bf72a354-s.jpg)
1914I.O.O.F., W. and O. Home showing new chapple [sic] an…
1914Texas State Orphan Home, Corsicana, Tex., June 10, 19…
1914Texas State Orphan Home![I.O.O.F., W. and O. Home showing new chapple [sic] and hospital buildings](https://images.townratings.com/story/17611/9a8bfdeee1ee3f5db07e-s.jpg)
1914I.O.O.F., W. and O. Home showing new chapple [sic] an…From Wikipedia’s history of Corsicana.
Founded in 1848, Corsicana was named by José Antonio Navarro after the Mediterranean island of Corsica, the birthplace of his father. He had died when Navarro and his many siblings were young. The first school opened shortly afterwards in 1849.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Texas - Navarro County - Corsicana - ED 175-1, ED…
Born hereJacqueline Logan is born hereIn the archive1902 Corsicana Oil Citys
Born hereMary Brian is born hereIn the archiveOdd Fellows Widow's & Orphan's Home
In the archiveEliminate Cheating Pitchers From Game (1920)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMaceo Baston is born here
Born hereWesley Johnson is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Corsicana. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Corsicana.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Corsicana’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 80 people in 1870 to 25,109 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Corsicana’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Corsicana’s post office has been open since 1849.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1848, according to Wikidata. Corsicana’s post office opened in 1849, and the census of 1870 counted 80 people here.
Corsicana is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #17 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.
8 listings: 4 buildings, 3 historic districts, the Mills Place Historic District, the Corsicana Commercial Historic District and the West Side Historic District, with 537 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 541 historic buildings in all.
8% of Corsicana’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1974.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (6), the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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.
