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DowntownEastlandTexasPhoto: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0
CHistory
History · Eastland

Eastland’s post office opened in 1876, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #211 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1870.

1876first post office
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
6famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Eastland’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Eastland began

When was Eastland founded?

1876

The Eastland post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 88 in 18702020 census: 3,609150 years

How historic is Eastland?

C

More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Eastland’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Eastland is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #211 of 642 in Texas. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Eastland’s overall grade.
Founding era1876, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194013.1% of homes (±6.3) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%B−National 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 34%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 67%

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 Eastland’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 C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.3 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 Eastland’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18943 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1987. Watch Eastland change.Boom and bustPeaked at 9,368 in 1920; 3,609 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Eastland’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Eastland’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 viewDon't Tell Everything (1921) - 7: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Eastland on the map, 1894 to 1987

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

Eastland on the 1894 USGS mapEastland on the 1966 USGS mapEastland on the 1987 USGS map1894Eastland sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Eastland.

People over time

Eastland, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 9,368

Peaked at 9,368 in 1920; 3,609 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

The story

How Eastland came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Eastland.

Read it all →

The recession of 1921 exacerbated racial tensions between Anglos and Mexicans. Naturally, unemployment increased in town and whites attempted to oust Mexicans who were hired during the World War I boom. Masked men ravaged shacks used by Mexicans as living quarters. Whites threatened Mexicans' lives, and fearful, they fled to nearby Fort Worth to seek help from the Mexican Consulate, since local authorities took the side of the Anglo locals.

In 1928, the current courthouse was erected, the prior cornerstone was opened, and "Old Rip" was allegedly found alive. The animal, a kind of lizard, received national publicity. It died in 1929 of pneumonia, and was placed in a glass-front casket on view in the present courthouse.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Eastland, 1876 to 1930

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876Post officeThe Eastland post office opens
  3. 1884Born hereBill Reynolds is born here
  4. 1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 20th century
  6. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 9,368
  7. 1921Born hereBarney Smith is born here
  8. 1922In the archiveDon't Tell Everything (1921) - 7
  9. 1929Born hereHayden Fry is born here
  10. 1930Born hereRichard D. Lawrence is born here
By decade

Eastland, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s1 item
Don't Tell Everything (1921) - 71922Don't Tell Everything (1921) - 7
1930s–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
Today5 recent
Eastland Co, TX, Museum IMG 64282010Eastland Co, TX, Museum IMG 6428Confederate monument, Eastland, TX IMG 64262010Confederate monument, Eastland, TX IMG 6426Centennial Memorial Library, Eastland, TX IMG 64242010Centennial Memorial Library, Eastland, TX IMG 6424Eastland Telegram newspaper office, Eastland, TX IMG 64372010Eastland Telegram newspaper office, Eastland, TX IMG …DocumentEASTLANDTX12006EASTLANDTX1
Every building

Eastland, building by building, 1911–1920

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.

Eastland fire insurance map, 1911, sheet 11911Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

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

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.

Don't Tell Everything (1921) - 7
Retake this viewDon't Tell Everything (1921) - 7, 1922

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

6 famous people were born in Eastland

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

See all →
Hayden FryAmerican football player and coach, college ath… · b. 1929
B
Bill ReynoldsAmerican baseball player · b. 1884
Richard D. LawrenceAmerican Army officer · b. 1930
Barney SmithAmerican master plumber and curator of museum o… · b. 1921
E
Emma Carter BrowningAmerican pilot and aviation executive, 1910–2010 · b. 1910
G
Glenn ThomasAmerican football coach · b. 1977
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Eastland’s post office has been open since 1876.

Gone or out of use
Alhambra TheaterbuildingLyric TheaterbuildingPrincess Theaterbuilding

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

Questions about Eastland’s history

What year was Eastland founded?

The Eastland post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Eastland rank for history?

Eastland is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #211 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 Eastland?

13% of Eastland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1965.

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 (6), 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.