Founding year: the first Cresson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 2001.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cresson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cresson is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cresson’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 Cresson’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share (±1.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 2001.
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 Cresson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The origin of the name has been lost to history. One book suggests the city may have been named after John Cresson, captain of a wagon train that camped in the area before the Civil War. A similar story is told that Cresson was named for an official with the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railroad.
Cresson was at one time served by the Fort Worth and Rio Grande, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe and the Nancy Hanks railroad companies. It has also been suggested that Cresson was named for Cresson, Pennsylvania, another city with a strong railroading history.
The Cresson post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 2001.
How does Cresson rank for history?
Cresson is more historic than 16% 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.
How old are the homes in Cresson?
0.8% of Cresson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2002.
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 (3), 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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